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

Peewee Wallace and Bud Richter

 

Great pictures ... glad you decided to join in. Your website has been one that I go to often. Any more information on David Heath, the location of the pics you posted etc. Any early '61-'63 S/S-F/X shots from your area?
Tell us about the Kentucky Drag Race Reunion.
Thanks.
Joel

 

Lee Smith's car was always one of the cleanest and least altered of the original AWB cars back in the couple of years after they were first introduced in '65.
Your website has some very good work. Joel

 

Thanks Joel, Photos are from Greater Evensville Raceway, Chandler Ind. Track ran 1/4 mi. then, still in operation today 1/8 mi. Goobs prior post reavid Heath was correct, David was taken by cancer yrs ago. The Ky Colonel is still around, Spivey Williams in Bowling Green owned and raced for a while, It was then owned by a family in eastern Ky. and eventually was in the Floyd Garrett Museum in Tenn. Sorry for no recent updates on my website,my webmaster(son)is in love now and his time is spent with his sweety!
Old Racers Reunion is Aug 16-17 in Owensboro,Ky, this yr we've added a Ky Motorsports Hall of Fame .I'll post more details later as we get things finalized.

 

Her's just a few of last yrs attendees at our reunion.

 

Heres Larry Despain's beautiful ragtop, formerly one of Al Corda's stockers.(yea its got a HEMI now!!!)

 

I have no affiliation with this company and this post my not even fit well here but it is still nice to see the memory of these cars is still alive even if the clones are not not completely accurate or period correct.

Showdown Muscle Cars -Mopar

Showdown Muscle Cars - Metro Detroit's leading Muscle Car Dealer

 

I've been to Chandler many times over the years. I try to attend the Nostalgia events there every year. Last year when I was there I was dissapointed by how bad the facility looked. Seems like nobody has invested any money there for years and the bleachers are flat out dangerous. On another note, do you have any photos of Ernie Wilhite's (sp) 62 Plymouth?

 

From the Mid-Eastern Drag News annual '63-'64. The Northwind 409 before it got the Jenkins do-over.
Joel

 

From the Mid-Eastern Drag News annual '63-'64. Ivan Jordan in a '63 Ford ... was it a built lightweight or factory built one?
Joel

 

Two Chevies from the PA-NJ-NY region. Wally Bell and the late Jack Schaffer. Schaffer's Nova was built by Jay Howell and he had a connection to Dick Harrell also. Was Wally's car the Jim Hays Quicksilver car ... Wally? Wally Bell had run a number of different cars and was always in the thick of things ... still is in fact!
Joel

 

From an old newspaper ad ... Phil Bonner is the High Performance Specialist.
Joel

 

Thw '65 Plymouth The Wildcatter at the '67 S/S Nationals, Cecil Co., MD. It is a cropped slide, can't get it much larger.
Joel

 

Island Dragway 1966 ... the Pacers, better known for their Tasmanian Devil altered had a hand in running this '65 GTO too.
Joel

 

Bobby and Harry Fermier out in front of our house in northern NJ on one of their trips North chasing points. Flat towed in 1966.
Joel

 

The cover page of Drag News mid-year 1965 ... Tommy McNeely in his ex-Hayden Proffitt '62 Chevy gets a jump on Kelly Chadwick in his '64+'65 Chevelle. Re-named Sad Sack as a number of his cars were I beleve Tommy was running a Z-11 motor in the car at the time.
Joel

 

Another shot of Wally Bell's Moonraker Chevelle. This and the previous McNeely vs Chadwick shot pulled from an unknown magazine page
Joel

 

Hood shot of Hubert Platt's 1963 Georgis Shaker Z-11. Typical wrinkled hood ... many Z-11 cars had this tell-tale bit coming from from closing the hood. Also an early example of a raised scoop opening. Some thought this was a new thing in early Pro Stock days.
Joel

 

Joel,

The scoop shown was made by Johnny Hollingsworth - not Platt.
I have a number of photos of the car when Hollingsworth had it
with the scoop.
FYI......
Photo is from Dixie Drag News, May 1, 1963.

Mark

 

The Chevelle appears to have an AWB.

 

Is this the same Johnny Hollingsworth that ran both a 1965 Chevelle convertible and a 1965 Chevelle wagon stocker in the mid 70s ? Thanks

 

Interesting Mark! Was this on Hollingsworth's car, was his car his originally or is there a Platt connection here before Wally Bell?
The shot I posted was from an old sixties magazine as I recall. I'd thought for sure that this shot was of Platt's car with the partially seen "Headers by Nicholson" on the fender and that shape on the hood.
Joel

 

Chadwick's car did have an AWB here ... but it started out as an un-altered WB '64 Chevelle match racer.
Look at the length of the leaf springs in the rear.
Joel

 

that is a cool picture!

 

Anyone have shots of the slicks used in the very early days of stock and superstock? Ithink i recall hearing that the early slicks used were recaps and barely 6inches wide? im talking 1958-1960 here.. id love to see some early shots of rear slicks, dont see to many. Im making a pair in 1/25 scale is why i ask

 

There were "cheater slicks" recaps around in the early S/S years ... they were a softer compound recap and were allowed in some places ... but before 1962 the most popular tire for the rear on stocks were Atlas Bucrons. They were advertised on TV as a "no squeel" tire, safer in the rain etc. Butyl rubber was what they were supposed to be. In '62 M&H tires, Casler and others came into the picture and used widely ... mainly I recall because NHRA allowed them and racers and tracks all over were allowing the growing in popularity stock classes to run all sorts of "cheater slicks". NHRA had a 7" tread width rule. Bucrons were less than 7", probably around 6" at best. See scan from a 1962 ad in Hot Rod magazine.
The Casler tire's tread was very close in look to Atlas Bucrons.
Vogue tires were also in use prior to '62.
Can anyone else add to this ... ?
Joel

 

Down South Racer,

I'm not sure. I'll try and find out. Johnny was in Goldsboro, NC when he ordered the Z-11, at Cobb Chevrolet. He might have moved around, because he was in the military, but I don't know for how long. He is currently in Tarboro, NC - not far from Goldsboro.

Mark

 

Joel,
Hollingsworth sold his car to Hubert Platt. I think Hubert has told a few people that he thought he had bought his car (the Shaker) from Richard Broome, but that can't be the case. The scoop, the rocker mouldings are a giveaway, and Johnny himself told me he sold it to Hubert. I have a real early B&W photo of the Hollingsworth car with no scoop, and a couple of color shots with it, showing it very clearly.
Hubert ran that scoop and a later, larger scoop. The picture you posted is from CARS Magazine I think. I have that article, it's from 65 or 66. That is the car when Platt had it shown in the photo.

Hope that clears things up a little! I have traced most of the owner trail on it, with the only gap from the late 60s/early 70s.

I noticed you posted a pic of Jack Schaffers "Honesdale Honker". Do you have any more info on Jack? I think Wally sold the Shaker to Jack.

Mark

 

Joel, I remember Firestone having a similar tire made from the soft compound of butly called; the "Butylier"(sp?). They had a standard, unrecognizable tread pattern, unlike the Atlas Bucron, which had the distinguishable two grooves around the circumference. Some guys would mount four Butyliers so it looked as if they were running standard tires. This was done mainly for street racing advantages.

 

I went to atco as a teen.I watched most of the a/fx-superstock meets '63-67 remember the comets and t-bolts -harrop's dodges and so on .the one comet I can't find anything on was a white '64 called "the board walker" anybody have any history on it?