Event Coverage What are YOU doing to get ready for the 2015 Meltdown Drags?

Lmao!
I could build a faster Briggs & Stratton to power a Tri-Five than anything unlucky enough to have goon sprocket wrenching on it!lol!

And the old Mare is going to have a little more kick next time you see her Ric

Scott


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That was pretty good.

 

That car is in the Nostalgia Gasser group, I should be making some more runs with those guys next year.

The Little Engine That Could

Original Gasser from the ’60’s brought out of retirement

The 1940 Chevy coupe was purchased by Gary Blasey in 1958. He was 17 at the time and had to borrow half the money from a friend. This awesome sum was $7.50. The farmer who had the car had run it into a tree to stop it because the brakes had failed and this us how he found it with the grill pushed into the radiator and the front fenders in bad shape. But he loved it at first sight. It looked like a gasser to him and that’s all he could think of. The dream was born over the next two years. It was first run on the strip late in ’61, Gary had a grin so big he could hardly get out of the car.

In the beginning it sported a 261 c.i. Chevy 6 cly. and it’s first runs were in the 14.80’s. At that time this was good enough to run with the super stockers which was 335hp/348 c.i. Chevy. WOW! This is fun running with the big guys.

Over the next ten years this engine was run in all kinds of configurations and finally go it to run in the 13.90’s.

In 1972 the V8 was installed and the car because of many reasons didn’t get raced very much any more. With the V8 it’s best times were in the 11.10’s. It has been in storage since 1974 and now here is is racing again after 27 years of storage.

In 2007 the car was chosen as the poster child for the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Ky

 

What I'm doing to get ready for Meltdown 6... Well after taking 55' to Great Lakes Dragaway on a Tuesday, made 3 passes & broke at starting line on 4th! Popped driveshaft on starting line... Got it home & noticed it has a bad gear oil leak? Got it up on stands & found a stress crack on 9" housing just to the outside of where the 3rd member bolts up! So now ad a new 9" housing for the old girl! Thinking to, while it's down of yanking fresher T5 from Brother Scott's Mustang & switching it with 55's sloppy T5... One other thing I've got to figure out to is the battery kill switch for the back of the car. Then maybe a brake upgrade for the front, but that's down the line... All in all I'm pretty happy with it, started out running 17's after getting it together & whittled it down to 14.69 @ 93.79 on my 3rd run before she broke!
9 months till next Meltdown! Can't wait!!! Jimbo...


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Ford tough with Chevy stuff!

 

I just leave the battery in the front of the car, and don't have to worry about it.

 

This is how I did mine.

 

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Not a bad idea, you save the weight of the switch & 10-11' of battery cable, and your car already hooks well enough to turn a 9" housing inside out. I have thought about this for the 56, especially if it became problematic with big wheelies (no problem so far)), the weight of the battery on the nose would keep the nose closer to terra firma, and I could lose the above mentioned weight.

 

And it leaves the trunk open, no need for a bulkhead (I'm running the stock fuel tank). I think the only downside is that "we all know that race cars have the battery in the trunk"

 

I am not going to say my car is a race car but my battery is in the trunk.

 

NHRA Stock Eliminator allows an additional battery in the trunk, but you must run a stock size battery up front in the stock location. For years, that's what we did, but as tires and chassis/ suspension tech improved, the weight of the battery in the trunk, became less needed. Adjustable front end limiters are not allowed, so when our cars became big wheelie machines, we used front sway bars as an adjustable limiter, and removed the trunk mounted battery & cable.

 

I just got "junk in my trunk"

 

If we are still pretending its 196? Then a battery in the trunk is a must

 

Yup...on a race car. But I screwed the pooch far more than that, by making my 1966 era match race car streetable.

 

Wanna race?

 

I have to agree with Saltflats, it may not be a race car but the battery is in the trunk...
My brother Scott was trying to pull off the nostalgic 60's Gasser look. He had most of mechanicals setup or done. Yeah battery up front would of been nice, but Scott put battery the trunk, he did a nice organized job running wires & I'd say engine bay has a nice & clean look to it. I was thinking of either mounting a battery kill switch behind license plate in filler neck hole or mount just below bumper on right side. I can't bring myself to cut a hole in trunk body between bumper & trunk lid! LOL!
It's been a real adventure finishing car for Scott! I've met a lot of great people along the way! And the Meltdown was off the hook! That's something every gear head should experience!!!
And with that, I believe the 55' is in keeping of Scott's vision of what he wanted it to look like... For now it plays the part of a drag car... Jimbo...



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"Bus battery" if you wanna be completely 60's legit.

 

That guy Dave that had the insanely nice orange 55 gasser with ghost flames used the right rear V8 emblem under the tail light, as a push/pull lever for his. Really bitchen touch, I thought

 

heh...after all the cutting I did on my car, that would be a very easy hole to drill

 

Thats what I put in White Noise when I built it. (Look closely on the right Ric...I know you like them on the left.lol)The Vicky didn't have enough room or it would have too.

 

My trunk is kind of boring inside...

 

BAM! Like I said, all I got is "junk in my trunk"!

 

The only way my trunk is ever gonna look like that is if I max out my visa at the trophy shop!lol!

Are some of those from back when the car was running in the 60's or are they all ones you've scored?

Scott

Scott


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That is the "tip of the iceberg'' of all the trophies won by the '56 from 1960-1965 when Dennis Coker owned, and raced it. He has everyone of them.., they are on "semi-permanent loan" to us. This blurry shot from my old cell phone was taken at the same time that Brandon from Hot Rod was taking a high resolution photo, that ended up on the cutting room floor for the article. The two tall trophies on the ground are for 1962 Winternations D/Gas Champ, and 1964 Winternationals E/Gas Champ. The Hot Rod trophy with the piston & rod is from the inaugural Hot Rod Magazine Championships race at Riverside Raceway for E/Gas. The smaller trophies are from weekly Gas Class racing at Lions, Fontana, Old San Gabe, Pomona Timing Associtation, & Record Runs invitational at Inyokern (I have his record holder jacket from that) as well as his wife Carol's Pomona Jacket hanging in this pic. Back then, you had to give up 3 of the weekly trophy's to get a jacket. Unfortunately, Dennis wore his out, and threw out years ago. Here is a photo of the car @ 1963 Winternationals where he broke a distributor rotor in the quarter finals of Little Eliminator, where they would run all the class winners off in a handicap format based off the National Records for each class. As some old timers know with a Tri-5, and the original front mounts, from time to time when you dropped the clutch, the engine would move forward, then back smacking the fire wall with the dizzy, which would, cock the dizzy cap sideways, catch the rotor, and break one or both of them killing the sparkifier, and your hopes for another round win.

 

Bingo! That would happen on the street as well. Carrying an extra rotor was pretty typical in the early sixties.

 

I broke a good half a dozen in my 55 back in the days.

 

I had a Lemon twist Yellow 55 Hardtop with a straight axle, tilt front end and the rear was stock height... It was running a Pontiac 389 Tri-carb and a 4 speed! Apparently it was a trophy whore in it's day.

The 389 was out when I got it so I put a 327 in the hole and threw out the straight axle set-up in favor for the stock front suspension.

I ran out of cash and had a huge mess in my parents garage and they saw me struggling with it and told me to junk the mess... So I traded it for a stock running 56 post with a six and a three on the tree!

Duh... smart move heh???

Wish I knew what happened to that car and where it is today.

 

So let me make sure I have this straight, Canadians call ham Canadian bacon...do they call bacon Canadian ham???

 

I cant believe you guys up north don't eat bacon. You can eat damn near anything wrapped in bacon you can even eat crow wrapped in it.

 

I hope you meant "wrapped" (to cover or surround) and not "raped" (sexually assaulted or molested)!