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

Zookeeper double shot...RIP.

 

John Mulligan.

 

Lions 1964

 

Heaven & Hell...

 

What in the wide/wide world of sports are those wheels? Looks kind of like an ETIII but the window/spoke area is throwing me for a loop. Trailer wheels have a similar look. What a cool set up.

 

Front tires off the rims?

 

Those were made by Rebel Wheel Co. Back in the early to mid 60's

 

From above -

What the hell ???
A speed trick of the day ? Eliminate the front tires for a little weight savings or some frictional loss ?
Blow the photo up to 200x...still no tires.



Mike

 

Houston, we have liftoff.

 

Somehow the tires peeled off the rims and it appears that an inner tube is wrapped around the front axle and radius rod on the right side.
That happened to Shirley Muldowney in Canada in 1984 at an NHRA event. Severely injured she came back to race again in 1986.
I imagine the motorcycle tires in use in those days were not up to the speeds and sometimes peeled off.

 

I seem to remember that bicycle tires were tried a time or two. Some with bad results.

 

Denny Milani, first run in the new Ted Gotelli car, Rudy Perez photo, Fremont

 

Mulligan: It was on a strong run until the blower belt came off. Kept pulling so I kept after it. Blower belt came off again, kept on pulling until I reached the lights. When I got out of the car, I saw both front tires gone"

 

Dickie Harrell tried running radial tires. That's what caused his fatal accident.

 

Twisters of Vista, former John Bradley flathead dragster. The team replaced the flathead with a 372" Olds, seen here, driven by Don Haggen. The team partnered with the nearby Dragmaster team for support. Here is the same dragster as above next to the Martin and Nelson Dragliner:

 

Harold Casaurage at Vacaville.


Rizzio and Gray, Pomona, powered by an injected Chrysler. Norm Grudem photo


Kenny Yennawine coupe, Buick powered, San Diego based. Daniel Waldrop photo collection


Eddie Bosio roadster, at Kingdon or Vacaville. This was the former Waters & Murray flathead powered car, sold to Bosio when Waters & Murry built the famed 555 roadster with a stroked Chevy. Jim Roten collection


Dave Marquez roadster at Saugus. Dave later sold the car to Hut Watkins to build his famous Ardun powered deuce roadster, and Hut replaced the flathead with a Buick and painted it "Smoker's Purple." Photo from the incredible collection of photos by Jimmy Barter.


Dode Martin in one of the first dragsters around, next to the Bean Bandits dragster. But these dragster guys missed out on the top eliminator trophy, held by the motorcycle guy. Motorcycles often took top eliminator at early drag meets. The flamed roadster in the rear is Ed "Axle" Stewart's. Dode Martin collection


Ewens and Ramay competition sedan, photographed at Fontana. The team build the car for the salt, but later converted it into a drag racer. It met its demise on the Fontana fire-up road when the throttle stuck and the car hit a phone pole. Driver ok, but car was not. I saw it happen, sickened me to see such a nice car gone.


Henslee, Cook, Hedrich, etc. roadster at the first NHRA Nationals, second version, when it moved to Phoenix after rain-out at Great Bend Kansas. NHRA Photo


Nichols Brothers/Quincy Automotive dragster at Pomona. Norm Grudem photo


The Shrank brothers underway at Fremont. Chassis Research, blown Desoto, set lots of records. Geri Tarvin photo. Geri is a racer, photographer, and all around great person.


Once the Reed brothers roadster, with a fuel Chrysler, driven by Art Chrisman. Here it is on gas, at the '58 NHRA Nationals, run by the Lowe brothers from Atlanta. Glenn Ward photo.


Bob Raymond, Hayward Head Hunters photo.