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

Wasn't A/F a 3lb class?
A sbc grenade car could still be 50 to 100 lbs less than a Desoto, but granted the early hemi was designed for nitro. And where did the weight come from and still have a driver big enough to reach the pedals?
What year did B/Fuel in Pro Comp start? Where Chrysler and Desoto's allowed in that class?
Didn't Top Gas just start using methanol and become BB/AD sometime around when they made us quit push starts?
Tom S. in Tn.

 

Anyone know how much the Giant Killer pictured above actually weighed?
Tom S.

 

Orthodox So-Cal jr fuelers never prescribed to any sanctioning bodies rules on weight per cu in, they followed the ordinance set forth by the class creator/promoter CJ Hart. Basically nothing over 310 cu inch with min weight always being changed. cant say how the East coast guys set up things in the early days. When the NHRA recognized the class, they put them in comp eliminator, tossing them into either B/FD or A/FD depending on the era.

In 1968, things were streamlined for awhile and all injected nitro cars were put into A/FD. It was tough for even a 900 pound car to out run a big inch Hemi on nitro, so few elected to race the national events and points meets. In order to draw them to such events, in 1971, the NHRA insituted a seperate class for wedge head motors and called it B/FD. Wedge head guys relied on the 350" Chevies and bored/stroked 327's to compete. Here in So-Cal, the old true classic jr fuel class as described above had died and replaced by open 8 and 16 car shows where injected nitro/blown gas rails and the odd fuel altered were tossed together. They called it combo-elim, a precursor to pro comp.

Pro-comp debuted in 1973 at the NHRA Supernationals. All the dragster/altered/funnycars that formerly ran comp eliminator were now part of this heads up category. There seemed to be a representative car of each class, blown gas rails, wedge and hemi headed inj nitro cars, blown altereds and funnies on alky and inj nitro funnies. Blown gas rails raced in pro-comp for awhile. They were given huge weight breaks. The only one that made any real threat was the Gary Southern piloted blown Donovan RED that ran 7-teens in 1975 or so. Top gas was killed at the end of 1971 and the next year incorporated in comp elim. Twins in all classes were banned for awhile. And thats basically it in a nutshell!

 

Here is Jack Harris' "Bad Homre" A/FD that took the record from Gene Adams. http://nitrosheriff.com/photos-old.shtml

 

#28431;
" It was tough for even a 900 pound car to out run a big inch Hemi on nitro, so few elected to race the national events and points meets. In order to draw them to such events, in 1971, the NHRA insituted a seperate class for wedge head motors and called it B/FD. "

It was tough for even a 798# (wet w/driver inclusive) car to compete against a Chrysler on nitro, but I've seen more than one 2 bolt 265/283 with the main caps wallowed out from nitro trying to compete, and many times did more than just make the show. Chevies were expendable and seemed like the guys running them always took a station wagon load with them to the track.

The engine in our ProComp car in my avatar over to the < left < was a 354 .040 over and a 92' crankshaft. 388" inches cold, and 389" warm. That made our car approach 1200#, and just like an aircraft, the lighter one would always hit speed and lift off in a shorter distance.
We tried like hell to compete, and at the end of the day, it never failed some guy with a pickup load of $500 sbc's in some short 2 speed car wore us out.
What was it Doug Nash used for a fuel motor in his Bronco Buster F/C?
Damn little motors would wear you out.

I bought an 48V aircraft starter, but I refused to buy all the brackets and belt, cut and lengthen a nearly new car to gain clearance to use it, then buy batteries, a generator and charger just to be able to race, and I quit actively racing in 1976.
Even though nitro was approaching a grand a drum, it was being caught 400 mi out of town with empty gasoline stations that angered me the worse.
Don't know about you old time left coast guys, but this is the way I recall it out here in Div II wilderness.
Tom S. in Tn.

 

What was it Doug Nash used for a fuel motor in his Bronco Buster F/C?
Damn little motors would wear you out.

Tom, he used a 289ci SBF....

 

Miniscule by fuel standards and an F word at that.
Tom S.
P.S..... I bet it probably even had a cast crank in it.

 

This lil panel truck often frequented Irwindale too. What made it stand out was that it ran high 9's with a single 4 barrel Holley on a 427 L-88. At the time such performances were requiring injectors or dual carbs on a high rise.

 

Rose McMullen....

 

Well no....

Roy built the SPE cars with a deep bucket seat. At 5 foot 8 inches sitting in the car all I could see was the back of the valve covers. I put a piece of 8 inch foam under the upholstery which got me up where I could see, it also got me out of the cage. I raced everywhere with that car and tech never said a word.

And, I was 20 years old and fearless....

It would be better thought today however....

Don Roberts

 

The reason the little J/F mouse motored cars would put the Chrysler cars on the trailer occasionally was due to the shit tracks back in the day. The short chassied light weight Chevy cars with hi-gear only, slipper clutch on 100% (we always ran 100% in Smallblocks) could get hold of the track when the Chrysler could'nt. There were plenty little shit tracks in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana that would pay decent money for a 2 car, 4 car match race, or an 8 car open show back in the late 60's and early 70's. Sometimes the match races were setup with a promotional display in town at a strip shopping center or some other location near the track. We would unload the cars then stand around, answer questions and set the occasional kid in the seat for a picture and promote the race that night for an extra $50.00 or $75.00 bucks, that would usually cover our gas and food for the trip. Sometimes we actually got the track to throw in a motel room on the deal. We usually only took 1 can of nitro with us and at the time it was $35.00 bucks for a 5 gallon can. Man we were really shittin' in high cotton back in those days.

My little 140" wheelbase 302" Chevy smallblock, hi-gear setup car weighed 760# wet with out me in it. Minimum weight for the car was 906# and at that time my weight was 145#, so we were right on the weight break for the big races if we decided to run them. With Dallas International and Green Valley in our backyard we did go play with the big boys occasionally. What really put the final nail in the coffin of the ORIGINAL South West Junior Fuel assoc. was the people that could afford to buy the recently introduced aluminum blocks. This put most the guys out of the racing business, or they changed to another class. We had more fun than was allowed back in the J/F days here in division 4. That was before NHRA became politically correct with all their bullshit and cookie cutter highchair chassis with jungle jims for roll cages. I still love to watch the FED's of today run but they just don't look right. I have a poster from the original SWJFA and will try to take a picture of it, reduce it down and post it.

408/AAD

 

Great shot of the Burkhart-Bramer& Burns fuel roadster. I was at Pomona in 1960 when this roadster rocked the world running Frank Cannon's T/F Chrysler. As far as I know this was the first ever high gear only fuel altered. Experts said it wouldn't work, but were shocked when the car ran a then unheard of 156 in the high 9's. Fuel altered racing was forever changed.

 

One of the most famous hiboy fuel roadsters ever, in my view. Mike Burns, who worked the counter at Weiand's, was the shoe...painted a sort of pepto-bismol pink, normally ran a Potvin blown DeSoto that Hippo Brammer owned...after Hippo went dragster-racing, the Burkhart, Brammer, and Burns roadster gave up its body to replace the body on the Sadd, Teague and Bentley roadster that crushed its 29 body on a return road accident at Bonneville...

 

Thanks for that info. I always wondered what happened to this roadster. Once again, schooled by the HAMB!

 

I'm just amazed one could build a 800 lb Jr Fuel car. If a sbc weighs what 500 lb? , that leaves 300 for chassis, rear end, wheels, tires, fuel etc. I'm going to assume it was with a coupler not a trans? Wow.

 

I have posted these a few times, but since we are on the topic of Jr Fuel,
here are some pics of my dads (Denny Bloching) Jr Fueler:







My dad bought the car from Dwight Hughes, raced mainly Fresno, Fremont, Irwindale. You can see why they weighed sub 1000lbs!!!

 

Speaking of Jr. Fuel......

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=536485

 

You assumed right Dave, it had an aluminum clutch can with only a high gear shaft into a coupler. The alum. can also had a hole drilled in the top of it with a cross mark filed into it and that is how we timed the engine as the flywheel was degreed. One other note on the can, in about 1971 NHRA required us to put a chromoly liner inside the can, but NHRA finally banned them completely in about 1973 or 1974 (not exactly sure) as they were very dangerous not only for the driver but also the spectators. I also ran a Mickey Thompson magnesium center section. Everything on the car that could be drilled, was drilled. We also machined areas of the block for weight reduction. The engine was just a bare smallblock with port injectors, single fuel pump and Vertex mag. The bare J/F chassis' of the day were so light that one person could carry them. We also ran no water in the block or heads.

There was one car in the D/FW area back then that was lighter than mine, but there were many 800 to 850 pound cars. The car that was lighter than mine was crashed at Green Valley Raceway at about 170 mph and the driver walked away with a slight concussion. We loaded all the pieces into the back of his pickup and then proceeded to sit around drink cold beer, wine and shoot the shit until the races were over. He did'nt find out until 2 days later about the concussion when he went in complaining of a headache. I still think he just had a hangover <grin> anyway it was a fun time to be dragracing.

408 AA/D

 

Mr."C" Gary Cochran.....

 

Mike Snively....

 

.....and again.

 

Hank Westmoreland....