History Stock-S/S-F/X 1959-1966

Joel,I'll see if Mark Artis will post some more info on "Thunder",he was working in Johns shop then.If I'm not mistaken,John also had the 63 LWG Ford "Humpin Clyde" at that time.

 

Just a question to all of you, how many of you were around York U S 30 back in 1965 ? They had a meet one week end for Super Stocks.

 

Some of us here were there on August 7, 1965 for the first S/S Nationals. It was the best drag meet that I've ever attended. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me that day-night. At the vintageracer.com website there are some great photos from that day ... including Wally Bell who posts here ran a car at that meet ... Thunderball, the ex-Sox & Martin '64 Comet.
Joel

 

Some things that I remember from those days with Jon Thorne.....Jon bought "Thunder", the F/X 63 Chevy from Bill Connel of Albany, Ga............I think that I was the last one to fire it up as a Z-11.......on that fire up it pitched the crank out. A dam good running car for it's day.......We could always count on "Thunder" to run hard, but to go rounds it was the Ford, "Humpin' Clyde" that went the distance. I was fortunate to get to drive both cars from time to time. Jon had a large variety of fast cars........we ran the shit out of em all.
M.

 

Here's a link to some of the best shots I've seen of the cars at the first S/S Nationals. One or two shots are from the warm-up meet that held in May at York ... The McCoy Mercury T-Bird and Phil Bonner's Mustang.
http://www.thevintageracer.com/65ssntl/65ssntl_01.htm
Joel

 

We had gotten there early things were quite normal I can not remeber how started it but all of a sudden carbs came off injectors went on. Even at that it was still pretty normal but as it got dark the crowed got drunker people were walking across the track at both ends , Eddy Schartman told me they were throwing there emty bottles at the loosers. I think there was around 8000 watchers and 400 cops.It was a day to remember.

 

Great Pictures Joel.
Thanks

Greatest Drag Race Ever ! 8/65..York,Pa. (in my opinion)

 

IN REGARDS TO THE PLATT & YATES CAR PICTURED ABOVE...

I just love it.....Another car that I supplied Fenton Wheels for...during my days at Fenton Wheel in charge of Drag Racing/Marketing....in "the day" we sure had a lot of guys running our 15x3.5 front runners and our 15x11 rears. This car...plus Dyno Don, Buch Leal, Bill Bagshaw, Motown Missle, Arlen Vanke, etc, etc, etc We sure gave away a lot of wheels to a lot of great drag Racers.

And, I too, was at the 1971 NHRA SummerNationals in Englishtown and handed Dyno Don a check for $1000 for winning Pro-Stock using our Fenton Wheels...man, those were the days.

 

Hi Mark, Dan,
Mark can you tell us some of the cars that Thorne had and their history? The Jayhawker Plymouth, the blown Chevelle and of course the Z-11 and the Humpin' Clyde car. Is there anyone that might have pictures of these cars?
Joel

 

I don't recall much of the crowd being rowdy ... I do remember standing next to the cars as they launched and running out to the edge of the track by the traps to watch the final two, Harrop and Faubel come by! The stories of looking in the window at the tachs as the cars launched and revving motors to clear the cars coming up from staging ... staging late in the night was not really staging as we know it. The cars were parked behind the line and were called up through the crowd. Certainly a drag meet to end all drag meets .. and it was just the start of alot of great S/S Nationals meets.
The second best one in my estimation was the 1967 S/S Nationals held at Cecil County, MD.
Joel

 

Could not make the one in 67 Uncle shipped me over seas, to a mud hole.When I got back things had changed quite a bit, worked for Eddy, and Don for a while got married got old . The racing wasn't the same anymore . I guess nothing ever stays the same.

 

Picture of my car in 1966, right in the middle of the 26 inch engine setback...

 

That's quite a setback! Your album photos are great ... thanks for sharing them I particularly like the '63 car. The 1963 year was my favorite time of S/S-F/X racing.
Your car being named Goldfinger ... was there any connection to the Danekes Goldfinger Dodge made infamous by that well known, wheelstand crash sequence?
Joel

 

It seems that change is one of the constants in life. Yes, I agree that those few years of all the "outlaw" S/S-F/X racing were the best. The NASCAR Grand Stock-Ultra Stock cicuit kept it going some and the first couple of years of Pro-Stock had the magic but was quickly lost in technology.
Joel

 

Race Artist....
Nope. No connection to any other Goldfinger car...
I alway liked the James Bond Movie "Goldfinger" and everyone was putting a name on the side of their car back then....and, well, I had a pushbutton Torqueflite and had to use my "golden finger" to change gears....so...the name made sense...

Here is a pixs of the aluminum interior, steering, brakes, etc, including the new TorqueFlite shifter I fabricated for the "pushbuttons" AFTER the engine setback.

PS: Don't make fun of the seat....you couldn't just call up Jeg's or Summit back then and order a "racing seat". You kinda had to find a really nice plastic lawn chair and use that for a seat....best I could do back then.

Also enlarge the side view picture and notice the "wrinkle" in the windshield...I actually went to the hardware store and bought a large rectangle shaped section of 1/4" thick Plexiglass and formed my own windshield...turned out pretty good I think...you gotta remember I did this entire car (42 years ago) at home in my garage when I was 25 years old.. Not one single part of the car was farmed out (except the painting)...I did the altered wheel base, engine setback, straight axle, aluminum work, roll cage, engine building, etc. etc. in my garage.

 

Nice work! Boy, when you get done with that, there's not much left to the original car is there? Those were the days! Pure race cars, BUT you could still tell from outside what they were! Not like today where every car looks like the same used bar of soap except for an air-brushed logo on them.

 

AFX/S/S ....early funny cars
Doc

 

A staple of the sport of auto racing and a name that was on many, many vintage S/S-F/X and stock drag cars back in the sixties and beyond has closed it's doors. See below from my friend Marty Little in FL.
Joel

[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] <st1:date month="2" day="24" year="2009">February 24, 2009</st1:date>

Crane Cams shuts down, workers laid off

By JIM WITTERS
Senior Business Writer

DAYTONA BEACH — Crane Cams, a 56-year-old auto parts manufacturer, closed its doors this week and laid off its employees, a worker said today.

The news took <st1><st1>Volusia</st1> <st1>County</st1></st1>’s top economic development officer by surprise. City, county and state officials were working with Crane Cams and officials from its <st1:state><st1></st1></st1:state> parent, Mikronite Technologies, to keep the company open and in the community.

“We were trying to help them through this transition,” said Rick Michael, <st1></st1> economic development director. “They were considering a transfer of ownership. We were not expecting any closure.”

An automated voice mail system at Crane’s plant on <st1:street><st1:address>Fentress Boulevard</st1:address></st1:street> announced at <st1:time hour="12" minute="0">midday</st1:time> today the company was closed and suggested calling back during business hours, <st1:time hour="8" minute="0">8 a.m. to 5 p.m.</st1:time> A call to Mikronite’s<st1:state><st1></st1></st1:state> offices produced similar results. Six cars sat in the parking lot early this afternoon at the local plant, which employed 220 just three years ago.

Inside the lobby, a reception desk sat empty. A call from the lobby phone got an answer from Dennis Burgess, who declined to comment and said no one at the plant could provide information.

In the parking lot, 14-year employee Ronald Dorn was leaving the plant for what he believed was the last time

He said workers were told during the past week that layoffs were likely, but he didn’t expect the plant to close.

Mikronite received approval in 2006 to receive tax rebates from the state and the county amid discussion about moving its <st1:state><st1>New Jersey</st1></st1:state> operations here. But the company ended its contract with the state in 2008 due to nonperformance, Michael said.

“Crane has gone through a series of small layoffs recently,” he said.

Crane Cams and Crane Technologies Group were founded by Harvey J. Crane Jr. in 1953 as Crane Engineering Inc. in<st1:city></st1:city>. The company is well known in high-performance and racing circles for its line of camshafts and engine valve train components.

In 1979, Crane Cams became an employee-owned company. Some operations moved to<st1:city><st1></st1></st1:city> in 1981, with the remainder of the operation and employees relocating here in 1985.

Mikronite, an industrial technology firm, bought Crane in 2006.

In March 2007, Mikronite sold its property on Fentress to STAG Capital Partners of Boston, then signed a 10-year lease.<o></o>



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Indeed sad...owner after owner...Today's Crane wasn't the Crane it was when Harvey was still active......

Sorry for many good people affected.

 

Most Saturday nites at Kahoka Dragway.....This Passionate Poncho would
race Quincy Illinois Trading Post's 63' Hemi green -lightweight named
the " Crokigator ".....Any one have a photo You could post ?

 

'63 Hemi ?

 

64 ? Hemi ?

 

yup...

 

......................