Carl Kiekhaefer's Chrysler for the 1956 Nascar Road America race

Carl Kiekhaefer having some Chrysler and Dodge race cars at Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI, during 1956 with plans for 1957? Finishing restoration, I own his '57 Chrysler 300C "Road America competition model" as he names it in correspondence. Multiple special order features to the car include 390HP motor, built on convertible X-braced frame, etc. Attached shows it the day it arrived at Mercury Outboards Plant 6, "the race car plant" in Oshkosh, driven from Detroit by a CK employee

Mercury archives photo showing the black Rd Am comp car in early development with his own header design. The front frame cross member was boxed at the factory.

Kiekhaefer did a fair amount of testing of his NASCAR road race cars at Rd. America judging by numerous photos. Going into '57 and always fighting with Bill France, he may have originally intended to "stay at home" from the ovals and just do the Elkhart Lake road race scheduled for June.

 He bought an early 300C for testing, then two more special orders including this one. The factory 390HP pkg included manual trans but the two RA Comp models were Torqueflites.

"Imperial suspension" was part of the package incorporating larger hubs, bearings, 5 on 5.5 Imperial wheels, special camshaft, high output exhaust manifolds, blocked heat chamber dual quad intake on the 392 cube Hemi.

The Road America race was cancelled with the cancellation of the NASCAR Road Racing series.

Found on https://www.facebook.com/groups/505973489414476/?fref=nf

you might recall my recent posts about Mercury Outboard Nascar race cars, those were sorta special for the very professional and clean pit crew. http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2014/11/did-you-know-mercury-marine-opened.html