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

PDAC 1967, Chan Bush photo...

 

As speeds increased many tracks were runing out of enough length to shut down safely. NHRA figured out that if the second speed trap was eliminated after the finish that was equivalent to an additional 400 feet of shut down area.

Al Goodman, driver. nice guy.

My Last Logghe Altered was built on the jig across the aisle from the flopper pictured, out of view. Still got 'er. Still race 'er (occasionally).

 

Okay -- someone out there might give me a feasible answer . . .
Why didn't two-engined top fuelers catch fire (so to speak) and dominate? Front and back, two in front, two in back. Two brands, two blown, one blown - one not, one manufacturer, one not the same. Not much more chassis, not much duplication, not a second driver.

(I (sorta) remember Chet Herbert always looking for a 16-cylinder mag to spark the two engines -- somehow thought they conflicted with two separate systems. Shirley (I mean surely) there's somebody here that has an answer and/or a theory.

 

Rico Paris from Rockford, IL ran a twin rear engined hemi Top Gas dragster but the NHRA cut the T/G class so the tuneup was switched to nitro and Rico and his brother Peter raced T/F until twins were banned in T/F.
Rico’s son Dom still has the car and gets booked in for exhibition runs



Looks like Buster Couch back there at IRP, Rico must have been on a run before the car got legislated out.

 

Weight and cost were the biggest barriers. There were a few that were successful - Freight Train and a bunch of gas cars come to mind - but most folk looked at building two engines, plus maybe a couple of spares for the road, and suddenly, seeing Ivo go from the Barnstormer to the Chrysler made perfect sense.

 

Here is Steve Reyes take on the subject: https://www.dragracecentral.com/drcstory.asp?ID=245805 Like has been said probably biggest factor was weight. Two engines on gas one thing but when you add nitro...........John Peters claims part of the Freight Train success was being able to pull / run the top fuel tires of the time with the lighter SBC's. There were a few TAD twins.

 

The two I remember from Fontana were contenders, but seldom winners. Both were Chet Herbert injected cars in one way or the other. Lefty Mudersbach had two Chevys and ??? had the other -- both aluminum engines, one Buick and one Olds.

We saw a lot of them as Herbert loved to service them way out on the return road.

 

I seam to remember @Greorge Klass having some experience with the twin engine cars.

 

Car was for sale at www.canepa.com recently for $175K...

 

Mickey Thompson had a twin with one Buick and one Olds aluminum engine but was always supercharged - Zayne Shubert had two aluminum Olds that were injected - later supercharged.

 

Conrad Pomona Dave Pruden photo...

 

Sour Sisters. Safford at the helm.

 

1965...

 

Photo by Lucas

Scotty's Muffler blown fuel Chevy dragster -- reputed to be the 2nd Chevy over 200 (who's 1st?). Piloted by Mike Snively (maybe, could have been Billy "The Kid" Scott). Scotty ran a Herbert cam but used Isky lifters.

(About that time I bought a Herbert for my Street Roadster. Fifty+ years later I gave it to a friend of mine -- still in the wooden box. I never wanted the square lifter aligning rods in my street rod engine. Oh, well.

 

Wasn't the first chevy over 200 mph the Freight Train?

 

Don Prudhomme in the seat, Roland Leong standing on the side with his hand on the roll bar. I don't recognize the third person in the picture.

 

Al Bergler in the near lane.

 

Roland and Snively...426 car.

 

1960 Lion's Dragstrip

Hello,

My brother and I were in awe of anything new and an inline set of dual injected SBC motors was the topper. The build was top notch and it left an impression on many hot rod/drag race folks, including us. We saw the twin SBC motors of Lefty Mudersbach at Lion’s Dragstrip almost every week we were there. Single runs, elimination races and match racing were all exciting and fun to watch. The anticipation was always there with those twin motor FED cars racing each other.

One of the most anticipated races was the Mudersbach twin injected SBC vs the Howard Cam Twin supercharged FED, with Jack Chrisman driving. When they rolled down the dragstrip to fire up, everyone stood up to see the action. Our friends working in the snack bar came running outside to watch the race prep and the exciting actual race. Twin vs twin…
Mudersbach total

Jnaki

A rarity, but it does happen and did… How much horsepower does it take to send a twin SBC dragster up in the air at full throttle?
Full throttle acceleration...

DRAG CARS IN MOTION:




NOTE: These results/information came from a 1960 drag meet in Pomona CA: