I asked Mark Engle if that was his dad in the picture: No, little bit too thin. That car with the Chrysler in it bent the frame every time it went down the track. When they came back in the pits, they would put a floor jack under parts of the frame and pick the car up to straighten the frame (which got tweaked) from the torque. This way the doors would open again. Just a not so well known piece of history. Mark Engle
Don't know who the skinny guy is, Doug Cook is leaning on the car, I know the picture was taken in Wayne Artegas garage, cool pics wonder how many frames they went thru? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Seems like that could create real problems with work hardening, or cracks eventually. With all the runs that car made, I wonder how many frames needed repair or replacement?
The thin man standing in the photo with Doug Cook Is John Hellmuth. He was half of the ARTEAGA and HELLMUTH WILLYS Team. The SWC WILLYS stopped at Wayne Arteaga's garage whenever in the St. Louis area and yes that photo is at Wayne Arteaga's.
Always love reading about the history of Stone, Woods & Cook As a kid this was one of the baddest g***ers ever to drag race. Not many g***ers ever became more famous for me. Jimbo
The photo was shot in Wayne Arteaga's garage in north St. Louis. The tall thin guy standing with Doug Cook is one of the Helmuth boys (John I think) who was Wayne's partner in the Willys he/they ran. St. Louis was a midway stopoff point for the G***er contingent while traveling from the west coast to the east for the match race season. There's another photo in this series with KS Pittman and his car in the driveway.
Some years ago my dad and I were at a race and the SWC willys was there. By far, one of my favorite cars from back in the day. We hung around all day and watched the racing. After the race was over, everyone was leaving and the place was pretty much empty. My dad and I were walking back to the car along the track and we heard a car fire up at the starting Line. We stood along the guard rail about 20 feet beyond the finish line. Low and behold, it was the SWC willys. We watched it come right at us at it made a p***. My dad had to shoot 5-6 pictures as it came down the track! The sound was unreal! Between the screaming engine and the blower whine, I was intoxicated with it! Come to find out, the car was supposed to be just a display piece for the weekend, but some act had other plans. I'm glad we stuck around as long as we did. It was truly awesome. Being that I was born in the early 70s, I'd never got to see those cars run. I wish I had! My dad ran an altered back in the mid to late 60s and always talked of how fast and crazy the g***ers were. Best racing ever in my opinion and I never got to see it! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Back in the late '90's some guys built repops of the Stone Woods and Cook car and K. S. Pittman's Willys, then travelled around running match races at strips all over the US. K. S. Pittman drove his car. They were both BBC powered, with tube frames, not real period g***ers. I saw them run at Goodguys Indy, pretty cool to watch.
They were built by Johnny Rocca of USA Racing out of Woodstock Va. It was called the last great shoot out put on by good guys in the early 90's. The Cookie car still runs sometimes with The S&S team at nostalgia meets. Johnny Rocca still drives it. It is powered by a hemi. The KS car if I'm not mistaken and I'm sure Fred Bear can correct me was an old g***er from the south. The cat skinner of Bogan Renfro and ran a ford cammer. Johnny ended up with it and built the tribute car It is in the Garlits Museum. And if I remember right it was Olds. powered. Charley Overfelt from Roanoke, Va. drove it and I think KS did also. I believe the Cook car was wrecked once and repaired by the sheet metal wizard Craig Naff
The Cat Skinner ran out of the Atlanta area with a Ford Cammer and was set up a lot like Gene Cromers Moonlighter that also had a Ford Cammer
I saw Rocco & Pittman run at Milan in the late 1980s with those Willys , cool show, was the first time I met K.S, he was a great guy, I sat and talked with him for a while, all never forget it, that stoked my fire for g***ers! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Great pics. You know I just noticed the racing stripe over the driver's side of the car. I have never seen that before on the SWC car. Is this one of the early renditions? What year did they race this one?
Yea the guy in the white shirt is John Helmuth. He's in our car club, the Natural State Rod and Customs, here in north central Arkansas. The guy's awesome to talk to. So full of history and knowledge. They would always get the big timers stopping in at their shop in St Louis on their way from the west coast to the east coast and back. I'll try to get a hold of John and see if I can dig up some more photos of their shop and get them posted on here.
I call the story on jacking the frame after runs a crock of BULL..Doug and Ray stayed at our shop in Dallas when on tour..They always were working on the engiine or ******..NEVER the frame...Talked to Ray svereal months ago and he is now living in Ohio..does not care about racing anymore...
I pitted next to K.S. at one of the Good Guys races back in 2000, I think. He was having some problems getting around, but my wife and I were fortunate to get to listen to hours of stories and relaxing fun.
I could be wrong....probably am ( just ask my wife n kids !! ).....but.....I think I recall an interview Doug Cook gave to somebody many years back, and in it he stated the words in effect ; "many people think we ran just the two coupes...but, in reality we crashed a number of them trying to keep up with the racing commitments back in the day with a number of different drivers including Doug's brother". Further...I thought he when on to say something like ; "the earlier coupes were nicer and more detailed than the later coupes because they just didn't have the time with all the book in shows they had". Again, could be wrong on all this.....I'm old !!!! Finally, I think the red K.S. coupe that he drove when he toured with Johnny Rocca was his original coupe that Johnny found and restored while the SWC coupe was a tribute so they could race each other....still a very cool deal when it took place. My all time favorite coupe ???? Why the black SWC 41 coupe of course !! I had also heard it was only black for a short period of time because the team felt it did not photograph well. LOVE THIS SITE !!
Guy in the photo looks like Tim Burns. I know it's not, because that would be nearly two generations of g***er guys in the same pic. See some pics of the two cars being discussed In The Last Great Shootout over on Modern Day Nostalgia Cars thread. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8353918#post8353918 Saw the blue car hit both walls and break all four wheels at Texas Motorplex, at the end of that tour. It was great to see it being run, recently, with the Cl***ical AA/GS group at NHRA big shows.
I would not say he is lying............just might not remember everything that happened long ago...........Ray.....or Mr. Cook as I call him.......dropped by today to return something........I asked about this and he kinda chuckled....and said we had no such trouble that required tweeking using a jack..........I've noticed over the last 10 years that the info being p***ed around is about 75% BS.....if not higher.......kinda like guys running alcohol in a g***er and still calling it a g***er.......which it is not.....Littleman Dave
Mr Drumyn29....Does This answer your question???? all I can say is "Who the hell is this Mark Engle"??
If so,he sure must be a young guy trying to impress someone,,,I knew Jack Engle and he would never say such ****..
Dude why are you getting so hot under the collar? I just received this from Mark Engle: Oh well, I guess Don Moody and Jack Engle who told me that story must have been wrong. Mark
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