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

Larry-Jungle-Faust. The Clay Smith cam logo is a dead give away

 

Old Gold .. blower motor .. FAST ... a regular on Wed night @ PIR

green one is Old Gold's son ... not nearly as fast as pop's

 

DAMN! The man knows his stuff.

 

wow, not worthy...

 

not exactly "in motion"... but...

 

Ok Decker, we need the story. It's unfair to bate us like that, and not give us the scoop!!

 

Or I'll do stuff like this!

 

A little KS Pittman history. KS was Tim Woods first driver. The 50 Olds was Tim's first race car. KS is driving it against Jr. Thompson's incredable 41 Studebaker sedan in 58. Both cars ran 37 La Salle transmissions. Jr's Stude was unbeqatable in B/GS, so Tim built the 42 Stude 4 door in 59. Again, KS drove. Hard to see on the rear quarter, but this car was the very first "Swindler".

 

Here's an early shot of the Swindler II with KS, his friend and Tim's engine builder John Edwards, Leonard woods, and Tim Woods. The Chopped 33 was KS' last "legal" A/GS car. From this car he went to a chopped Austin, then an Opal. When KS left Tim to run his own cars, he hired Doug Cook, and the rest is history.

 

The chopped Austin you referred to was Big John Mazmanian's last gasser before venturing to the funnycar class. Dubbed the Football because the Austin was chopped and channeled to where it looked like a football (sic). The Austin shell was removed and an Opel GT shell was mounted. One of the primary reasons for going to late model shell was the publics infatuation with funnycars. The gasser guys were finding it harder to get bookings with an "out of date" bodied car. Funny how over the passing years, many historians discount the modern bodied versions as basically slow funnycars and revere the classic bodied versions, declaring them as true gassers.

 

Hey, Silveradoman4, is that Roger & Sue Campbell's Willys in the top photo? I've got a 1/48 diecast of that car around here somewhere.

 

Dont think so? Maybe it used to be, IDK.

 

The "footnall" Austin as campaigned by KS Pittman. Maz was right. it's an ugly SOB!! I can certainly see why KS switched to an Opel GT body.

 

The Opel body that replaced the Austin football.

 

Man, did they both have Austins at one time...I seem to also remember Big John having one too...????

 

first shot is garlits said to me taken at san gabrial (so says the swamp rat himself)

this shot is of bobby vodnick in dick belfatti's "shadow" newly built unpainted right from kent fullers shop.


vodnick again in the "golden shadow"


To view a quick slideshow of "The Shadows" dragster evolution click on this link:http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288532&highlight=the+shadow

Paul

 

Was the same car Doug. Only one Austin ever that ugly. Maz sold it to KS. Check post 5497.

 

That's San Gabe alright. I'd know those power lines anywhere. Sadly, they are still there, but the track is long gone.

 

A good buddy of mine, Tommy Lumley. I have to admit, I've driven this car the way he wanted me to and it is the real deal. When I drove it it had a Corvette 427 that he later sold and changed to another big block.

Here you go;






BloodyKnuckles

 

One of the most bad ass gassers, performance wise, that ever lived. Ron Nunes ran a 394 blown Olds in the car weighted for B/GS. In 65 SWC held the B/GS record at 10.30. This day in 65 at half moon bay, Ron ran, and backed up an asounding 9.94. After winning class, Ron pulled the weight out, and broke the A/GS record, on the same day! In typical NHRA fashion, they later erased Ron's records as "most in their eliminator programs couldn't run close to those times". So much for their "Ingenuity In Action" slogan.

 

The Bones-Dubach-Pisano 33 Willys. This one is one of my all time favorite gassers. The Speed Sport scoop is so cool. Unfortunately, it was very short lived. Bones rolled it into a ball only a few weeks after it was built.

 

Great shot of Neil Leffler's coupe. I saw this car defeat the Speed Sport roadster in the middle eliminator final at the March meet in 61. From the back ground, that's probably when this pic was shot. Awesome race, and awesome car. Thanks for the pic.

 

Dubach's son (Doug) was to later become a national motocross champion as well as serving as test rider for what was to be a revolution in the abandonment of the 2 stroke and a return to the 4 stroke engine for off road racing application. Doug Dubach currently owns his own aftermarket company offering parts and components for 4 stroke motocross bikes. Dick Leichen, a prominent top fuel racer in the early and mid 60's, and founder of Maxima Oil had a son,(Ron) who garnared near equal success as Dubach's son serving as a factory rider on the national circuit. Basically the off spring satisfying their need for speed through different approaches

 

Reminds me of the little 1/32 Monogram Willys gasser kit from the '60s!

 

I found this pic in an 05 thread on Scotty's passing while searching for something else. Mazooma1 was kind enough to move it to this thread for me as I am a total dummy in all things computer. This pic is interesting as it not only shows the evoloution of Scotty's roadster with the McCulloch blower,"modern" slicks, and shorter headers, but it also shows the Burkhart-Brammer-Burns roadster as well. A few more details of Scotty's roadster show in this pic, like the 6 lugs on the original pin drive 12" midget front wheels. The location looks like the old Colton strip. I don't know if these two roadsters squared off for a race, but if they did, even with the blower added, I think Scotty's car would have come up short against the Art Chrisman blown fuel hemi in the 29. I was at the Colton strip once. remembering the short shutoff area, and this being the days before parachutes, I'm wondering how the heavy 150+ mph 29 got stopped with 2 wheel brakes!