One thing in common, they all have hair, not sure about Floyd jr. Very cool. The guys that started it all !!!
if you notice floyd has a mask on ,its cause his family didnt know he was racing..he drove the freight train
Floyd Lippencote is also a ficticious name but right this second I can't remember his real name !As my grandson says "That Oldtimers Disease" is catching up fast!
Bob Muravez The Birth of 'Floyd' According to Sharon - Basically Muravez did it only to hide his iden***y from his hard-*** father. In 1963 his dad said he'd proved himself as a 'driver' when he won his first championship, and told him that he wanted him to stop driving. Bob did step out of the ****pit, but continued to go to races as part of the 'crew'. After 5 months with various drivers at the wheel (some rather notable!), the Train never even Qualified for a single event. . . it was a hard car to handle. I think Bob said the car always pulled to the left (I think -- don't quote me), so he actually had to turn the steering wheel the other direction at the line to compensate. John Peters kept making changes to the car, and Bob kept trying to help the new driver(s) with the characteristics of the car. Finally, I think it was Bill Alexander driving the Train at Lions, and got really frustrated. . . He blew off at Bobby that with all the changes to the car even he, Bob, couldn't get it to perform any more. With that, after 5-6 months out of the ****pit, Bob put on Alexander's fire suit and helmet and made the p*** in disguise. Guess what -- he set a new track record! The stands erupted. The seed of Lippencotte was planted. . . Bob went to the tower, writers, photographers, etc etc and asked to keep his iden***y a secret. They identified him as John Peters for awhile and then a couple announcers dubbed him Floyd Lippencotte, Jr. so he could have his own iden***y. All photos were taken with his face mask on, and in trophy photos, Rex Slinkard, a crew member, got to accept the trophy and kiss the trophy girl. In these old photos, you can almost always see Bob in the background, snickering knowingly. After he won a big race, I think either in Orange County or Riverside, he was personally interviewed by Keith Jackson (I think) on Wide World of Sports. He was so shook up that his dad would see it. . . His father had a boat at the time, and that weekend his father was set to go to Catalina. Bob went to the boat and 'borrowed' the TV for the weekend. All went okay and he was undetected, until one of his father's cohorts at the Elk's Club told him about the Lippencotte appearance on TV. . . Opps. That's about it, Don. As you know, there are records for wins under John Peters' name, and many under Lippencotte's -- misspellings and all. Yes, it's "Floyd J. Lippencotte, Jr." Sharon Muravez http://akaracing.com/history.html
Bob Muravez AKA Floyd J. Lippencotte, Jr. And now, where are they now? My heros were the Jr. Stocker guys. I'd watch them, then the fuelers would come out and I'd head for the pits to look at the Jr. Stock cars; I could more relate to them.
Floyd Lippencotte Jr. is Bob Muravez. Bob Brooks is a drag racing industry legend that is still at it today!! He has been in the racing industry forever, he has worked for Dan Gurney, Mickey Thompson, then started his own companies Brooks Rods, B.R.C., then A.F.T. A.F.T. is the company (in my opinion) that changed top fuel drag racing, with their clutch management. Bob Brooks and friends are still at it, they just finished an amazing streamliner, for land speed racing. I dont think there is anyone (besides my wife and parents) that has helped me out more than him. Jimmy White
Bob Muravez, drove the famous Freight Train, That was built by John Peters and Nye Frank. Nye Frank is another one of my fabricating heroes, unfortunately he p***ed away last year. He was one of those guys that could build just about anything. I think his biggest contributions were in off road racing. He designed and built alot of the cutting edge Trophy Trucks and Mickey Thompson Stadium trucks. Jimmy White
I always dug hearing stories about Jeep Hampshire... cool name. But even better was Dante Deuce... ****, if I was going to change my name, I'd change it to Dante Deuce. he used to drive Moon's digger, I think it was. Sam.
Larry Faust another Bad *** in those pictures. He drove the Mooneyham and Sharp fuel coupe, (one of the only guys that could get it down the track) and then drove the Mooneyham, Ferguson, Jackson and Faust dragster. He was probably one of the best drivers on the So-Cal racing scene in the 60's. I heard many stories when I worked at Mooneyham Blowers, We used to sit around the lunch table and Larry and Gene, would put up with my questions. Those guys were true heroes! Jimmy White
It's funny...Bob Brooks still looks pretty much the same. Like Jimmy said, and from what I gathered from the little bit I've been around him...he's a pretty amazing guy. I like that Bobby Langley is sporting the sweet 'Texas wildman' beard!
Doug Robinson - bottom row 3rd from left. Still racing today, SCTA. Owner of the worlds fastest 32 Coupe. See more pics his rail on this post: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2535598#post2535598
A number of these drivers have sons who race/raced such as Jim Dunn, son Mike, Frank Rupert, Son Jason, the late Gary Ormsby, son Gary Jr. and the winner is the late Frank Pedregon with his three sons Frank, Cruz and Tony. I suspect there are other sons from the photo list above and I would be interested to find out who else there is. There is one other I will mention that is the late Bob Mayer he came to Australia in 1966 and was the first person to run 200 mph in the quarter mile in Australia. Bob's Crower Cams Special along with the other five racers that toured with the 1966 Drag Fest. left a legacy that will never be forgotten, they inspired a whole generation of east coast Drag Racers to go on to bigger and better things. The other team members were Tour Captain Bob Keith, Ron Colson, George Schrieber, and the departed Tony Nancy and Earl Poage.
Is the Jack Williams( far right,2nd row from bottom),the Jack Williams of Syndicate Scuderia fame (Top Gas from Canada)
Another great photo from Royalshifter. They look like mugshots from the FBIs most wanted list. For your next ***ignment.. Let's see pics of the cars these guys drove!
I was wondering why I didn't see Goober Tullers name there, then I saw Floyd Jr.s name. Goober was the first to go 200 mph driving the Frieght Train in '66 or '67 . I don't know if he drove before, or after Floyd. There was an article in one of the Drag mags about him. (Drag Illustrated...1966?) He gave me the mag years ago. Goober was my first wife's uncle. He still lives here in Tulsa, and showed up at Steve Carbones funeral. He's a little short ****...
No it is not.... The Jack Williams in the photo was the driver of the Crossley Williams & Swan AA/FD. In later years Jack managed Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, he p***ed away a few years ago.
I remember Bobby Langley at Caddo Mills east of Dallas in the mid-late fifties.Unbeliveable craftmanship in the Scorpions.
From when it actually meant something for the average guy and was about more than who's sponser has the most money. Here's one of garlits out of an old Hot Rod Mag.
Gabby Bleeker was one of my favorites,drove an altered ,at that time it was called an altered I think. Cool name ,but he may have only run the midwest.
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