I think Toms car was an early 302. He used a 327 block with a 283 crank along with the rest of the Corvette FI parts(heads, FI unit, cam, etc.). At least thats what I remember reading about it back in the "stone age".
If anyone has a '62 rule book it might be possible to figure out what the weight break was for C/FX in those days and then extrapolate from that how many cubic inches he could have gotten away with. I know that Nicholson had an injected Corvette motor in a Nova wagon at one point that ran in either B/FX or C/FX. In many cases, ?/FX cars were running a regular S/S short block with a bigger cam and/or carburetors. I think that Hoefer's Ford C/FX car in 1965 was supposed to have been a Weber-carbureted Cobra 289 motor. I never ran an FX car and I don't know what the rules stated about the differences between Super Stock and FX. c
Nicholson's Chev II wagon was a B/FX classed car with the 327 FI Corvette engine. I had a coversation with him several years ago about that combo when he stayed at one of my friends place for the summer before he developed loss of memory. One story he told was about replacing the rear axles every Monday after a race weekend on his 63 Z-11 with new ones (they were the same part acording to Nicholson) from a new car on the dealership lot where he worked at (Nalley Chevrolet) until a GM service rep caught him in the act. GM started wondering how brand new 283 P/G cars would develope rear seal leaks and bent/twisted axles and had to be replace under warrenty.....lol. The storys that guy could tell !
The NHRA Classification Guide shows the shipping weight of the '62 Bel Air 2-dr hardtop was 3506# while the 2-seat Chevy II wagon was 2754#, roughly 750# lighter. Using those numbers in conjunction with the 1962 weight breaks for B/FX and C/FX should provide enough information to tell which combination Sturm was running. On the other hand, it may not be worth the continued digging. If anyone is curious enough to pursue it, the conclusion should be at hand. c
It is just interesting "BS" for a site like this. After all its only been about 47 years ago....lol. Hows Calif. treating you Chuck? Take care. Terry
Whoa, Memory City. Lots of familiar names there. The winning B/S car was a black '62 vette, 340 HP 327 if I remember right, called the Wild Rebel. Last time I saw it was around 25 years ago, it was in Reb's garage in Tonawanda, NY, untouched for several years. The D/S winner was one of the Bad Bananas. Probably Banana I, the first of Ted Hartman's '57 283/283 nine passenger wagons, same as Banana III. Then there's Pete Magel's M/S '52? Stude, one of the winningest Jr. Stockers at Niagara. Thanks for posting that. Lee
"Nearly stock 265"?, I don't think so. even though they used 2 barrel casting heads the 195 HP engine had a minium CC of 55.7 vs 67 cc for a 2 barrel engine. A solid lifter camshaft with more lift and duration than the Duntov cam used on the 270-283 HP 57 engine, and 1.725 intake and 1.5 exhaust valve size on an engine with a 3.750 bore is more than adaquate...BTW the Corvette engine in 1956 had the same specs with a different head casting and was called 210 HP single 4 BBL and 225 HP with 2 -4's...
A pain in the butt trying to make the intake fit after milling .120+ off the heads to get to 55.7 Also a bit humorus in teardown watching tech men trying to cc them with a flat plate and the intake valve protruding above the flat surface.
I think Neil Smedly's "Sneaky Turtle" 1950 Olds won a few at Niagara. At least enough that Dean told him not to come back.
While checking today's posts for the third time today wanted to add: Friday,September 11th and Saturday,September 12th 2009 is Maple Grove's "Geezers at the Grove" show for this year. www.maplegroveraceway.com
Here is a rare picture of John Barkley in 1968. Rare because it was taken at Arlington, Washington in April 1968. We never expected this race to finish as it rained about half the time we were there.
Does anybody know what color Tom Sturm's '62 Bel Air Sport Coupe was and is there a possibility that the car was equipped with an aluminum front end? I wanna say that I've read somewhere before that he was able to recieve the aluminum package for his car because of his many wins.
I have an 62 NHRA rule book. It states A/FX - 0 to 8.99 lbs/cu in B/FX - 9.00 to 12.99 lbs/cu in C/FX - 13.00 or more lbs/cu in The FX class is for "stock automobiles that use manufacturers' optional equipment announced on or after June 1 1961; optional equipment that is not necessarily factory assembly-line installed and/or show-room sales available." They could use any engine or options listed by the automobile manufacturer for the engine model used as long as they were listed with and accepted by the NHRA Tech Board. They had to run street tires (1/16 inch tread depth) and had to fit in the original wheel well. Not much else listed in the rule book for 62.
OK.....It looks like Tom Sturms car probibly had a 283 in it (13 X 283=3679 lbs) If it was a 302 it would have weighed 13 X 302=3926. That is a bit much for a 62 Belair 2dr. The street tires would have been Caslers or Atlas Bucrons in that era. Nicholsons 62 Chev wagon would have weighed 9 X 327=2943 in B/FX. Remember that they weighed the cars WITHOUT the driver "back in the day". I dont know about the Alum. front end parts being on the C/FX car of Toms as they didnt come out until a little before Indy in 1962 and they were Impalas only except for a few sets avaliable "over the counter". Any old guys here know for sure?
Im not so old but what Ive heard and read is 20 aluminum nose Impala's were produced late in the (production) year. Chevrolet did release additional sets of aluminum fronts over the counter. I don't know the quantity or the time line for those but I suspect they were made available around the same time as the Impalas.
Thanks for looking, Colesy. I had seen that picture, but never noticed the MGA before. Maybe that guy had a whole yard full of 'em. Kinda the Tony Janes of MG's.
In 1965, I tuned a 1965 Falcon powered by a 289 Ford with Webers, Crane heads with 327 FI valves and ported by Crane, along with a Crane R-292 roller cam. Flat top JE pistons and stock 289 HP rods and stock HP crank. The car was campaigned by Don Havers and ran at Grand Bend, Cayuga, Niagara Falls and Detroit. It was the Eastern Drag News record holder at 12.61 e.t. The FX rules in 1965 were for manufacturers engines and specialized parts that the manufacturers had supplied "part numbers" for to the NHRA The rules for the rest of the car were basically the same as for gassers, and could run slicks. I recall when we got our first set of Goodyear "wrinkle" slicks and promptly blew the pinion out of the basically stock Ford 9" with 5:83 gears and Detroit locker. The cars weight break was the same as a gasser, our car weighed 2650 pounds or 9# per cubic inch. If I recall correctly, we were about half a second under the C Gas record.
Hey Colesy, Thanks for posting the results at "Cecil County" for August 1965. The H/SA winner is "Therese and Sonny". That would be the late Sonny Freeman that drove a 348(409?) Chevy for himself and also a string of Oldsmobiles for Anderson Olds in Baltimore, MD. I own the 1969 W31 that Sonny drove in F/S and G/S (had the car at the York Reunion) and have a picture of the H/SA Chevy. If only I knew how to scan the photo, I would post it for all to see. I'll keep tryin'. Thanks, Dave. Let's see some more of the East Coast's results from the 60s and 70s.
Hi Dick I have a couple of pics of that car from Oct 3,1965 at my local track,South Glens Falls Dragway.It was a S/S and F/X meet.Always loved screaming small blocks and it pushed me to build a G/MP car in late 60,s.Still remember checking that car out along with everyone else's.Just a kid at the local derelict outlaw track with a big smile.
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