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

Karamesines at Fremont...Alan Earman photo.

 

Don Prudhomme in the ex-Tommy Ivo dragster, now powered by Chrysler ?

 

Eddie Hill with his single-butterfly home made injector...

 

The Silver Bullet has been shown here many times, but I came across this feature in the August, '66 issue of Pop Rod. Funny thing is, I never really paid attention to it...it had a 273" ChryCo engine in it!

Very clean build, but what do you expect from a bunch of engineers!

 

How about Connie in a Cammer?

 

Looks like Eddie had a butt welded roll bar too.

 

The "Silver Bullet" seems to be another of those dragsters that managed to fly just below my radar. I don't recall ever seeing it before. Thanks for the follow-up photos and info.


And in the second picture, the engine shown off to the left side appears to be the 235 HP "Commando 273"!

 

4th of July weekend 1966 Rockford Drag Way.

 

Roland Leong.

 

figured that was obvious but who knows...

 

Hello,

This photo is not the famous “Magic Muffler Blown Crank” photo. It is the version just before it was changed over to the next level of competitive builds. It is the Purple Magic Muffler Fiat Coupe. The Dark Purple Altered of the earliest Magic Muffler Fiat Coupes prior to the change over to the minimal Fiat Light Purple Coupe.

The bright, dark Purple Fiat was the first Fiat Altered in Jim Miles’ build list.

“In 1961, the combination of business art and freedom of expression coalesced into one metallic organism in the form of a particular racecar, a ‘48 Fiat Topolino bored-and-stroked 331 Chrysler Hemi, powered by copious globs of nitromethane. This was the “Magic Muffler” AA/Fuel Altered, a rolling, playful purple pipe bomb. It was like an Andy Warhol portrait of a soup can morphed into an atomic missile.”

It was/is a very descriptive paragraph about a very loud, but colorful Fiat Altered Coupe from So Cal. He raced his Altered Fiat Coupe at almost every dragstrip in So Cal.

Jnaki

A pure So Cal Altered Fiat Coupe in a nice “shiny” color artwork
old Friday Art
The first Magic Muffler Fiat Altered Coupe

NOTE:

But we are all awed and amazed at the history of the cadre of Fiat Coupes leading up to the light purple Fiat explosion and the final re-creation version.

 

Kenney Goodell, who would go on to T/F and Funny Cars. Owned by Don Jackson, Both good friends !

 

Roland and Snively...

 

Tommy Ivo Twin 1959 -60

Hello,

Tommy Ivo has been in our hot rod/drag race lives since we started going to Lion’s Dragstrip from the late 1957 era to the last vestiges of our drag racing/street cruising 40 Willys Coupe. In those early days, his drag racing builds were always show quality and they were also powerful enough to win a lot of class trophies and also the top eliminator trophies. In between the time of prepping our 58 Impala to race in its own class, I wandered around the whole dragstrip taking movies with our 16mm color point & shoot camera.

After the developed films came back from the photo shop, we all sat around and made drag racing noises while watching the color action from the week’s activities. We saw some of the best racers in the country and those became our favorites. The teenage bantering was like a who was going to win the next weekend’s races, the power from the motors and other drag racing stuff that made up the conversations.

Drag Cars in Motion
total from 1958-60

But, in late 1959, Tommy Ivo unveiled his lates creation, the twin injected Buick FED.


He was the “First” to break the 9’s with an 8.95 and 8.98 E.T.
1960

Jnaki

Then, a friend sent me an actual sound recording of the Tommy Ivo Twin, without any announcer’s background babble and it fit the 1960 Lion’s Dragstrip single run on film. We heard the twin sound live in 1959 and it was powerful. But with this new recording, it allows all of us to witness the pure power. Now, we can all hear what the twin Buick FED sounded like in 1960… hot and cool at the same time, and very fast.


For those that have never heard the twin blast away on a single run, here it is. Thank you Mr. NH for the added digital sound from his files + my short film clip from Lion's Dragstrip.
Ivo twin + sound

Remember that sound and then, we cannot forget the introduction of the twin in 1959 at Riverside Raceway, either...
1959 vs Valley Home Services. black cladding

So, what was the progression from this racer’s standpoint? Well, sell the old single Buick FED to one of his best friends.
Lion's Dragstrip Pit action between time trials.

By the end of 1959, the twin Buick of Tommy Ivo was setting records and was one of the fastest FED Race cars at the So Cal dragstrips.

Then, when that late 1959 Riverside Raceway meet was over and the new year settled in, he started setting top speed and low E.T. records at various So Cal dragstrips. He topped it off at the Bakersfield Smokers March Meet #2. Where he did an unusual thing…


Drag Car in Motion