I think we should mention that John Smeds was one of the first to box rods before the aftermarket rods hit the scene. I'm sure that was why he boasted the 10,000 RPM thing. I went to high school in Astoria,, Smeds and I were in the same class of '58, and spent most of our school time in Machine Shop. Hugh Wedekind was one year ahead of us. Smeds drove a '55 Savoy to school and had a Olds powered '50 Chev for cruising and a few street races,, a real sleeper. Man does this bring back the memories. There were a lot of hot cars in Astoria back then,, shame is I have no pictures. Babyearl
I was at Woodburn the day Svela crashed. I have a friend that should join us here with pictures of Svela's "Super Ford" soon! The pictures show the dented fuel tank from the dragster in the bed of the truck. I have black and whites of the dragster at Madras in 1964. We will be posting as soon as we can. Plenty of good stuff to come.BTW The Svelas,Cliff,Jim and Jack were from Beaverton Or.
Definitely Woodburn! That's the old tower. Check out the crowd. In those days there was no guard rail! You could stand on the east side ( where your pics were taken) almost right at the line! COOL! Thanks for posting.
Here is a O/T picture since it was taken at the North American Fuel and Gas Championships in Washington. This is how it was done back then. Flag man and lots of smoke
That's Ken Martin's Vette, I can't make out the camaro. I know Steve Bovan toured around that time in the Mister T. Also the Bloomin Bullet was in Oregon a lot. That's Richard Schroeder's AMX wheelstander in the last pic. This would be 1969 or 1970, COOL!
Guy I used to compete against in competition eliminator during the mid-70's....Nyles Klampe. We used to tow up from Sacramento and cherry pick Division 6 races. Always liked racing at Woodburn and P.I.R.
I think Nyles made the switch from a front engine to rear in about 1975. If memory serves he was the Division 6 Comp champ that year. Niles and Rich Lloyd were fun to watch back then.
Gary, I have a nephew that lives in Hillsboro,, we were talking a month or so back about the old racers. He used to live in Forest Grove and would go to Ernie Halls shop and get in the way,,, He said that Ernie had a dragster that was built by Fuller, and it hadn't been touched in years. He claims the dragster is still in the shop to this day. Maybe it is possible that Marty might know if it is still in Ernies old shop. I think the shop is in Cornelius. Would be interesting to know,,, Babyearl
Babyearl, I knew Ernie pretty well, the only slingshots that he raced, he built himself,in about 1972 he had Roy at SPE build him rear engined T/F car and he bought one of the first Donovans. I the 80s when I was racing Nostalgia T/F he sold me wire front wheels and a 3 disc clutch. He gave me over 100 new NGK B9ES plugs as he was sponsored by Autolite. I would doubt the Fuller car story.
I sawed his ass off in the finals at a NHRA points meet at P.I.R in 1975...he was still driving his high winding FED then, man I can still hear that car, it had a very distinct sound. You're right Marty, he was the Division 6 champ that year, Christ I miss those days....
Contrary to HAAMB legend, most tri five gassers ( nearly all 55's) did not have straight axles. Most ran jacked up stock suspention and ran in the lower classes. The straight axles didn't save much weight anyway.
Rick, You are so correct about Nyles, he always "cracked the throttle" a couple of times as the car was slowing down after the burnout! I see him at the Albany Swap Meet, almost every fall.
Here are some crappy old Instamatic photos of Balboa Raceway in Eugene. It used to be an airport and I believe was first named the T-Bird Airpark, then the T-Bird Drag Strip. It was near West 11th and Danebo, at Balboa Road, hence the name. I went to the site about a year ago and could hardly recognize it. No buildings or pavement left, and it is completely overgrown with grass and blackberries; almost no evidence a drag strip ever existed. It used to be in a rural area, but the town has now grown out to it.
Marty, I will call my nephew and read him the riot act,, I really had no reason to doubt him when we talked,, Is Ernie's shop in Cornelius and is there still items in there? He (nephew), said the shop was full of stuff and it looked as if someone just shut the door and would be right back. Well, we know now how rumors get started. Babyearl
Great pictures! I used to live off West 11th recently and would head out there all the time on the bicycles. You can hardly tell what used to be there but only if you know what you are looking at. I find it a little funny that it is now protected "wet lands." Are you still in Oregon?
Funny you mention the Earl Floyd. The Lloyds and the Floyds have been lifelong family friends. As a kid, I remember sharing pit areas, tools, everything with the Floyds. I guess Earl Floyd and Rich Lloyd were often mistaken for similar last names. Here are more pics... Thanks for the blast from the PAST! Bruce Lloyd Ron Conoyer: The big invitation:
Rick, Did you ever race against my dad, Rich Lloyd? Nyles and Rich were always battling it out. I remember Nyles always snooping around our pits as a kid. We had this great photo of him kneeling down a few inches away from my dad's front wheel on his dragster inspecting the aluminum strip used to trigger the photo cell. Cheers, Bruce Lloyd
Car Craft magazine did a detailed article on this car in 1970. I think they owned the MPH record for D/D for a while. Also, the Lil Annie Fanny E/A Bantam depicted in the cell before it was another favorite of mine. Im fortunate that they elected to come south to Pomona. Anyone have shots of Ken Van Kleve's Gurney Weslake C/D from 1969. I saw it win comp elim at the last HRM event at Riverside in 1969.
Sure did Bruce, sorry to hear he has passed away. One of the great things about racing Division 6 was we were always treated well (in spite of being Californicators) great tracks & great people.... Not to hijack your thread Gary, but Marty next time you see Nyles ask him if he remembers the California boys wearing the "Nyles who?" shirts. (me with the glasses and when I had hair.)
Rick, Funny thing I was thinking about those shirts today. What car did you race? Do you remember the What's a Warter? shirts, they were also a California VS Washington deal, I think. Jim Warter was part of the "Joint Venture" Corvette team. Jim was the first to go 140, so everybody called him 140 Warty. Kinda like 240 Gordy Bonnin.
Meatball, It was Bill Donaca's wife Ann who drove their dragster. Their car was an odd combination. Bill built it with a tube chassis, the body was made of foam and Dienell fiberglass, laminated to the chassis, totally different than Kenney's.
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