History Early drag racing photos

Hello,

In late 1958, Tommy Ivo had experimented with his single, Hilborn Injected Buick FED race car by winning at almost every dragstrip in So Cal. He just made it seem like it was an every day thing.
Ivo single engine progression

He went through several years of single injected Buick FED wins and then one year shows up with a 671 supercharged version. But, within a couple of months, a new sensation was shown to Lion’s Dragstrip racers. A low slung, almost a replica frame of his single engine injected Buick FED.

But, a little wider and now supported two injected Buick motors. (Side by side.) It was late 1959 and he unveiled it at the 1959 Riverside Raceway in late December for the big event held there. But, as Lion’s Dragstrip racers, we got to see the initial race car.


Jnaki

By the time 1960 came rolling along, he had shaken out the bugs and now it was just as the old single engine FED race car. Winning everything in sight, including being the first to break the 9 second barrier for the quarter mile.

In February 1960, the magic 9 second barrier was cracked and in the record books.
Feb 7 1960

The sponsorship ads were all over the fabulous record set by Tommy Ivo, a drag racing first.

Early Hilborn Fuel Injector Company location in Santa Monica, prior to moving to unincorporated land in Orange County, a couple of miles from Dana Point and the ocean.

Note:

He and close friend, Don Prudhomme then set off on the first Touring Pro drag racer’s road trip across the USA with the twin. Stopping at the varied places in drag racing across the USA.


Thanks to “Mr. Nailhead” for the added original sound of the twin engine racecar… It was a nice addition to my original Buick Twin film from Lion's Dragstrip.


And, for some other USA dragstrips, it was the hit of the day/week/year to have the twin show up and make some scorching runs…

 

Indianapolis

Cayuga ?

St Thomas


St Thomas 2025

 

Has this pic been reversed or some such thing?.......the steering drag link is on the opposite side to what I've seen on every top fuel car..........would like to see more pics of this fueler.

 

Very cool.

Another...would make a fun street legal car.

Mike

 

The Crowley looks like one my grandpa built it was powered by a 331 hemi...He was from Santa ana

 

Cool roadster in the background

 

At the now defunct Baypark Raceway [Tauranga NZ]
even though I didn't take this photo I was actually there as a kid when Dave McDougal took this altered for a run

 

Hello,

It is all about convenience in design. The threaded pipe section of any hardware store allows anyone to go find any angle of curving pipe with threads. The convenience of being able to thread a straight pipe into the threaded opening provides a fairly nice look and with measurements, for fitting purposes only, a good start. There are even threaded flat stock to screw the threaded down pipes and secure them to a surface with sheet metal screws.

For modeling purposes, this is simple and gives the basic set up for the final project that would p*** safety inspection of any kind. easy to get the right length pipe, easy screw together and a nicely finished product. But, in its early days, the pipes were thick, and looked good enough to withstand a roll over… NOT.

Jnaki

We had plans to construct a cold rolled tubing for a nice fitted roll bar inside of our Willys Coupe. We never got to that stage as the early gas coupe cars did not need a roll bar, since they were technically street legal cars. High performance, but still street legal.

The simple design of threaded plumber’s pipe was weakest at the deeper grooved threads. The design served its purpose, but the threads did cut into the strength of the pipe.

Many years later, I had made several custom skateboard scooters with threaded pipe as a base and “T” handle. After selling a large quan***y to a skate shop and several private customers, I found out that the design was good for the overall scooter riding. But, I found out that after constant usage of turning and doing normal riding, the threaded base and pipe started showing cracks and came apart. Luckily, there were no injuries for any of the sold products.

A “factory” recall was in place and I gathered/bought back all scooters with the threaded joints to bring home and repair. As I talked to a welder locally, he said he could make a “T” bar handle with cold rolled steel and perfect welds. The handles would be welded to the base that fit the front screws of the trucks.

So, now it was really bullet proof as far as safety was concerned and there was no place to break or get weakened. We had a dozen all lined up in our garage ***embly line for the next level scooters.

We now had several model fixed and ready for sale, but decided to move away from commercial sales as the liability insurance was far beyond our reach and sales. Now, there are two left and are sitting in our attic for posterity.

But a lesson was learned. Threads are nice for water/gas and air flow, but not for powerful physical forces exerted on the sides of the threaded areas. YRMV

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...one-by-part-2.1154030/page-4992#post-15463316

 

One of my favorites.