This photo was taken at Englishtown Spring Nationals in 68 These girls were from Shaw's Speed Shop in Glenside Pa. The blonde was Bruce Shaw' s long time girl friend Barbara. She worked at the shop for years &knew her stuff!! the other girl was Lou Terra's girl. Lou was the machinist at Shaw's machine shop ET ASSOC. at the time. Terra& Shaw ran a 62 Chevy L/S at the time. Lou was a real good guy!! Lou later moved to Bloomsburg Pa area to start Terra's automotive & machine shop. As far as I know He still runs a 62 409 car. These girls were very popular in the pits that day with those outfits. Quite 68 with the GO GO boots &all
Strato Rods did get a lot of the good cars in Jr. Stock and other classes. What a lot of guys liked was that they ran early enough on sunday that you could finish running there then take the short drive down to Atco and run again.
I know John James.He is a real nice guy. I talk to him once in a while. He was a parts man in Jenkintown, Pa. Our speed shop sponsored his 69 SS/G Camaro. He sold it in 84 or 85 then moved to Arizona. I tried to call him tonight. He is in Carolina now. His Biscayne was one bad Jose. But Bill Izykowski didn't think so. Norm Fryer did though. John ordered that car at Bryner Chev. where he worked. I'll try him tomorrow & let him know
This pic was taken in spring 1967 Oreland Pa in our driveway. Going to Vargo Dragway. I was 13 years old at the time. The race car was formerly baseball great Reggie Jackson's street car before we got it. (note the tow tires they were "Dual 90s ") the slicks were in the trunk. We ran this car Til 71. 272 ci cross ram 3600 lbs ran 12.80 106mph Lots of fun back then. Later ran 302 ci 11.60s 121mph in 1971 sold and never seen again. From time to time Reggie would call to see if we ever found it. He wanted to buy it back in the 80s. I see this pic on the net and wonder how it got there.
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OK a quick history lesson on moving from junior stocker to a brand new Ford T Bolt. The Tasca Ford of Vermont – the brief life of drag-racing powerhouse Willis Ford. Willis had caught the racing fever after attending many regional drag strips. In 1962, he opened Willis Ford in Waterbury, Vermont, with a grand opening ceremony at the Waterbury Armory, and bought a 1961 Ford Galaxie 500 two-door with the four-barrel 375-hp 390-cu.in. V-8. Named the Yellowbird, the car was raced at the Milton, Vermont, drag strip, Fonda, Sanair, and other strips around New England. The top member of his driving team was his 17-year-old son, Robert Willis. Yellowbird The car always ran 13.0- to 13.40-second times. Later, the tri-power setup was installed which produced 401 hp, but it did not improve the quarter mile times, so was taken off in favor of the single carburetor. The best ever time for the Yellowbird was a 12.885 at Milton Drag Strip. Not bad for a 4,000-pound daily driver. Meanwhile, Al Kitts, from Richfield Springs, New York, started racing on the streets of Schenectady, New York, in the late 1950s, with Shirley Muldowney and many others. He won his first sanctioned race in 1960 at Fonda, New York, and a year later, he had 48 wins in Super Stock driving a 1961 Ford Starliner with a 401-hp 390 that Ford Motor Company delivered directly to him. Al said he beat Cha Cha many times with this car. Larry had a 1963-1/2 Ford Galaxie lightweight delivered to Al in New York. Black Jack DuBrul was originally intended to be the driver of this car, but it did not work out, so Al got the ride. According to Al, this “changed his life.”Al quickly established dominance on the race team driving the lightweight Galaxie. This car was one of the main attractions at the Milton Strip running in the A/FX class turning just over 12.5 seconds consistently. All Larry asked was for Al to keep on winning. Al beat Arnie (The Farmer) Beswick in his Pontiac at Daytona with this car. The lightweight Galaxie became the “Bad News.” Bardahl became a sponsor and Ford assisted with parts and engineering. Al said they were the “Tasca Ford of Vermont.” A major magazine article was published in the Ford Dealer Magazine, and National Dragster coined the dealer “Willis Flying Fords,” with race car graphics announcing Willis as the “Home of the Flying Fords.” After Willis sold Yellowbird, they put a 427-powered 1961 Starliner on the strip, running in the B/MP class. Once again, Bob (never missed a shift) Willis was the driver. It ran well, but could not top the Yellowbird’s elapsed times. But by 1964, Willis Ford had enough pull to acquire a Thunderbolt, one of the 427-powered 1964 Fairlanes that Dearborn Steel Tubing modified especially for drag racing. Mr. Willis explaining getting the T Bolt. It was easy to get the Thunderbolt. It was not a dollar car. We did not have that much clout with Ford, but enough to get one. Tasca picked up two at Dearborn Steel Tubing with a transport. One was an automatic car and the other was a four-speed. Willis Ford bought the four-speed car from Tasca. It was #55 in production. I went to Tasca and picked the car up. While I was there, I talked to John Healey about their Thunderbolt and got some tips. John was a big help, but would not give me too much. He knew we would butt heads one day, and we did, at a meet in Syracuse, New York. Tasca was the only Thunderbolt to beat us for a class win. We did not feel bad about that. They were the best. The very first weekend out with the car, the engine exploded. I had a contact at Ford. Bissonette was his name. We had to use a code; we were given “Grand National 46” to get the help line. There were very few dollars for drag racers, and more for NASCAR at that time. Before the end of the week, we received a complete engine from Holman and Moody. That engine was awesome and only needed some adjustments. We ran most of the tracks in the Northeast and Eastern Canada. While running at Lebanon Valley, we set the low e.t. record in S/S for the East Coast at 11.74 seconds.
I don't have any pictures but I was stationed at McGuire when I got home from Vietnam in March 1968. I went to the Stratorod drags a few times when I wasn't out on TDYs. One car that I remember was a yellow W31 Olds Cutlass (350 cubes) 4 speed Stocker that would daylight the left front leaving the line. He was running JC Penney slicks. Yes, back in the sixties you could buy speed parts at JC Penneys! I even applied for a credit card from them so I could buy parts for my Camaro. They turned me down because I was in the service. Aside from the Stratorod track, a lot of street racing occured on the four lane road directly across from the main gate at McGuire. Seemed like most of the guys in the service were car guys. Aside from Vietnam, it was a great time to be young.
From George: Yes that is the Chevelle that was in the accident, 1966 super sport 396/325 4speed car that was probably the best car that I ever owned. I packed the miles on it as my tow vehicle going up and down the east coast chasing points. Two trips to Tulsa, took it to AIT at FT Bliss TX and never had a single problem the entire time I owned it. Oh yea they did know how to build cars back then.
Thanks to everyone who replied to my request. Good to know others still remember. If anyone comes across any pictures they would be great to see.
Thanks for the info you have on Stratorods. It I great you guys are coming out with information.. Yes I remember the J.C. Penny slicks. I remember seeing them on cars. That was really a great time.
Wow ,I was stationed at Fort Dix in 1966,I remember going over to the strato .. rods drags .I didn't think I would hear anything about them after so many years.I don't remember many details,I was a small town dumbass trying to adjust to military life.
Very cool story! I was born in Waterbury, VT in 1956. We moved to upstate NY when I was about ten so I don't remember Willis Ford. I wish I got to see those cars back then. Coincidentally, I am currently building a 63&1/2 Galaxie, 390, 4 speed car. It is a car I always loved and finally got one. Maybe I did see the "Bad News" Willis Ford Galaxie as a kid and it made a big impression on me and I just didn't remember seeing it! Thanks for posting this.
The ROTO was very good with one small DIY fix. On the left side of the bell housing is a small inspection plate. Pop that off and with a 13//16 take out the bolt. Go slow and remove the bolt/cup and spring. Put two or three small flat washers under the spring and reinstall. This will raise the pressure in the trans and do away with the slippage, this lowers the heat and improves the shifting. I assume that an old trans may have a weak spring so you might have to do a little trial and error. The first car I did this to was an almost new 63 Pontiac 313 hp 389. In about 7 years of racing I only had one problem. The shift from 2 to 3 would cherp the street tires on a concrete road. The heat from slipping is the enemy, the design was fine. That trans ended up in 4400 lb Pontiac wagon with a SD engine. Old ladies like smooth non bumpy shifts.
That's crazy. I'm in the Army Reserve stationed at Ft. JBMDL. Were they using an abandoned air strip? I wonder if it's still around.
The airstrip they used was over closer to Ft. Dix. It was and probably still is being used. I just looked it up on google maps and it was the one by what is now Texas Ave. It took me awhile to decipher your acronym as Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst. They were all separate installations back in my day.
It was run on a taxiway. Planes would take off and land while Strato rods was running but they were not close to the strip. We put one of the crew members in the A/Altered there one day to let him make a run since there was so much room and no guardrails to hit. He made a pretty good pass for his first one. A little over 140 not bad. When went through the end of the quarter he was not slowing down just going way down the shutdown. When he was almost stopped out falls the chute he remembered that he was supposed to pull it. We got down to get him and here comes a blue air force pickup. I don't know what rank he was but he had a lot of stripes and he was pissed.
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