History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

Willys has a pretty good leak at what looks like Fontana

 

Maz it looks like some kind of a catch tank in the center of the front axle, as it looks bigger in dia than the axle?

 

Probably boiled over coolant but even after the finish line that could get hairy fast getting under the rear tires. It's leaving a long trail, too.

 

At one of the early Smokers Meets Dick was driving Earl Wade's red Willys, and ran into a water puddle in the shut off area from the rain the nite before

Boy did it come around on him 4 times one way & 3 times the other with out going over, and it just snapped in an instant

Dick was a lucky boy that day

 

I love the right headlight on the Willys pick up! 1 candle power.

 

You guys could well be right...like Gary says, this was a transition time...the first 'glass cars I remember were the Mercurys that Dean mentioned...

 

A lot of you caught the details (yes, love the candle-power "headlight")...and I agree that this looks like Fontana, with the transmission towers in the background....but whose car is this?...don't think it is Bizio in primer as he ran shotgun Hilborns...I don't remember this one at all...

 

Finders?

 

According to PJDJS Racing Photos of Springfield, OR, the black, Cal Automotive Special A/GS '33 Willys PU became the Bizio AA/GS '33 Willys PU, which was built by Chuck Finders in 1965.

 

A little lower and the front fenders are trimmed.

 

Thankfully my old brain is still recalling some of the best days of my life correctly.
I thought I remembered seeing the Finders Willys at Irwindale in that same sort of primered livery.
Back when the MGM Willys pickup also was in primer.
Must have been 1966.

 

Ya just have to love the ape hangers on the mini bike!!!!

 

Looks pretty risky with all those power lines in the background...

 

The "candle" headlight is actually a "Penlite", a tiny flashlight held up by an aluminum bracket. The rules said working lights, didn't specify anything else so guys started using these tiny lights.
As for Beswicks 66 GTO. I have a PopRod that details construction of the car and it states the body is all fiberglass. Not ONE PIECE, but all 'glass. The factory Merc's were the first one piece 'glass cars.

 

Great memories fellows, as I do remember the penlights as a work-around. Innovation and crazy solutions were the norm. Dick

 

Thanks, Gary, I wasn't sure about the history of the 'glass bodies, remembered that they started with 'glass fronts (we sold them at Blair's), but the all-glass bodies came later though I wasn't sure when....I did see Nicholson's one-piece Comet tube framed funny at Fremont in '67, remembering that he was racing some funny cars that still had channel frames and steel bodies...boy, that sure changed quickly!

 

Interestingly, Beswicks GTO did not run a tube frame, but rather stock GM rails with tube crossmembers and a tube firewall forward front end. There were channel frame fc's as late as 1969. Not the norm, but were still racing! I THINK Jess Tyree's Firebird had a square channel frame. Just found a pic.

 

Here's another better shot. Remember, in those days you could still build your own chassis in your garage! Everybody and his brother built funny cars, I seem to remember by the mid 70's there were as many as 300 FC's!!

 

I remember Schroeder racing tube chassis cars in 66-67 in the Bad Bossa Nova, closer to the original AWB 65 cars. As I said, et's varied wildly, nobody cared, we just loved the show! Remember, there were very few "National Events" then, most racing was done as match racing or 4 or 8 car shows AND there were dozens of strips all over the country. All these strips were booking funny cars like crazy!

 

I'm pretty sure this car also had a channel frame as well. Things were in flux from 66-69.
Really M/T's 69 Mustang set the pattern for funny cars once and for all.

 

For that matter, this car also ran a channel frame.

 

Doug Nash's Bronco Buster ran an ALUMINUM channel chassis! NHRA wisely banned aluminum chassis shortly afterward. Interestingly Nash also stuck by the 289 to power his FC.

 

Here's pic from 1966, the factory Mercury Comets were running the, all glass tube chassis, but there were still a zillion semi "stock" racers.

These guy raced against the factory Comets such as Kenz & Keslie. Note that almost
all cars were still injected, part of the transition, From injection to blown. There were several FC classes, S/XS ( supercharged or more tha 33 % engine setback ), A/XS (unjected ), B/XS. The 65 type cars ran B/XS usually. Classes of course were by weight/ cubic inches.
Thing is almost everybody raced everybody else heads up! Rules were mostly local then, not like today. That's why funny car racing was called "run what ya brung".

 

Brutus also ran stock GM rails. Here it's racing Chrisman's world beating Comet "roadster".

 

Chrisman's topless Comet under construction.

 

Here's Terry Cook and Doug Kruse power lifting the Pisano's 1967 Camaro under construction. Note how the body isn't flip top and the chassis is integral with the body. It also shows the mixture of stock steel body parts with 'glass.

 

Great great stuff Gary!! Very interesting.