The Group 44 Dodge Dart

The Dodge Dart race program was a collaboration between Bob Tullius’ Group 44 team of only three employees and the Team Starfish organization. Team Starfish was preparing Plymouth Barracudas for competition, and Dodge management asked Team Starfish leader and driver Scott Harvey to recruit the right driver for the Dart program. Bob Tullius was selected.

The article below details the Dart program and was first printed in an issue of Cars magazine.

Group 44 invades the sporty cars’ hallowed ground with a Dart GT that comes on like a miniature Grand National stocker

By Ron Hunter, Cars magazine

When you hear racers discuss “Baby Grands” you can rest assured they’re not referring to someone’s piano or the local philharmonic! The only music they’re making reference to is the throaty growl that’s emitted by the tuned exhaust headers on the latest in-type racing machine, the sedan racer. The term “Baby Grand” comes from the makeup of the “stock” Dodge Darts, Ford Mustangs and Plymouth Barracudas competing for national honors in the newest class of American auto racing. The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) has a special Sedan class which has proven to be one of the main attractions at both local and national events.

“They look like baby Grand National stock cars, “somebody said – and the name stuck.

In sports car racing circles where the overall sound of competition has traditionally been like a swarm of angry hornets as small-engined foreign compacts snake around the road course, the bold and brassy “Baby Grands” are making it big.

One of the more interesting cars in this racing class is the Dodge Dart GT campaigned by Group 44, Inc., a racing team home based in Falls Church, Virginia. Headed by two top notch amateur sports car drivers, Bob Tullius and Dick Gilmartin, the team also campaigns a factory TR4-A. Tullius, a two-letter man in college gave up a promising career as sales executive three years ago to pursue racing as a full-time business-hobby. Partner Gilmartin vacated his post as vice president of a Washington advertising agency to become a full-time driver. Tullius, who just turned 35 has been crowned SCCA National Champion four times over the past four years.

Tuned length tubes with drag-type collectors are used on the Group 44 273 Dart engine. Setup is similar to the one used on the limited production D/Stock Darts.

Beefy full-width roll bar replaces the rear seat. All sound deadeners were deleted to keep weight down.

Tullius and Gilmartin were the first to enter a Dodge Dart on the sedan circuit. They felt that the Dart would handle better because of the three inches it has over the Mustang and the five inches it has over the Barracuda in the wheelbase department. At first, they didn’t even realize what the potential of the Dart engine would be or if the suspension would hold up on the snake-like sports car road courses. However, once they noted the success of the Formula S Barracuda, which had a one-year head start in the field over Dodge, they felt certain that the Dart was the one to go with.

For those of our readers who are not up on the rules and regulations associated with sedan racing, here’s a rundown of what can and can’t be done to stock production sedans for competition.

Remote oil filter mount helps keeps the lube cool and makes filter changing a simple job.

Although SCCA sedans have been referred to as baby Grand National stock cars, there is somewhat less romancing allowed in the preparation of compacts for competition under sedan racing rules. There are two primary factors involved in the preparation of all sedan racing cars, homologation and Appendix J. Under FIA rules a factory must build 1000 cars or pieces of a particular type before they are considered legal. Appendix J of the International Sporting Code determines what you can and cannot do to a car under sedan racing rules.

In the engine compartment you are limited to 300 cubic inches. You are, however, not allowed to overbore the stock block, even though displacement does not go over the maximum allowed. Any pistons and camshaft can be used, and you can port, polish and completely blueprint the heads. Internal balancing and blueprinting is allowable. You must use homologated manifolds, but can use any carburetor as long as it will bolt on to the manifold, and the number of barrels are the same as the homologated item.

Tony Adamowicz and Dick Gilmartin work on the Dart. Hidden under the 426-style dry air filter is a Holley four barrel adapted to the stock ‘S’ package manifold. A long-duration, high lift cam insures free breathing and a 7500-rpm redline.

Tullius and Gilmartin utilize an engine similar to the ones installed in the new DI Stock Darts. Intake chores are handled by a Holley quad carburetor with a center pivot float which prevents flooding and stalling when the car is rocked full bore around a series of turns. A dry air filter, similar to the ones used on hemi race car engines, mounts atop the oversized pot. A long-duration, high-lift cam and a solid lifter valve train guarantee over-7500 rpm performance. In charge of exhausting are a pair of lightweight headers with individually tuned 1 ½ inch pipes and 3-inch collectors. These are very similar to the ones made up by Doug Headers for the D/ Stock Dart drag cars. The rest of the stock 273 cube engine has been treated as though it were being readied for drag car competition.

All critical lower end components were clearanced and hand-fitted and high compression pistons were fitted to the beefy stock rods. Adequate lubrication is insured by a remote inner fender well-mounted oil filter and a cooler mounted off to the side of the oversize radiator. A four-speed Chrysler transmission transmits the torque to the big car rear end.

Electric tach and a gauge cluster keep driver Tullius informed of what’s happening under the hood.

In the suspension department the rules allow changes in springs and shocks, but the new ones must bolt to the stock component mounting points. Sway or stabilizer bars may be added and brake lining materials can be altered to increase the car’s ability to negotiate the tortuous courses. Wheels and tires may be changed but the dimensions must conform to the homologated item’s size.

The suspension was no problem for Tullius and Gilmartin, as the stock Formula S suspension package is quite beefy as is off the showroom floor. All they had to do was add beefier shocks (listed MoPar parts) clip the springs, and add segmented sintered metallic linings. The big car rear end, stock on the DI Stock Darts, is beefy enough to take the punishment dished out on a road racing course and still come back for more. All the component parts were hand-picked to make sure that the suspension would work for instead of against driver Tullius.

Oil cooler mounts to the right of the oversize radiator. HD suspension is used.

The rules book doesn’t allow too many modifications on the inside of the car either. A roll bar is mandatory, and the seats may be changed as long as the new ones weigh as much as the stockers! All upholstery must remain intact, but the rear seat can be removed. To bring the weight down as low as possible, without causing any trouble on the tech line, the car was ordered from the factory sans undercoating and body deadeners. The undercoating was left in some areas to help in the weight transfer and traction departments. This is very similar to the treatment used on the D Darts.

Auxiliary gas tank with a flip-top filler fills the trunk shelf area.

To make the starting grid all accessories such as windows, windshield wipers, horn and lights (even though they are taped up) must remain in working order. The cars are actually prepared like Grand National stockers. They are assembled on jacks with the engine out and all drive components off. Each suspension and chassis item is individually installed, double-checked and triple-checked. A NASCAR-type oil cooling system is fitted and the engine, after being blueprinted and assembled is lowered in place. Nothing is left to chance. Every piece is checked again, the car is put through a shakedown cruise, tightened up and loaded in a van for carting to an event.

The Group 44 team was actually working under some sort of a handicap when they started with the Dart. The Barracudas and Mustangs had a year’s experience in sedan racing and were known performers in Class A sedan racing. In addition, the Group 44 Dart was delivered only three weeks before the grueling inaugural Sebring, Florida, competition.

Sintered metallic brake linings and HD axles enable Group 44’s “Detroit Iron” to do a job on the imports.

In a Hollywood-type Climax, however Tullius drove the Dart to victory on its very first outing. He punctuated his Sebring victory with six more in his next nine outings virtually locking up the Northeast Division Championship at mid-season and gaining for Group 44’s berth in the National Road Race of Champions to be held at Riverside Raceway in November.

Competition for the Dart in Class A is made up of Mustangs, Barracudas and Corvairs. Class B cars such as the Ford Cortina, Volvo and BMW also compete against the American compact entries for overall honors. It’s a tough grind, but it looks like Tullius and Gilmartin are sure favorites to Dart to the top!