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

Kind of did same thing in the flopper funny cars with center steer and seating in the back, looking thru lexan windshield on both sides of aluminum dog house covering blower/injector. But I can tell you from experience that doing that if you have windshield issue and have to do that looking directly out side window openings it doesn’t work very good Because instead of looking at center line & guard rail far down track and steering for the middle, when looking back and forth out the side windows you only see one of those references at a time and have to judge distance from either center line or guard rail. Below is copy of that experience I wrote for dragstriplist.com, if interest and don’t mind a long read.

I had an unusual experience at one funny car event at Southeastern International Dragway in Dallas, GA. When the body was lowered after the engine started for the first round of eliminations, the sun reflected off the highly polished aluminum work covering the engine and blower/injector tunnel that was under the Lexan windshield inside the driver’s compartment. I saw nothing but a mirror image of that aluminum work as the sun reflected it on the inside of the windshield. My thought was, as I did the burnout, the angle of the sun would change enough so I could see thru the windshield and all would be OK. Well that didn’t work (so much for my geometry expertise) I couldn’t even see the guy backing me up. I had to judge by looking out the side windows, trying to stay in the middle. The guy backing me shows up at the side of the car shrugging his shoulders and arms out, indicating what I was doing. We had no radios back then and relied on hand signals (which we made up on the spot for this incident). Pointing at my goggles and towards the windshield, I made him understand there was a problem seeing. He just didn’t know how bad the problem was! He finally got me staged with hand signals at the side window. While I’m thinking, if I’m crazy enough to try this or should I just give this race away! Being like many racers from that era, giving a race away was unthinkable and after all, I could always let off the loud peddle if things didn’t go good. So at the start, here I go down the track, looking left and right out the side windows when I notice I can’t see the guard rail because it’s too close to the side of the car (it was a low single metal rail). So I corrected to the right to get away from the guard rail. Then suddenly I can’t see the centerline out the other side window because I’m too close to it and correct to the left. I repeat this process at least once or twice more (I lost count) before the finish line, even winning the round without hitting anything hard! When the guys helping me get there with the tow car, they tell me the crowd is going crazy from that wild out-of-control run. I started smiling while thinking the only thing out of control on that run was ME!!

 

Which one is Garlits? I thought maybe Connie in the plaid pants?

 

Looks like Gar, and I think that may be Dave McClelland in the plaid pants.

 

Your right, that could be Dave McClelland! The guy next to, suspected Garlits, looks like the guy in a previous post, looks like he is doing the "Bird" dance beside a car doing a burnout. I looked, and could find the post.

 

The Brute and ChiZler...

 

View attachment 5512393

This guy?

 

I'll take the easy ones; TC Lemons and Terry Cook about in the middle of the picture.

 

TC Lemons long time Garlits friend.
Rest in peace.

Jimbo

 

Is that him in both pictures?

 

TC, an approachable, friendly guy. I had the pleasure of talking to him for an hour at Union Grove, WI. , he had a million stories. I surprised him when I asked him about Major Cooksey, Major had some sort of voodoo annealing process for 8 3/4 Mopar rear ends. Garlits had TC take three center sections for the treatment with the agreement that if they lived he’d pay Major. This was late sixties and they were getting as little as 2 or 3 passes on a set. TC said on the first set they ran them 5 times and Don sent payment immediately.

 

TC was some funny storyteller...the best!
When he was inducted into the Drag Times East Coast HOF, he gave a speech that had everyone rolling, I mean tears streaming down your face funny. What a legend...RIP TC.

 

Man that's cool.

 

65pacecar - Not familiar with this Twin - any ID?

 

I believe it’s James Warren. Blown up picture of it.

 

Dyno Cecil County 1965...Charles Milikin Jr. photo.

 

Roy Cipray photo collection.

 

They did add a blower to the SBC but this a different chassis too.

 

Not in the proper time frame but think this should be shown - delete if you must.

 

1960 ????

Hello,

The original Warren Colburn twin FED was unique to say the least. The twin motors from both race cars look similar but the headers are a little different. The original Ridge Route Terrors used their twin for a couple of years, before going to a single SBC motor in the 1963-63 year. WDIFL files

So, if there is some verification, that would be a great addition to the gap in information.

Jnaki



Also, the chassis is different to accommodate the side by side motors. Similar to the “Two Thing” by the Dragmaster Company in 1961-62 era.

 

Yes I believe it is T.C.

Towards the end of his life and I believe when he passed away he was living in a trailer on the Garlists Museum property in Ocala, Fla.
He spent many years traveling the country with Don Garlits and they were best of friends.

Jimbo

 

TC lived in a small cottage on the property, Don thought very highly of him, in fact he gave him a monthly “pension” check.

 

Odd combination!?

 

There were several: http://twotogo.homestead.com/dtbd.html

 

Ongais...