Event Coverage AHRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS NOV. 1962

Damn you Mickey,,,just had to mention "Tinker" didnt you?

 

Is this the Spray Brothers Anglia that you were talking about?

 

HA-HA!...Hey Bobby, Tinker probably saved my ass. He came over to check out the red Model "A" D altered
I was building(previous photo)and showed me that the body was not attached well enough to the car and
would have probably tore off with me in it! I was only 19 or 20 and didn't know squat.
Did you know Joe Athey?

 

LOL! You're right... That's an incredibly cool name! The only way it might be any cooler is if it was a STORM-VULCAN BLOCKMASTER 9000.

Another piece of old shop equipment with a great name was the Tobin-Arp Bearing Resizer. Never seen one, but I believe it was used to finish poured babbitt bearings.

 

Dude, thank you so much for taking the time to share these fantastic pictures!
And the stories are the icing on the cake.

 

Is this the Tinker that ran a B/Dragster and later a Funny Car with his brother? If it is,, His grandaughter married my Grandson about 2 years ago,, and we now have a great grandaughter with another baby on the way. Small world Huh!

Yes that's it, and that's James working on it. That picture was taken at Austin Raceway Park circa mid "6o's about 2 years later.

I worked with the Blockmaster At LeRoy's Auto Clinic in Killeen Mid to late '60's.
I have a Tobin-Arp Brg Resizer in my shop at home. We used to buy our brgs oversized at .080 and resize to the crank that may have different diameter throws or mains,, we had a Van Norman grinder that we could resize a crank throw in the car. I bet that comment will get these younger guys calling "Bull".

 

In 1962 I built the '40 Ford Coupe in the crappy black and white pictures for B/G.
My brother Eddie and I were "poor boy" hot rodders and didn't have access to a chain hoist.
So I saw a "rope hoist" (as advertised) in the Sears catalog for pretty cheap. Seemed like an idea.
I got one and Eddie and I proceeded to HEAV !...HEAV ! and hoisted my heavy Olds engine
up hanging an a kid's swing set frame just enough to clear the '40's fenders with the hood off.
We had just rolled the '40 under the hanging Olds when we heard a loud BANG!
The Olds was sitting cockeyed on the front cross member and tie rod. We never saw it fall, even
though we were standing by the fenders looking at it, it fell so fast!
A metal staple that was "securing" the rope to the hoist had pulled out and was gone(probably
still hurtling through space today!). Someone told me later that my "hoist" was actually a fence
stretcher, even though it was advertised as a 800# capacity hoist (seemed adequate...right?).
We just went to the junkyard and got a used tie rod for $10. They were plentiful in those days.
After all, '40 Fords were only 22 years old then!
I wanted to do B/G like my hero then, Gene Adams with his Olds in South California.

 

Thanks for the "salute" Gary!

 

Hey Man, we had a Tobin-Arp machine in our shop at J&J. I resized the big end of many rods and also bored
new wrist pin bushings to size on it. A great precision machine!
Just for the young skeptics, I had a 283 crank journal reground, with a Van Norman machine, in a friends
driveway with just the pan and head off and the piston out. Worked Great! Allards Automotive on Ewing
in Dallas would come to your house/garage and set up the rig with an electric motor to slowly rotate the
crank while the grinding rock followed it around. My friend had spun a bearing so we turned that one journal
down to .040 undersize. A thorough cleanup, good used rod and he was on his way again!
To quote my mom ..."po' folks have po' ways!".

 

Thanks for your comment APACHW FS

 

I appreciate your comment "this was drag racing period". No "gold chainer's" and 18 wheelers in the pits!

 

The BlockMaster was the best machine for decking a block since the setup situated the block sitting on
a bar through the main bearing saddles. This permits rotating the block to machine both decks to precisely
the same distance from the crank centerline. Other rigs have the block laying face down and passing over
a grinding rock. That's only good for cleaning up the gasket surface in my opinion.

 

so cool, great pictures! thank you for sharing them!

 

I am enjoying the stories blackrat40, I had no idea that a lot of machine work was done with the engine still in the car. Also I agree that the golden age of drag racing was in the 60s because you didn't have to have big time sponsorship to have a chance. There are some 60s style gassers that race today and are period correct 4 speed cars that pull the wheels and get squirrely and are fun to watch.

 

That's one piece of equipment that I've always wanted to see in action...

 

Yes blackrat40,, that is the Tinker I am talking about,, We are Great Grandpa's inlaw..

 

Hey elgringo71, Glad you are enjoying the stories. As I put together one of these stories from memory, other
memories began to resurface, more true hot rod stories will be here soon!

 

Mickey and Babyearl...Are you guys aware that the geezer reunion is coming up on Dec 12,,,Gathering at the "Horny Toad" cafe on US35 just north of Denton,Texas,,,Tinker is usually in attendence..

 

Glad you are liking it. More stories and pic's will follow.

 

Yes I am aware of the Geezer Reunion. Missed it last year but am planning on being there this year.

 

Caddo Mills
Jimbo

 

How's Tinker doing? wbrw32 said he heard Tinker had a stroke. Will he make it to the Geezer Reunion?

 

Since this began as an "Event" thread, and as a nod to Dean Lowe who likes unpublished pictures,
how about we look at a few snapshots I took at the Sept. 2004 Billet Proof event at Antioch, CA.


This is me in a DeSoto that belongs to a 20 year old girl from Ben Lomond,CA. who is a family friend.

 

Glad you like!

 

Thanks for the Caddo Mills image Jimbo! I need one for my shop wall.
How big is it?

 

Here are a few pictures of August "Hands" Hartkoph, and his 56 Chevy, maybe they will bring back some memories. Here he is racing against Ferd Napful and his Stormin Bull which was a national record holder

 

thanx for an ass kickin threads of events during my hay day. All the contributing pix and stories were a blast to read. This sport is the BEST!!

 

Mickey, Tinker is doing fine after the stroke,,just a little harder to understand his speech as it was affected with the stroke.
I saw him at last years reunion,so assume he will be at this years also..

 

Good to hear Tinker's still going forward. I've seen a picture of him here, sitting in his dragster with sun
glasses on looking very cool. Maybe someone can re-post it here.
Getting back to my humble racing history in the Dallas area, my first off street drag racing was done at
Circle Dragstrip on Goodnight Ln. off Harry Hines and Royal Ln. Circle was a converted crudely paved
former public road down by some gravel pits in far North Dallas. Complete with a dirt pit area.
Anyone could stand around the starting line and feel the car's exhaust on your legs as they blasted off!
One could witness A.W. Tackett in his white 2 door Model A sedan, Linell Walker in the "original" tan
'49 Chevy "Snuff Box" and lesser weekend warriors like myself in my '34 Ford pickup and later my '40
Ford coupe pictured previously.
elgringo71 asked about the speeds and times my cars did. The accuracy of the speeds are pretty much in
question as the speeds were determined by a guy at the starting line saying "go" over a phone line to a
guy at the finish line who would start a stopwatch and click it again when the winner passed him, and
then report a speed over the loud speaker that he gleaned from a time/speed chart he had.
My best reported time in the '34 pickup was 72mph and best in the '40 Ford was reported as 84mph.
After racing on a Saturday night (if I didn't break anything) I would re-cap my home made "lakes plugs",
which I made from gas tank filler tubes, and head back to the White Rock area of East Dallas to cruise
the 3 main drive ins(Charco's, Prince of Hamburgers or Dairy Queen).

 

Thanks for contributing to the thread elgringo71. Auggie was a legend(and gentle giant) that none of us
drag racing "dinosaurs" will ever forget!. When he ran at Caddo I think you could probably hear his Chevy
winding in the next closest town! It sounded like 10,000rpm! It literally "screamed" !