05/03/2024
4/27 is 427 Day!
This 2,070hp four-wheel-drive projectile is actually faster then a speeding bullet!
The Challenger II streamliner was the brainchild of the hyper-prolific and ingenious Mickey Thompson in collaboration with Ford's small volume fabricator Kar Kraft. Built in only five months in 1968, because Ford spared no expence for the best and most talented engineers and fabricators. It was noteworthy for its unprecedented who's-who of talent. With drag-racing fabricator Pat Foster overseeing the build, Thompson hired the famous IndyCar builder Quin Epperly for chassis construction, TopFuel builder Tom Jobe, and Nye Frank handling the many aluminum panels necessary to sheath the race car, with assistance from Lil' John Buttera. Ford supplied money and engineering talent, with some fab help from Kar Kraft in Detroit. The 30 feet long and 37 inches high Challenger II had two 427-SOHC Ford engines. A conventional naturally aspirated one prosucing 810 horses up front. And a supercharged one producing 1,260 horses in the rear. It required a judicious application of the twin foot-operated throttles to keep steady. These engines cost over $6,000 apiece at the time. We should also add that this car was being constructed while Thompson was in the middle of building his Bonneville Mustangs and three Mustang Funny Cars.
On one of the early runs piloted by Mickey Thompson the Challenger II topped 400mph. To put that into perspective, that's 586fps (feet per second) which is faster than the 500fps bullet from a .22 caliber CB Cap rimfire “Colibrí” round. The Challenger II hit 400mph easily, as it was just warming up before an unseasonal heavy rain storm flooded the salt. Soon after Ford pulled the plug as part of its withdraw from racing in the fall of 1969.
Thompson had planned to run the Challenger II agian in 1988. He put together the first part of the funding to upgrade the Challenger II, three weeks later, Mickey and his second wife Trudy were gunned down in their driveway.
Recently his son Danny just took Ford's 50 year old Challenger II and broke the current piston-powered land speed record (AA/FS class) at a two way average of 448.75 mph, with two non-Ford engines running nitromethane. A terminal speed that absolutely smashed George Poteet Speed Demon's 439 mph record. If left in its original shape, that car would be worth millions today.
