Trailblazing Mopar_® Drag Racer Bob Lambeck – Part 1

Many Mopar_® drivers raced their Super Stock and Pro Stock machines to victory during the 1960s and 1970s. You know many of them by their last names. Sox, Landy, Grotheer, Vanke and a few others who wheeled their HEMI^® engine-powered Barracudas, Darts, Dusters and Challengers to championships at drag strips across the nation. However, there was one driver whose name you may not recognize, who was in the hunt and terrorized the competition during the era of intense factory Super Stock and Pro Stock involvement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. That trailblazing racer was Bob Lambeck, and on April 25, 2025, he passed away at the age of 84. His versatile career as a driver, tuner and engine builder spanned over six decades and had a huge impact on Mopar’s involvement in drag racing.

Born in Belleville, Michigan, Bob’s father was an exec at General Motors, so Bob’s love of cars was encouraged. When Bob turned 16, his dad bought him a new 1962 Pontiac Catalina powered by a tri-power 389-cubic-inch V8 rated at 348 horsepower. After getting his degree from the Michigan Electronics Institute, he headed west to California to work in the aircraft industry. While in California, Bob got too aggressive with 389, overrevved it, and found out the hard way that the cast crank and connecting rods Pontiac used in their engines didn’t like the abuse of a ‘lead-foot’ driver. Regardless, Bob’s father had GM ship out another engine, and soon the younger Lambeck was racing his Catalina at many Southern California drag strips, including the legendary NHRA Winternationals, where Bob drove his Catalina to a class win in C/SA.

Bob switched from Pontiacs to Chevrolet a short time after he commandeered his wife’s ’57 Chevy and made it into to racecar by adding a dual quad induction setup and a four-speed transmission. Eventually, Lambeck installed a fuel injection unit from a Corvette on the ’57 Chevy and roughed up the competition and reset the record in the G/S class. At the 1967 NHRA World Finals, Bob was noticed by Jerry Gross, a prominent figure in Dodge’s drag racing programs, who was Dick Landy’s PR guy two years earlier. Gross suggested that Bob should drive for Dick as the fleet of Dodge Super Stockers Landy was campaigning for the 1968 racing season had more than doubled from 1967. This included a pair of Charger R/Ts, a HEMI Dart, a Coronet R/T and a 440 Magnum Dart GTS.

It was at the wheel of Landy’s 440 Dart that ran in the SS/EA class that Bob Lambeck blasted to national prominence. The major drag racing and enthusiast publications wrote of his victories, and by the end of 1968, Bob was the NHRA Division Seven Super Stock Champion. Bob’s trajectory from a one-time independent racer to being a hired gun for Dodge by factory racer Dick Landy was impressive, and the folks at Chrysler HQ in Highland Park were taking notice.

“I won more points than anyone else in any other class in Landy’s 1968 Super Stock 440 Dart during the 1968 NHRA season,” said Bob. “That was such a great car to race as it was fast, consistent, and it won a lot of races and money for us.” As the 1968 season began to wind down, Landy’s second HEMI Dart would become Bob’s new weapon, and he’d go back to winning races including a big event at Orange County International Raceway.

In 1969, the 440 Dart GTS was sold, and Dodge provided Landy a brand-new 426 HEMI Super Bee. Once again, Dick tossed the keys to Lambeck. Competing in the SS/EA category, the big Bee ran low 11-second ETs and dominated the class. It also served as a rolling test bed for many aftermarket high-performance parts companies, including Edelbrock, B&M and others who were developing specialized components for Chrysler engines and transmissions. Once again, Bob terrorized the competition with numerous class wins that led to a runner-up finish in the hotly contested NHRA Division Seven Super Stock class.

As the new decade dawned in 1970, Pro Stock was born, and Chrysler sent a new Challenger for Landy to build and compete in the new NHRA heads-up class. As all eyes focused on Pro Stock, including those within Chrysler’s Race Group, Dick Landy was hyper-focused on his new Challenger. However, Lambeck would race a converted 1968 HEMI Dart to 1970 trim in Pro Stock at regional events.

Also, that year, Bob would race a new 1970 Charger R/T with a 426 Street HEMI in SS/EA at the major meets. Bob Lambeck would go on to win the NHRA Division Six Pro Stock championships and also the NHRA Division Seven Super Stock title that year. Once again, Bob was tearing it up on the drag strip. But things would drastically change for this young Southern California drag racer as the 1970s began to ramp up.

We’ll cover Bob’s journey from being a factory driver to once again running as an independent and eventually getting factory support and recognition from Direct Connection in Part Two of ‘Trailblazing Mopar Drag Racer Bob Lambeck.’