<a href='http://img26.imageshack.us/my.php?image=merleschmalz.jpg'><img src='http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/2161/merleschmalz.jpg' border='0' alt='Image Hosted by ImageShack.us'/></a><br/> <a href='http://img26.imageshack.us/my.php?image=donquarterone.jpg'><img src='http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8503/donquarterone.jpg' border='0' alt='Image Hosted by ImageShack.us'/></a><br/> <a href='http://img26.imageshack.us/my.php?image=patlupo.jpg'><img src='http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/7755/patlupo.jpg' border='0' alt='Image Hosted by ImageShack.us'/></a><br/>
Tom Rainey of the "Racing Raineys." First time I've seen this car... <a href='http://img7.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tomrainey.jpg'><img src='http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5397/tomrainey.jpg' border='0' alt='Image Hosted by ImageShack.us'/></a><br/> <a href='http://img26.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stomper.jpg'><img src='http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/3833/stomper.jpg' border='0' alt='Image Hosted by ImageShack.us'/></a><br/> I know, I know...it's a M/P car. I noticed that after I took a photo of it. Still, it's a '57 Chevy wagon and odds are it started out as a Junior Stocker, hence my posting it here. Perhaps former Staten Islander Henry Dana can fill us in. Pete
Great story and "YOUNG" (the car still looks the same....lol) pictures of new IHRA B/SA record holder. Its a mid 10 second ride now with current rules. Congradulations.
P426 At the time they wrote that story my wife Louise was 5 months pregnant with our 4th who is know 40 years old. I remember pulling into raceway park the following week when they handed you last weeks results and after I read the story thought to myself that 3 1/2 sounded kinda dumb, but that is what the person put in that wrote the article. Dom
Colesy, in retrospect, it certainly seems that West Coast racers received the lion's share of publicity in the old days but i would question whether door slammers received a share commensurate with their dedication. Most of the attention was focused on "hot cars" in the national publications and it would be necessary to dig through reams of yellowed, dried-out paper to find the names of those who were leading the charge in Stockers on the left shore of the country. I'm by no means a pioneer in Stock Eliminator in Division 7 but I'm still holding my own now, on the brink of becoming a septuagenarian. Last weekend's JEG's Sportsnationals nearly turned into the experience of a lifetime for me. Five rounds at a national event is still a rush, I don't care who you are. Arriving in Los Angeles, fresh from the hay fields of Missouri, in the summer of 1961, the lure of Lion's Drag Strip, (old) San Gabriel Raceway, and the (weekly) Pomona Drags were irresistible. Among the Stockers I saw on my first trip to Lion's were Don Nicholson and Hayden Profitt. That should place the timeline in perspective. My first involvement with a class car was with "a guy I met," Ron Mandella and his factory-built (one of three and the sole survivor) '63 Plymouth Stage 1 station wagon that almost immediately set the NHRA and Drag News records in A/SA right off the showroom floor. Among the people we raced in those days were Dave Kempton (for a number of years the only driver to have won both Indy and the Winters, the only two national events of the year), Keith Berg's ubiquitous "Olds Action," Ike Smith's and Chuck Purcell's "The Beauty and The Beast" Hudsons and others. Among the new-comers in the mid-to-late sixties were Ramon Lowe, Jay Hamilton, Tony Janes, John Barkley, Marv Ripes, Val Hedworth, Paul Dilcher, Joe Allread and more. My personal commitment to Stock came in the form of a '57 Corvette that was first conceived as a contender in C/S but ended up being raced in AHRA after the leading tracks in Southern California signed up with that body, almost en masse in 1965. Eventually, the car made it to the track in 1971 in I/S but was almost immediately rendered obsolete when Stock was erased from the sport by a stroke of the NHRA pen. Now, over 40 years later, I own and drive a C/SA fuel-injected 4th generation Camaro. So, we were here and you guys were there. The attraction of Stock was very strong and it still afflicts some of us today although we're clearly not spring chickens any more. If anyone is still reading after all this verbiage and has any questions about cars or people in this part of the world, in the long-ago past, ask away. c
Gimme that guy's name and number! I'll sell him my entire collection of 356 racing newspapers for less than half of his selling price! Here's a list of racing newspapers, their date and condition: ND = National Dragster DT = Drag Times DW = Drag World DN = Drag News I'm serious! Pete P.S. Or I'll trade 'em for that white 1963 Ramcharger Dodge!
It's my pleasure. I just wish I had a scanner to scan the magazine pix rather that be forced to use my "poor man's scanner," i.e. digital camera. Still, they don't come out too bad... Pete
Bob, as usual, your hunch is accurate. This picture was taken shortly after Tony bought the car from John Barkley and before it received the blue/orange/white paint job and the nickname, "Powerglide Prosecutor. Tony still had the car well into the 1980's. Today, he maintains a stable of '68 Chevelles in Stock had has a similar combination prepped for Super Stock. c
Some photos of photos in a few issues of 1966-68 Drag Times. Outside of Bennett, Beyer, Kish and Troxell, these are 'new' to me. Perhaps some of the members recall these guys (and one gal)? (I didn't know these big Pontiacs were available with four speeds!)
Pete, Now you've really 'gone and done it!' That's the ONLY image I've EVER seen of Gary's car. The photo was taken at the base of 75-80's timing tower -- that was always the team's spot. Nice-Guy Gary Ledbetter lived near the Frederick, MD facility and we both considered it our 'home track.' The 'Duquesne Drag Team' was also known as 'The Beer Boys,' as Duquesne was a Frederick, MD Brewing Company. Gary's 'Roughride' car won class @ INDY in '67 and that's (apparently) where he scored the cool Fenton wheel set shown in the image you posted. The car we always 'butted heads' with was a (for '67) much-better 'fitting' 2-dr 'post' car, like Ed Beyer's, so best I can tell, that's the 'new Roughride,' built soon after a (coming back from INDY?) flat-towing wreck -- all ready for 1968's new (N/SA) weight breaks. Alas, Gary beat my car 80% of the time and then usually went on to win the 'Big Bucks' (usually $50) Junior Stock Eliminator prize. If I won or Gary was not there that day then I almost-always collected the $50 bucks ... which was often just a ($37.50) Fifty-Dollar U.S. savings bond! After daubing in Junior Stock in '64-65 with an ill-fitting '57 Oldsmobile, I was inspired by Ed Beyer's '56 Pontiac 2-dr post car while visiting the 1966 Springnationals. Sooo ... I put a 2-dr HARDTOP together (REALLY 'Bucks Down') that fall/winter. I was a former mechanic and (at the time) a Service Advisor at a Ford dealer, and one of my friends (a transmission mechanic named Richard Stevenson) agreed to assist in the endeavor. The car had been traded in at our dealership, and I guess it was just 'too good to resist.' In '67 the 2-dr HARDTOP didn't fit 'great' in the class @ a 16.21 weight break on a 15.60-16.99 'spread' but the car was cheap and I didn't really think out THAT combo very well. I did the body/chassis in my driveway and Richard and I did the engine/trans in the dealer's shop after hours. The car did well for a lowbuck effort and ran low 15s and high 14s with a 'career best' of 14.60, BUT imagine my distress when I pulled up against the KILLER-car 'ROUGHRIDE' on my very-first outing!
Steve, fascinating history! Thanks for sharing it with us. Nothing like an old picture to jog the memory! I'll see if I can find more 'obscure' Junior Stockers in those Drag Times back issues. Pete
I think I recognize the guy in the center of the top row, but I think he's gotten better looking over the years.
I think I recognize the guy in the center of the top row, but I think he's gotten better looking over the years.
I found a picture of it as a K/S on Webshots. It's on an ablum by captzap1 titled Englishtown 1969. It's id # is 2-16-2008-159. There are other famous cars in this ablum too.
Check out the uneven distortion on the second shot of the Callahan and Sulc car. Low air pressures in a 7" slick on a 3 1/2 wheel on a heavier car had to be a handful.
Those old issues of Raceway Park News are priceless!! I only have about 4 of them in my tool box.... Verne
Great article on Callahan and Sulc car! I'm sure FRANK Sulc groaned a little at being called BILL, but ink is ink! Nice picture of the car coming off the line........ jrstock55
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