Daytona 1963

[George Smolinski]

Daytona, 1963. One of the most iconic and important auto racing photos ever taken. Mickey Thompson was driving Chevrolet's "Mystery Engine": a special 427 cid V8 that wouldn't see production for 3 more years. Notice all the lead cars are 1963 Corvettes...except that square bodied grocery getter that looks like it's in 5th place during this testing run.

That car is a 1963 Pontiac Tempest with a dual quad 421 Super Duty in it. And that Tempest isn't in 5th place. It's in position TO LAP THE TOP FOUR CARS. That's correct. Those Corvettes, Mickey Thompson, Chevy and it's Mystery Engine are about to go one lap down to GM's experimental performance division, Pontiac. Chevrolet never really did recover from this slap in the face from it's sister division.

The next year, in 1964, Pontiac again would create history with John DeLorean on board. His idea was to take an inexpensive mid-sized car, stuff a big, powerful engine in it, and sell it cheap to appeal to the younger set. Higher-ups called him nuts but he did it anyway creating the GTO and ushering in the next best 10 years in American automotive history: The Muscle Car Era.

[Dave Gray]

This is a great photo.  Thanks for posting.