I think the big 'coming out party' for those engine combinations in stock class was at the 71' Summernationals. J/S and K/S. Though the Boertman's spoiled the party. J/S, K/S and L/S cars running 12.40's thru 12.80's. 350/255HP camshaft,, .390/.410 lift, 112 centerline, and 195/202 duration @ .050. Doesn't seem that radical. It was all in the #441 heads, nice port size and 1.94 intakes, fed by a 750cfm Quadra-Jet. Paul
I was there....racing our H/S 68 Chevy II......didn't make the cut...got a little out of control at the motel in Gettysburg (to much to drink after a really hot day)...got thrown out and slept at the track on the entry road in my ramp truck....was not comfortable at all! Hung out on Sunday and watched.....a lot of redlights in the left lane and there was definately something wrong for a while it seemed......
Bobby Warren went 12.29 at York during the 1970 Summernationals....J/S 350/255 '69 ChevyII .......The same one George Cureton bought at the end of the year. It was very hot out and I could not believe he went that fast.....the traction was terrible in the heat....for us anyway......The fastest car in H/S was Tom Elk or maybe Jack Marks and I don't think either of them went as fast as Bobby Warren did in J/S .........We spun the tires bad and I changed the trans from a 2.5 first to a 2.20 and also put on a set of Firestones for out last ditch effort.....Went a 12.5 with a terrible bog off the line and needed to run 12.35 to make the show....That was still faster than the previous runs with bad tire spin.....We went 12.23 there in the spring at over 114......big difference in July....Asphalt and hot sun....
Rich, Joe Kenney picked off George Cureton at the 71' Summernationals. Pretty sure it was with the 69' white rag-top Camaro. His car ran better at Englishtown, than Dover. About 2/10's quicker, and thats one I'll never figure out. I look at the times J/S and K/S in early 70' and they hang around 12.90's, and then mid-year, they drop like a rock. The right combo at the right time. Paul
You guys who remember all these details from 40 years ago MUST be referring to notebooks! Dave Bishop and I slept in my '63 Impala just down the road from the track. It was not comfortable!
No notebooks.....just a good memory. Maybe not exactly as it happened but reasonably close. I know Dave Bishop and he has taken lots of pictures of some of my racecars and zillions of others. I saw Tim Bishop working on his car last weekend at the Maple Grove Lucas Oil Series race.....He has a late model Firebird like the one I had a few years ago...LT-1 with a manual trans.....Has to be a fun ride....Mine was and it was a 3 speed automatic trans....
Remembering what happened 40 years ago is easy.....remembering what I did yesterday.....Uh what was I saying???? CRS has arrived..
"The Chevelle was a local car here back in the day. Ken Mills "Mr Quick" Speed & Custom.. " Cool pic! Pete
I found these on another forum... ...all credit goes to the original poster. Pete P.S. Check out who's in the background/right lane!
Tim Neja's 55 162/265 -- during one of his east-coast sojourns? By the way, I wonder if he's completed the restoration yet?
Pete, Nice classic photo's. The girls loved those beautiful 1963 Dodge Max-Wedge 330's! Monroe-Joe, I'm pretty sure the Quadra-Jet carburetor and intake manifold was the same on the 327/250HP and 327/275HP 1968 engines, as well as the 69' 350/255HP and 350/295 HP (SS-model) engines. Confusion, 1970 factoring went like this on the 327/250HP 1965 Chevelle. The Malibu 2-door hardtop(#3115lbs.) ran in K/S. The Malibu SS (#3165lbs.) and Malibu convertible(#3210lbs.) ran in L/S. The Malibu SS convertible (#3260lbs.)ran in M/S Paul I'll check an old price sheet/bill-head for Competition Valve Jobs back in 1971. I still have some paperwork from my fathers shop. Crankshaft kits from Storm Crankshaft in Mount Vernon with Federal-Mogul bearings,,,$83.00.
I remember seeing Neja with this '55 at Springnats in Gainesville circa '70. He looked like he was thinking all the time about his next trick. There was some chatter in the pits that the checkered flag pattern was not just to look cool but had a function. I'm guessing that when the sun shined the black squares were hotter than the whites and somehow it improved the slip stream effect. Anybody else have any input.
Yes, notice the subtle inclination of the front bumper which resulted in an aerodynamic lift of the front end at speeds over 72.8 MPH. This of course resulted in less front tire drag in the traps. Alas, this brilliant engineering feat proved Tim's undoing when he smoked the front tires through the traps ... sadly, failing to abort his sub-breakout run at a major meet -- losing the bigg buck$ ... So it goes! PS: Buster is (typically) soo cool in that picture!
Thanks Paul, however the credit goes to the guy (forum) I got it from. Really? First time I've heard this. "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..." Regards, Pete
To the "untrained eye" it merely looks like the front bumper is bent and/or the bumper brackets that are holding it in place are. You'd make a good tech inspector, Steve. One more point: The front suspension has some "tire scrub" due to its positive camber on rise (as seen in pic) and could've used a Jack Arnew-type front end alignment to further eliminate parasitic friction. Pete
You would also run extra high air pressure in the fronts to have only a tread or two on the ground while you were at speed (less tire touching the ground means less drag).
We had a Ned Stock Circuit race at Island Dragway in 1970 and the Neja cars were there. They towed the '55 along with their '57 wagon. The '55 Q/Stocker won the race pretty easily.......The C/SA Mopars were usually pretty dominant and there were a lot of them to deal with back then. Jerry Stein would have been at the top of the list. The Neja Q/Stock was pretty fast......On their trip back to California that year they rolled their rig over and I think it was Tim that was killed in the accident.....I never met them..... The Cars were red....I think..... We were low qualifier at one of those NED Stock Circuit races.....at -.11 under the record....
Not 'too' great for handling, though. I bellieve (from what I read) the racers were pumping up the front tires to 45-55 PSI. Pete
Anybody getting bored yet? NO!!!!! But, if you are, go to dragnut.smugmug.com; many, many, many hundreds of Stock, Super Stock, Gasser, and Pro level photos. You'll be lost for months looking at these. Butch/56sedandelivery.
Pete. In 1974 I could have bought a Dodge #330 with a Max-Wedge (non Ram-air) for $1800, in good shape. But NOOOOOO, my girlfriend wanted me to get a 1970 Pontaic GTO, because it was prettier. So I bought the GTO. What a PIG,,,and so was the car.. Paul
FB, Yes the 67' Firebird came through with a 326 HO, rated at 285HP. I saw 67' Firebird convertibles run in I/SA in 1968. PC
The Jalopy Journal
