Norm fielded a number of funny cars for match racing, with Gary Dyer at the wheel. This is Roger Lindamood’s old ’65 altered wheelbase lightweight. Norm dropped in his own drivetrain and the car turned an 8.83.
Always on the prowl for publicity, Norm concluded that the track was the way to go to get his name out there. In ’64 Norm formed the first Grand Spaulding Dodge racing team, fielding a Max Wedge and a Hemi. The following year, Norm made one of his smartest moves in hooking up with Gary Dyer. Norm wanted to race, but he didn’t want to race class, so as not to be up against his customers. Match racing was the way to go. Gary wanted to build a supercharged car, using a GMC blower that he pulled off a Greyhound bus. The engine went into an altered wheelbase Dodge Coronet--the forerunner of the Funny Car. The Coronet turned an 8.63 at Lions Dragway, and became the fastest Funny Car in the country. The Dodge also made the front page of the Los Angeles Herald. Norm called up Drag News, and offered to give them the times he turned every time he raced. Norm handled the “business” end of the business, leaving product development and wrench twisting and race driving to professionals, like Gary Dyer.
By 1966, GSD had become the largest high performance dodge dealership in the country. When he saw that Chevy was kicking butt with their ’67 396 Camaro, Norm asked the Dodge rep why they couldn’t drop the 383, in place of the then top mill 273. The rep replied that the engineers said it couldn’t be done. The next day, the GSD wrenches had a 383
firmly planted in a Dart. The car became the prototype for the factory 383 Dart GTS which arrived a few months later.
Then, Norm came up with another brainstorm. He called up Continental Airlines, and asked the cost of a night flight, stand-by, coming into Chicago from California. $57! So advertised, “We’ll pay your airfare from anywhere,” and started selling cars all over the country.
In 1968, Grand Spaulding developed the first 440 Dart GSS that became the prototype for the factory M Code 440 Dart GTS. Norm also sold about 20 factory (Hurst-converted) 1968 Hemi Darts. When the cars came in he called the customers to pick them up, they said they wanted Norm to set them up. He wasn’t prepared for this, but he said, no problem. Norm put through a repair order, and went through entire car. The setup charge was $4250, this, on top of the cost of the car, which was under 5 grand. Aside from reworking the carbs and recurving the distributor, what the customer got for his 4-plus grand was a set of headers, a hotter cam, a competition valve job, heavy duty valve springs with aluminum retainers and chromeoly pushrods. The oiling system was beefed up with Milodon components, including a deep oil pan.
Moving back to the trans, GS replaced the stock clutch pack with a heavy duty unit, and they and swapped in a manual valve body. The rear end was stuffed with 4.89 gears, and a pinion snubber and traction bars completed the setup.
