History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

This has probably been posted before, one or two of them, but it's absolutely one of my favorite dragsters. Push it down to fire it, pull the back tires off the ground, move it up to the starting line, aim it, and then Drop-it-On-the Ground! No clutch, no waiting. Here's a sequence on how it evolved. Most of the shots at Fontana . . .

 

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Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

HIi Took a look at your tumblr account Great photos.

 

I have 2 takeaways from the Dan Gay/Mr Norm match race at Lions (65-66?). One
Mr Norm was awesome......high 160's. And two Don Gays car was kind of a mess. I remember
it was missing blower studs, etc. Anyway match racing must have been brutal at the time, trying
to make venues. Overall Lions entertainment on Saturday nights was hard to beat.....GOOD TIMES!

 

Several were posted by Tom Nicklin on FB.

 

Another posted by Tom Nicklin

 

The CamFather and Gene Winfield. Nearly two centuries of hot rodding there.

 

I can't believe how sharp Ed still is. I have not seen him for over 55 years. When he was signing things at the last LARS, I had him sign my hat. I told him "I am sure you don't remember me, but you sponsored us to your latest grinds, and I just wanted to thank you for that". "Ed said, are you Buzz Lowe's boy?" I said I sure am. "Then he blew me away when he said you guys ran a red street roadster, right? He said didn't we use your roadster in one of our adds after the Winternationals?" I said yes you did, that was in 1963. I have that add in my scrap book. Have you ever seen a man smile with a cigar in his mouth?

 

That's gold Dean.

 

In a sense, I wish it were us in a modified 58 black Impala. it would have been an exciting race. Actually, my brother and I were in our own 1958 Impala parked against a log fronting the finish line spectator area in Pomona. He was in a final recovery stage and wanted to spend some time outdoors. Most of the time, it was more comfortable sitting inside watching the races than sitting on the log in front of the 58 Impala grille.

Hello,

The mystery solved in the opponent for this Winternationals race. All along, I knew the last race for us in our 1940 Willys Coupe in the final of the Lion’s Dragstrip C/Gas eliminations in August 1960 was a 58 Chevy. It turns out to be a 1958 Impala that boosted its stock engine size and horsepower to start winning in the B/Gas and C/Gas (with some weight added) classes at Lion’s Dragstrip and other local dragstrips.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/lions-dragstrip-1960.1025215/page-6#post-14037947


While gazing through several old Drag News weekly paper copies, I ran across this advertisement for Chet Herbert. It was the opponent against us in the last race for a C/Gas eliminator trophy in August, 1960. The guy was well known in the drag racing circles and had a ton of top running race cars into the 70s. Tom Sturm was well known in almost every stock car racing arena, as well as later on in the funny car era.


But, for a while he was the ruling champion in the C/Gas (with some added weight) or as the advertisement mentions in the B/Gas class. No weight and a big 409 stroked motor. But, that night at lions, he was no match for my brother and our C/Gas 671 292 c.i. SBC powered Willys Coupe. My brother was two cars out in front by the 1/8 mile. At the finish line, my brother crossed first, but because our Willys blew up and caught fire, it was listed in the Drag News as the Impala winning the race.

Jnaki

"Tom Sturm uses a bored and stroked 348 c.i. Impala Chevy engine in his stock 3900lb 58 Impala. It has stock carburetion, heads, ports, valves, ignition. And a 280 degree Herbert Roller Cam. This proves that Impala’s do go with few modifications when using a HERBERT CAM. Tom has a fuel injection and a magneto which he plans on installing for the Nationals. This should put him over the 110 mph and under the 13 second E.T. bracket. Watch him at the Nationals ! !"

"It does not matter how many times I have been asked to tell the story of that fateful night at Lion’s Dragstrip. it was always in the back of my mind that no one remembers the opponent. I kept telling everyone that it was a 58 Chevy and it was heavily modified. It was not in the stock car class, but was the ruling class champion in the C/Gas class. (Doug Cook set the C/Gas record and then moved on to the extremely competitive B/Gas class) So, this 58 Chevy and the driver’s skills kept him at the top of the class."

"After all of these years, I finally found a Chet Herbert advertisement in the Drag News paper from 1960 that explains a lot of questions over the years. Our 348 Impala was stock and ran a 14.68 at its best E.T. but, it was stock. The Sturm 348 was a base block that was bored and stroked, which never told how big the motor actually was in its racing form."

“History shows us that Chevy stroked its own engine when they turned the 348s into 409s. The 348 came with a standard bore of 4.125˝ and stroke of 3.25˝. Its big brother, the 409, came with the stock bore size of 4.3125˝ and stroke of 3.50˝. That works out to an increased bore of .1875˝ and .250˝ more stroke for the 409 adding those 31 cubic inches.”

"With that information, the stock 348 was bored almost ¼ over and stroked also ¼ to come up with a 409 motor. That in itself gives a huge amount of power from the 348 that could have been bored and stroked to 409. With our opponent’s connections in the drag racing world back then, it was possible, but sounded better advertising it as a bored and stroked 348."

"So, as history provided, his modified 58 Chevy Impala was fast, a class champion and had tons of drag racing motor knowledge. But, his times were reachable as we were in the 12.60 times and my brother was two car lengths ahead past the timing tower and traps. Our best time for that day leading up to the final race was close enough to the national record of 12.40, so we were on the right track."

"With the search ending with the advertisement of Tom Sturm and his 58 Impala, it solves a 61 year old mystery of who that opponent was in that last night race against our 1940 Willys 292 ci 671 SBC coupe at Lion’s Dragstrip in 1960. I had always thought it was a 58 Chevy Biscayne in the next lane that late night."

But, with all of the staging excitement and prepping my brother for the eliminator race, we sort of overlooked who was there. Our 671 supercharged 292 SBC motor was sounding very healthy. The noise from the other lane was also sounding quite strong. The anticipation was making all of us have chills and it was not the night misty air. The opponent turned out to be a guy who went on to his racing history starting with a highly modified 58 Chevy Impala.

So, do the facts show an advantage of lightweight car, smaller motor versus a heavier car with almost twice the size in motor power is a factor?

Congratulations and good on you for kicking his butt during that later race at Pomona. We would have been there with our build, but things just happen and that is the way it is and was…

 

Classic 1960's drag racing wrapped up in one picture...

 

“In 1964 the A/GS car was painted black and given a Hemi. It was a terror and set several records. The black car was run for one season, 1964. It was known as the "Black Widow". The car did not get the magazine attention because it was not photogenic in black. Most of the photos you see are B&W…”
thanks... @Joe Troilo

“In April 1964, the new lighter-weight Willys, informally referred to as Black Widow because of its black paint scheme was fitted with a fiberglass front end as well as various other lightweight components to make the most out of the new rules. The new Willys made use of another blown Olds engine, only this time it was a 467ci Olds. Still, the car weighed nearly 1,000 pounds less than Swindler II.”

Hello,

I just happened to be at Lion’s Dragstrip in 1964 for the biggest, all Gas Coupe/Sedan Meet. I was invited to film the debut of our friend and fellow Willys builder, Atts Ono. He helped us with our 1940 Willys 671 SBC Coupe and now, after years of painstaking work, he was ready to make his debut. What a meet to make a debut.
1964 Lions SWC single run

Every powerful Willys Coupes and/or sedans/trucks, made an appearance at Lion’s Dragstrip on that day. These are the only SWC film clips available from that past historic event.

Jnaki

As color is a concern, in a color film or photo, red always stands out. But no one mistakes this nice looking Black Willys Coupe when it made a run.

It was fast. Drag Cars in Motion...

 

Early Speed Sport at Cordova.

 

Gary Cagle--Class Winner at the '65 HRM Championships at Riverside. We broke the engine the night before at Lions, but we were already qualified for the HRM Meet. The guys spent all night putting another 300 incher in it, but didnt get it all done and we were out of time.
We loaded up with my dad standing on the open, diamond plate trailer. I remember looking back on the Riverside freeway, and my dad was bolting the headers on. We got stopped by CHP, my dad explained the situation, (and flashed his Badge), and we were on our way.
There's video of the car running and shutting down, and us pushing back after a run on YouTube from the event, but I cant remember what the hell it's titled as.
It's a You Tube with a media guy going around interviewing various drivers, good quality. The car started life as the TF car, and then went with the T Body ,my dad never liked that car.. His helmet is in the Lions Museum. Cerny Paint (Don Prieto Photo @ Lions)
Thanks HAMB

 

View attachment 5088054

 

What's this pipe? Part of a flaming burn-out system?

The now obvious answer is two posts down. Thanx!

 

Hello,
To my old eyes, it looks like the end of a rolled up tarp separating the hot motor from the body. There are too many dents in the pipe and it looks like someone rolled the tarp up and placed it strategically.

Jnaki

Originally, it looks like a pipe, but what is that "thingy" above and resting on the body? I have looked at old NANOOK photos (not repop current ones) and the body is painted. So, the roadster is resting, possibly between rounds at Lions Dragstrip, so the shield is rolled up to prevent body paint or glass melt. IMHO

 

You mean the sleeve of a fire suit jacket, (NOT a tarp !)..!
Not many tarps I've seen with zippers and sleeves.

Mike

 

BINGO, we have a winner.

 

Ongais Mangler Bakersfield 1965...

 

I saw the Nanook fuel altered a few years ago at the Bakersfield Re-union on a run with all 4 wheels off of the ground.