I was at Fremont too when they ran. Bad *** cars. I liked Fat Jacks car better, but it wasn't as fast. I was really bummed when it crashed.
Both Great cars! The 40 was covered in Street Rodder as a build project and Fat Jacks in Hot Rod. The major problem with the fat fendered cars was no air on the back end once they started hitting the 9's! Both cars inspired my 41 Willys build and were a huge influence.
That's funny, but still a big part of our history. Some of the Best Bad *** cars of the 80's were, and they walked the walk!
Most "Experts" agree that Scott Sullivan's Nova is probably the first True Pro Street car back in 78-79, and in my opiniony Gary Kollofski's '55 CHEVY that was built in 77 has a good argument for that ***le as well, not to mention Steve Lisk's Hemi Challenger with the Lenco i it, also in 77 or so. By 1980 there were tons of Pro Street cars hitting the Car Craft Street Machine Nationals all over the country. Moreland's 40 and the Rotund Ones 46 didn't come along until the mid 80's
That Blue coupe that did the burnout the lenth of the track got my attention and my blood pressure up.
I must have missed this post. I lined up against Fat Jacks 46 in my dad's(now mine) Yellow Henry J in Tulsa in 1985!!! I treed him GOOD, beat him all the way to the , oh ,say 20 FOOT MARK!!!! Then it was nothing but taillights for me. That danm thing was wicked. Your whole body rumbled when it just idled. I got to sit in it and fire it up, what a blast! Oh forgot to ad that I was 14 Years old!! Made my first p*** ever there. Made five to be exact, till I tore the back half of the Muncie four speed out! We later got invited to hang out all afternoon and evening with them!! Good people. I have a picture of my car on the trailer behind dads 36 Dodge truck sitting next to the 46 of Fat Jacks but scanner is broke right now. I also remember seeing that 554 Mooningham and Sharp coupe do that quarter mile burn out. At 14 years old that was the koolest weekend a boy could ever have!!! Anyone else out there at Tulsa that year????
I believe that was Jerry Steiner doing the smokey run in the 554 Fuel Coupe. Does anyone know how he is doing these days? Haven't heard anything about him lately. He sure was one of the best Nostalgia Fuel drivers.
Back during that time, there was a feature in Hot Rod about Cole Cutters' friend and his 33 or 34 orange coupe. Wicked lookin rod!! No fenders, huge slicks, all engine, perfect rake and the license plate on the back said U'D LOOZ (don't know for sure if that's the spelling though). That car had a huge influence on me! I fell in love with that "look" and never forgot that plate. Man... has it really been over 20 ago????
That was Guy Rouchette's orange '34 3W with a blown 392 Hemi; my favorite hot rod of all time. It was offered for sale in the Goodguys Gazette several years ago for $75K (I think). I did a search thread not long ago <http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71641 > but didn't find anything new.
If anyone remembers the early 80's there was a guy by the name of Rodney Risdorf from Sioux City Iowa that had a 39 chevy with a blown small block that drove the car everywhere with family aboard that turned 9's. Car was call the Prime Secret. I do not rember without some reserch wich year it was but Rodney towed the 39 sedan to California behind a 39 sedan delivery with a blown small block called the Secret Delivery. If my memory serves me right the black forty beat Rodney in the next to the last round.
Don't forget about Rod Saboury's '32 Ford 3-window. It was one of if not the first car to run big tires and be "tubbed". The car ran McCreary sprint car tires on the rear. I'm pretty sure this was in '76 or '77. It was on the cover of Street Rodder magazine also. It was candy apple red with a blown and injected SBC. **** Moroso ended up with the car and started to install a Boss 429 but Rod bought it back. He has since sold it again.
All of the cars listed so far are quite noteable pioneers, but here is the one that started the whole Pro Street thing, Tony Harlin's 68 Dart. This car was built back in the early 70's but didn't make the magazines until the late 70's and 80's, and unlike many a poser to follow, it would run 8's in the 1/4 and was street driven a lot. "The story starts back in 1970 when Robert "Tach" Mooney bought this '68 340 vert and started racing it. The little 340 lasted one year before dropping it's guts, motivating Tach to up the ante. A blown Keith Black Hemi was installed, which made obvious the fact that Darts don't have much room for back tires. The car was taken to Calco, which was building funny cars at the time. Tach told them he needed a funny car frame and tires under it, but also wanted it streetable. Voila`, the first Pro-Street car, before Pro-Street was even a word. Instead of becoming a race car, it proved to be so much fun on the street, Tach kept it there. One of the few strip outings early on netted a best ET of 8.61. Many miles were driven and plenty of trophy's were won with the car over the years. During the 80's the car was in Hot Rod, Car Craft, Custom Rodder, and Hot Rodding. It was in Norman Barrett's Custom Cars book in 84, and was the first cover car for Chrysler Power magazine in 84. During the photo shoot for Chrysler Power, the car made a strip p***, breaking 2nd gear. Tach stayed in it, shifted into third and still managed a 9.40@135. Here, the story darkens some. In '85 tach had to sell the car, and it spent a number of years as a parts cars, nearly ending up in the junkyard as a bare shell. A fellow named Mike Devee recognized the car and managed to save what was left. The restoration began, however Mike was unable to complete it. Tony Harlin came to the rescue, buying the car, and continuing the resto. Mike, Tach, and Tony are all good friends, and their efforts are now back in the spotlight, with features in Hot Rod, Hot Rodding, and culminating on the cover of Mopar Action in December,2002. The car was mostly restored it's original condition in the 80's with minor improvements and a drivetrain closely resembling the original. Speaking of drivetrain, this car contains an impressive list of goodies. A Dana 60 narrowed 18 inches, holds 4.30 gears. The 727 features a manual valve body, low first gear and a 3500 converter. Motivation comes from a 66 vintage Hemi, stroked to 500". A billet roller cam opens the valves in a set of ported and flowed Super Stock style Hemi heads and a Milodon gear drive keeps timing stable. Milodon products also handle the oiling duties. Poking through the hood is a BDS 8-71 blower driven 1:1. Twins Holleys handle feeding the beast and an aluminum rad keeps it all cool for weekend cruises. The original Pro-Streeter has finally come full-circle, once again standing proud to defend the Mopar badge. So the next time your Chevy buddies start on you about how much better their cars are, politely remind them who started all this to begin with " http://www.bigblockdart.com/harlen/harlen.htm
It was Cab Co Not Calco. Gary Davis and myself built tach's car back in 1981 finishing it in 1982. I owned and started Cab Co Fabrication in 77 in Burlingame, California where Tach Moooney's was built. It was at the 1982 Car Craft Street Machine Nationals' They had the first Pro Street compe***ion there. The Dart came in 3rd Rick Tamosi' Vega came in second and a Vega built by Willie Rells came in first. Rick Tamosi' Vega was first built in 78 by Him and Gary Davis. I drove the Dart at Fremont for Tach once because I was the only one with an NHRA licsense in the group. It was a wheelstander for sure. The roll cage was originally done by Al's Auromotive in Brisbane, Ca. We just rear sub-framed it with ladder bar/ coil overs and a shortened Dana 60 rear end. The history of Pro Street is a little vaque because it came out of nowhere. We built our first TUBBED car back in 74 but it was just called a street machine. Car Caft is propably responsible for the name it was giving. Moorelands car definitely could walk the walk. Going 150 MPH in a big boat like that's impressive. But to who built the first pro Street car who know's? It was propably the first race car that was converted to street use in the early 60's or 70's
Wow, I was there too and I cant believe it was that long ago, 1985. It had Rolls Royce leather and carpet material and was off the wall cool, nicest car I ever saw at the time. I came from Montana to see that race. California is a beautiful place if they could just remove 75% of the people, 65 people in line at a Burger King in Fremont blew my mind, out of the building, down the walk and on to the side walk.
@frank spittle - Yep ... that was Gerry Steiner piloting the Mooneyham & Sharp #554 Coupe in the video (Brian Burnett hadn't sold to car to Jerry Moreland yet). ... and just last Saturday morning I heard on HAMBer @Cruzerdog's radio show ("Cruisin' Talk" on KSTE 650 AM out of Sacramento) that Steiner is doing fine ... a caller to the show ("Ted" out of Oakdale) mentioned that Gerry (now 71 years young) was giddy as a child when Mike Craig fired up the rebuilt FED on New Years Day ... even joking about piloting it again! (Gerry hasn't been behind the wheel of a dragster since his top-end accident at the "March Meet" in 2003).
I remember all these early Pro Street cars/rods like it was yesterday. Major influences here! That Vega was black and had a blower, the Dart ragtop was featured as the "Poison Dart" and confessed to overheating issues on the street, it was a BIG deal when Fat Jack's car rolled, and when I worked for Tom Vogele at McMullen/Argus/KIII/Primedia/Source, he would talk about that '40 like it was a favorite ex-girlfriend. A lot of these rides have punctuated my love affair with fast cars. Cool thread.
OK, So HOW FAST EXACTLY IS THE FASTEST '40 EVER? Both Quarter mile and Land Speed answers would be cool. Thanks.
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