Equally heroic was the Rossi Automotive Inc. #22 Daytona driven by Dick Brooks. After NASCAR got wind of the 1970 Ford Torino King Cobra and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II, they got suitably freaked out and imposed a 305ci limit on any aero cars. Everyone went back to regular Chargers and Road Runners and Torinos and Cyclones. richard Petty said a 305ci car was never even considered. But Mario Rossi decided to try and make do with the 305ci engine. He had Keith Black whip up a 10,000rpm 305ci small block using lessons from the 1970 Mopar Trans Am effort and dropped it in his '69 Daytona, then entered it in the '71 Daytona 500 with Dick Brooks behind the wheel. It lead at various points of the race, but got tangled up in a crash that knocked it back to 7th at the finish. They complained that as good as the aero was, it needed another 20-30hp to be competitive and decided to just play the way NASCAR wanted, going back to a conventional body car with a Hemi
