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

Roo you are the man, thanks for a good look at the down under side of the past. How do you remember all that stuff, hell I forget what I did last nite!

 

So do I but I can remember some (and I mean SOME) of that stuff like it was yesterday.

Roo

 

here is fellow hamber a.d.d. inc. in his bad ass 62'.....

 

S&S Chassis, Bill Stebbins & Sievret.

 

Bob Hamm Chevy CC/Gasser

 

Thanks,that's the only photo I have found of the Kentucky Moonshiner TF car. Would love to see a color photo.

 

More stuff from down under and this time we are at Coonamia, the little 1/8 mile track just outside Port Pirie, about 150 miles north of Adelaide. A club run facility, it was pretty rudimentary as you will see from the pix but at the time we did not have a track in Adelaide itself and Whyalla's Steel City strip was another 100 miles away on the other side of the gulf.

First up we have your typical hot street car of the early to mid 60's in Australia, a Morris Minor and judging by the /MP designation it probably has a "B" series Austin/Morris engine.



A couple of altereds face off although the car in the left looks to be almost /HR legal with tail lights. Nice roll bar in the Fiat which is a first gen toppolino, very rare in Australia. Mostly the guys there ran the later body as seen on the Hutchesson Outlaw car a few pages back until the fiberglass version of the late body came on the market.


The car in the near lane is a VC Valiant (1967 vintage) that is an Aussie designed face lift on the earlier US based versions that we built in Oz. Far lane is an FJ Holden, GM's local built product and the first car for a lot of young guys in that era.


As you can see from the background the spectator facilities were somewhat sparse to say the least. If I remember correctly the bus to the left was the concession stand.


Altered eliminator action with local star Colin Will in the far lane in his Falcon six powered altered and what looks like the topo from the earlier photo closest to the camera. The Will family were die hard Ford fans and ran in a bunch of classes. Colin went on to run Top Doorslammer (Australia's version of Pro Mod) in later years and still lives in Port Pirie. At one event at this track Colin took me for a ride in this car and until I started driving a dragster a few years later it was the quickest that I had ever been on a drag strip. Of course I was sitting on the floor with street clothes and a helmet and no seat belts.


It took me a while to remember what this was all about but in essence it was a match race to fill in some downtime. The Goggomobile Dart in the near lane has a tiny two stroke engine and was not very fast so Colin Will raced him in reverse gear. This shot also shows the somewhat bush league tower.


X/D was the class for four cylinder stuff and although I thought that this car may be Ford Consul powered something in my burned out brain cells tells me that it probably had a Vanguard engine (the same basic motor as the Triumph TR series sports cars)


Another photo for WhitePunk of During's slant six D/D


This is Roger Main's Frite, a slant six Chrysler powered Austin Healy Sprite. It was an all purpose car that was street driven, road raced and dragged. I worked with Roger at Chrysler Australia and rode in the car a few times. It was a genuine 140 mph unit on the street.


Here we have yet another member of the Will clan, Allen in his E/S early Falcon. Allen also had a long involvement in the sport in South Australia


Typical stock eliminator action with a 67 Holden Monaro GTS in the near lane facing off against an XW Falcon GT. The Holden came with engines ranging from a 186 cubic inch six cylinder through a 307 to 327 (later 350) V8 while the Falcons had 351's (Windsor and later Cleveland). Obviously both real street cars that were driven to the track.


This is the Watson borthers El Manos D/D with a Holden "gray" motor. In essence the engine was a scaled down version of a Blue Flame Chevy six and was the standard powerplant in Holdens from 1948 till 1964 when it was replaced with what the Aussies call the "red" motor. The "red" is likewise a scaled down version of the later Chevy six and came in capacities from 149 to 202 cubic inches.


Another gray motor car. Note the class designation is D/JD indicating that the sanctioning body had created Junior Eliminator for the small engine classes. The Holden panel van in the background next to the Morris Minor was my daily driver at the time and was typical of the era with a big inch gray motor with a cam, two carbs and "extractors" (headers) Stock three speed with an aftermarket floor shift and a gearbox that was so worn that on a couple of trips to this track I had to hold it in high gear with my foot.



Roo

 

Is that Kosty Ivanoff's "Tuff Enuff?

 

Absolutely ! Dennis Doubleday

 

Nice shot Dennis, I remember that car well, but thats a shot I have never seen!!

 

We raced Kosty in '68 in a heads up super stock series, really a forerunner of pro stock. I was sorry to hear he had passed away.

 

Great stuff Keith
I had heard of Coonamia, but never seen a photo of it.
There seems to be very little to be found on early South Australian drag racing,
All I have seen is your Brooksfield pics & now these.

I would love to see more if you have any

Cheers
Thommo