I just came from having dinner with Ronnie Broadhead. He's a great guy and doing well. I could get some pics if anyones intrested.
My brother talked to Ronnie and Butch Leal on the phone a couple weeks ago. Tell Ronnie Gary Glover says HI.
That's a great picture of Ronnie's Pontiac. As I looked at it I wondered exactly when the practice of placing a "T" sticker on the windshield of cars competing in the final round of class began. I can tell you that the "T" sticker is a big deal with class racers. I've seen some heated discussions in the staging lanes that erupted when the stickers were not available or in a few cases when it was suggested that they be discontinued due to expense or inconvenience. Obviously, the "E" stickers are even rarer and I don't think they're used any more. I know that I've never received an "E" sticker but my first appearance in an eliminator final was in 1998. They were gone long before that. The picture of Broadhead's car shows a "T" and I estimate the year to be 1964 at Pomona. How far back do they go? What's the earliest picture that shows a "T" sticker? c
Ah yes the staging lanes always presented an interesting dynamic. As each car would rumble up all would glance back and a familiar face would jump out. Then the the BS would resume sometimes serious, sometimes humorous. The main role was to act cool and indifferent but with ears super tuned to pick up any chatter about who was doing what and how that may help you. It was a time to gab about "tricks' but you only told part of the story to remain mysterious and keep that little edge to yourself. Then when the lane was called the dynamic would switch to competitors with their game face on. Looking at some of these staging lane pictures one can easily flash back to some of those exact mopments.
Actually, I think the "T" stands for Class Finalist. Both cars got the sticker. With the exception of single car classes, there were always twice as many "T" stickers as trophies awarded and they were prized as indicators of how far you managed to get in class. c
BOTH class finalists ( AKA the trophy run) get a T on their windshield. Sorry, Big time holeshot for CHUCK. I was early for the next race anyway.
Bucksnort I remember that race real well, we match raced Jenkins in the Black Arrow Plymouth, the exhibition race was a lot closer than a lot of people thought it would be. Havers could really row that 4 speed. The little Falcon would put quite a hole shot on Grumpy but he always got us at the big end.
I was reading the rules covering exhaust and remembered one of the Gay's getting bounced for a violation. I think the muffler was 1" too short. Wasn't that a 1962 Catalina?
Yepper....that was the M/T & Proffit 421 SD Catalina sedan they bought and ran the "North Wind" 409 Chevy for class at Indy. The mufflers were approx 1/2 inch to short and the North Wind was bounced for having a couple of bumper brackets removed and replaced with towing tabs. THere was no class winner at that race. Such BS but rules were rules I guess.
LOL.....I have been a nostalgia buff and been involved with stock and super stock forever and I read a LOT. This DQ was stated in Hot Rod way back when (dont remember the issue) Some of the stuff that happened in the past was when I was there. Im old and been going to the races since 1961. Being involved with tech in IHRA kept me close to a lot of the action and a lot of racers acually talked to me back in the eary 70's. I was the ONLY tech guy who was allowed in Bob Gliddens trailer when they ran the small block cars in Pro Stock when we required them to pull a head instead of just pumping (P&G) the engine. I had stocker and S/S engine specs memorized (dont know how) so I seldom even needed to look in the spec book during tear downs. Very few questioned me unless it was someone who wasnt an IHRA regular. Now I cant remember what I did yesterday either....LOL.
I will be getting pics this week, but the In-Bomber '57 has been painted, wet sanded out and buffed, and trim is going back on right now. All new glass is in, with the exception of the rear windshield which was the only piece not broken and still having an original Shiefer sticker in place. We also picked up a set of NOS 1968 Mondello Posi-Flow heads for the 283 that we are going to use. -Dean
Those are the kind of memories one seldom finds in a book. You've prompted me to get in touch with Joe Gardner and find out what his memory is of that final..... Be back later Verne
I raced with Dempsey Hardy in the 70's. I ran a ss/h and an ss/i camaros. i ended up selling my ss/i car to him in 1976. If any knows what happened to it or has pictures I would love to know. Gardelle&Johnstone
So, X-TECH MAN, are you going to leave us hanging? What was so trick about Glidden's cylinder heads, etc., that he didn't want the rest of the world to see? Pete
To answer your question Bob would remove the head for the bore and stroke check and wrap the head in a blanket before I was allowed in his trailer. It wasnt the heads.....it was the bore and stroke combination that was different than say Gapp & Roush that came out to approx the same cubic inches. That info was kept to myself (its called integrity) as I recall Jack Roush asking me a couple of times what was the bore and stroke on Bobs engine. I never told anyone and thats why I was the one that usually did the checks after qualifying. I kept a lot of things to myself in those better days of Pro Stock.
No that was Dempseys old ss/i car (the black one) . Mine was red and I moved out of state not long after i sold it to him. I ran the car one last time at the Gainsville points meet in 76
Jenkins told Spider to go out and find the rustiest piece of junk '55 he could find. Let's just say there were aluminum patch panels in the floorboards, etc. After all, your car had to be deemed safe, right?
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