Projects Bad Banana Resurrection - 55 Chevy Gasser

There are always critics... but like an old guy told me to tell 'em online or at the car show: where is your car?

nice grandstanding! Glad you kept it outta the wall.

I love the car and thanks for taking the time to add all of the old photos along with the current ones.

-W

 

This is such a cool story and such a cool car, and that looks like quit a ride! Enjoying the updates, keep them coming!

 

Ummm... I'll decline this one.. My wife sometime reads this stuff on here...

I talked to him right after the show aired and he only got to see it once. He said "looked to me like you could see the left side of the car from the right side of the track...?" LOL

He knew the ultimate outcome was fine so he wasn't too worried but I think things would have been different if he would have seen that pass live as it happened..

I have reviewed the TV footage and even slowed it down to frame by frame. It backs up what I thought happened... It went up against the wheelie wheels but not hard. It just stayed there but you can tell it does not separate the body from the axle or "unload" the rear tires as some keyboard racers seem to think. However, since it is driving on the rear tires, the wheelie wheels are steering it some and after a 100+' it doesn't take much to make it drift off center.

I shifted it into high just as the front tires touch down and the fact it is out of the groove, into the dirt, and out of the glue, it spun. Anyone who has made a gear change with the wheels turned and a spool knows it will kick sideways (which it did). I felt it go and lifted and began to pedal it and aim it into the groove and continued on like I have probably done hundreds of time in various vehicles before... Didn't seem like that big of a deal when it happened but when there are 15 cameras capturing every move, it is likely to look worse than it is. Especially with editing..

Thanks for the kudos but honestly.... I wasn't driving the first 100'.. I was just along for the ride.. Besides... that old bucket of bolts knows it's way down a 1/4 mile so honestly I doubt I did as much of the driving as the ol' girl did herself

 

Just thought I would ask, did the old man ever build a wagon version under the name Bad Banana 3?

 

No... I answered this before. That was someone else from NY. Read back a couple pages.

 

frank iacono ran a '57 in jr stock named banana 1...

 

Dang man...Just ran across your thread here. Great car I'll be looking at your stuff more but right now I'm gonna go work on my 56..Wild ride on passtime way to hang with it man thanks for posting!!!

 

Great Post!

I was especially interested in the progression pics of the different years and how the car changed.

Thanks for the trip!

Fred

 

I have enough respect for my fellow racers and know when to bail on a run when it gets risky. Especially when there is someone in the other lane. I have been doing this a very long time ... that wasn't my first rodeo..[/QUOTE]


Well I would love to line up wuth you again in the final !!!!!!!
It looked great and you got alot of attention, good job
I liked the comments on tv too, good job driven that rascle.
Johnny Rotten

 

Looks like SPEED is using a couple seconds of it on their Passtime website promos. Here is a screenshot of it and a link to the video. Only about 2 seconds of it about 6-7 seconds in (after the commercial )

I would love to see the whole run from this angle..

http://www.speedtv.com//video/tv-shows/pass-time/pass-time-97-ford-probe-1530808430001/1#_vtop

 

Looks like we should be ready for the Detroit Dragway Reunion this Saturday. Had it fired up tonight for the first time since September. Looks like the weather is going to be good this year!

Promise to back it down to try to keep it away from the wall and the center line...

 

You better!

 

As promised I did try to back it down. However, the car did not cooperate. It went hard enough against the wheelie bars it unloaded the rear tires for the first time ever on the very first pass Saturday. I spent the rest of the day pulling starting line rpm and softening the shocks to try to tame it down. I finally got a full run on the 5th pass and it was the best ever.

10.07 @ 130.4 mph.

That was with added ballast in the right front floor of the car trying to keep the thing off the wheelie bars.

Not sure why it is running so strong. We didn't do anything over the winter to make any more power. The only thing I can think of is the engine is sealing up and it is still breaking in. It has about 55 runs on it now.

I am seriously considering a gear change from 5.13 (now) to 4.88 to try to make it managable. We ended up breaking the right front shock mount and I think it has a broken leaf in the right front as well.

Austin took some video (it is still in the camera... we haven't downloaded it yet) and there are some pics here (link)

http://miketpg.smugmug.com/Cars/Detroit-Dragway-Reunion-2012/23089005_G6fm8C#!i=1858616083&k=SH7kwPL

I'll try to get the video up this week.

It is a blast to drive like that but I fear we are going to start breaking stuff if I don't do something. Stay tuned..

 

THAT is fuckin' awsome!! Suddenly the motor woke up and has more horsepower? That's EVERBODY's dream. I am so jealous! Stay with it. Your daddy's proud.

 

10.07 Hell yeah, that's hauling the bananas !

 

Here is some video from Saturday. This is the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th run of the day. The 10.07 was the 5th (last) run we made but no video.

The first run looks alot like the Passtime run without the sideways drama.

The second run in the video I tried to pedal it in the air (bad idea) and it actually broke (cracked) the RF shock mount and bent the left one during the bounce manuever

The last run here looks like it would have been just about 10.00 based on the early numbers from the timeslip. We had moved some ballast up front and to the right and it seemed to help. I didn't realize Jon had red-lit and I pedalled it at 1/2 track for a bit and it only went 10.40 on that run.

No video of the rear tire unload (1st run) either...

 

Here are some shots from beaver springs last year. One of our favorite cars of the weekend. Really Cool!!

 

Any chance of you bringing the Bad Banana to the "MELTDOWN DRAGS" at Byron Dragway Byron ILL. July 21-22. It's going to be a blast. Last year was awesome and it rained all morning ,so with a two day event and a gasser showdown on sunday you can't ask for more. If your interested check out www.meltdowndrags.com and there is also a social group for this event on the HAMB

 

This does sound fun but there are a couple roadblocks for me.

First... not sure about my wheels. They are Crager Super Tricks from the 70's (as we all know they are NOT HAMB friendly). May not be old enough for this meet either? I can't afford wheels if they aren't.

Second, I have already somewhat committed to go back down to Beaver Springs in PA the week before. That would be two long and expensive trips in a row. I can only do one of them this year. My dad's brother (my uncle) is really looking forward to seeing this car again at Beaver since he and a lot of my relatives and folks who remember this car are from around there. There was a huge turn out last year when we went down there and likely will be again if we go back. I can't go to the Gasser Reunion like I did last year because I am working the Hot Rod Power Tour and will be in TX that weekend.

Lastly... I have not said anything on here but my dad's health is not good at all. He has been in the hospital for the last two months. I try to go visit as much as I can but an 800+ mile round trip is tough to do very often.

Maybe if the wheels are cool we can think about it next year..

 

Wish you and your dad the best of luck, sorry to hear about his health, hope to see you run it again sometime.

 

Sorry to hear about your dad. Hope his condition improves.

 

Also sorry to hear of your Father.

Prayers for his health hopefully improving soon.

 

FYI for east coast HAMBers.. Looks like we are loading up and headed to Beaver Springs this weekend for the York US30 Reunion - Nostalgia Nationals. Hope to see some of you there.

 

I will be there friday nite see you there !

 

Video from Beaver Springs

 

Thanks. On the in car wheel stand I actually yelled out loud "Oh Man" as in Oh man cool. That was fun.

 

On the #'s. Nice. Bitchen ride.

 

Maybe I missed it. Is there an update on your father?

 

I just founf this one on a diffrent thread, i don't know if it's been posted yet or not.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6n6pjxt4-M&feature=related Skip forword to 2:24 in the clip!

 

Not much change. He is still in the hospital but stable. I talk to him on the phone as much as possible. Thanks for asking.