History

The engine that dominated the Chrysler Hemi in NASCAR Racing, giving Ford its 7th consecutive NASCAR Manufacturers Championship in 1969.

A little known fact is that Ford dominated the Hemi during the 60's winning the Manufacturers Championship every year from 1963 to 1969 depriving the 426 Hemi of ever winning a Manufacturers Championship during the big block era of the 1960's.
In 1963, Ford won the NASCAR Manufacturers Championship with its 427FE engine beating the Chevy 427 Mystery engine, and the 426 Wedge from Chrysler. To counter this, Chrysler developed a special set of hemispherical heads to top their 426, resulting in the 426 Hemi. This developed so much more power that a new block had to be designed. The purpose of this engine was to beat Ford's 427, which it did at first.

The Hemi's inaugural race was the 1964 Daytona 500, were it dominated and took the top five spots, just like Ford did the year before in 1963! A few weeks later Ford released a Rev Kit for the 427 allowing the engine to rev higher and make more power. By the end of the season, Ford had won more races and took home its second Manufacturers Championship. NASCAR then banned the Ford 427 High Riser engine from racing, due to hood clearance issues, and suspended the 426 Hemi for six months (Feb-June 1965) because the Hemi was not a production engine.
Chrysler fans like to brag about taking the top five spots at the 1964 Daytona, but Ford did the same thing in 1963 and 1965. Furthermore the Manufacturers Championship should not be confused with the Drivers Points Race, of which Richard Petty of Plymouth won a few. A lot of magazines and books deceive its readers into thinking that Plymouth won the championship in 1964 or 67, but they are confusing it with the Drivers Points Race.

The Boss 429 served as a short but vital part in defeating the Hemi. Due to homologation rules, the Boss couldn't race at the beginning of 1969, and when it was finally available, it dominated the 1-mile and larger super speedways. Two races in which the Boss didn't dominate that season was the Talladega 500 and the last race in Texas. The reason for this is that the track was brand new and unsafe, so the Drivers boycotted the race and no Boss 429 raced in that race. The reason for the loss at Texas in December was because Ford pulled out of racing two months earlier in October. Ford finished the decade with a seven win consecutive streak.