Old Drag Race Trivia- Settle a debate

When I was a kid, in the early 1970's we used to go to a lot of dragraces mostly in Jean, Nevada and at Beeline in Scottsdale Arizona.

My dad and I were recently discussing this and as could be expected, he told me I have it all wrong.

I seem to recall rear wheels on some cars having either a black stripe going out from the wheel center to the rim or having the rear wheel painted half black and half white.

Did I dream that?
Set me straight.

 

That was once common...I believe it was so crewmembers could observe wheel spin in order to tune suspension loading/tirepressure/driver's feet for next run.

 

You're right in what you had seen. They painted white on the tires or wheels so that someone could observe the tire and see if there was wheelspin off the line. It's much easier to see a patch of white than the entire tire.

 

I remember the half and half wheels.
Always thought it looked goofy.

 

Saw a lot of that here on the East coast especially on the stock class cars. Some were painted in quarters with opposite colors. Went out of fashion when NHRA allowed mag wheels on stockers.

 

I remember that in the midwest, also. Red/white or black/white painted in quarters, were common.

 

I saw it all the time at KCIR in the sixties.

 

What got me thinking about it, was that I came across a air of odd looking plain15x8 steel wheels in a 5x5.5 bolt pattern and thought they'd fit well on the back of my '60 F-100 that I'm thinking of doing gasser style.

Anyone have any pictures of wheels like that?

 

I just bought these old 15x8's for the back, I'm thinking half white, half black

 

yep,cherish this moment,ya get to tell pops he's mistaken.i used to see this alot as a kid at thompson dragway here in ohio as a kid in the 70's.when i finally asked my dad why they did that,he said to watch for wheel spin mostly,although it did seem that alotta people did it for a minute..stupid trends...

 

the ramchargers super stocks were famous for that...they used red & white.
if you ever notice, alot of slicks now days have a white shoe polish stripe on them. it's actually the same idea...to help determine wheel spin.
they extend the shoe polish stripe onto the rim, to see if the tire spins on the rim. even tho the slicks are bolted to the rims, the bolts can still rip free and cause the tire to spin on the rim.

 

This is too cool:
c

 

I ended up using the wide steelies with the old paint, I need to decide whether to go all black, or black and white

 

or to silly

 

Exactly!

 

Only the very fastest drag cars had "wedges" or half&half painted wheels.

 

I had a wedgie once...I didn't like it...

R-

 

Now that's fuckin funny - lol

 

Yep. even with new tech that tells crews how much tire spin a car is getting, some guys still have either the white stripe on the tire or an offset color somewhere on the rim. sneaky guys with good cameras have even gone so far as to install one off color lug nut.

I always took the white stripe on the tires as a warning flag..kinda like bright colors on poisonous animals. it simply meant "this thing is so damned fast we can't keep tires on it."

I think it looks tough as nails. especially when it is on a car that appears to not be that fast, but is in fact, very fast.

 

The practice continues... here's a shot from last weekend, WinterNationals Pro Stock Eliminator...check out the rear tire on the near lane, just as it's coming out from the fender... grey wide stripe...

 

Well, I think we would worry about ya if you did like it.

 

Cool Ramblers! I love those early '60's square ones.

 

yeah, to what tire spin while the car was launching ..........

 

The white stripe on the tire itself is also for telling if the tires are scuffing the sides at all during a run. some cars feel as if they are scating around but look like they are going straight....this stripe on the sidwall will tell. Notice the pic of current prostocks...the stripe goes all the way around the tire so the can see all the deflection and scuffing. This is usually something unrelated to the wheels being painted half/half or in quarters.

 

Hey section 8. I like your truck. It's a '60 right? I'm putting together a '59 F-350 with a tilt front end, disc brakes, 6 speed, Dana 70 and a turbo Cummins of all things. I had always liked the styling of the '57-'60 Ford trucks.
I remember Beeline well as I grew up here and got the race there the last 5 years they were open.
I hope you come to my Nostalgic show and drags at Speedworld Sunday April 5.
Take care,

Steve

Hosting- 7th annual Nostalgic Show and Go! and swap. Drags, cool car show, parade, special exhibitions, gassers, rails, stockers, customs and much more. coming Sunday April 5, 2009 to Speedworld. Phoenix, Az -This is Arizonas longest continuest running nostalgic event, our 7th year! www.nostalgicshowandgo.org
<DIR>Also Hosting- Hosting 11th annual Pontiac Heaven, show, swap, drags, party and all around good time. Saturday April 4, 2009 at Speedworld near Phoenix, Az more info- www.pontiacheaven.org
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Yes, it's a 1960; They were basically the same from 57-60.

I picked up a flyer about the April 5th drags just last night at the Pavillions. My son was excited about the dualing Henry J's on it.
We are going to try to come.

 

Whoa! That shot needs to be on the "Drag cars in motion" thread! Probably the most dramatically intense moment in HAMB Drags history and someone caught it on film! Who knew?
Yeah, "circus wheels", as we called 'em, were the poor guy's way to give our street cars the racer look. Somewhat. Kinda...

 

Like so...