|
 James
Hylton's much-heralded
1965
Dodge
Coronet
was
built
in
the
Spartanburg,
South Carolina
shops
of
famed
NASCAR
pioneer
Cotton
Owens. The Coronet was constructed
as a
dirt
track
/
short
track
car
for
driver
David
Pearson's
usage
in
the
Chrysler
boycott-shortened
1965
season.
Due to the boycott, Pearson and Owens only competed in 14 of the 55 NASCAR Grand
National races contested during the season. The team was able to capture
two victories as
Pearson
won
the
Sandlapper
200
on
the
1/2-mile
dirt
Columbia
Speedway
at
Columbia,
South
Carolina.
Pearson
also
won
the
Capital
City
300 on the 1/2-mile dirt oval located at
the
Richmond, Virginia
Fairgrounds.
 James
Hylton
purchased
the
car
and engine along with a hauler
from
Owens
at
the
end
of
the
1965
season. Both
Hylton
and
crew
chief
Bud Hartje
set
their
goals
on
successfully competing in the
1966
NASCAR
Grand
National
Season.
"The
car
was
built
to
run
dirt
and
it
was
super
heavy"
stated
Hylton
"we
only
had
one
car
so we
ran
it at
all
the
tracks
that
NASCAR
ran
on
back
then."
In
1966,
Hylton
won
the
coveted
NASCAR
Grand
National
"Rookie
of
the
Year"
award
by
compiling
20
Top-5
and
32
Top-10
finishes
in 41
races.
Hylton
finished
second
in
the
1966 driver points
championship
to
David
Pearson
by a
thin
margin.
Hylton
was
1,950
points
behind
first
place
Pearson
and
10,736
points
in
front
of
the
third
place
finisher,
Richard
Petty.
On July 16, 1966, Hylton and his Dodge
Coronet almost captured the 300-lap NASCAR Grand National Series event at
historic Islip Speedway in New York. He took first place from Tom
Pistone's 1964 Ford on lap 146 and held it until running out of gas on lap 292.
Hylton would go on to finish second behind winner Bobby Allison and his 1965
Chevrolet. This would be Allison's second career Grand National win, coming only
four days after he captured his first career victory at Oxford, Maine on July
12th.
 The
only
change
that
Hylton
made for the
1967 NASCAR Grand National season,
was a Coronet-500 style modification to the car's roof line.
The
same
reliable
426
cubic
inch
engine
that
propelled
the
car
in
1966
was
used
for
the
1967
season.
Hylton
again
finished
second
in
the
Grand
National
points
championship
with
an
incredible
26
Top-5
and
39
Top-10
finishes
in 46
races.
In
any
ordinary
season,
this
would
have
been
good
enough
for a
championship
but
1967
was
the
year
that
Richard
Petty
and his 1967 Plymouth won a
Grand National Series
record
27
wins.
 Up
until
the
last
race
of
the
1967
season,
the
1965
Coronet
had
survived
87
grueling NASCAR
Grand
National
races
without
a
scratch.
Unfortunately, that
changed
on
October
29,
1967,
as
Hylton
spun
the
48
Dodge
in
oil
from
Bobby
Isaac's
motor
on
lap
55 during the American 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham
NC.
The
car
was
unable
to
compete
at
the
season's
final
race
at
Ashville-Weaverville
Speedway
and
was
sold
to a
dirt
track
racer
in
Virginia.
The
Dodge
soldiered
on
in local late-model competition
until
it
was
eventually
scrapped.
While the tough little Coronet didn't
capture any victories in NASCAR Grand National competition, it did finish second
on seven occasions. The Coronet would lead 264 laps in Grand National
competition and win the pole position for the 1966 Independent 250 at
Starlite Speedway in Monroe, NC and the 1967 Maine 250 at Oxford
Speedway. Hylton has proudly stated "there will never be another
race car like that 65 Coronet".
|
