History Drag Roadsters............picture thread

I have found this roadster. It is currently in The Peterson Museum in Los Angeles.. Unitil sometime in November.
Yes, The Jack and Jerry's Special was the original Tony Nancy 22jr. Later restored by Dan LaCroix. Anybody know where the car is now?

 

The Seaton Jack and Jerry's Special. Circa 1959. The original Tony Nancy 29 A Flathead roadster.

 

Yes, Tony's old roadster, after Jim dropped a Potvin-equipped Olds in it.

 

Ed Losinski's roadster, partnered with the Reed Brothers..Norm Grudem photo


Bob Rector at Pomona, 296" flathead. 96mph, Grudem photo.


Ollie Morris and Harold Dawson ran this roadster before Ollie's "Smok'n White Owl" dragster. Harold drove the Reath & Maillard "Turtle" competition coupe to a NHRA championship trophy...R&C archives


Two early roadsters at Saugus, early '50s, photo is not marked, but it is from the Jamie Barter collection. He not only has one of the best hot rod photo collection, but is an encyclopedia of hot rod knowledge.


Darrel Schramm of the "Hutters" car club --- in the service area of the Mercury dealer where Darrel worked with Dean Moon. Dean went on to found Moon Equipment...the "Hutters" were named after the club's hangout, the Hula Hut in Whittier, CA.


Roadster leaves the line at San Luis Obispo "Pride of the Pacific" drag strip...I don't have an identity on it, but expect that Karen White took the photo, probably from the Sherm Porter collection.


Scoville Brothers A/R class winner at the NHRA nationals, photo from Hot Rod Magazine...the Scoville Brothers were from Sherman Oaks, and ran competitively wherever they showed up.

 

This is my dad's street roadster in the front yard of our house. It was in an earlier picture with Dean Lowe at the Winternationals.

 

He first ran it as B/SR. Had some success with it but moved to A/SR

 

Though not a Street Roadster, it is the same motor. This is the car he won two world championships with and had a long unbeaten streak.

 

Your Dad was a racer's racer. The photo you are referring to is one of the rounds of street eliminator. It was heads up, no handicap. Flag start, no tree at Pomona yet. I was running 11.40's, and I thought I was going to get him, but he got me just before the lights with an 11.25. It was a damn good race.

 

Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I find it interesting that the author uses the term "street rod" in 1957.

 

Tom Ferraro on fire in a fuel altered at Irwindale. This fire prompted a law suit against Simpson Safety Equipment for "failure to protect as advertised?" and that, in turn, lead to the rule changes to multi-layer fire suits.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/friday-art-show-2-14-20.1184145/#post-13447666
Hello,
If a roadster or coupe is well built, it can be intimidating in several ways. Setting records for open roadsters, winning trophies at car shows, and intimidating at the starting line for eliminations is/was the goal. Tony Nancy had his immaculate roadster at many So Cal dragstrips and set records in the day. So, what does an opponent do when they see the red roadster in the next lane?
1959 Riverside Raceway
If the Tony Nancy, red, modified roadster had some changes, it would make a wonderful fenderless street roadster. It was the quality of the build and the look it presented in any car show or drag strip appearance.
$1600 in 1962 ... Sounds good to a couple of brothers...

Someone got a good deal on one of the most famous roadsters in So Cal. Of course, we all knew that in the final modification, the injected Buick motor was replaced with a big Buick motor with a 671 supercharger from the Tommy Ivo camp.

Intimidating and fast…what a combo!!!

Jnaki

Riverside 1959

 

What's the custom 1955 Chevy in the back ground - think there is a thread on the HAMB.

 

SOOOooo...was the lawsuit successful or did Simpson prevail, notwithstanding the rule changes by NHRA?

 

Pal,
If you are worried or intimidated by who you are about to race you are in the wrong sport and would do best to take up knitting.

Treat every opponent with a wary respect and the realization that no matter how good you are anybody can beat anybody on any given day. You can go from "Hero-to-Zero" in nuthin' flat in this sport, and vice-versa.

That is not to say you should not study your opponents tendencies. Does he/she like to play starting line games or talk smash mouth? Stages first / last? Will they lift at the finish line or if they get crossed up, or run it out the back door? Etc.

Bottom line: RUN YOUR OWN RACE AS FLAWLESSLY AS POSSIBLE. Don't worry about your opponent until you approach the finish line speed trap where you will have to make decisions on "driving the stripe" as we bracket racers like to say.

 

That's Jim Seaton's very well known Barris built 55 Chev. It was even drag raced a bit. It's restored now.
Don't know if Jim was a brother of Jack & Jerry Seaton or not.

Mick

 

This may have been posted before, but here's another look at a beautiful B/SR. The team of Greer and Barber raced both a Willy's coupe and this '29. Both were very well built and ran hard in their classes. This was in the mid '60 and at the height of drag racing for me.

 

I like the matching helmet paint to go with the engine turned graphics on the car. classy

 

The matching T bucket push car is stopped in front of the Shores & Hess A/Gas Anglia on the trailer. Jim Shores (white shirt on left) had his new Thunderbird tow car repainted candy apple red to match the Anglia. Skip Hess is standing in front of the "S" in Shores. I guess all the matching rigs parked on the same side of the pits. Good old days.

 

That's Joe Pirenello's Dodge bucket roadster pushing his modified roadster in font of Shores & Hess.
Cool photo.

Mick

 

Great thread!

 

Hello,

By the time this magazine had come out in July-August of 1962, we had been involved in the recovery phase of my brother’s accident. He was in college finishing up, despite the daily reminder of what happened in 1960. I was also starting college and thought about our fledgling speed shop business that I was running by myself.

I sold a lot of accessories and stuff to my friends, but that was not going to last. So my brother called in June to see if the summer would be a good time to perhaps, start another final project. He knew I wanted to do something else, even though we were now surfing and going on long coastal surf trips.

Somehow, the urge to build one more race car was still in his mind. During the intensive recovery stage, that was all we talked about in his hospital room and after 7-8 months, at home in our study/den until the wee hours after our parents had gone to sleep. (our mom would have a s#1+ fit if she heard us talking about another drag racing car.) But, this conversation in June seemed serious. I guess he wanted one last fling at drag racing.

For the summer, we did read a lot of Drag News papers, Hot Rod Magazines and others that kept us in the loop. For some strange reason, he did not want to attend any drag racing events. Which was fine for both of us. It was intense in some moments during our talks.

Jnaki

But through it all, he wanted to build something like Tony Nancy’s modified roadster. It still had the roadster look that we both liked, but in reality, it would give him a chance to drive an FED race car. (with a body)

"The Buick was 450" Nailhead, blown and Injected.

Tommy Ivo sold Tony this engine out of his Blown Buick Dragster, when Fuller built Ivo the Twin Buick…”

 

This car is selling via auction July 25th in Mr. Bill Yeager's Estate Auction - https://www.bidtrice.com/lot/69019284/cederquist-bros--roadster--52-dragster

 

I see that they put on a six-point cage and they added the gusset upgrades. Why did they not add the required 1" helmet bars?

 

The one and only time I lined up against Dick, he didn't win. Carlsbad, 1967, NHRA points meet.

 

Hello,
My brother and I were totally impressed with the “Giant Killer” purple roadster of Tony Waters. We could not believe it that a modified roadster would be in the final top eliminator race against Art Chrisman in the 1st March Meet at Bakersfield in 1959. The exemplary list was long and tough, but these two made it to the finals.

Then 9 months later, we were actually able to see the same purple, modified roadster race at the 1959 December Drag Race Event at Riverside Raceway. The roadster was a class act and they looked sharp in the pits, starting line and walking around the whole complex during the day.

For the next year or so, the roadster was setting records and vying for top eliminator at various drag racing events all over the Westcoast.
Tony Waters total 1959-60

Jnaki

But, the need for more power and faster times, the modified roadster changed looks from a Potvin style supercharger to a top mount 671 with injectors. As the years went by, the roadster was changed one more time trying to get back to the winning ways. The make over was done with the build trying to match the top fuel racers and the original sleek look was lost in transition.


LOST IN TRANSITION...

“Recycling in drag racing? Even in 1965, race cars were refurbished and would find new life with different owners. Here, Tony Waters’ Bakersfield winning roadster had undergone changes and found new life as the Perkins and Matelli Giant Killer. The Perkins and Matelli team would only run this car for a short time, as it was replaced by a conventional front engine top fuel dragster raced by Jessie Perkins and driven by Rich Bruckman. Yes, this was in Northern California, a place that many recycled drag cars called home.”

Or, if that roadster did not do much for your new ride, perhaps this “World’s Fastest and Quickest Stock Body Roadster” from George Burkhardt will do it for you. It is/was a record setter at the drags and at the dry lakes.