" ... the Olds is the record holder in the class." Turned out to be Kenny Worrell." Great story, Thanks! Those '48-53 Oldsmobiles were certainly killers in the (wayy) lower stock ranks. I remember SS mag (or Car Craft) did a piece on them with a great 'tag line' ... "They're Slow, But They Sure Are UGLY"! Most of those early Olds cars used the 135HP/303 cu. in. engine -- the Racing Head Service (Memphis, TN) bunch ran it in coupes, sedans, wagons and at least one CONVERTIBLE! I remember the (53?) Olds sedan called "Honest Pop" , it 'ruled' Jr. Stock Eliminator (at Capitol!) for a while in the mid-late '60's. BTW: I 'think' it was the SS mag editors also coined another phrase I loved ... "The Junkyards For Lunch Bunch." Best Regards ... Steve
John's 57 was called "Passionate Poncho" !! That's what Arnie Beswick called his Pontiac's..!! I think Arnie's first Pontiac was a '58 ...I never knew the name of John's car. He did say NHRA/IHRA killed the car when they outlawed the valve train he was running..
Does anyone have any pictures of the 60 Pontiac run by Gene Calhone. He last ran it in C/S and cleaned house !! I actually worked on this car at Thayer's Sinclair in Annandale,Va..back in the day .. I own the original car but it was too far gone to restore..I have since cloned a car and run it in Nostalgia Super Stock. I have talked with Gene but he very tightliped and I haven't got a thing out of him except he likes the clone !! I ran into him at Old Dominion Speedway - Manassas,Va. this summer and took some pics. Anyone reconize this car.. Thanks Troy
Troy, Here is an enlarged shot of John's '57. He did indeed call it the Passionate Poncho. It is on the 1/4 panel, but a little hard to read. Do you remember a guy from Ohio named Paul Longnecker? He raced a '57 Chevy in N/SA in 1969. In 1970 he showed up with a '60 Pontiac wagon running in E/MP with a 427 Chevy. That was an 11lb class so that beast weighted 4697 lbs!! Can you imagine the beating that drivetrain took? In 1971 Paul had a '69 Camaro running Pro Stock and then the next year was in top fuel. One hell of a jump from an N/SA in such a short period of time.
"Do you remember a guy from Ohio named Paul Longnecker? He raced a '57 Chevy in N/SA in 1969" Yes, he beat me once that year (I think it was @ Cecil) 220/283 glide ... nice car. Here's some shots 'A Trio of WAGONS! that I JUST got back from the photo lab (sorry, lame job on the edges!). I had lost or discarded the hard copies years ago, but was able to find the negatives. I realize Paul's Nomad is NOT a Jr. Stocker, but I figured you guys might forgive me for posting it! All photos (3 of 11) taken @ Englishtown ... or was it 'Raceway Park' or 'Madison Township' ... or 'Old Bridge Raceway' ... anyway ('fer sure) it was 'SOMEWHERE in NEW JERSEY,' cira mid 70's Enjoy ... comments encouraged! Regards ... Steve PS: What ever happened to (PA) Frank Jordan? ... The guy who figured out how to make vacuum leaks work to your advantage. And how about (57-58) injected Pontiac (and transmission) 'wiz' 'Fast Freddie' Borcheck(sp?)?
"PS: What ever happened to (PA) Frank Jordan? ... The guy who figured out how to make vacuum leaks work to your advantage" I thought that was the guy from Indiana, or someplace out there, that ran a '59 Biscayne 283 2 bbl. who figured that out. At least, he is the one I remember getting nailed for it by NHRA. Something about hollow carb mounting studs and a "loose" carb.
When George got this car from Bobby Warren it was dark brown with the black vinyl top, typical "plain jane" car that Bobby liked. It didn't draw much attention until you saw the ET pop up on the scoreboard. I watched George make the first runs on the car before it was painted. The prep work might have been a little tricky since the front end had been "North Carolina acid dipped". Bobby would strip the paint, coat the panels with a salt solution and the them sit outside for the winter. I remember George saying that they found rust pits on the rod journals. He asked Bobby about them and was told not to worry. "They are for oil retention".
Hard to say WHO 'figured it out' FIRST, but once the 'cat was outta the bag' the 2bl 283 guys picked up 2-4 tenths! It prompted NHRA to state in the (1972?) rule book "NO VACUUM LEAKS!" ... ever wonder 'why'? It was a bit tricky for the automatic cars, as they (obviously) didn't idle very well, but the guys who made it work really FLEW! I sold Frank Jordan my nicely painted (white), 'semi-prepped '61 'bubble top' '61 coupe, and he configured it for (wish I could remember which) 'some' 19 or 20 lbs per HP ultra-low automatic clas (before the catagory 'split') ... I 'think' the HP of the 2-bl 283 (in 61) was a loooow 170HP! Anyhow, the last time I saw him and/or the car was at a E-town WCS meet and he (blatantly) had a 'water spigot' (W/ handle!) coming from the power-brake fitting on the intake. I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but what 'they' did was to 'let it leak' vacuum ... BIGG time, and then 'richen up' the jets 'a lot' to compensate. This pretty-much equaled a smallish 'quasi' 4 barrel ... performance wise!
"Does Kronenbitter sound right?" ... yea, 'Dave,' I think. So many really-bright guys ran those cars ... guys that really 'paid attention' in high-school physics class. Guys like 'Hydrophobia John' Archenault(sp?) who, I'm pretty sure, became a science teacher. As for me, I spent entirely too much (pre bondo) time inhaling body-lead dust and Dupont 'DuLux' enamel paint fumes. Guess I was lucky to ultimately become an auto-shop teacher! "So it Goes" Kurt Vonnegut Jr. *R.I.P. ... Steve
One of the most-beautiful, and more-unusual among the host of NHRA-record-holding '57 220/283 Glide-equipted cars of that era. *photo taken at the Englishtown NHRA Spring Points Meet, May 1971
Love the stories and photos guys, I've been wanting to build one for the street to run around in my self.
I wonder if Ronnie Sox (R.I.P.) began his career in the Jr. Stock ranks? Took this pic sometime 'mid-70s @ Cecil
" ... I dig the info on Terry Clarks chevelle, thanks for sharing!!" RE: 'Duffy' That group 'ruled' the Northeast (and behond) back then, but alas, seems to me Duffy 'hisself' suffered an unfortunate 'early' demise.
"what happend??" I don't know for sure Mike, other than (word is) it wasn't an accident or from 'natural causes. Alas, I just learned about Ralph Truppi ---> http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=138607
Their blue LS-6 won the World Finals at the long gone Dallas International Motor Speedway which is down the street from me....now its a Target shopping center..
On any thread about drag racing, half the guys say bracket racing "killed" drag racing, and decry the loss of heads-up, no breakout racing because it was fun. The other half of the guys say the reason they no longer drag race heads-up, no breakout is because it's too expensive and thus no longer fun. Just sayin'.
... another 'staging lanes' shot (@ Englishtown) ... that's the Scotto/Blevins Nomad, another well-known Duffy's (G/MP) car, in the foreground.
The 57 Ford Wagon belonged to Bob Bales of Danville Ill. It was a 300hp 312ci (supercharged) This picture is the final round of the K/SA class at the 1971 US Nationals. Bob was racing Bobby Warren in a 68 or 69 Chevelle. Warren broke and Bob won but was tossed for his 7" slicks being about 7 1/4" wide. I used to see guys with files and utility knives trimming the width to exactly 7". These cars were as scienced as a car could be at that time, much like todays Pro Stockers. Great thread!
isnt bracket racing...........racing against your self? i kinda like that idea, then it becomes a sport. i was always taught to run your own race, f*** what the guy in the other lane is doing. it pisses me off so bad when i see on ''pinks'' when the guys driving stare at the other car as they pass them, maybe if they paid attention to what they were doing and how they were doing it they wouldnt be getting passed. so bracket racing may not be a spectaters sport, its a drivers sport agree???
The Jalopy Journal
