History Early drag racing photos

Yes, his second rail. I think his first had a home made frame and he bought that dragster from someone else. The car in the photo was his Chassis Research TE440, eventually he ran 204 mph at Alton, IL in that car. That was a highly disputed top speed on clocks that had questionable reliability.

 

Hello,

Good recollection as it has circulated ever since those early times. When we saw the Drag News article, it was astounding. The local So Cal racers were all in doubt at the reported times. But, this is what arrived in print.

“The fans in the stands who witnessed the Greek's performance at Alton, Illinois, on April 24, 1960, were delirious. On his second run of the day, Karamesines tripped the finish line timers in 8.87 seconds—an expected clocking. But the time it took for the Chizler to cover the speed trap at the end of the track was anything but ordinary.”

“In fact, it was so out of the ordinary, so brief, that it was off the conversion charts the track used to determine the MPH figure. As the crowd waited in silent anticipation, a bit of math yielded the trap speed: 204.54 mph—the first 200-mph time recorded at any dragstrip anywhere, a number that blew the fans out of their seats, and a number that's still the subject of debate 55 years later.” Hotrod.com

Drag News weekly

Jnaki

We were all amazed at reading the speed record for the classes that had all of the big names in drag racing. Then, the stuff hit the fan on all accounts about the validity of the timing, the dragstrip, etc. Anything a reporter could come up with to question a resounding speed record.

Scotty Fenn chassis

The photo is in the late 58-early 59 time period. The short headers were reminiscent of the style of the race cars of the time.
WDIFL
“On the left, a very young Don Maynard, George Schreiber and an equally youthful Chris Karamesines. The year, 1959 and the location, possibly looking south in the pits at Union Grove near Racine, Wisconsin. Schreiber was the Greek's brother in law and part owner of the car until he went into the Army.”

NHRA early 1959 with The Greek designed custom equal length header pipes.
12/20/59
But, in December 1959, We saw the Greek at Riverside Raceway in So Cal with a full nose cone, color coordinated chassis and parts along with a cool Hilborn Injector Scoop. The Greek designed custom headers were impressive in looks and sound.

 

Nancy's stuff was always first class and probably the best looking of any at that time

 

cross leaf spring just visible in front of the shock?

 

Jiggs Shamblin 1958 Nationals.

 

Bobby Vodnik, far right, drove cars for a number of owners around the country including Karamesines at times. In 1963 he beat Garlits for the Top Gas title at the Indy Nationals in the Hirata & Hobbs car.