History Stock-S/S-F/X 1959-1966

Joel, was that picture from Pete McCarthy's Pontiac book?

 

Zettle Bros.,
The Pontiac and the Falcon are great ... looks like an early T-Bolt/'63 Fairlane bumper up front on the Falcon. The bumper looks good, adds to the match racer-F/X look.

Joel

 

Joel, In that pic we really just "Hung" it there. We since attached the brackets so the bumper flows back with the fenders rather than the stock postion which to us looks like a chrome 2X4!! LOL

 

Greer's A990 must have been THE MOST chopped up A990 car ever! That thing really got weird in it's late versions. The shot from the '65 S/S Nationals looks the best ... I think. Somewhere I have a shot that shows the roof looking like a sheet of paper it's so thin. Not sure if he cut the center out of the roof and added aluminum sheet or what. See attached. Source unknown.

Joel

 

Weren't those car's acid dipped to lighten the bodies on them? Some of the panels became paper thin after the process.

 

Jake King before hooking up with Sox & Martin ... he drove Fords out of the Atwater Ford dealership. Source unknown.

Joel

 

Vernon Jones from Florida. A strong running '61 Ford. There's a photo of him out on and beating the Beswick/Venable/Johnson '61 Pontiac in a '62 race report from Covington, GA in an issue of Hot Rod. The same day he drove the Ford to Top Stock he also drove an AA/Altered from GA to another Eliminator win. Quite a thing for a guy from FL to come up to the Atlanta, GA area in '62 and take beat the hot S/S cars there.

Joel

 

Must of been a off day for Arnie. Very few and far between!!

 

It's not the real thing and it's not an old shot but ... In the late 1990's while doing some research in Garlits' archives I got some shots of the newly finished (sort-of) clone of his '62 S/SA Dodge. Of course the stance is different than it was in '62 and the wedge scoop isn't right for the year ... but the car was pretty cool anyway.
Big did some N/SS racing with the car too.

Joel

 

This is really a great thread, guys. I appreciate the history dialogue and absolutely love the pit pictures. In my book, this rivals the "Drag cars in motion" thread. Thanks everyone for sharing!

 

Bob Fulp from southeastern Florida. Fulp was from California where he ran S/S Chevies in the late fifties. There are results in Drag News issues from that time, San Gabriel I think ... where he beat Don Nicholson each in '59 Chevies for class/top stock.
In FL he set up shop and tuned, drove and led a group of hot Chevy drag cars. This '62 is one of them. He later ran a '63 Plymouth S/S and in '65 was running a match racer/FX Chevelle called Slaton's Shaker for Slaton Chevrolet in Florida.
Southeastern Drag News 9/10/62

Joel

 

It's a shame that York don't run anymore. Would be perfect for the area seeing that tracks are really spreadin out lately. The airport strip is still there and the cornfields too.
Thanks for the history lesson fellas, It was bitchen. My Father and Uncles were most likely at some of them runnin their street cars.
Again, Thanks.
Bryan

 

I just interviewed Dick Brannan last week for issue #2. I should just sell the tape recordings. The stories were awesome. Here's his Falcon.

 

Joel,
I love this stuff!! Thanks for posting these great photos. As you know, Bonner was and still is the man in my mind!! I think he pretty much owned Yellow River!! Please keep posting the '61-'63 stuff!!

 

The Buzzard does still exist. I have a great shot of the Buzzard given to me by the current owner if I can figure out how to post it. Those were great days. I remember when Johnny Abraitis first came to Island with his 'tan and white '62 Savoy. I thought it was the ugliest car I had ever seen, until he made his first pass!Wow! He went mid-twelves, and I believe he ran a 12.4 before the day was over!

 

Joel,

Wow, it's good to see you're still rattling around. How have you been?

 

I love the early Super Stockers and this thread is great. Please keep those photos coming!

 

Wow! I had a black 61 Ford Starliner just like the one shown in the picture. However instead of being either the 375 or 401 horsepower it was the 390 cubic inch 300 horsepower model with the three speed that I of course added the mandatory Hurst shifer to. I don't think they came out with the 4 speed until late 61 or 62. I bought that car when I was a senior in high school in the fall of 1963. The car had 16,000 miles on it and I paid a whopping $1250.00 at Bob Ford in Dearborn Michigan. That was a ton of money back then and it took everything I had saved plus a small loan from my folks that I had to pay back within a year. I also had to sell my 41 Ford Sedan. However, I think every teenage kid worked back then. I got my first job at 14 in a gas station cleaning the backroom and then was promoted to pumping gas and cleaning windshields. I had a couple GTO's plus other great cars but if I could have any of them back that would be the one.

Also, for those that are interested in Super Stocks there is a book titled "Superstock" "Drag racing the family sedan" by Larry Davis published in 2001 that covers the Super Stock years from 1960 to 1968. Good reading plus a lot of pictures. Don't know if it is still in print or availible. Same author also did a book much the same about Gassers.

 

Thanks Jody ... you know I love this stuff too. Yellow River though a dangerous place must have really been a competitive and happening place in the early sixties. All the names that ran there and others had their time in the sun at that track ... Bonner, Nicholson, Tanner, Beswick, Phil Carroll, the Platt bros. and others. Even Hayden Proffitt showed up there in '62. The western, NHRA dominated car magazine press pretty much ignored what was going on there and most everywhere else in the South. The whole S/S-F/X-match race-run what ya brung movement started down South while the NHRA etc. seemed to hope it would all just go away. History repeated itself with the Pro Mod thing decades later.

Joel

 

My two cents ... I think it has "the look" much better if it was mounted to appear like it is just hanging there. (smile)

Joel

 

I pulled it of some website a few years ago ... it may be from the book ... but I don't have that one. I'd love to get a better copy or scan of that shot.

Joel

 

Yes they were dipped but they weren't as thin as that one I don't think. It looks like aluminum foil!
Joel

 

I'd LOVE to see that shot of the Buzzard (2). I recall going to Island either opening day '62 or a week or so later. Seeing Whitey's "Red Ram" for the first time was quite impressive. Standing there with cold feet, jacket open trying to look cool, the smell of the hot paint off the new motor, then the different sound of the Mopar on the top end ... and how strong the odd looking Dodge was ... never forget it.
I'll have to post the Nat. Dragster race report of the first day the Buzzard 2 ran at Island.
Last I heard the car was still in Bergen County, NJ.
Joel

 

Hi Bart ... doing ok ... hope you are too. Good to hear from you!
Joel

 

Jerry Stien's Teacher's Pet in 1966 at Island Dragway, Great Meadows, NJ. Great car! Looks like Mickey Rosenberg's red '64 GTO in the staging lane behind the Plymouth.

Joel

 

Thanks ... we're havin' fun! Try and dig some up and post 'em. Snapshots and stuff we've not seen over the years are most welcome.

Joel

 

The Buzzard is in Bergen County. I don't think anything has been done to it at this point. I can make a copy of the picture I have and mail it to you or I'll scan it and e-mail it to you. Let me know which you would prefer.The photo shows a full side view with all the trophys lined-up. I also have converted 8mm (to vhs) of the early 60s at Island. Do you remember the JT&J Ramcharger?One of the tapes shows that car and I'm pretty sure the Red Ram car. There are also some shots of Dave Stickler and his "62 Belair.

 

C'mon guys, lets keep this thread going. Nobody else has any photos of the early years of SS/AFX?

Here are a few that I've collected over the years. I don't have much detail on them but they are cool....

 

Glad I saw this thread.
We usually have a pretty good turn out of 60's style A/FX
ers at our races.
Here's the flyer:

 

OK,how did you get pictures out of my scrapbook?I had some on the South Glens Falls drag site but the ones with the writing on the scrapbook mystifies me.I wrote that stuff 40+ years ago.Still got my scrapbooks.