Next weekend, 10/20/07. This is the rain date for the Nitro Nationals. This will wrap-up a pretty good season for the Speed Merchants. Come out and race with us if you can.
I wish that I had had mine running. I received the cam via UPS yesterday and took the block to the machine shop 2 days ago. Getting one of these GMC's together is time consuming and money consuming. Say I have a picture of John Bradley in a Hamb style dragster circa 1955 but I can't seem to be able to attach it to a thread. Roy
Yeah Ron I was going to bring it. Also I suffered from cranial rectitus when I said that the rocker arm ratio was 1.75 to one on the GMC. It is 1.5 to 1 and I'm not sure of that. Isky ground the cam for that ratio rocker arm. I got the 1.75 ratio out of a book on the later model Chevrolet sixes. Roy
Roy, Measure the lobe lift on your new cam. When you come here we'll take a look at the new roller rockers I had made and see how they will work with your cam. I'm looking forward to your visit. Ron
Ron the lobe lift on exhaust and intake is .350 and 254 degree duration at .050 lifter rise. I'll call you a couple of days before the 26th and get directions on how to get to your place. Sorry about hijacking this thread for something not on the subject. Rand Man did you get my e-mail with the photo? Roy
Rand Man I just sent you another to the address listed on the HAMB for you, it is a yahoo address. Roy
Correction: I found it in my spam folder. Yahoo just changed their e-mail around. They must have tightened up the security. I have you marked as "Not Spam" now. I'll post as soon as I have a few more minutes free time.
Thanks for posting the photo. If you're into flathead Ford engines then you should know about John Bradley. He raced flatheads and made them go faster than anyone I know of. He raced Gene's Brake shop fuel flathead in the mid to late 50's and then in the early 60's had a duel engine flathead powered rail. That rail had a set up of 4 headers on each side, 3 in the normal position and one exhaust coming out the top beside the intake manifold. I don't know if John wrote any books but he should have shared his knowledge of how he made them run. Roy
I remember watching him run the Gene's Brake Shop car at Colton. A couple of years ago he was running one of those modified exhaust flatties at the CHRR. Mr. Flathead is a good title for him, he definitely knows how to make them run.
I'll bet we were at Colton at the same time. I went to Colton a lot in 1956 and 57. I was a member of a car club then and we raced a gutted out 36 Ford coupe with a 3/8 X3/8 flathead in C Altered. There were a lot of car clubs back in those days. We worked on cars then not like the clubs today who sit around and talk. Anyway I was at Colton one sunday in the winter of 1957 when John went 147 mph in the Gene's Brake Shop flathead powered rail. That was fast and I heard he went 150 at another track. Of course they probably had the can and the label in the fuel tank. Roy
We had more fun yesterday at the Tulsa Old Time Drags. There were a few track clean-up delays, so I took lots of pictures.
I was glad to see 2b Banjo and Cowboy Bob pull all the way from Wisconsin. Glad to have a chance to get to know you guys. We raced outlaw style and all had fun. In one photo you can see Bob Hindman get an eyefull.
I talked with Cowboy Bob for quite a while. The phots below show his twisted axles from the HAMB Drags. He wants Carl (MO-KAN Man) and everyone to know that the axle caused the wreck. It was not the track's fault.
No, Larry didn't race the Coupe. The Ramrods were out on the injured list. He helped crew for the boys from up North.
Our team, the Speed Merchants tried some new tricks. The performance was not improved, so we went back to the old combination. Turns out we had some other problems. The old flattie was a little sick. She ain't dead. I'll report more when we find out more.
Great pics. Rand Man. We couldn't of had a better time, after 15 hrs in the saddle on Fri., we were ready to race. Cowboy Bob had his gas rail running again after the crash at Mokan. We got to the Tulsa Raceway and Bob Hindman had a place reserved for us. These guys sure know how to make a person welcome. We raced SDRA rules so even the losers keep racing in the Porch Dog Bracket. I ended up there and ended up racing Hindman and the Hornets for top Porch Dog. The Hornets won with a 12.31 to my losing 12.55. What a great time, a really great track and real fun people. The Okie Outlaws took Top Dog with the Red Baron runner up. Both these cars were in the 11.8's. And can you believe this the SDRA guys voted at there banquet Fri night to give Cowboy bob and myself the prize money for help with our travel expenses. We are very greatfull. Thank you. When Hindman came up to us at the end of the race with the money we were shocked. They know how to race these gas rails and have a great time doing it. These guys also are not afarid to share speed secrets either, Mudflap261 is the master. Also thanks to Mr Mac and 3win Larry for help with getting cowboy and myself to the line and back to the pits. Also thanks to Mr Mac for setting this up. 2b-banjo
Hey 2b you really hammered that flathead on that last run it was obvious you werent going take any prisoners and that shift sounded like an auto .Folks 2b/Cowboy Bob have two clean running and well thought out cars .We were glad to have you and come back any time Mudflap one of the Hornets
If you look above at the pictures, the one with the roadrunner, no. 5, to my right is Whitey Mcdonnald with his flathead slingshot that run's in the 8's at around 150. Joe
I swear that the only reason Whitey doesn't have the reputation that John Bradley has is that he doesn't live in Southern California. I've seen Whitey run Bradley a number of times and the only time Whitey didn't win was when he went red by .001 on a .400 tree.
Anyone who can run 8's and 150 with a flathead no matter what he runs for fuel is a WIZARD! That is really making that flathead percolate. Yeah he certainly would be at the top of the list for guys who are in the know about flatheads. Say every year there is a twin engine rear engine flathead rail at the MO-KAN track and I have yet to see him run. Am I in the can or something when comes to the line? Roy
Funny part about Whitey .I`ve know him about 30 years now . And he hasnt changed one bit ,still looks the same . And his Flatheads have always screamed. Gasserman
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