Hello, Impressive as it was, fastback sedans just seem to be moving, especially at the drags. Our dad had a 41 Buick Fastback Sedan that drove us 700+ miles down the eastern side of California, including the dry areas of the desert environment. It was for us, a fast car. But after living near Lion’s Dragstrip for years, it was a natural to associate with racers that had cars we liked and perhaps, build one like it/them. One of the avid racers was this tall guy that raced in a fastback Chevy sedan. The Chevy sedan had J&J Muffler on the side and we all knew where that place was located at the time. Here is another photo by Doyle Hatfield of Bones Balogh's 1949 Chevy Fastback at the drags. My brother and I were now in the throes of our 1940 Willys C/Gas coupe build and as luck would have it, had access to one of the first Isky Gilmer 671 Blower Drive Belt Systems for the SBC motors through our connections from Los Angeles. Bones Balogh probably had the first one from the Isky camp… (since he worked there) JUNE 1960 "In 1955, when Lion's Dragstrip opened, Bones took his '38 Chevy down there. He couldn't keep up with the guys until he got hold of a 283 Chevrolet V-8 and put in into a '49 Chevy. This was when he was hanging out with Ed Iskendarian and they became life-long friends. Bones went to work for Isky working on motors, grinding cams and dreaming up ways to make more power. Bones was at Isky from 1960-66 and anything Bones wanted to do when it came to drag racing was fine with Ed. In fact, Ed would help him out. They had over 250 wins at Lion's drag strip with that '49 Chevy and after putting a big 671 blower on it - it ran 113 mph and was unbeatable!" before the 671 supercharger... Bones Balogh stated that he won more races with his 1949 Chevy than any other car. Bones was an employee of Ed Iskenderian and stated that “everything I learned was on the Isky dyno.” With multiple carbs perched on a GMC 671 blower, the Chevy topped out at 114 mph. rules in the late 1950s didn’t allow blown cars to run D/Gas. So, Bones was forced to run C/Gas. Helping to get the power to the ground were short recap slicks and a spare tire well filled with ready mix. The torque tube rear end housed a strong set of 1953 Buick 4.44 gears. Photo by Bones Balogh Jnaki His record was impressive and later, he went right after the other big name racers during the Gas Coupe and Sedan wars. His name is synonymous with the Gas Coupe division.
Bones was our connection to Isky cams. The cams we used were the ones Bones advised. National record for 5 years and 5 Winternationals class wins. Bones knew his stuff!
Great picture of the "Bounty Hunters" Post #2555 is the first older of the two dragsters, it set the 180mph record at indy in "63", Garlits drove the car for Kalitta (he weighed less). Bernie Partridge (the Bird) referred to Garlits coming down the return road after that record setting pass as "Big Daddy" for the first time.....guess that tag stuck!.... The dragster presently is sitting at the museum in Ocala, FL.. The complete restoration history is in Rodders Journal #7 issue, great pictures by Steve Coonan. As an "underfootnote" I was lucky enough to have restored the dragster 1n 1995 for Joe Gerdelman
The Jalopy Journal
