Was there ever a successful Flathead FED

Have'nt really seen any,,and I'm sure with OHV if there were any they got swapped out,for better mills

 

Hell yes, up until about 1954. After that they were pretty much nostalgia cars, or rare diehards who liked to be giant killers.

 

John Bradley was #1 for decades. Of course it depends on your defination of successful. Note the frame tapers to only 3 tubes to save weight, and the engine is a spyder with one exhaust coming up through the top of the block.

Charlie Overfelt is from Roanoke, VA and has been running highly modified blown flatheads since forever. Note the custom billet heads.

 

I know a guy who ran one way back then on fuel before the powers that be sanctioned it.

They quit running it when they pulled the healthy mouse out of the 32 3 window push car one day in a pinch, when it on alcohol smoked their record...lol

I wish I was around then...

 

Stan Lomelino

 

wow,,that is pretty cool

 

Ive got video of that car running it just Boiled the tires

 

"Glass Slipper"?

 

1 name- Rick Schnell ... Look him up!

 

My God.......how about the Art Chrisman #25!! Just a beautiful piece of flathead dragster engineering......and was quite successful......

CB

 

A neighbor of mine still has his former record holding flathead fed the last i knew. A buddy of mine helped restore it about 25 years ago and took it around to car shows for awhile but don't think its been out of his shop for probably 20 years, he's an old farmer named Jack Thresher. He tried to run it a couple of times after restoration but just couldn't get to run like it used to, his old engine builder/tuner had passed away by the time he got it back together...

 

rick has been a flat guy as long as i known him about 30 + but theres a guy that used to show up at wentsville and indy when it was still fun named whitey a little guy he was the ahra flat head champ in 62 rick and him uesed to talk quite a bit and no one beat whitey on the lites not even overfelt!!!!! and he still ran the fed he had in 62 and he was right there with rick ah those were the days early gg indy like i said when it was REALLY fun and you could get some track time man I miss wentville my all time fav track best people in the world

 

AMEN! I got to spend some time with Stan just a few weeks ago. Well up in his eighties now he's still working (honest to God Blacksmith) and his mind is sharp as a tack. We visited Joe Hendricks' shop for a get-together/feed/beer bust and Stan & his son Danny were there. The stories that man has could keep you mesmerized for days.

He even talked us through a 'build' on a flathead that was sitting in Joe's shop. Neat story; Stan towed his flattie FED to California in the early 60's (two wheeled trailer behind a 47 Mercury sedan) to run at an NHRA event. While there the Hilborn guys asked him to test a couple of their latest units on his car. Stan obliged but when it came time for eliminations he pulled the Hilborn off, put his own home-built system back on and set a national record.

Danny Lomelino was at the Hunnert this year too. The engine in his roadster came out of the Mercury Stan drove to California.

 

jon barrett of oklahoma still runs a flattie fed.

 

8.2 sec, 159 mph

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/N4cw0WZCDv8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/N4cw0WZCDv8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

The J.E. Riley Special, won the '55 Nationals at Great Bend (finished in Arizona because of rain. Driver was Calvin Rice. They went to the nationals with a blown Chrysler but blew it up and won it with a flathead, built, I think, by Melvin Dodd.

Also, Aubrey Hilton won the '55 "Nationals" meet at Bakersfield, four years before the Fuel & Gas meet. There were several blown Chryslers there (including Ernie Hashim and the Glass Slipper), and several Arduns, but Hilton won it all, beating the Open Gas car of Fritz Voight in the final.

And John Bradley beat the Speed Sport roadster at the Howard Stamp memorial meet, which I think was in '57.

 

If anyone remembers the first National drags in Great bend, Calvin Rice won top Eliminator. He ran with either a Hemi or a flathead. The car had a much better trap speed with the hemi but quicker ETs with the flathead. So he ran the flathead in eliminations and became the first NHRA National Champion. That guy above types faster than me.

 

Yep, J. Bradley is known as Mr. Flathead for a reason.

 

Art Chrisman, the Bean Bandits, and Calvin Rice were probably the best-known and quickest of the TF cars using flatheads in the early '50s. Perhaps even more impressive in a way was Jazzy Nelson, running a fuel flathead in a Topolino competition coupe, who more than once was the TE against full-on dragsters.

 

I`m digging this thread

 

They are still successful on the nostalgia circuit.
Ever hear of "Whitey" McDonald?
He's an ass-kicker and name-taker running a homebuilt injected flat Henry.

 

that tells it all my friend, and we have a h.a.m.b. brother with a biown flathead coupe. and it's a badboy. but as you mentioned the o.h.v. mills toke over. then the cammers toke over. ( well sortof ) but i guarantee flaty's will be here untell the best mechanics that ever lived FADEAWAY...POP.

 

The Rice car discussed above in '55 was the last of the national top eliminator level flatheads...the Chryslers by this time had had some serious development done and were gobbling up the top classes, and the Chevy almost immediately began to take over the low displacement ones. I think by this time Olds and Cad were mostly successful in heavy cars like gassers where their big displacement did the job despite mediocre high end power.
The Rice car was campaigned with both engines available for different conditions...the flathead was chosen for the nationals.
So...anyone have candidates for quickest or fastest known flathead dragsters?? Gas, fuel?

 

Saw John Bradley run in the 8's with his 3 tube rail. No muss, No fuss, No burnouts either. It was a treat to see him .

 

Here's some of an old altered that runs with our group built in St. Paul in the late 50's. It's still around and runs a few times a year. It was built by the Dualateers CC. Pretty neat old car.

-Mike

 

Once again Bruce got it right.... what amazed me is that this question had to be asked in the first place.

 

Hey,,everyone seems to focus on hemi,,olds etc,,and most dragster posts are 65 and newer.. a few here on this thread that are "new" Flathead..

Was referring to the old Flathead and what they had to work with 'then'


and again,,they are over shadowed by the ohv motors ,,look at threads where running a narrowed banjo is bashed,,and other old dragster stuff..
Im sure in this day and age with teh tech a flatty can be built to run competivaly


So I asked so I could find out more about what I don't know

 

don and leon wilsons ran flat heads out of arlington texas, drag news shows them holding records late 50s thu early 60s
then paul davis of richardson texas ran one too, he took care of all timing gear for caddo mill back in the day.
i know theres more, maybe wbrw32 bobby will see this and add more.
charles

 

Bean Bandits flathead FED at Mooneyes last year...