Within the inner circles of NHRA Sportsman drag racing, there's a racer simply known as "Bucky." He's got a look, that's for sure; he's tattooed and has a thin soul patch stretching from his lower lip to his chin, he wears black high-tops and his heart pumps to the beat of Chrysler's 426-inch Hemi. He's otherwise known as Bucky Hess. Bucky, who hails from Bunker Hill, WV, does his dance on the front lines of the Super Stock/A Automatic battlefield where only the top Mopar cars play. The SS/AA war has raged on since the late '60s and these days the action is hotter than ever. This particular Hemi war began back in 1968, when Chrysler teamed up with Hurst to produce 50 fastback Barracudas and 50 Darts specifically for Super Stock drag racing. The specially-built Mopars were lightened up with fiberglass fenders and hoods, extra-thin side glass, flyweight van seats, and a battery mounted in the trunk. Motivation came from a fire breathing 426 Hemi, topped with a cross ram and twin Holley carbs. Drivers like Dick Landy and Ronnie Sox had great success while strapped to those Hemi-urged beasts, and for Mopar it was "Rapid Transit" at its best. Sadly, the mystique faded in the 70s and mid-'80s when engine parts got scarce and became very expensive.
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