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

If anyone was looking at the powerplants between the Rails...... A Question from me, (Trivia?)
the King Rat was originally powered by a big Block Chevrolet..... hence the name (I believe).
Some where along the lines the experiment with the Chevrolet was terminated, and a Chrysler Hemi was installed. Marty, or anyone else know when the change happened or any stories regarding the Car. I know that Jerry "the King" Ruth had a temporary seat in the Dragster.
Terry Kniss & John? Garrison were the Team running the car.
Any info available I would truly appreciate to keep the History of the Dragster correct.

 

Another shot of the Cook Brothers sidewinder, Jeff Jahns driving...had a blown Dodge on fuel, starting was by means of a jack...they lit the engine, with no clutch, then dropped the jack -- thus the smoky tires (Pete Robinson tried the same thing, like the Cook Brothers effort, it was banned). Jeff Jahns is the son the the "Jahns Quality Pistons" family. This is San Gabriel


Don't have an ID, maybe Caddo Mills, TX?? Or Pell State??


No ID on this flathead powered car


This is a great overhead shot of Santa Ana, maybe '52? Notice how the two lines of cars, street and competition snake towards the starting line. Santa Ana was next to the larger airstrip -- the drag strip was an auxiliary strip. To stop you had to bend left or you went into the dirt between the two strips. Not a trace now, all part of the John Wayne Airport


This from Saugus, '52, from the American Hot Rod Foundation. Some guessed it might be Chet Herbert, but doesn't look like him. Maybe Phil Weiand? Phil was paralyzed in a track car crash, and did run a 27T roadster...but I'm not sure...Picture taker is known, though, it's Tom Medley, great photographer, cartoonist (think Stroker McGurk), and rod builder. He passed away recently.


Byron Blair from the San Diego area, at OCIR


Tony Nancy in the lights, this could be Fremont..(actually I'm not sure where it is) .notice that he has blown out the bottom end and has shed his oil-covered goggles...no fire, though.


Ivo, first run in the 7's, 7.99 at San Gabriel. I was standing right in front of the Falcon, you could tell this was a stout run...early '62...Dave Zeuschel was the engine builder...he and Ivo got along for a while, later Dave said he got into a quarrel with Ivo and lifted him up onto a chain hoist and left him hanging in the shop (I don't know if the story is true, but it certainly could be, given those two)


Hawaii Motor Rebuilders Ardun powered deuce...if the background looks like Montana, it probably is...when one of the partners in the car left Hawaii to attend college in Montana, he took the car along. At one of the NHRA nationals (forgot which) these guys got the long distance award.


Leffler & Loukas, before the blower. From Parma, OH


Speaking of Ivo - Zeuschel, here is the first rollout from the shop...Ivo loved long radius rods, these were over 5' long


After leaving the shop, they towed immediately to Seattle for a paid date ($500, which was a lot of money then), but the body was not done, so Ivo bent up this temporary unit. Notice that the tires still have mold markings so the car has not run yet.

 

Anyone? Beuhler? Faris Beuhler?

 

Interesting Pic, Staged perhaps? Goggles, Firesuit, Helmet, but no gloves?
Very neat Pic, back when Drag Racing was not a corporate controlled Activity.

 

What happened to this Anglia from Denver?? Dean Kirsten, are you out there?

 

Woody Gilmore built a lot of really nice Cars!
I still have the Back half of the King Rat and the welding was Excellent.

 

Looks like the car has an ash tray.

 

Looks like it might be a Mustang dashboard. I wonder if it's the guy in the firesuit in front of the Mustang Tommyd posted above?

Kevin

 

It might be the same guy but it appears that the engine in the first car was sitting just about where the dashboard should have been so it would have been an early version of the car.

 

This photo shows just how small overall these Anglia gassers really were...

 

I initially wondered if this was the former Jack Ditmars Opel Mini Brute but a quick check shows that the front of the body is a little different (spoiler, turn signal area etc) and the rear wheel openings are radiused while Jack's were stock and the car rode higher. They were body body shop guys however.

Roo

 

For a comparison.