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I have a brochure entitled "Big Day at the Proving Grounds
which is the story in photos and captions of June 16, 1954, the day the 4000
acres near Chelsea, MI, opened with ceremony and pageantry.
Well into the book is a picture of Betty Skelton and
another of her driving the Dodge FireArrow. Captions: "27
year old airplane and racing pilot from Daytona Beach, sets out to establish a
women's world record in a special Dodge FireArrow sports car. She takes
two fast warm-up laps and...." "...the checkered flag drops as she hurtles
past the AAA timer... which shows she negotiated the 4.7 mile oval in 1 minute
and 58 secnds -- at a speed of 143.44 mph!" "Smiles Betty as she is
presented with a dozen Chrysler Imperial roses, 'It was fun. That Dodge is
really a breeze to drive.' "
The pics are B&W and grainy and would not scan
well. I'm guessing Chrysler had Betty under contract for perhaps the year
of 1954 which would include introduction of the '55 cars.
Point is for all the decades that GM built "dream cars"
for the auto shows that were non-running show cars with lots of "sizzle",
Chrysler was building running driving concept cars that could go out and set
records. Chrysler gave you the "steak".
Wayne G
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