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

This thing is so fucking ugly it's cool!!!!

 

i noticed that the earlier funnys/stockers---say up to 70ish or so do not have any appreciable rake to them.

Discuss this phenomenon and why the rake was put into effect.

 

At Caddo Mills in North Texas in the late 50's and early 1960's, stockers used to run six at a time. Sometimes more. Track was an old concrete WW2 auxiliary airfield for pilot trainees who got lost, so it was plenty wide. Flagman got to choose where he stood. Did not want that job.

Boodlum

 

We are getting way Off Topic again with the musclecars and ponycars.

Please keep the HAMB cut off date in mind, and what kinds of cars the HAMB concentrates on.

 

More on 4 car drags at Minn dragways.

If you check the picture of page 1705 you can see the starting line spectator stands are nearly full. The main spectator stands were probably equally filled as were the pit stands. Drag racing was very popular at the new strip which opened in '59.

It was not uncommon to have 400-600 cars on any Sunday so getting all the time trials and trophy runs in during the day was a challenge. John Foster was the manager and ran the track with an iron hand. There was no dilly dallaying around ...you were either ready to race or you were a spectator. No second chances or wait a minute I'll be ready. The trophys and cash were given out at the end of the day. Disputes were usually a run off of the last 2 cars or a $50 protest teardown fee....put up or shut up.

I found myself in the protest line many times due to my constant stretching of the rules. One memorible occasion I had won the class but a number of guys pooled up $50 protest fee. I agreed to tear down. The protesters claimed I was underweight because they thought I wasn't running water. some 40 pounds or about. so the agreed solution was to have me run off each car individually non stop untill I either beat everyone again or was beaten or broke. Don't remember who came up with this scheme. I think there were 17 other cars so I made 17 consecutive runs without stopping.....beat them all again. I picked up the trophy and $50. I think it was the first money I won drag racing.

There were weekly 8 or 16 car TF shows and full fields for all of the sportsman classes. IE. NHRA classes. The real match races started about '61 although there were a few special shows for the very early touring pros. Garlits was a regular as was Tom Ivo and Arfons with the Green Monster.

The stock brackets as shown often had 30-40 cars per class from A all the way down. The 4 car races only lasted 3 years max as I recall.

 

Holy Moly , the "fin" !4111 is of Merle Brennen's "Fin" , Hemi power ,very evident but it had a transaxle from on of those "foreegn" cars. Used race another rear engined dragster , flatty powered , the "Shoehorn" belonging to Bob Watts. I went to the 1/2 milers at douglas/minden in '57 or '58 while on a visit to a friends in Carson City. Can't remember what I ate for breakfast , but DO that dragster !

 

Are we going to write essays?

 

WOW!

 

Earth Shaking!...

 

Would you have the balls to hold it wide open for 1320 feet?

 

Think that I read on here that he died in that car.

 

Wow, he is seated on a cloth lawn chair with a tank of nitro affixed next to his head as he drives it down the 1320 at 140 with nothing more than a polo helmit for safety.

 

The exhaust would have helped the dragster up, traction would not have been his friend.

 

What happened to the 70's/80's funnys?


i take it all back; i was/am just going thru some junk in life and was just "walking the dog," so to speak.

i think we can (and should) make an exception up to 72 or so for cars?

 

Why would we want to do that? It's been shown time and time again that if you start making exceptions, we start getting all kinds of garbage on here, and Metalshapers has to spend his time cleaning it up instead of building stuff.

If you want OT funny cars (of which I am a HUGE fan) then go to the Classic Funny Car site. Lot's of post '65 images there.

 

It's not my board, i don't make the rules but i'll follow them.
Actually, i'm pretty much done posting here, if 65 is the cutoff, there are ten pics on page one that are post 65! But, it's not up to me, I respect the HAMB's right to make the rules! NO question about it!

 

The cut off is '65.

Here is the reminder, incase you need it.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=742511


Personally I enjoy the '70s stuff too.

But we all agreed the keep it to mid 60s and older on the HAMB.

Fortunately we also have the Dogfight Forum for the later stuff.

So nobody should feel left out, and no one should feel the need to keep pushing the issue by posting later stuff on the HAMB anyway.


Thanks for the awesome content that has been posted on this thread, that does follow the HAMB guidelines...

 

Red Case, picture taken at the Houston meet where Case, Romeo Palimides, and Jack Ewell traveled to race Garlits, Garlits won the meet, sometime in '58.

According to Don Ewald, Case did not die in this car but in a traditional slingshot, went off course at Vacaville and hit a hayrake at the end of the track...Drag Racing Deaths does say that he died in this rear-engined car, not sure who is right...Yes, this car looks really scary...

 

Some more pics of that same car...

 

.......

 

That's an interesting picture in 34111 with the tow car on top of the racer.

This happened a number of times the first couple of years after the "new rear motor" cars came out. Push bars collapsed and the next thing the Suburban was on top of the racer. Nothing like having your driver check the trans fluid leak from below. haha

The roller starters were the first improvement as a result of this. Not all tracks had them and there were still accidents on them. You still had a running car on the ground often in the pits.

Then came the large aircraft starters. Great improvement but the things took a huge amount of current and voltage. 24 to 48 volts and they sucked way over 200 amps. Many of the first units had solenoids that were too small and they shorted out or blew up. Then came the giant AC solenoids. However guys still used cables that were too small and the wires fried. It took 1/2 inch welding cables and good connectors to handle these monsters. Batteries blew up and shorted out too.

Finally the new small style starters came about. They still take a lot of power but it is much more manageable today. You rarely see a problem with the starters other than worn out batteries.

Today in the pits you now see the Pro Jack to hold the cars off of the ground while it is running. On the starting line you see reliable starts nearly everytime.

 

Love this car !!

 

Ok, so, I've been toiling away here night and day at Casa De Muttley in order to bring you, the viewer only the best in 1320 land. Stay tuned to this station for further updates but until then enjoy these selections from the vault: