Consider this for a moment: the Chrysler Max Wedge engine is over 60 years old. This engine was developed during the JFK era and was the precursor to the mighty 426 HEMI® engine. It made the Ramchargers famous, and they made the Max Wedge a force to be reckoned with. Originally displacing 413 cubic inches when it debuted in 1962, it grew to 426 for 1963. For over six decades, this powerplant has continuously competed on drag strips across America while still setting records and putting their competition on the trailer. While the Chevy 409 was celebrated by the Beach Boys, and Ford’s “Total Performance” tuned 406 Galaxies gave the Blue Oval fans something to cheer, it was the venerable Max Wedge that survived and is still raced competitively today.
In the current regime of NHRA’s Stock Eliminator Class, it’s a variety of modern machines and old-school muscle. They get factored by horsepower and shipping weight, but it’s one of the last remaining bastions where spectators can watch various generations of cars race side-by-side. For retired Chrysler exec Mike Delahanty, he’s not spending his twilight years on the golf course or on a lake floating on a pontoon boat sipping a cocktail. He’s been thrashing on his gorgeous 1964 Plymouth Belvedere at drag strips across America. This Michigan resident might be 71 years old, but age is just a number. He has the stamina to maintain, race and trailer his powerful Plymouth to races across the country all by himself.
Growing up in South New Jersey, Mike became a drag racing fan at a very young age, around 1965. He lived through the muscle car era and hung on the fence at legendary East Coast tracks like Cecil County Raceway and Atco Dragway. Mike saw Mopar® teams like Dick Landy race the HEMI engine-powered A/FX Dodge Coronet. After graduating from college in 1976, Mike got a job at American Motors Corporation (AMC) as a Service Rep. With a good, solid job, Mike was able to pursue his dream in racing in Stock Eliminator and campaigned a Chevy, Pontiac, and even an Oldsmobile. As the 1980s progressed, the domestic auto industry was disrupted as Chrysler bought AMC and with it, the much-loved Jeep® brand. They also got Mike Delahanty; and with his passion, hard work and smart business acumen, he moved up the corporate food chain to lead Dodge’s return to NASCAR around 2000. “That was a career highlight for me, I stood in the winner’s circle of the 2008 Daytona 500 when Ryan Newman drove his Dodge Charger to victory and I presented him a check for a million dollars for the Penske Team,” smiled Mike. “I retired from Chrysler shortly after that, but still worked within the drag racing and circle track industry.”
Now with time on his hands, Mike decided to get serious about the 1964 Max Wedge Belvedere he bought off eBay back in 2005. “I had no intention of getting back into racing, but one night while scrolling on eBay, this 1964 Plymouth Max Wedge Belvedere popped up, winked at me, and I had to have it,” laughed Mike. “I always loved the ’64 Plymouths. The one came from the West Coast and had been a Stocker since the early 1990s and just needed some updating and TLC. After I purchased it, I slowly chipped away at the overall combination. I focused on engine, transmission, chassis and suspension enhancements, and the car responded well and went faster. After being out of drag racing for well over a decade, I was ready to jump back in with both feet and go wide open in making my Max Wedge Plymouth one of the fastest in the country.”
So focused was Mike, he began working with one of the best Max Wedge engine builders and tuners in the world, Steve Wann. “A few years ago, I got after my engine program and began working with Steve Wann. He’s been making both the 413 and 426 Max Wedge combos very fast in Stock Eliminator and is affectionately known as ‘Mr. 413’ with his record-breaking Max Wedge-powered ’62 Plymouth Sport Fury,” commented Mike. The 426 Max Wedge was always a stout beast of an engine ever since it devoured the competition at the 1963 NHRA Winternationals when the Ramchargers and Golden Commandos duked it out for supremacy in the Stock class. “There are two versions of the 426 Max Wedge, a high and low compression version with different camshaft specs. They were both underrated at 415 and 425 horsepower, respectively, by Chrysler, but with the numerous improvements over the last 60 years in piston ring sealing, camshaft development and other items that make old school engines more efficient, the approximate horsepower on my 426 Max Wedge is around 625. In NHRA Stock Eliminator, we still need to run the production cross ram intake manifold, Carter AFB carbs, cylinder heads and block, basically the same stuff this engine came with back in 1964.”
Mike’s crowning achievement and years of hard work paid off when he broke into that magical nine-second ET that is tough with a traditional old-school Stock Eliminator racecar. It was at Maple Grove Raceway when Mike’s Max Wedge Plymouth broke that barrier. “Last fall, during the Dutch Classic at Maple Grove Raceway, my car was running 9.90s, and that was the first time it ever went that fast. Earlier this year, my Max Wedge has continued to click off nine-second ETs,” exclaimed Mike. Recently at the NHRA National Open at Norwalk Raceway Park in June, Mike snagged the number one qualifying spot in Stock Eliminator and a week later during the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, was the number four qualifier.
Mike has owned his venerable Max Wedge Plymouth for almost two decades and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. As Mike told us, “I’ve owned many racecars during my lifetime, and this 1964 Max Wedge Plymouth Belvedere is by far my favorite. It has the DNA of the original Ramchargers and even today, run enthusiasts look at that cross ram intake manifold in amazement while the older guys, including me, smile when my old Plymouth is in the pits, staging lanes or yanking the front wheels off the starting line.”
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