I love seeing and hearing about these kinds of things! I always soak up all of the history that I can. We need more of this on the HAMB! Thank you so much for taking the time to post Hemi32!
Another reminder that I was born over 40 years too late! Thanks soo much for sharing! Love the pics with the billboards in the background!
May be off point, but what was under the hood of the Merc and what happened that that great chopped Merc Convert?
Guys, It's probably not appropriate for me to hi-jack this "The 1958 NHRA Nationals" thread with recent pics of my car ... but here's a snapshot of it at the 2006 Goodguys West Coast Nationals: Image by @49ratfinkMore recently, it was featured along with Kirk Hammett's @cole Foster built '36 on the artwork for the 2007 event: If you simply must have more pics ... check out my HEMI32 album. My father was a professional photographer ... so I do have literally thousands of images of "HEMI32" that I could post here on the HAMB ... but again, the intent of this particular thread was solely to share my dad's experiences at the '58 Nat's ... in hope that others would contribute their stories, photos, and/or movies of the event {@Bullet Nose, thanks for sharing your story & pic}. Anyway, thanks to all for your kind words. Now back to The 1958 NHRA Nationals ...
Thanks for sharing this..brings back a lot of memories..seems like it was only a year or two ago..Glad to see the program too as I lost my copy when my house burned back in '73....THANKS AGAIN.... I still go to CHRR and Bowling Green with the Scorpion crew.....
Bitch'n ride, engine, chop, caps, stance, all beautiful. Dig the original decals, now that's something kool! Great story, forget Indiana Jones, that's adventure.
That was great. I perused the entrant list to find one of my old local buddys who entered a 29 ford with a 57 Olds engine. This guy ran his 40 ford hiboy sedan {!} with a 383 stroker at B'villle last year....still active as hell in racing in his late 70s. Thanks a bunch, Ryan.
Thanks for posting very cool! Wish I had something like that. I'd build a glass case "DISPLAY" for a garage within a garage LOL!!!!
I agree this is a great post. We had more than one track here in those days. Was that held at the FairGrounds or at the other track (forget the name, have to ask one of our older guys)
I can't place where the picture you posted of "The Moose" was taken. Maybe when we were checking in at the fair grounds or registration at the motel. I do remember that we took the Carson top off and stored it in our motel room and it took up a lot of the room. Once we were in OKC and the racing had started, I remember cruising the Merc in front of the grandstands several times while running errands and feeling so cool. On one trip to the store, I remember making a right turn at an intersection and as I cleared the corner I saw a guy going in the opposite direction and eyeballing the Merc as he rearended the car in front of him slowing down at the intersection I had just cleared. Another great memory was seeing the Green Monster. I had read about that car but had never seen it until then. In fact, the first time I "saw" it, I only heard it and I though a B-29 was taking off. It's amazing that those memories from almost 50 years ago are still that vivid and it was a trip I'll never forget. Hopefully some of you will have those kinds of pleasant memories about things you're doing today.
Had a flathead and overdrive in it. Woody quit high school to go to work in a machine shop and bought a new 56 Chevy big window pickup then sold that and bought a new 57 Chevy hardtop coupe. Both had been lowered and somewhere I have pictures of them. Next car he bought was "The Moose". It was for sale on a used car lot in Long Beach, CA. It was his daily driver and I don't remember where it went when he sold it and bought a 57 Olds hardtop with the J-2 engine. He was driving the Olds while building his DeSoto powered dragster in my garage.
The Jalopy Journal
