History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

Big Jim Dunn having a bad day.....

 

Cope Bros. twin AA/GD out of Tacoma.....

 

No clue, possibly "Howard Cams"......

 

These are the best '56 nationals photos in existence. Definitely KC because it was the only strip with grain elevators in the background. This one of the Glass Slipper and Langley(?) on the line is perfect. Looks like the weather was sketchy.

There were no fat people because there was no fa(s)t food!

 

WOW, Is that tire off the rim!!!

 

Yup, Howard Cams I think. Scott injector was Jerry Johansen's favorite.



www.highspeedmotorsports.com

 

On the orange roadster what is the B/H class? Thanks for some great pics!

 

not sure if these have been posted or not ...

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday at Detroit Dragway ...

 

The late great Mike Sorokin.....

 

No I.D....(I believe it to be another shot of O.C.M.P.)

 

This is Melvin Heath. He won that race.

Dug out my copy of "Vintage & Historic Drag Racers" by Robert Genat and found this picture of the finals from that race.

 

Definitely KC...those silos are still there, but there's mostly trucking terminals and warehouses where the strip was. Awesome photos, thanks to you and your FIL for taking, scanning and posting those!

Now, do your intro!

 

First color shot I've ever seen of the Garlits' accident.....

 

Plum, Thanks for putting those sporstman racer pictures up. I love seeing them, they bring back memories of going to the drags at Maple Grove and Cecil county with my dad when I was a kid. keep em coming!

 

Guess I've never bothered to notice back in the day, but Roland Loeng and Tom McEwen standing there next to Garlit's car when it exploded....

 

Bob Downey at OCIR

 

B/H stood for B/Hot roadster, what fuel-burning hiboy roadsters were know as before the class mixed with fuel coups to become "fuel altereds"...the orange roadster belonged to Dave Marquez of the Ventura Motor Monarchs, Ardun powered, HRM cover car, Dave sold the car and it apparently went to Tennessee and Alabama, but Dave never found out what happened to it before he died several years ago.

 

Staging lanes @ 1968 U.S. Nationals....80 teams from 20 states attemped to qualify for a 32 car T/F field.
Those were the days my friends.....

 

Thank you 296ardun.

 

Look at that - 392, 426, BBC, 392, etc.

 

Just think of how many Top Fuel cars there were in the country running every weekend.

It's no wonder there aren't any 392's or 426's around anymore.

 

Who says there aren't? They aren't in junkyards (426's never were) but there's an incredible ammount of 392's still out there. Hell, you can pick up the phone and call PAW or Hot Heads and order one however you want it!

 

I owned and raced the Ramchargers car in the photo for about 4 years as a Super Comper. Chuck Kurzawa put a new cage on it for me. Sold it for 1500 in 1982. Don't know where it's at today.

 

One of my favorite Falcons--stuffed full of FE 427.

 

Well I just looked on P.A.W. and they only sell parts now.
http://www.pawinc.com/
A quick check on Hot Hemi Heads finds the same thing.

Big Al's Toy shop might come up with one if you have lots of "big long ones".

You'd be better off tryin to find and old Donovan and get a set of Indy aluminum heads, then go from there.

Early last summer on of our rod runs was to a local classic car bone yard. It's been there forever. We even got a couple blocks from them in the early 60's. I looked in every Chrysler and Imperial skeleton in the yard which was considerable. There was not a single block, head, crankshft, piston, rod or rocker set. One pair of smashed flat valve cover rusted to next to nothing was all I found.

 

In the dragtser photo the 3rd car up is the Kingshott & Willis Top GAS Dragster. It's my car. Not all these are AA cars. But there were an awful lot of them for sure. This car went 8.01 @ 175 1966 or 67 nat. record. Brad

 

The purple car closest to the camera racing the Glass Slipper is Kenny Lindley's "Misfire," driven by Bob Alsenez, lost in the final round to Melvin Heath.