five years ago this comeing friday two teams of crazy okies ,made Ryans and Sam iam dream come true .the first two ha/grs blazed down Tulsas Racewaypark strip in the mid to high 16s at over 80 mph with the flathead of the Ramrods takeing the win over the Hornets 235 chev 6.in the following weeks leading up to MOKAN there was much thrashing by both teams RAMRODS got a race flathead from flathead howard tribbey and the ramrods beat the hornet like a drum. Hornets put in worn out 261 installed a set cast iron rings milled the 60 and acomp cam it ran low 15s at 92 mph F H still winning .friday tnt before MOKAN ramrods skip tnt go to mokan for the party Hornets find problem run a14/10 96 mph off the trailer.unload the next day at mokan and run a 13/94 98 mph and we were the champs. what happened to the first two cars .ramrods sold their car and built anew one. shawn McDermontt bought it installed aslant 6 and won the championship . he sold it to roy meritt who put aGMC in it runs 11/40s 118/mph won the sdra championship last year the Hornets became the first sdra car. The ramrods were the first to break a 100 a 106 ibelive .The hornets had some firsts also first win at mokan first in the 12s and first to be outlawed Brown /McCORD of ramrods runa jr fuler howard tribbey has one also. agood time was had by all THANKS RYAN
thanks guys for the inspiration, leading by example, as your efforts are what initially inspired us to believe we could do similar over here. Cheers, and again, thanks for the memories, Drewfus
Nice write-up mudflap, except for the facts. There were three cars built five years ago, not two. The Speed Merchants could have attended your test runs in Tulsa, but I don't think we were invited. The Ozark Mountain Special (from Arkansas) ran against two other vintage dragster replicas (from Oklahoma) in the 2005 HAMB Drags. I didn't call them HA/GR's because that term had not yet been coined (by Ryan). Sam Iam responded to the discussion of others and was the first to step up and post some rules. Calling this thing his dream gives him way too much credit. The Hornet Team members or their race car were never outlawed. The automatic transmission was banned, not the Hornets. You guys didn't have to take it personally and start your own ***ociation. I wish that whole deal could have gone down differently. The first three years were the best. After that, disagreements got in the way of progress. I feel nostalgic about the good old days of five long years ago. Man, didn't we have some fun.
Rand Man, The facts stand. The first time these cars went to the track there were only two (2) of these cars there. Ram Rods and Hornets faced off in what turned out to be a best 2 out of 3. Other cars came a long in time and were welcomed with open arms. where are they now? I wish all were still on the track and competing, the group would be larger, but thats life. The original rules allowed the automatic as a legal transmission. It was only after some people raised a fuss that the rules were changed. This brought about the formation of the SDRA, and the series that has grown out of the outlawing of the automatic. A series that will see over 10 races this year. A series that welcomes the Ha/Gr cars to compete with us.
If I recall correctly, these things grew out of a half-baked notion of Kevin Lee. His brainchild was called a parasite digger. Lots of talk and finally some rules from them that was good at rules, like SamIam. The first time the "Hambsters" ran at the H.A.M.B. Drags was 2005 and there were, indeed, the three mentioned. Can't comment about the Tulsa debut. I have to ***ume someone ran down the track before showing up at the official race.
Jim I quess I didn't express my thoughts properly. I was speaking of the first p***es in Tulsa as that was the begining of the cl*** as it is known. As I said, the Hornets and Ram Rods faced off at that time. Yes, there were three cars at MoKan, but at a later date. I was not trying to put anyone down, just tell it as it was at the time. Jr. Clark "CrkInsp" .
This up coming event at MOKAN will be the fifth anniversary of the debut of the HAMBSTERS as they were then called.three cars were entered the hornets from broken arrow okla ,ramrods from ow***o okla and the ozark mountain special from springdale ark .a few things I rember about the cars. ozark mtn special the front axle was mounted with a large single bolt . the fuel tank was a beer keg turned end and the worlds hardest rear tires.ramrods were sportinga new 3 carb manifold and almn heads. but what I really rember is the razzing they gave us at the hambuger joint.about how bad they were going to beat us ended up betting a case of beer on the out come .the hornets had found their running problem and onthe first run ran a 13/96 at 96 mph you should have seen the jaws drop well we won the beer.RYAN did not have a trophy to give us but the track came up with one for altered and it was flathear piston mounted on a base kind of fitting since we beat two flatheads .I can not remember all the names of guys who made it happen maybe the guys on the three teams will chime in. If you want to see p[ic of thefirst three cars back up one post to JIM MARLETS and click on his flathead site I would like to thank RYAN, KEVIN LEE,and SAMIAM for five years of fun
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