I know of an instance where the question of a 4 speed and 2bbl carb in full size '66 Chevy came up at the time and apparently they were made. However the 2bbl motor came with a Saginaw 4 speed while the others came with a Muncie so the Saginaw was required by NHRA with the 2bbl.
This is somewhat true but the newer cars of the musle car era did not completely obliterate the old cars from competition, They were faster and the hp ratings were somewhat soft on a few engines. Mostly it was the 350 Chevies everyone would think of first....and especially the 255 hp in 1969. My partner and I built a 350/295 hp '68 Chevy II and that combo was not tried by anyone in our area that I know of before Ralph Truppi sold us on building one.....He knew of a car and could build the engine..... On the cars first full hard pass with Ray Allen driving it went 2 tenths under the exisitng National Record....in good air in the spring at Englishtown......We raced against various cars and some were older combos like 283 Corvettes. They did fade as more people built the newer 350's and saw they would be fast.....I can recall some of us thought the 350 would not rev up because the stroke was to big....and building a newer car cost more initially......because the bodies were fairly new....and if you got a clean car it would cost you more. We bought a car for something like $1500-$1800 less the engine but with a Muncie and some other parts. I don't know what we spent to build that car but we set the record with it and in todays Stock eliminator what we spent on that ChevyII wouldn't even buy you a good transmission..... or a set of "enhanced heads with an intake" Robert Wilson I remember your name from Island.......Did you race a Yellow Chevy II at one time in H/S ??? or something like that?
I remember working at a Sunoco station in Piscataway, NJ right down the road from Ralph Truppi's shop. We had a team car, a '56 Chevy which was a old Junior Stocker turned Super Stock. We were told we couldn,t run a 4 speed. We went back to the shop, removed the reverse linkage and put a 3 speed shift ball on the Hurst shifter and went back to the track. Once thru inspection by Ed Dugan at Raceway Park, we ran the car and NO ONE noticed the extra shift at the top end!!!
Paul.....Yes it became very evident how fast they could run at that event to me anyway. Not because Boertman won with one...but because of how fast I saw Bobby Warren go with one.....His car was another Chevy II, a '69 and ran 2 classes lower than ours...J/S.....he ran in the 12.20's I think and in the heat of summer on pavement! Traction was not to good in the heat of summer on pavement and there was no concrete or traction compound......we spun hard at that event on a couple runs and did not qualify for eliminations.....the best H/S run was in the 12.3's I think.....
Ralph Truppi was working out of a Sunoco on 22 east at one time that was just down the road from the shop they eventually were in for many years. They moved to a shop that is where Charlie Weston is today and has been for many years. We installed our engine in our Chevy II there and that is where the Chevelle convertible was built....I think some of these propertys were once owned by the Hoffmans......Charlie Weston once worked for Hoffman if I recall right.....He's a good guy and is always good to talk with.....
Rich Biebel ased if ran a 1968 nova at island iN H/S. That was my brother charles. from late 67 to 1970 i ran a 68 red Z 28 camaro. In 65-66 ran a 58 chevrolet wagon 250 HP 283 FI blue. In H/S and I/S. in 67 i changed to a yellow and white car. ROBERT
Rich, The 350/295HP and 350/255HP engine combinations were the reason Joe Kenney 'Trick Tank' (62' Dodge Wagon) from up our way went Chevy. Joe was a life-long Mopar guy. Joe went with a 69' Camaro convertible. Bounced between J/SA and L/SA. Think he picked off Bobby Warren in one of those big meets. pc
Unusual combos? There was a guy who ran at Island with a 59 (Brookwood maybe?) wagon that was white and named Ye Old Crusher, done in old english style lettering. I thought it was a 348 single 4 barrel 4 speed car. Didn't run fast enough for $$ so he wound up running for trophies after a while. Anyone remember who that was? My grandfather had a 59 Impala with a 348 tri-power and a 4 speed that he traded in a Packard on. Sid Baker used to have an Esso station in Livingston and would go nuts when my old man's old man would dump the clutch leaving the station and "messing up" his lot with rubber.
i remember a 59 two door wagon 348 250 HP 4 speed that ran at island i think the guys name was mike he later ran a 1966 chevy II 220 HP 283. i think he was friends with mike rogers. i ran him in cups eliminator when i had my camaro i think in 1969. i am not sure about the name its 40 years ago ROBERT
I keep thinking it was Mike Mazepa who did run a Chevy II....... but the same 40 years has me scratching my head too.
I was the H/S winner sept 4 and the I stock winner april 17 thanks for posting those pages Colesy. It was the 58 chevrolet 250 HP FI. ROBERT
Actually it was Ye Ole Crusher and it was my buddy Mike Mazepa. The car was a 2 dr wagon Brookwood 348 280hp (3 -2's) 4 spd. Mike had it painted from blue to white and I designed the name and lettering and did all the lettering homemade style w/ a Michelob in hand. The car was very consistant in cups. Then Mike built a more serious car for bucks..a 66 Chevy II Nova SS 283 220hp 4 spd. called II Timer M/S... see my post #1251 for pic at Island. That car ran on the record or better...even went 3 rounds at the Gatornationals after qualifying 30th. Fond memories.
Big thanks Colsie, Robert and Markus A. The A/MP winner was one of my bosses over the years Jim Tester who was running a 57 or 58 Plymouth at the time. Later switched to one hard running Vette. Was the Special Delivery 2 Ann Toews 58?
A lot of familiar names on the Island papers. Jay Kalmus, Bill Crowley, Craig Muller....just to name a few. We must have been broke as we are not on there..... I worked for Bill Crowley for many years. Bill also worked for Tony Feil in the early days. It's funny but my present bracket car is faster than the fastest car of the day...the Van Iderstine fuel dragster..... Pete Van Iderstine was a great guy and fun to be with......I went with him and my old partner to Middletown NY for dirt track racing when he began sponsoring some racers.....He was a very upbeat guy and loved racing. His speed shop chain was big back in the day. He also had a wholesale supply deal.....Jersey Speed Warehouse....... Jeg's and Summit put people like him out of business as well as many small engine shops in my opinion........same deal as Walmart and all the big box stores.......you lose in the long run with this way of doing business as you lose the mom and pop style small shops.....
Jim Tester was well known.....Ron Keegan races every week at Island and I spoke to Marty Keegan a few years ago as he was with Ron......I think he's had some health problems from what Ron told me..... I was best of friends with Jay Kalmus and he raced Street eliminator and would have raced the Tester car often......Pete Gardner was also a good guy and his car was cool......I spoke to him once a number of years ago at another friends place...he was into dirt track racing out in Pa. with his son or grandson....
IN 1971 my brother and i ran a 66 chevrolet wagon in R/S 220 HP 283. We had a carb tag from a powerglide we were runing a 4 speed Ralph Truppi said that we may not need the correct tag if we removed the tag .i was talking to Mike Mazepa one day at island he said he was thinking of changing to a powerglide in his nova something came up about carb tags he said he had one from a 4 speed car so we traded tags.we set the mph record at the tear down Greg X said you don't have a carb tag . and that was it so we never needed the tag but we were prepared. ROBERT
I have another story. About the announcers match race at island. that Rich Biebel mentioned earlier. I was picked one sunday along with 57 chevrolet i think it was a 265 or 283 with a 2 barrel in a two ten 2 DR sedan. i had my 58 FI wagon. i won the 2 out 3 runs. at the the end of the season all of the weeks winners would run off for the championship?. i was at island that week end but none of the weeks winners were there. so Don Hampson the announcer. [Hope i spelled his name correctly] called Tony Feil told him that if he would come to the track and run the race it would be an easy $50.00 because my car was about 5 tenths off the recored Tony agreed to come to the track to run me. so we line up my lights come down i leave about an hour ahead of Tony i don't remember what class he was running maybe m/p. he flies past me like a freight train at top end. i picked up my time slip with the win box checked. Tony had fouled ROBERT
Robert....Tony Feil was at Island last week racing in the group he is president of. N.E.T.O. I went over and spoke to him and this was probably the first time I have seen him in at least 30 years! He looks great and we had a good little chat. It was the 50th Anniversary of Islands opening in 1960. Tony remarked about how he was told it was the 50th and he said he was there 50 years ago with amazement.... It was a real nice day and a good turnout....we raced for an increased purse and a Wally.....I was r/up, in the first round LOL.....7.89 on a 7.86 dial-in.....dragsters are fast and fun....
when talking about the early OLDS" wagons ; let's not forget JACK WORRELL ; I think he ran pretty good too. JAKE
Colesy, You come through again,,,,,,,,,,with that 'Joe Kenney' Camaro convertible picture. Think that convertible first hit the scene in early 71' in J/SA. Running 12.95's at Dover. Which I presume was a 350/295HP engine at that time. pc
I would have liked to have gone to island this year but i did not want to pay for the fuel for towing the car trailer. just drove up did what i had to do in New York and drove back to FLA. ROBERT
When i meant Jack Worrell he was racing a 1955 chevrolet wagon. than the olds wagon. one day at island the reverse idler shaft fell out of the the transmission on the olds on the starting line i asked how are going to put the shaft in the transmission he said no problem i can slid it back in he got under the car and slid the shaft back in the trans Robert
Jack and Ken Worrel raced pretty much every week at Island with their 2 Oldsmobiles for a while. Jack's wagon was the quicker of the two against their records and won pretty regularly for a while in Stock II. His wagon was a stick and Ken's was a later model with an automatic. We could usually beat Ken with no problem but catching Jack was another story. He wore a railroad train engineers cap and was pretty funny.....I think they had a few "tricks" with those Oldsmobiles and one I learned later was some sort of rocker arm swap...... I can almost still hear that old wagon shift down track after it lumbered off the line.....and knew almost no one could catch him even though it looked like they might from back behind the line.....nope!!! Jack's Ford Fairlane cobraJet convertible a few years later was also in the win column many times and set records.......obviously he was a very good drag racer....
Marty Keegan is a cancer survivor. We go back quite a few years. I have a name in mind but ....... that 40 year deal again. There was a guy who ran a camaro convertible with hand controls who was in a wheelchair. I thought he was from Long Island but the years have taken there toll. Think it was white with orange stripes, a stock eliminator car. Any guesses? Also, how does the shutdown at Island look after 7 seconds Rich? I ran a 9 second car there in the early 80's and that net comes up quick!
I have a very vague memory on that white Camaro and I am thinking it was MIke Moschello......He had a '55 sedan delivery that was white in about 1966-1968 and I think he might have built a Camaro Convertible a couple years later. It was a '69 I believe......He was handicapped and needed a wheelchair to get around but it didn't stop him from working on his cars. I saw him working on his sedan delivery at Old Bridge Speedway once...he was up on the fender working under the hood. He had help getting up on the fender but thats probably all he needed....He was from Staten Island I think and I recall talking to him more than once.....He raced with T/K power under the hood....and Ralph liked him and often pointed to how fast Mike's car was......I recall seeing him run in the 13's in the sedan delivery only a year or two after we sold the Pie Wagon and that was really fast.... I have no trouble stopping at Island and I go close to 170.....dragsters are light and I have 2 sets of rear brakes....I use them both and they stop me fine without any need for a chute....Last weekend the track photographer who is a racer and friend asked me to pull the chute as he was shooting pictures down at the end......I said he would have to come pack it if I did! When I made a run I saw him way down there on a ladder just in front of the catch net stuff.......I waved to him as i made the turnoff.......The track itself was repaved this past winter and is very smooth and hooks well......The rest of the place is not a whole lot different than 1960........
I'm pretty sure Joe tried the S/S route in early 72 with the Trick Tank. Like so many other Jr Stock combos, it just wouldn't respond. That's when he decided to go to Chevrolet, after seeing Lingenfelter's success and Hayward Register's ragtop also. Joe DeLorenzo built his 69 convert in late 71 as an L/Stocker , but made the transition to SS/N very well the next year.
I believe that was him. I know he was from one of the islands so Staten Island fits. I'm not sure whether his cars were named "Iron Mike" or that was a nickname for him that Hank Dinger used but thanks for the info Rich.
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