A number of years ago i was watching a NASCAR race and after the race in a interview, can't remember who, said it was their job to cheat and NASCAR's job to catch them. Never forgot that little statement.
We could probably start a whole nother thead on Smokey Yunick because i've read both of his books. SPEED SECRETS and Smokeys Best Damn Garage in Town.
I hate to admit it...but I forgot about Alex Toth?! Here is a cool article about Sneaky Pete Robinson that mirrors an article I read in American Rodder years ago. http://www.dragracingonline.com/features/peterobinson.html There was another Pete Robinson story about having a slide in manifold/blower plate that was super heavy to pass tech and then back in the pits a lightweight version was substituted.
I'm a big fan of Smokey; out of the box thinker. Figuring out loop holes is not cheating...just more guidelines implemented in the ever increasing rule book
We called it clever interpretation of the rules, always looking for that loophole. In the class we raced, probably 90% of the cars were illegal in some sense, the trick was not to get caught or put the attention on something else, had to give the tech inspectors something. Bob
it's all about reading between the lines, and finding the "grey area". some of the old school mechanics were awesome at this!those guys are my heros
I was going to buy an O.T. race car in the 1960's and the owner/racer said that the engine was bored over the displacement limit in all the cylinders except #1. When I asked him why, he said the tech guys always used #1 cylinder when they "pumped the engine" Knowing this, the seller would always make the job "easier" for the tech guy by removing the #1 spark plug to further insure that he wasn't caught. I asked him if this didn't make the motor run weird and he claimed it didn't.
I knew that devil guy looked familiar! They used it on the tee shirt design for the last ever Hotrodarama in Tacoma, WA. This article is just one reason why I have so many old car mags from the fifties and sixties hoarded in my basement. Time for some archaeology with a couple brewskis, again...
my motto cheat on 100 places and if the catch you on 49 you got by with 51. Rules are only suggestions. Piss off the official and he will find a lot to DQ you on.
I used a engine from a local builder. His name was Jimmy W>>>>>ms. AKA ""Boss Hog"" The No 2 cly was 3 7/8 all the rest were 4 inch plus 60 thousands. stroke was 3.25 The thing was balanced and would P&G well below the 310 inch rule we had in the early 70s. This man still machines and assembles my engines to this day. Bobby..
Back in the 60's my friend (who will go nameless) drag raced a 50 Olds in Stock class, he would generally win his class and move into "Stock Eliminator". There was a competitor from out of town with a Ford that would show up and win the eliminator. My friend knew the guy was cheating, so he installed a mud flap, connected to a water pipe that was hinged near the front A-arm. Under the driver seat he cut a hole in the floor and attached a small chain to the pipe at the rear. As he pulled to the starting line he could lower the flap, that would keep the beams blocked out at the starting line, that way he could leave on about the 3rd amber and not "red light". It was handicap start at the night drags, he would raise it back up on the return road, and no one was the wiser. To his credit, he only used it on the one guy.
Have also heard of off-set grinding the crank on 3 & 4 and 7 & 8 rod journals along with oversize bores for the corresponding cylinders. Bet it was complicated to balance. One year ('75?) Cale Yarborough led one of the 500 lap Bristol races from start to finish with (reportedly) just such a setup, a feat I would love to see repeated today. Junior Johnson owned the car.
My grandfather used to race with a bunch of guys years ago in my town here. Told me stories of one guy who ran a car with what looked like a straight six in it. The car would eat just about any other car on the road. When you opened the hood it looked like a regular chev six except the valve cover said buick on it. On closer inspection it was actually a buick 320 inline eight with two cylinders and another carb tucked up under the fire wall.
I've seen that trick used on aluminum intake manifolds. A quart of Chevy orange, some cast iron chips out of the brake lathe pan and it was done. Only nobody ever gave it the magnet test and it went undetected. Bob
Some rule books stated that the cylinder selection was at the discretion of the inspector. Any time I was puffed, I just went to the #1 cylinder as that was what would be used to get the valves set back up again. Bob
My dear departed Dad sorta cheated in his early modified days. He and John Rieburger had built a Plymouth modified with a big Chrysler 6 vs the little Plymouth. Dad, remembering how some Canadian cars were built with smaller bodies, mixed parts, etc, went and got a "Chrysler of Canada" badge for the firewall. According to he and John the car was really fast and the engine was more powerful than anyone in the field, including Joy Fiar! Nobody could beat him nor catch him cheating (interpreting). Somehow they were able to get a Willys gear in the car for even more mechanical advantage and it looked almost spot on to the Mopar. That night's feature was all theirs but the head cracked. Dad waved John on as there was only a few laps left in the race. Every time he let off for turn 1 the thing would backfire incredibly loud, and it happened right under the flag man. At the end of the race and after carryin the flag they called em in. Somebody bitched about the little Plymouth body but couldn't confirm it wasn't Canadian. Somebody else caught the rear axle sayin it was Willys, but they both said how those companies always "bought their parts from...", again nobody could dispute. They gave them the win nd the money and told them never come back with that car. "You're doing something wrong. You beat the shit outta Fair and we KNOW he's cheatin. Get lost." Apparently John didn't hold his cards close enough to the chest. They had an Austrailian Persuit race where the fastest qualifier started at the back of like a dozen cars and the race went like 20 laps, or until the last car as top qualifier passed the rest of the field or took the lead. (you older gents who were there know better than I). He got the job done in like 3 laps! Dad was pissed. I loved listening to them tell their war stories.
Volvo, If you ever visit the States, Smokey's 66 Chevelle is in the museum at Talladega. It had, at my last visit, a signboard with all the things he modified or changed on the car. It's a work of art. One race weekend I attended, someone had brought in a stock Chevelle to park along side it. The museum people said it's the most popular display they have. The year before, Cotten Owens brought a 65 Dodge to Daytona (I think) and it was fast, REALLY FAST, like 5mph faster than everybody else. They'd run it, pull it in the garage and put a cover over it. NASCAR teched it and it passed. later that day the local Dodge dealer showed up in a brand new 65 Coronet and asked to take some pictures. The crews has already left so the NASCAR people opened the garage, pushed the race car out, pulled the cover off it and parked the dealers car next to it. Cotton had built a perfect 7/8's replica 65 Dodge. He got bounced!
A buddy of mine bought Dyno Don Nicholson's ex prostock Cleveland powered Pinto. We put a 351 Cleveland of our own it. The aluminum gas tank {pre fuel cell days}was empty so I got a can of gas and started pouring, after a second gas went every where. What the hell I thought the tank was empty. Turns out the filler neck was for checking gas at tech, it was a closed tube that went to the bottom of the tank. When the tech guy wanted a fuel sample they would take the cap off and get one. To put the real race gas in it you had to unscrew the filler neck and put the race gas in the tank. Thats why they have to have a petcock like device in the fuel lines now for fuel samples. Whether or not we ever used it I cant seem to remember
I always like soaking the air filters in polypropylene and then putting them in an ice chest full of dry ice before making a run. Worked every time like a charm and when you went through tech there was no trace of what had been there. Jimbo
I used to run a 292 Ford with pistons from a 301 plymouth. Thats .160 overbore ( yes the right blocks would go that far) and a crank from a 239. It would PG at 298 cu a .060 over 292 is 300 cu the motor had better bore strock ratio ran well.
The Jalopy Journal
