Folks Of Interest Auto Modeler-Where is Richard Carroll

Two other things R&C did to put model cars on the map was the first 'National' contests. They did two; one for static models with various age classes and mild-to-wild mods. The advisability of mailing delicate plastic models from all over the country to California proved to be a bit questionable, but they got a large response in spite of this. The other was the first 1/24 scale 'Drags'. Again, a mail-in (with the same caveat as the static contest) deal with multiple classes with everything from plastic-bodied 'stockers' to scratch-built unlimited 'dragsters'. Both contests got full coverage in R&C. They only did them once each IIRC, the logistics must have been a nightmare. The drags didn't repeat, but Revell took over the static model contest with local/regional/national 'steps' that proved much easier to administer.

 

Braverman was to 1/24th scale, 36 volt slot racing drags what Garlits was to Top Fuel BITD. Bob lightened the end plates on his Pittman 85A motors, added ball bearings to the armature shaft, rewound the armature, and trimmed the laminations for better magnet flux. He also fabricated his own aluminum frames, cut slicks from foam tires used by R/C airplane guys and more.
I raced slot car drags and it was big fun. Three 12 volt car batteries wired in series for 36 volts on a 55’ Formica drag strip made for an unbelievably quick race.

 

Pittman 85 and later Ram 850 motors where the Keith Black hemis of the day. Rewound for 1/2 ohm, @ top fuel nitro load of 36V, they drew a crazy 72 amps! Took a little while but they finally broke the 1 second barrier ET at the scale 55', 'quarter mile' track.
And top fuel frames were not aluminum, they were 1/16" thick x 1" wide magnesium. With lightening holes, almost impossible to detect any weight!! I built one, lived way out in the country so never got to run it but it had all the right stuff.
After I finished milling up the magnesium frame, I got the bright idea to see if magnesium really burned. I piled the dust and shavings on a 1/4" thick aluminum plate, put it in the middle of my dad's wood shop floor and lit it. It burns. Flame was so bright I couldn't look at it, but I tried to look and it appeared the magnesium caught the aluminum on fire. I quickly got a square-nose shovel and scooped up the experiment ad took it outside and buried it. I don't recall dad ever questioning the burned spot in the shop floor.

I lost track of the sport in the 70s but heard rumors guys regularly run sub-1 second using Japanese can motors, boring soldered brass tubing chassis. Just not as sexy as the old days.

Here ar a couple examples of how they looked. Not quite total carnivore, a competitive dragster would have the pot metal end plates drilled and milled to half their stock weight and the stack of steel field plates trimmed to a barrel shape, following the curve of the armature. 64 pitch stainless motor pinion, aluminum axle spur gears. 1/4" x 1/8" ball bearings on all axles. Swing pickup so car stayed under power if it did a wheelie.


This was the stock motor starting point.


This is I think a Bob Braverman article on modifying a Pittman 85A for competition.

 

We found Richard Carroll. And we are featuring his Championship models in issue #6!

 

Wonderful news.

 

How about pics of more of his models?