An A for Action

As you read this, cars have already started prowling the streets of Joplin, Missouri, in anticipation of the H.A.M.B. Drags. Chopped coupes with big-inch motors snarl and superchargers whine as they idle at each light. Throughout the day, the parking lots surrounding the host hotels will fill and more and more machines will file into tech. A party will ensue. Tomorrow they’ll have their shot at the track—the hallowed Mo-Kan asphalt.

The cars in the lanes aren’t simply collections of components connected to bodies of steel, fiberglass and combinations thereof. They’re the byproducts heavy research and high-level fabrication. Stacks of magazines have been devoured and threads have been scoured to make sure each nut, bolt, bar and decal are just right. Close works for most people, but that just won’t cut it. These machines are right—and the builders know it.

Fifty years ago, the Loo brothers felt that same sense of pride when they rolled their Model A out of the garage in preparation for a weekend at the drags. Their sedan was based on a ’28-’29 body—most of which remained intact when they converted it into a quarter mile contender. It’s likely that the A had been entirely built in the slatted wooden structure several feet from where this photo was snapped. The elements were simple—a re-arched front spring for improved weight transfer, a Moon tank, smaller headlghts and large piecrust slicks mounted to steel wheels. With a custom-formed roll bar and simple two-tone paintjob, the little sedan is a prime example of no-frills, homebuilt car built to be a contender in the Gas classes.

Other than this photo from the “As they were�? thread (thanks Rbantique), not much else is known about the Loo Brothers’ draggin’ sedan. Although I will not be at the H.A.M.B. Drags for the first time since 2012, I can honestly say that there will be cars in attendance that would have squared up against the Woo Brothers sedan and given them a run for their money. And that’s the way it should be.

Have fun out there guys. Go Man Go!

—Joey Ukrop