Hot Rods tire rake

i was looking at a western and noticed that stagecoaches had big and littles. do you think that is where hot rodders got the idea?

 

Ah, nothing is new.........

 

Tall rear tires was an easy way to get hi speed gearing on the lakes when hot rods as we know them were born.

 

if you didn't surmise, i was joking. good replies though.

 

No

 

Trains had em too

 

And they had more horsepower!

 

lockdown getting to you too.......... ?

 

You gotta' start somewhere, it must have been the first stage...

 

Not likely but whatever makes you happy I suppose.

what most likely happened with rubber rake is that someone owned a dry lakes car and wanted more top end. gears were not common and they were expensive but the guy down at the wrecking yard had a pair of taller tires. and the gear head said, "Oh hell yea that'll bump my top end!!" The local rodderrs were influenced by his car and shazaaam a tradition is born.

But like I raid whatever makes you happy.

 

We can't argue that the "dry lakes" cars had their influence. But the flip side of the same coin has to be the drag strip. Any hot car worth its salt (no pun intended ) could use the multiplication of the lowest gears to overcome the traction threshold of the rear tires. Taller tires gave a longer footprint and also helped reel in the 'too much torque' syndrome.
You didn't have to be any kind of super detective to notice that smaller rear tires at the strip were not a popular look or a functional option. Just the opposite. Not to take anything away from the laker boys but I have to give a big nod to the 1/4 mile peeps.

 

I know you were joking, but the subsequent info is interesting. Here’s a picture of a car my dad and his buddies ran back in the day (the ‘doodle bug’ coupe as coined by Ganahl). The rear tires were front tires for a tractor according to my dad - for better top speed of course!

 

Or, it takes a smaller wheelwell for the same turning radius with a small tire.