(By Scott Liggett) – The roar of a Nascar bred Hemi running around the European road tracks in a behemoth of a 70s Charger looks so wrong and sounds so scary. This Charger is a recreation of the 1972 Charger that ran Le Mans in 1976 wearing the Olympia beer livery, and named the Oly Express and driven by Hershel McGriff. It only ran 3 laps that year before retiring. But what a monster, clocking 215 mph on the Mulsanne Straight during qualifying. WOW!!.
The story of the Oly Express after Le Mans is pretty interesting. It was last known to be seen when sold at an auction back in 1980. This is a recreation, but it isn’t just any junkyard slouch. It started life as Petty built Grand National Chassis that ran in the NASCAR ranks. It won the USAC Championship in 1977. It has provenance and kicked ass in the USAC ranks back in the ’70’s. After sitting for years, it was brought back to life with Hurst/Airheart brakes, Grand National spec Ford 9 inch, and a Tex Racing 4 speed trans. In 2014, it got a genuine 1969 era Nichols built dry sumped 426 Hemi.
This boat may not be able to fly into the corners at Spa last year, but that Hemi comes roaring down the straights. In a 2014 Road & Track interview, Schwartz said that the Charger just draws crowds in the paddock. Those Europeans don’t know what to think of this car sitting there with the Porsches, Ferraris, and BMW’s. They certainly aren’t used to 630 horsepower NASCAR Hemi roaring to life. In this video, you will see him running with a priceless BMW M1 car, plus a ton of other vintage road track warriors.
Click on the video and listen to more than a half hour of a true NASCAR bred Hemi roaring around the road track at Spa last summer. Sweet sweet music.
Saw and HEARD it at Classic Le Mans in 2016 – instant eargasm!