I believe Shepard won the Cajun Nationals that year (in the M/P car) with a broken rear end! The car wouldn't go down the strip for the final...opponent red lit!
Got to have one more of Blevins & Scotto E/MP 1955 Chevy Nomad. It was famous in the land of NED. An unknown G/MP 1957 chevy
A E/MP Corvette. Anybody know the history who came in the team in order? Heffernan & Kosta & Christian E/MP vette This time no Heffernan maybe two different cars as the NHRA number is different
The Maple Grove 1127 car is an earlier version, I know Heffernan ran a few cars with partners and alone. I know it only adds to the mystery. Pat
Think that was Mark Heffernan of Cam Dynamics. the Christian is Tony Christian, he bought the all conquering Reher-Morrison Corvette and won a world championship with it, then went on to fastest street car racing, and pretty much tore that up too. The Cannon is Scotty Cannon, raced a hard running Camaro Super mod later on.
Oh yea, time frame. The first photo with Mark Heffernan is early, maybe 1974?? The other one is later,think its just before Christian bought the RM car, maybe 1978??
The Kostic and Christian team had Joe Heffernan driving in the first image. Second image (1265) is Mike Cannon hence the "Cannonball Express" logo. Mike actually went on to race a little Pro Stock in his own car. Joe "Heff" had a number of successful cars including his own MP and /G cars then into Comp with the "Heffernan and Kaiser" Opel Econo Altered which has lately been resurrected as a Top Sportsman entry. These folks were all from Philly and the suburbs and could be found weekly racing at Maple Grove, Cecil County, E-town back in the day. On the FB page Modified Eliminator Gone but Not Forgotten there are numerous images of these cars.
Willis Ford better know for it's ford T Bolt had this 1961 that used to run junior stock with a 390 then it was upgraded to this new 427 engine version running B/MP
I sat next to Scotty Cannon on a flight once back when he was running the Oakley Funny Car.....I think his kid runs a pro mod
Found a few from the midwest A car that needs no intro Earl Britt owned Earl's Pizza Palace in Sioux Falls, and he campaigned this 54 Corvette race car named Pizza Man. Through several successful years of racing it earned the title Worlds Fastest 6 Cylinder Corvette. Fast and Loud would describe Larry Lungren's 65 GTO seen here at Thunder Valley Dragway in 1967. Larry drove this on the street and also raced it in Modified Production classes. The Hair Bender was a factory built 64 Plymouth Savoy race car powered by the 426 Hemi race engine. Stewart's School of Hairstyling owned the car, hence the name.
RGW is correct. My name is Charlie Kostic. I along with Doug Christian raced this car under this Kostic and Christian team name from 1970 through 1973 primarily in D/MP. Joe Hefferman joined the team around 1974 and we raced the car in various Modified Production and Gas classes. Joe Heffernan bought Bob Thompson's 1964-66 Corvette and raced it on his own. Mike Cannon the joined the team after Joe Heff bough Bob Thompson's car. The car was converted to run brackets after NHRA eliminated Modified eliminator in early 1980. I went on to race a 1969 Cobra Jet Mustang while Doug ran the Corvette as a bracket car until he passed away. The car is still around but I don't know the current owners name.
Those two pictures are the same car. It started out as a stock two four barrel three speed 1958 Corvette that Doug and I bought in 1969 after our 1964 Chevy Nova (also running in Modified Production) was destroyed when Doug was driving at Island NJ. I was in the Army Reserves for a weekend training session at the time of the accident and normally would have been driving at Island. We were running in the Delaware Valley UDRA circuit which ran gasser, modified races at Atco, Cecil County, Delmar, Maple Grove, etc. After the accident, our UDRA group held a benefit meet for us at Maple Grove and presented us with a check which we used to buy the Corvette. I drove the Corvette home from North Philadelphia using the plates off my 1966 Barracuda street car. The engine trans and rear were sold to a Corvette restorer. The picture showing the car in red and silver is the early 1970 version of the car. Early Modified rules originally required 7 inch slicks while later rule revisions did not have a restriction. Sorry for all the verbage on this car but I wanted to clear up any confusion about these pictures. I really appreciate this thread about this great class of drag racing that flourished during the 1960-1970 era. I was very fortunate to have been able to participate in Drag Racing during this "golden era". Just one small correction to the red car photo, it should be Charlie not Mike Kostic. Thanks.
Good stuff adding to the history. I was wondering about the name if you had a brother or something. That was the name that was the caption on the photo. Blame Joe Grippo LOL.
Your input is appreciated Charlie. Some of us have a lot of great memories from back in those days. Feel free to chime in with any stories. There is also a Corvette Hot Rods thread where we appreciate old Corvette drag cars as well. I would be most interested in the details of your Vette in the way of engine and drivetrain. I have the remains of an early Vette that ran in gas and modified production and it started with a small block with a four speed with an Olds/Pontiac in the 60s and eventually ended up with a BBC, Doug Nash 5 speed and a Dana 60 with a four link. Curious as to what a really competitive car such as yours ran in it's heyday?? Thanks Jim
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