Mr Norms 1971 Super Stock Demon
Larry Weiner
Performance West Media LWeiner@performancewestgroup.com (760) 630-0547
MR. NORM CELEBRATES 50 YEARS AS AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY ICON
The year was 1963, and history was about to be made by a young man with a passion for performance. His name was Norm Kraus, and from the day he opened the doors at Grand Spaulding Dodge, his vision was to build a high volume new car dealership with the focus on selling performance vehicles. Norm's motto was "Grand Spaulding Dodge, Where Kids are Kings" and unlike regular dealers who treated young buyers with indifference, Norm not only treated them with respect, but staffed his dealership with an equally young sales and service staff who loved performance cars and knew everything about them. Industry professionals said that building a new car dealership based on selling high performance cars couldn't be done, but Norm quickly proved the naysayers wrong, turning the dealership located at the corner of Grand and Spaulding in Chicago into the number one volume Dodge dealer in the world in just a few short years.
With drag racing exploding in popularity, Norm realized that he could take advantage of the axiom, "Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday." He wasted no time getting actively involved and quickly took the sport by storm. By 1965 he was racing a nitro burning, supercharged 426 Hemi powered altered wheelbase Dodge Coronet driven and tuned by Gary Dyer. The Dodge broke records all over the country, beating factory sponsored teams like the Ramchargers and even making the front page of the Los Angeles Herald when it set the record with a blistering 8.63 ET at Lions Dragway in Long Beach, California. Norm was actively involved in professional drag racing for 14 years and was instrumental in the evolution of what became today's Funny Car category.
As the industry leader in the sales of high performance Dodges, Grand Spaulding stocked more Hemi Chargers, Six Pack Super Bees and Challenger T/As than any other dealer in the country. But Norm was not content to merely sell the models the factory offered. As an example, when the new for 1967 Dart didn't offer a high performance engine, Norm took it upon himself to develop the GSS 383 big block package, making it the performance leader in the compact class. The following year, he raised the bar again and created the legendary GSS 440 Dart. Closing out the high performance era, Norm and his team developed the 1972 GSS 340 Supercharged Demon, a small block terror that packed a big block punch while offering the benefit of a low insurance premium. Today, each of these Mr. Norm's GSS vehicles is extremely valuable, and they are coveted by muscle car enthusiasts worldwide.
Mr. Norm continues to be actively involved in the automotive performance arena with his comprehensive lineup of Vehicle Personalization Packages for Dodges, Rams, Chryslers and Jeeps. In addition, he will be introducing three new limited edition Mr. Norm's GSS 50th Anniversary Challenger, Charger and Ram models that will be available from Dodge dealers nationwide starting in January, 2013. Just like the 1960's, Mr. Norm is not content to rest on his laurels, and continues to make headlines and new friends everywhere he travels.
