Cards specifically say “engine”. I would guess took trouble to write engine because his engine in someone else’s car. Normally just write car owner/driver name.
What I find amazing is that all three runs recorded the same exact time of 141.95 MPH. That might be too much of a coincidence.
I'd guess that they wrote more than one or two for the roadster and engine owners and driver and crew.
Chap on Facebook posted a similar slip from 1965 but earlier in the year, he was racing a Vette. He’s active on there today. Wonder if he’s got programmed, pics or memories. https://www.facebook.com/groups/36hpvw.challenge/posts/28247565484888149/
Interesting questions. Can't help in the least, sorry. But I can post something sorta fun although there's absolutely no connection to Clyde Sturdy whatsoever: Specializing In WISSOTA Engines For All Cl***es Sturdy Engines derives its name from the original name of the parts store and machine shop - Sturdevant Auto Parts. I worked there for a while and several of the guys there are friends. The engine shop built the short block and heads for my current project. We now return you to the originally scheduled thread!
With Sturdy being plural, and engine being the next word, I would think it was his engine in someone else's car also....
I agree that the chance of three consecutive runs being exactly equal is about zero. The plot thickens.
I would say this is very likely, at the end of the regular 1973 season my father and the man he had driving his car had a falling out. A friend of my dad’s had trouble with his engine but want to run some of the big money end of the year races so they put my dad’s engine in Jack’s car and ran, the last few races of the 1973 year.
Years ago I knew of someone whose car always ran eleven seconds flat in the quarter mile no matter how he drove it. He wanted to get into the tens so badly, but to the best of my knowledge, he never did.
As early as 1957, the ½ mile drags were held at Riverside Raceway. But then, the popularity of the ¼ mile drags began and pushed the full ½ mile racers to the dry lakes areas. Hello, The Riverside Raceway was a great place, out in the open spaces, no homes nearby and the view of the mountains was far away. As most places that are out in the open, it is cold in the morning and late afternoon. But, the location is far inland portion of So Cal and usually is hot during the peak of the day. So, it is/was jacket cruising weather to Riverside from Long Beach and then by 9:30 AM, it was t-shirt weather. We were at the first East vs West drag race invitational if one was to call it that. But, the top racers from all over were invited and what a day it was… But, the following year, the ads/information were posted for the ½ mile drags to be located at the same ¼ mile race course area. 30759 Jnaki The Riverside Raceway Dragstrip quarter mile course in 1959 from the cliff top perch looking back toward the starting line. An unusual drag racing course as part of a full road racing sporty car facility with a 1/4 mile track's ability to have drag races to a 1/2 mile. The added unusual thing was to be able to sit on a cliffside looking down as the racers zip by echoing the powerful motor sounds. YRMV
In my earlier drag racing years - the late '60s and early '70s - I experienced the same thing. My MPH read the exact same on different runs. Tech folks explained to me that the (rudimentary) timing equipment could only calculate speed based in discrete "chunks" of time, so if your e.t. fell in the same chunk of time as a different run then your speed measured would be the same for all those runs. More modern timing equipment is more precise in terms of true MPH measured. The MPH displayed in terms of hundreths of a mile per hour is misleading, kinda like measuring off a foot of length with your tape measure and saying the length is 12.00 inches (twelve-point-zero-zero-inches). No, it's not.
Well that blew my theory to hell, I thought maybe they kept the time slips because of the consistency, Dan
The Jalopy Journal
