Marcis Dodge Charger Daytona To Debut At MCACN

Among the rare and unusual cars that will be at the Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals in November will be one of the last original, surviving competition-built 1969 Dodge Charger Daytonas. The feature car was campaigned by NASCAR racing legend Dave Marcis. MCACN, as it is known, takes place November 21-22 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, a stone’s throw from Chicago. 

This 1969 Charger Daytona NASCAR racer is the real deal and has been verified by many experts who know these unique cars inside and out. By using period photographs, mechanical verifications, expert testimony, and careful analyses/comparison to actual tech inspection photographs, it’s confirmed this car raced in the 1970 Daytona 500, driven and owned by Dave Marcis, one of NASCAR’s most fierce and well-respected independent competitors of that era.

Powered by a period-correct 426 HEMI engine with its unique NASCAR ‘bathtub’ intake manifold and Holley 4500 series carburetor, this rare Charger Daytona race car is a reminder of the brutal horsepower, aerodynamic experimentation, and mechanical ingenuity that defined NASCAR superspeedway racing at the beginning of the 1970s. The Charger Daytona’s towering rear wing, pointed aerodynamic nose, and purpose-built race construction represent one of the most recognizable engineering chapters in American motorsports history.

Now part of the Jennings Wing Cars collection, whose goal is preserving the History of America’s Legendary Wing Cars like the Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird, this genuine NASCAR competition Charger Daytona represents the high-water mark of Chrysler’s involvement in the NASCAR wars that raged on the super speedways and high-bank tracks that pitted Detroit’s auto companies against one another.  

Now painstakingly revived by Magnum Auto Restoration of LaSalle, Illinois, to its ‘as-raced’ condition during the 1970 Daytona 500, Jennings Wing Cars has returned this ‘Wing Warrior’ Dodge to its blue-and-yellow livery when Dave Marcis campaigned it that season. It’s one of a very few surviving Dodge Charger Daytona race cars that have this high level of NASCAR documentation and competition history.

During this unique Charger Daytona’s remarkable life, it’s had a long and illustrious career:
• Originally owned, built, and raced by Dave Marcis
• Competed in the 1970 Daytona 500
• Was later painted Petty Blue and was sponsored by Goody’s Headache Powder
• On display for many years in the Winston Cup Museum
• Invited to the prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed event in England
• Driven by Richard Petty during the ceremonial final Winston Cup Lap

Among the other notable happenings at MCACN will be the appearance of one 1969 Yenko Camaro in each color courtesy of the Ryan Snyder Collection, including the one-of-a-kind Yenko Camaro prototype, which was tested by Super Stock & Drag Illustrated Magazine in ’69 and has features found on no other Yenko Camaro.