My friend just bought a 1964 Plymouth light weight s/sa race car named Reverend Mr. Black that won its class at the 1965 Winternationals at Spruce Creek, Fl. Does anyone have any knowledge of either this car or this event? Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
Nascar stands for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing Drag racing was put on by the NHRA
Late 50's early 60's Nascar did sanction some dragstrips.. A local track thats now closed was sanctioned by Nascar for awhile. .
...and AHRA, IHRA, UDRA, PRO and others. And for a short time, NASCAR. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=419326&highlight=nascar+drag+racing
A good friends dad won there in 1964, the event was a full week of drag racing, not just a weekend event like today.
A while back...Yehah http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=419326&highlight=richard+petty
NASCAR had great drag racing, and they would have kicked NHRA's behind if they decided to keep it up. They decided they were a roundy round racing body, and simply quit while they were ahead.
That was the #43 Barracuda Outlaw car. You should be able to Google up some info on the car and series. Bob
i believe there was a rev mr black one and two maybe even a third from what i remember reading in mopar magazines ive allways liked the 64 belvederes/ furys of course i like any b-body from 63-70
I believe NASCAR and NHRA teamed up for the 1960 Winternationals but only for that year. The NHRA Winternationals have been in Pomona Ca. since 1961. I was recently talking to Arnie Beswick about the 1960 Daytona Winternationals which he competed in. He has lived in Morrison Illinois all his life and I was curious as to whether he had an open trailer to haul his '60 Pontiac on or if he got it there with a tow bar. "I drove it" he said. You are kidding me, right. I said. "No, I drove it there with a road gear, changed to a 4.56 or 4.88 to race it, changed back to the road gear and drove it back home" Many future drag racing superstars like Arnie raced at the NASCAR Winternationals. I believe Bob Harrop won one of the races.
Wow! That's like the Twilight Zone I was at that exact race at Spruce Creek in '65. I was going to college in DeLand, FL, and Spruce Creek was an old airfield just outside of Daytona. If my dim memory is correct, Dyno Don Nicholson won SS Eliminator with a station wagon. NASCAR did indeed sanction drags and at one time held them on the straight at Daytona, might have been the next year.
\ You are dead wrong...NASCAR ran a drag racing series for a while...How do I know...Raced against the Rev. Mr. Black ....At Spruce Creek...that's in Port Orange, Fl ...an dam near see the Big track down the road in Daytona from there.........we ran the "Jayhawker" AWB and others ... Mark
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=450960&highlight=mr+black Your friend got the deal of this car .. There is history out there but my lips are sealed
Here's a article about the 1964 race. My buddy's dad was Henry Putman driving Ed Paynes A/G Anglia " The Golden Angel" He still has the trophy! They won 5 nights!
I work with a gentleman (I use that term loosely) that was the second owner of this car back in the mid to late 60's until the early 70's. This car was originally bought from Powell Plymouth a dealer here in Jacksonville by a man named Howard Willimson.
As I remember it, from announcing several NASCAR-sanctioned events, Ed Witzberger of Pittsburgh and Ed Otto from Deland, FL knew Bill, Sr. quite well. They, and Walt Mentzer, went to Bill with the proposal and he agreed. Several Eastern tracks and I believe - Dragway 42 for a short while - took sanctions and ran events. NASCAR drag racing was short-lived, from about 1964-69 as I recall. Please remember this information comes from deep within the La-a-ast Centur-r-ry ..... <g>.
A neighbor of mine had a '55 Ford he and his brother drag raced in the 60's. The car had a decal similar to this one on the vent window............
I visited the NASCAR Hall of Fame for the first time last week and was absolutely shocked by the presentation. It was much better than I had anticipated. The bottom floor is the cars from the early days to present. It was good but I had seen them all before at different times. But the upper floors is where the history is. There is simply too much to see at one visit if you are a history buff. I will mention two impressive displays. (1) A letter from Carl Kiekhaefer to Lee Petty dated in early '64 after Richard won the Daytona 500. This was years after Kiekhaefer dropped out of NASCAR. He was trying to acquire a couple 426 Hemi engines for his offshore race boat he had entered in an important race and wanted to have a chance against the 427 Ford Hi Risers. He had not had any luck through Chrysler. They told him they were not available yet (true) but we all know he didn't take "no" very well. There was not a letter of responce from Petty displayed. (2) All 10 of the original canceled checks for the first top 10 points winners. The check for 6th place was to Bill Blair Sr. Some of you have seen Bill Jr at shows and drag races or in mags. His dad was truly one of the pioneer stars of NASCAR. But the big disappointment for me was absolutely NOTHING mentioned or displayed about their involvement with drag racing. Winston Kelly, the curator, was there and I mentioned this to him. He said he is open to suggestions. I will try to help get that changed. If you are a racing history buff you will enjoy your visit.
In the first part of the 60s during Feb. Speedweeks a large ww2 arc light was brought to the Daytona Speedway and illumited the back stright and drag racing was ran everynight.. Back then about the only folks at Daytona were hard core racers or heavyduty fans. It was a long trip for most as the roads were not very good. no interstates were completed. It took a special person to attend Daytona back then.. I rember the Jet engine in the 57 plymoth and a lot of street driven cars competing.. Its not drags but for ten dollars you could have your timed through the flying mile on the beach. It was a long time ago through a teenagers eyes. I did not sleep very much. I was out of school wed.thrus.fri and monday. Excused as a educational trip. Bobby..
nascar sanctioned races in the late 60,s i owned a cougar that ran in ultra stock was originally owned by kurtis knotts ,sam auxier also ran ultra stock, along with wayne gapp of Gapp and Roush fame ,some local washington dc tracks like aquasco,capitol and richmond dragway were sanctioned by nascar for a time in the 60,s