I don't really know Frank. It happened before I was racing. I only heard parts of the story much later.
ID'd the picture above - Stecker, Golden, and Cobb. Also been told the engine used all needle bearings.
Hey Dean, I just happened to be reading an old Drag News and saw this captioned photograph. It shows Creighton Hunter in that odd dragster you described in your post. Junji The way it was described, it seemed like a car on a bumper jack, then upping the rpms and kicking out the stands… What a concept.
Note the eyes on the side. This was long before Moon Equipment was founded. Creighton originated the eyes, and later ran them on his famous red track/drag roadster. When Dean Moon started Moon Equipment, he asked Creighton if he could use his "eyes" in the Moon logo, and Mooneyes was born.
It sounds like Hunter's dragster "drop start" originated before E.J. Potter's "Bloody Mary" motorcycle.
From Dean Lowe: “The Hunter roadster was displayed at the NHRA Museum a couple years ago. It's not really restored. Just cleaned up and touched up a little, and put in running order. Creighton sold it to Hill Alcalla who drag raced the shit out of it for years, always with the flathead motor. It's still in the family. Hill's son now owns it, and is the one who got it back in shape. Here's a photo I took of the roadster at Pomona in 1959. The car has not changed!” Great photo Dean…the “Brownine Camera Pro,” better than all of us…Thanks… Hello, From the files of the HAMB...great history/historians. Jnaki
But it lasted throughout Potter's long career on his "Bloody Mary" and "Widow Maker" Chevy V-8 bikes. Other V-8 drag bikes were built but not with a drop start. Totally unique. I can not imagine what he was thinking to come up with that for his bike nor what he was thinking when he dropped it the first time.
I looked up 'Galt' as a city. There is one in California and one in Ontario, Canada. There is a 'Strokers' Car club 60+ years old in Canada. I'll bet you could get more info from them. You're Welcome
Don't forget Art Chrisman's Hustler. Was one of the first streamliners and a top competitor which is rare for streamliners. Set the world record in January @ 174.44. A month later upped that to 181.81. It dominated the March Meet from '59 thru '61. That was during the NHRA nitro ban so it didn't compete @ NHRA events. Then there was AMT's Piranha rear engine dragster from the 60s. Not very successful on the strip but they made it into a model kit so got their investment back there.
Yep. And that is a good thing since shakedown runs were very disappointing according to the rod press back then.
Emery cook drove the Piranha in some match races with Gary Southern driving Roger Hardcastle's Stinger. They managed to put on a pretty good show. The Stinger was a Kellison bodied sports car with a Pat Akins built fuel Hemi. It was a legitimate 200 mph bad ass car, but like the Piranha, never really fit any class.
Im friends with Walt Stevens who helped build it and drove the snot out of it. Just a little counter steer and would flat boogie down the track. The concept was to introduce a large scale injection molding of car bodies ,CYCOLAC, as in inexpensive and quick, dent resistence and molded in color. When the car was found and in the process of restoration, the plastic did not weather age very well and the body was completely cracked checked, dont know but they might have skinned the underneath with 'glass to hold it together
Don Beebe, who put together the 3 car supercharged '64 Dodge Chargers team, was also behind the Piranha project.
The Jalopy Journal
