Hot Rods RUN WHATCHA BRUNG DRAG FEST - Aug 6 Cordova Dragway

All ready to go. My oldest brother used to race his 59 Impala at Cordova, (and Byron), back in the mid 60's. Planning to follow his old route to the strip....From Polo ILL, through Coleta, Morrison, then over on Garden Plain Road. One of my other older brothers will be driving up from Washington ILL. with his 57 BelAir Sport Sedan, that he had at the Melt Down.

Still not sure which car I'll be driving yet. Either my 55 that I ran at the Melt Down, or my 59 BelAir.

Attached are a couple of pics of brother Larry's long gone 59. He ran a dual quad 283, (bored to 301), and a 4 speed.

 

Have taken that route a couple times. Looks like good weather, wish we could be there.

 

Torkwrench - that is so cool that you have some history - you are kinda following the footsteps huh?

look forward to meeting you and I am off to bed - gotta get up early and get out there.

Remember we dont open the gates til 1pm
Tech inspection starts at 2 pm

if you arrive early - hang out and mingle and talk smack with your fellow gearheads - I will be out there early getting stuff ready

Thanks for all the support - the weather is gonna be amazing

 

I will update anything throughout the day from the Facebook account

it is my personal one - so
John Wells on FB

 

Middle brother here, Took that route with big brother Larry 44 years ago. Grateful that he let kid brother tag along. Flat towed the 59 with (I believe) the Chevy truck pictured. That night they had "The Flying Dutchman" and "Brutus" early funny cars doing a match race. The whole experience made quite an impression on me.

 

I live 20 miles away from Cordova - overcast....
weatherman says 20% chance of rain in the morning
sunny in the afternoon...........
sounds good to me!

At the Meltdown it rained the entire morning and did not stop til about noon.

And they still had about 150 cars there?
maybe more?
Get your butt over to Cordova this afternoon! We open the gates around 1pm and Tech Inspection starts at 2pm

Tracer Bullet is having "issues" and wont be able to make it over so we are gonna DJ Asphalt Fiend spin some tunes in their place - digging deep in the rockabilly vaults to bring you some hidden gems.

Krank Daddies will go on after around 430 or 5pm

Seeya there

 

Had a good time at the Drag Fest. It was fun to take my oldest brother's old route to the strip in my 59 BelAir....Only missed 1 turn. Saw several cool old race cars, and met some fellow HAMBers.

Don't have a pic, but there was a very sharp 63 Impala that was flat towed in by an equally nice 61 Chevy wagon. These two cars completely captured the mid-60's drag racing era.
There was a 40 Chevy coupe for sale that looked good, in the swap, too.

Here are some pics of brother Bob in his 57 and me in my 59. It's a good thing that my E.T. doesn't show in the second pic.

 

Torkwrench - great to meet you and your bro at Cordova! I was busy filming and wanted to talk to ya'll more - but at least I have some footage of you making some passes!

It was a great day and I will keep everyone updated on the status of what Cordova wants to do in the future

I think we had 55 cars there so for the first year - we are very pleased.
Cordova seemed to be happy with the turnout - but not sure we pulled off the numbers to qualify for our own date in 2012.

Perhaps we can get our own times for next year.....I know some were complaining about waiting in line so if we had our own time slots we could all go out and run at one time.

We will see - but overall it was a great laid back day with no drama.

The Bombers were great to hang with!

See everyone at the Symco Shakedown, The Relix Riot, The Bombs Away Bash and Greaserama!!!

 

Had a good time, guys!!!

Heres my pics...
http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x27/blinkltjfan/2011 Run Whatcha Brung/

 

That was a great time! Im glad we made the trip over

 

Here is a photo of the Impala being admired by a nameless "old guy". It was taken by our friend and team photographer, Bob McG. I had a nice chat with the owner. Gleaned some valuable information on how to make my '57 rear live. (see other post)
I also had a great time. I got to meet many fellow racers and also members of the various clubs that have putting on this event and the Meltdown. Everyone was very congenial. No drama just a very good time. Thanks to all involved. Also a special thanks to the gentleman who gave me a tow back to the pits after I broke an axle. I am sorry I did not get your name. The help was much appreciated.
I was hoping for more cars, but given that this was just the first year, I think it will only get better. I can see this developing a 3 to 4 event per summer circuit for me.
Bob

 

Step one:insert axle into shortening device.
Step two:engage device to position one.
Step Three: apply power.
Step Four: release clutch
Step Five remove your newly shortened axle shaft
Had a great time regardless,
Thanks, Bob

 

I raced at Cordva with my Stude 25 years ago.I grew up in Morrison.Me and 3 or 4 other guys would race back to Morrison and run that old narrow Garden Plain rd. pulling our hotrods on trailers with motor home wheels and tires on them at over 115-120 mph! The last one to Morrison bought beer and pizza! This after the track closed and beers flowed...oh,and by the way,I never had to buy beer and pizza... Redline Racer D/G 42 Stude P.S. I ran a 301 in my Stude for many years! 8000 RPM!

 

Hey Slck 64 It was nice to meet ya.I forget, did ya get any shots of my stude danglin the skinnies commin off the line? I love the front end shot would love to be able to have it blown up and hang on my wall as art! ya know what I mean? Also,the shot of the vent where you can see the seat if you have sharp eye...ALLLL shots you have are great! Tanks agin,Redline Racer

 

glad to hear it was a success. Sorry I couldn't participate.

 

Had fun..............need to redo the seats, too close to shifter, does someone make an Aluminum bench seat?

 

Hey Redline!! Sure did!! All pics I took are in that album. All ya gotta do is save any of those pics to your computer, put it on a CD and take it to a developer(Walgreens, WalMart, etc) and they can blow it up and have it printed on a quality backing.


I think I fell in love with a style of hot rod!

 

I had a blast. Car must have known it couldn't legally run under 14 without a rollbar. lol
Ran 14.05 all day, then clicked off a 13.95 on the last run. Was a flawless day, and had a lot of fun.

 

OUCH!!!

Looks like there was a great turnout! Sorry I couldn't make it. I had to make a last minute trip to Decatur for the Pileup

 

redlineracer42 here is one from the back...

 

I hope to be there with my Vintage FED . . . if it's not freakin' busted! HA

 

John, Ya did a hell of a job organizing this. For the first year I believe it was a success. Hopefully I can get my 34 out there next year.
Brian

 

It was this past weekend lol.

 

Tanks slck! I will try and figger out how to do that...wrenches fit my hands...not keyboards....haha

 

Hey ,Nice to meet ya lynchmob! This picture is great!!!got any more? You have a good eye! Hey I thought ya said you were stoppin back? haha...

 

Hey if there are any more pics of my Stude from the drags or Torquefest 2 I would buyem if I could or what have you.Thanks Redliner

 

Here are some pix of the event that I have liberated from other sites.....
I did not take these....Mike Lavallier and Ed Wilson took all these photos!

 

a few more pics

 

thanks for posting Red71! Hope to seeya at the Pile Up!

 

Here are a few more....

Another of Redline...






More pics here.....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynchm0b1/