The Glory Days
                                                                           1962 - 1972     

      Dick Brannan’s racing career has to be one of the most interesting in Ford history. From his early years in the 1950s as a teenager in South Bend, Indiana starting with a 1932 Ford Street Rod he built while in High School, to the third floor of the Ford Division Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan his competitive spirit was there from the start. A gifted student with an engineering mind, at 15 years old he landed a part time job after school parking and retrieving customer’s cars from the service parking lot at Romy Hammes Ford Sales only two blocks away from the school. At 16 and after getting his drivers license he began to drive his ‘32 Street Rod to school and to work where it caught lots of attention and positive comments from fellow students and employees at the dealership including the dealership owner himself Mr. Romy Hammes. That recognition and the curiosity expressed by Mr. Hammes would lead to a long and treasured relationship of the more than 50 years that Dick has had with the Romy Hammes family.

      Continuing his education at Valparaiso Tech and on to the U.S. Navy for four years, (eight counting reserve time) Dick returned to the dealership where he decided to work in sales. By 1961 he developed an interest in drag racing and started to compete a few times per month at the local drag strip in Oceola, Indiana with a 401 horsepower Ford Starliner. It was then he found that the Fords were outclassed and winning was near impossible. For the 1962 year model, the Ford Motor Company started to get much more serious about performance and Mr. Hammes allowed Dick to order as his company demonstrator a new 405 horsepower 406 cubic inch Galaxie. At first Dick made no mention of any intention to race the car but with performance talk dominating the youth market just about everywhere, Mr. Hammes gave an unofficial nod of approval even though not fully understanding how competitive drag racing could actually help sales. After arrival and with GM and Chrysler cars weighing less and advertising more power, Dick decided to start from frame up and the new Galaxie was stripped of all un-necessary weight. Traction bars were installed, the engine, transmission, clutch and rear axle reworked all within the NHRA rule book guidelines. By early spring 1962 the car was finished and entered in the Super Stock class at the Oceola Dragway on opening day. Although the car performed extremely well by winning several rounds, he lost on this first outing and returned to the dealership to rethink the event and how to improve the car’s performance. (At first the car was driven back and forth to the track and some on the street. It had no lettering painted on the sides)

      Determined to fix or change what he believed caused the loss, he modified the rear axle ratio, retarded the camshaft six degrees and changed valve lash settings. After the changes the car came to life winning locally on a regular basis including tracks as far away as Gary, Indiana near Chicago. Aware of the wins and starting to better understand, Mr Hammes approved adding: Romy Hammes Ford Sales and the little bear Dick found in an early Ford ad to each rear quarter of the car. Jerry Hammes, Romy’s son, also began to show interest and ultimately became Dick Brannan’s prime supporter as he noticed curiosity seekers and Ford fans pouring into the dealership almost daily with hundreds of questions and to look at the midnight blue 406 beauty. Winning with a Ford changed everything around South Bend for Dick, Jerry and the dealership as for as performance was concerned.

      Then one Friday in late April, Dick and his crew of volunteer friends decided to visit the large Detroit Dragway 200 miles away in Michigan just to watch some of the big names run and check out the elapsed times and speeds they would turn. Since the planned visit was purely for observation, the decision was made not to take the Galaxie. Like in all racing, this decision was viewed as sort of a copout by several around town and in some ways it was true since Dick was king around northern Indiana and getting cut to pieces in a large city and home of the big three by a bunch of unknowns just didn’t seem necessary. By the time Jerry Hammes heard about the plan to go all the way to Detroit he just assumed that we would take the car and race and he said if possible he would maybe come along. To save face, a tow car and tow bar was readied, the car prepared, and away they went. On race day arrival, they found that 62 cars had been entered into Super Stock class and they could hardly believe it since the South Bend track rarely had more than 10 to 12 Super Stock cars competing each Sunday. With pressure all the way in the red, Dick continued to win round after round taking out one big name after another including two cars owned by the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn. The last round was the quintessential match that no one could have imagined when Dave Strickler from York, Pennsylvania driving his famous 409 Chevrolet Bel Air pulled to the starting line to race against the Romy Hammes Ford. Though no one thought it possible, Dick Brannan pulled out ahead by about a front fender and won by just inches at the end. The crowd went crazy as Ford fans were jumping over fences, waving, congratulating and thanking him as he made his way down the return road. Once back near the pits a track official stepped out and directed him to take the car over to the inspection area. Track owner Gil Cohen was there waiting and simply said: “We have never had a Ford win around here and so your car is under protest which means that for you to be awarded the win, a full inspection is required by the tech crew starting with the car being weighed, fuel checked, bore and stroke checked, camshaft checked, cylinder heads, valve size and carburetors checked and rear tire width no more than seven inches. If you are not willing to accept and go though the inspection or if the car is found to be illegal after being inspected, you and your car will be banned from this track and probably a few others. I have decided that if you agree to go through the inspection and found to be NHRA legal, I will double your prize money. What would you like to do?” Dick said he would stay and be inspected. At 1:40 AM on Sunday morning with most of the fans still present, the Galaxie was declared 100% NHRA legal and the very race he almost did not enter was the beginning of the most recognized Ford Dealer name ever painted on the side of a race car and the birth of the “World's Fastest Ford”.