Every year that the Bonneville speed week comes and goes, there are anniversaries of historic achievements that get celebrated. This year was no different, and the 45th anniversary of NASCAR’s Bobby Isaac and the K & K Insurance crew’s Dodge Daytona Charger breaking records left and right in 1971 was remembered by the Aero Warrior team.
When NASCAR banned the Dodge Charger Daytona at the end of the 1970 race season, team owner Nord Krauskopf took the car, driver Bobby Isaac, and his talented pit crew to Bonneville for one purpose: To break records.
Bobby Isaac ran away with the NASCAR championship in 1970, due largely in part to the factory built “stock” hot rod that Dodge built. Realizing that the factory car designs were going in a direction that NASCAR did not want to go in, they banned the car for the 1971 season.
Once the fastest cars from Chrysler were parked, there was little to nothing that could be done with them. Fortunately for the racing world, K & K Insurance’s Nord Krauskopf decided to make one more racing run with these specialty cars. They went to Bonneville where they proceeded to break 28 world records.
Thankfully, the remaining crew was reassembled to commemorate the feat and capture the feeling and emotions of that on film with the car’s new owner. Remembering the original event is Buddy Parrott, now a highly respected crew chief in NASCAR, legendary driver Ned Jarrett, Kenneth Troutt, and Harry Hyde’s nephew, Tommy Johnson.
After the crew’s original trip to Bonneville, Isaac went back to NASCAR and drove the tamer “wingless” Chargers for the 1971 season. Harry Hyde continued to crew and build his legacy even brighter. He kept the old K & K Charger sitting outside of his garage, seemingly aware that it earned a place in history. Maybe he knew that this old girl would make a return trip to the salt one day?