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

Thanks for sending the picture.

 

The beautiful multi blue Hanna bodied Cretz and Colman dragster depicted 4 frames above, was R/U to Connie Kalitta at 1967 Winternationals. It was later destroyed at a show in Tulsa, late summer of 67. Driver Gene Coleman was killed. On that fateful run, the car was not equipped with either the nose piece or tail section. The tail section was sold big Big John Bateman who mounted it on the Atlas Oil Tool Spl that Steve Carbone drove in '68.

 

Yes it did. One Sunday afternoon at Pomona. Jack was driving the PVTA Starlight T/F car. Rear end locked on the top end, spun in the frame, and raised holy hell with Jack's manhood. He was lucky to survive. I was there that day. I could not believe he got the car shut down, and stopped with out crashing it. Pinion supports began appearing after that.

 

Tom, Are you thinking of Joe Williamson? He ran an E/A with a Ford 6, the head was built from sections of "Boss 302" heads welded together.

 

No Marty, Joe was Div I in the Louisville area.
That car was bought by a used car broker from Fairview Tn who tried running it in 1984.
Sadly, I saw it parted out and sold for profit piece by piece.
I discovered a fantastic photo of it taken of it in the late 60's or very early 70's in one of my kids school reading books of all places.
I'd love to demonstrate it but, it's copyright protected.

Who can supply a link on the net' here to a site archiving NHRA license and permanent #'s ?
A list of Div II E/A's from the mid 70's would do.

 

My learning experience for today.......... I never knew this. I always knew he crashed, but none of the circumstances.

While we are off on this rear axle failure tangent here, let's have a show of hands now; Who here recalls Gene Turnage mowing down the tree at Indy in 76' when a heim in the rear broke?
(hint: He was driving the ex flag colored Glidden Pinto purchased by Brandon & Turnage that ran in modified elim. An unforgettable photo appeared in the ND that week with the Chrondek laying across the roof)
Tom S. in Tn.

 

Jimmy Nix also suffered through the rearend rotation deal.
Layed out for a lot of years before returning to be whacked in a modern fuel car.

Here is a link Tom http://www.draglist.com/drllist.htm

 

It is I believe the 45th anniversary of Mike Sorokin's death at OCIR this month. The cause of the accident was the new slipper clutch blew and cut the car in half. That caused the rear to brake loose and Mike was somehow pulled halfway out of the car which proceeded to roll through the shutdown area. Very much shook the racing community and led to many safety improvements. Son Adam was I believe about 1 at the time is now the Heritage Nostalgia Top Fuel Champ and had become one hell of a driver. I remember a run at I believe the CHRR 5 years ago whne the chassis broke at the rear support on 1 side and Adam wrestled the car to a safe stop. That led to changes in the rear mount area on present Nostalgia T/F cars.

 

Yo_Baby;
Drag List is a good site, but is comprised only of member submissions and pretty incomplete.
You don't know how can we look up competition license and permanent #'s on the NHRA site or somewhere would you?
Thanx; Tom

 

Thought it had happened at Pomona but don't think he was driving the Starlite. I always thought it was the Spaghetti Benders car.
Only drivers I ever knew in the series of Starlites were Chuck Branham (RIP) and Chuck Griffith. Stan Adams tried driving the Starlite II but decided he wasn't cut out to be a driver. Nando Hasse also tried out driving the II but Chuck G. finally decided he'd do it himself.

 

I think he was piloting Tony Waters car and yes, the clutch was the primary culprit.

 

I think you're right, Spaghetti Benders, Lisa, Rapp, and Rossi (?)...think that Jack took the ride after Gary Gabelich left, someone else may remember better, Jack spent a lot of sheet time, broken pelvis, etc...

 

Tom S. is it this one?
http://public.fotki.com/mastermodel...-cars-by-contri/bill-redman-floyd-c/1250.html

 

Do you have the original photo source for this shot? I purchased this car from Lasalette. Dick M.

 

Sorry, I have no idea where that picture came from. I may have scanned it from a magazine or found it somewhere on the web. I've got 30,000+ pictures saved so theres no telling where I got it.

 

PM me if you want contact infor for Joe Lassalette.

 

63 Z-11 Dover 63-64

 

Thanks for the great photo from Dover Drag Strip in the early 60's

I remember the car well and many others that raced at Dover.

Every Sunday I would try and find someone heading to Dover and then ask them if I could go with them for the day.

I was about 13 years old and had no driver license at the time.

Thanks for sharing the memories. Jimbo

 

Billy Lagana, or Bobby? I forget which of them had "Locomotion". It was a crowd favorite at Dover back in '64...

 

I think the guy your thinking of was David Majors from Nashville.

 

That most likely would have been Bobby who later ran the Twilight Zone cars. I ran into his kids, Bobby Jr and Dom at the IMIS trade show on Friday.

Roo

 

Dick, here's a shot of Joe's Willys at the '65 Winternationals where they won C/Gas.

 

Keep the pics coming !! Great thread !!

 

Yes! Dog gone it, who is the owner/driver? It's not Floyd Maxwell......... (it kills me when this happens)

A heim or something broke on the rear and it rotated. Tom S. in Tn.

 

Bingo! I posted the above before I got through reading this all.
Whew........... thanx Old Drags. It hurts when I have to think this hard, and it could take days before I can recover.
Wish there were a way to access NHRA div drivers and perm #'s.
Tom S. in Tn.

 

Nope, it was Billy Lagana, Bobby's uncle...that drove "Locomotion"

 

A little o.t., but cool none the less.

<BIG><BIG>[SIZE=+1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daWpqICnR_k[/SIZE]</BIG></BIG>

 

Ain't nothin' off topic 'bout that! Fabulous video!

 

It was Billy Lagana for sure. I was there during the 63-65 period and new that 63 "09" it was my favorite.

Pat

 

A google search for Billy Lagana Locomotion found this:

http://www.doverdragstrip.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=719&start=10

"Hold on to your chair !...Just got off phone with the original , legendary Billy Lagana ! Are YOU ready for some HISTORY ....I took notes ! ....Here goes :
He started out with a '61 Pontiac Ventura sponsored by Jernigan Pontiac....Blew 7 motors with it, 'cause the oil pumps were bad, Parked it for a while ...Then Pontiac found the problem running Nascar...Got the good replacement...and blew off 41 cars at Dover to win the Elim.
.... Next up ...the Black '62 409 (ran WITH front Bumper ON )...IT WAS THE SECOND ONE Chevy Ever Buit ! he was there when it came off the assembly line. Lost track of it and looking for photos (Smokey ?)
....Next "Locomotion"....'63 'the Alum red car' Z-11, now in the Floyd Garrett museum in Tenn.
....In '64-'65-'66 ...ran Comets for Ford.(drake ...fill us in ) Need photos guys !
....In '68 switched to a Camaro sponsored by Oak Hill Chev. for only about 6 months.
.........Decided to quit drag racing and got into offshore boats for awhile.
.........Now operating an Engineering Company in Florida..."