What is the straight scoop?
From the mid 50's into the early 60's one can find Chevrolet NASCAR race cars with both 5 lug and 6 lug wheels. I have looked at pics of some of these cars this morning and seen both wheels used.
From reading the "Ghosts of NASCAR" book regarding John Beauchamp and Dale Swanson I saw that when they first went to racing actual STOCK cars, in 1955, they had to indeed be factory stock and equipped with nothing other than what came from the factory. This argument was huge when Chrysler went with the 426 Hemi and we saw things like the fast back Ford Torino and the "winged" Chrysler cars. The factory had to make somewhere between 50 and 100 of something in order for the NASCAR guys to use it.
Swanson, who had connections to Chevrolet, as early as 1955, lobbied them to make the pickup truck rear end an "option" in the Chevrolet cars. The reason given, in "Ghosts of NASCAR was that the rear axle ratios were lower in the pickup truck. I think there may be more to it than that. I had a lot of first hand experience with Tri-five Chevy stuff. We wanted a lower gear set in our 56 racer. A friend had a 55 Chevy "Tradesman" 2 dr station wagon, built on the cheap. That wagon, with 235 6 cyl and three on the tree came from the factory with 4:11 rear end. I have held one right in my hand and counted the teeth, no doubt on that. So Swanson could have already had access to that gear set. So there must be some other reason.
The pickup truck had 6 lug wheels and had had them for years. The 3/4 ton pickup rear ends also had floating axles with much stronger bearings and hubs. I think it may have been possible to mount pickup truck spindles and backing plates on the Chevy car front suspension. That would give you 6 lugs on the front. Now I have read this morning that the stock Chevy 5 lug hubs and wheels had both hub and wheel strength issues when used on the cars on the big tracks at higher speeds.
If you look at pictures of the real cars you can see both 5 lug and 6 lug used. This morning I read some info that said this issue was moot after 62 as then everyone went to the 5 lug Holman and Moody wheels.......based on the Pontiac pattern! The first I think were 9 inches wide then 10 1/2. So no more arguments.
Here is a photo of a 57 half ton. Clearly see 6 lugs, no floating rear end, more likely on 3/4 ton.
55 pickup by
Nathan Pitts, on Flickr
So what do you guys think on this issue? I was going to use 9" H&M wheels on my 60 Chevy but think that is incorrect. I have some 6 lug 7 1/2 wheels coming which I think will be closer to the real thing that was used.
Thoughts?
MB
