Sox & Martin and McCandless Collection to Sponsor NHRA HEMI Challenge

BURLINGTON, NC. – April 26, 2024 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Sox & Martin and the McCandless Collection are thrilled to announce their sponsorship of the 2024 HEMI Challenge as part of the 70th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The world’s biggest and most prestigious drag race takes place Aug. 28-Sept. 2.

The HEMI Challenge is the longest running continuous specialty race in NHRA history and has been a fan favorite for over two decades. This event features exciting heads-up, wheel-standing, side-by-side racing of HEMI-powered 1968 Super Stock Dodge Darts and Plymouth Barracudas competing in the NHRA SS/AH class. These limited production ‘HEMI Package Cars,’ built specifically for Super Stock competition, have been a part of drag racing history for more than five decades and made the Sox & Martin name legendary among fans and feared among the competition. The Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge presented by the McCandless Collection will elevate this celebrated event to even greater heights with an enhanced social media and marketing focus, bringing even more recognition to the hardworking and diehard SS/AH racers and their HEMI-powered machines.

“I’m so excited and pleased to have the Sox & Martin brand sponsor the HEMI Challenge at the 2024 NHRA US Nationals, especially since this is the 60^th anniversary of this tremendous engine. I’ve always been attached to the 426 HEMI engine and Ronnie (Sox) won many races and championships driving HEMI-powered Plymouth race cars starting in 1965,” said Mopar legend Buddy Martin. “When we opened our new race shop back in the late 1960s, I intentionally used ‘426’ for our P.O. Box number. The 426 HEMI is legendary and the Mopar drivers who currently compete in the Super Stock HEMI class keep this iconic engine’s legacy alive for the next generation of racers. To see how fast these 1968 HEMI Barracudas and Darts are going today is simply amazing. To be a part of ‘The Big Go’ is an honor for me and the Sox & Martin name. I have many great memories from the NHRA US Nationals, including the 1969 event when Ronnie won Super Stock and then our back-to-back Pro Stock wins in 1970 and 1971 with Ronnie and Herb (McCandless) driving our team cars.”

Along with Buddy Martin serving as the Grand Marshal and Honorary Starter during the 2024 Sox & Martin NHRA HEMI Challenge presented by the McCandless Collection, another Mopar Legend, Herb McCandless, will once again…