Tom Hoover

Father of the 426 Hemi^®

Chrysler engineer Tom Hoover is known best for the 426 Hemi engine, but his first Chrysler factory racing success was the Slant Six Hyper Pak, which he developed as Chrysler's first race program coordinator. The engine blew away the competition on the Daytona road course in 1961. Before that, Hoover won the C Gas title at the 1960 NHRA Nationals in Detroit, driving a 1958 Plymouth powered by a strange-looking 392 cubic inch Chrysler Hemi. The engine's weird intake manifold tuned the left bank differently than the right bank. One side of the manifold had long runners for high torque, and the other had short runners for high horsepower. Nobody but Hoover would have done that, but it worked.

Hoover is one of the original Ramchargers, the wildly innovative group of Chrysler engineers that built the famous "High and Mighty" gasser that astounded the 1959 NHRA Nationals. It was a 1949 Plymouth business coupe powered by a 354-cubic-inch Chrysler Hemi. The club went on to dominate the early days of super stock drag racing in its Dodge Max Wedge with the distinctive red and white Ramchargers logo on its doors.

This was all before Hoover even thought about the number "426."

When the time came and Chrysler President Lynn Townsend wanted an engine that could win in NASCAR, Hoover was the guiding force for the 426 Hemi. He worked with the product planners and the engineers to develop the engine in time for the 1964 Daytona Speed Week. The Hemi totally dominated qualifying, and Richard Petty won the 500-mile stock car race in a 426 Hemi-powered Plymouth.

Hoover remained at the center of racing development at Chrysler, helping Dodge and Plymouth Hemis dominate drag racing through the golden ages of Super Stock and Factory Experimental, and into the Pro Stock era.