History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

Man, does this look like a classic '60's matchup or what? No idea who the Reinford Brothers Moose is up against but looks like fun nonetheless. 9-1966

 

What would a '60's national meet have been without George Hurst and company doing their thing

 

Still more gasser action. Does anyone remember who these guys were? Seems like the pickup was a A/GS car but by no means am I certain on that. I always tried to get someone with their wheels up. Blew some shots but every once in a while I'd snag one.

 

This pickup appears to be the same guy as in the previous view. Looks like a class elimination run.

 

A shot in the dark.......... Harry Luzader? Just a guess.

In regard to Snow running Ekstrand in the photo above; Would those early F/X funny cars have run in altered classes at national events?
Thanx Parts Rivet; Tom S.

 

Manyard Rupp's Prussian AA/FD during time trials when I managed to get trackside. I'll try and get more posted before I leave again. Enjoy!

 

Tom,

As I recall, things changed so fast in those days the NHRA had a hard time keeping up. The year before this (1965) the changes were pretty sedate-SOHC Mustangs and 2% altered wheelbase Mopars. By the time of the 66 Nationals, cars are radically different-I think Snow and some of the others were running fuel by this time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Snow ran in B/FD this meet, and won Comp Eliminator.

As to the guess on Harry Luzader, you're guess is better than mine.

Take care,

Chuck

 

If I remember correctly most of the injected funny cars ended up in C/FD as either the bodies were too radical for the altered classes, the engine set back exceeded 25% or there were no fuel classes for the altereds at the weight break that the floppers came in at.

Roo

 

Looks like the Nelson Bros out of Iowa (Willys Pickup) they were Div V comp elim champions a couple of years later as Nelson Bros & Rohr ran out of Corneilson Speed Automotive

 

Looks like "Slick Nick Arnell" out of Mpls,Mn

 

Nick Arnell ran this 1940 Ford prior to the BS/R same #414

 

Tom this is how we did ours

 

Here is a closeup- this is in my "one day this will be worth something" pile,

Off of my dad's Pro Comp A/ Fueler ~1975, Jim Davis made:

 

Correct

 

Dick Shroyers Thames was beautiful. Car could win class on the strip or on the show car circuit. The interior was diamond tucked, while the rest of the car was so well detialed it could almost be mistaken for a trailer queen.

 

Hot Damn!
........ what did I win?

 

I sense censorship coming, but maybe we can divert him with the 48' Kaiser Frazier or the cut up Chassis Research junk in the pic.
At any rate, this was a brand spanking new car, and I refused to start cutting it because the corporately funded sanctioning bodies wanted to speed up the show.
I can not recall the dimensions anymore, but a $1,200.00 (in 1974 dollars) right angle starter would not have worked without adding about a foot between the cage and the motor. It was time for ol' Tom to quit anyways.

 

WCD talked about this several months ago also. I was only exposed to heads up matching, and I suppose I'd just have to have been there to see to understand today.
Thanks fellas. Tom S.

 

The NHRA, unlike NASCAR, AHRA, and local promoters, didnt know what to make of the "funny cars." The closet parity they could come up with was to incorporate them in the nitro burning sportsman classes. The NHRA vasilated for years before coming to grips with these cars, while else where everyone knew exactly that they deserved their own heads category. In 66, an unblown funny was sent to race class for C/FD class honors while a blown car ran either B/FD or CC/FD based on the time of the season. In 67, funnies got their own heads up class at Indy dubbed S/XS, yet in 68 they were reverted back to super eliminator, a handicap category for nitro and/or blown cars, Finally in 69 things were sorted. And you wonder why Ronnie Runyon gravitated to the AHRA circuit instead.

 

A lot of racers went with AHRA because they were more progressive, including Harrell (exclusively, Dickie hated the NHRA) and VanderWoude. Oh, and WCD, it's RunyAn!

 

WCD, you are correct, we didn't care for the politics and rules of the NHRA. Jim Tice and the AHRA staff liked us and others who put on good shows for their tracks. We had the Gold Agency do our bookings ata AHRA tracks and it was not uncommon to racee 3-4 times per week. Here is the 73 AHRA rulebook and another guy who didn't like the NHRA. Our friend and one of the best drivers ever. Dale Pulde. Don't worry about misspelling the name. We have been called Bunyan, Grunnion or just pains in the ass but, we sure liked to make races exciting and smoky.

 

Roo, I didn't know you owned the Soapy Sales car, I owned the valve covers for a time, sorry for using a photo from the 80's, just had to show them off.

 

WOW! That is a cool shot!!!

 

I am refering to the era before the name change. smile

 

Marty,
although it was not labelled as such my car was Soapy Sales 3, the first Long car for Huff. Soapy Sales 4 was a back motor car that Ash Marshall drove in Australia for Larry.
I would kill for those covers. LOL

Roo

 

HA! You're just a literati!

 

This is the way I recall racing, but it leaves me unable to completely understand a lot about racing. Especially how sanctioning evolved.

 

Pretty sure the '56 is in Don Montgomery's Gasser book and was said to
have 409 power.

 

Here is a few from the "good old days". You see me backing Rapid against Dyno Don. The shot looks as if I was praying. Well, prayers didn't help that day.