I built this '61 Cat tribute to match the real one I ran at Island and Atco Dragways in N.J. in the early'60's. I ran A/S, B/S and C/S,,,with a best time of 12.78 @ 113 MPH. The tribute runs 10.50's at 125 MPH....That's progress, but I would trade it all to go back to that wonderful golden era of Drag Racing!!!
Just wondering if there are any web sites just devoted to Junior Stock or stock class in general that anyone might know about. This was a wonderful era for drag racing and between Junior Stock and Modified Production. For me the NHRA today is just a shell compared to what it was back in the 60's Now it just seems like everything is just the Pro Classes and they do not really care about the other classes. Just my opinion. Jimbo
Who remembers who won the Stock Eliminator Championships at the; * 1967 Super Stock Nationals (Cecil County Drag-O-Way) - June 1967 * 1968 Super Stock Nationals (New York National Speedway) - July 1968 We were at both of them, but I lost all my information.
Paul, I'm pretty sure that information has been disseminated at some point on this thread. Alas, I'm certain it was addressed on Bill Cole's forum, but (as you know) Bill and Chuck decided to pull the plug on that most-excellent site. Had I anticipated its demise, I would have digitally archived all of it -- perhaps someone had the foresight to do just that. So it goes, Steve
Steve, Thanks. Colesy had the 'goods'........ I'm pretty sure the 'Handyman Specials' captured both Winner and Runner-Up at the the 1967 Super Stock Nationals at Cecil County {June 1967}. I think Carmine Rotunda won the 1968 Super Stock Nationals at New York National Speedway with the 61' Corvette 283/270 HP classed in F/Stock.
Colesy had the 'goods'........ I downloaded all of Colesy's stuff from his Jr. Stock site save the memorabilia (decals stuff) but I do not see those two 1967 races listed. BTW, I saved the original 500 pages of this forum also, and every other web page from every site I find interesting for future reference purposes. With over 700,000 documents to sort through it might take a while to post those two 1967 results, but, if they are in my files then, I will find them. LOL!
Benchracer, please start sharing. Let's get these documents and pics back on here. I sure wish Colesy would get back on here.
Super Stock Nationals 1966 @ New York National Speedway {August 5, 6 & 7} Stock * Winner.........Bill Jenkins - 1966 Chevrolet Chevy II 327/350 HP {A/S} * Runner-Up... Tom Kerr - 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS396 396/375 HP {B/S} -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1967 @ Cecil County Drag-O-Way {June 23, 24 & 25} Stock * Winner......... John Archambault - 1957 Chevrolet 2-Door Delivery Wagon 283/220 HP {H/SA} * Runner-Up.... Wayne Jesel - 1956 Chevrolet 2-Door Delivery Wagon 265/225 HP {G/SA} Super Stock * Winner........ Dick Arons; 1967 Camaro SS396 396/325 HP {SS/EA} * Runner Up.... Sox & Martin; 1967 Plymouth RO Belvedere II 'Street Hemi' {SS/B} -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1968 @ New York National Speedway {July 19, 20 & 21} Stock * Winner....... Carmine Rotunda - 1961 Corvette 283/270 HP {F/S} * Runner-Up... ? Super Stock * Winner........... Dick Arons * Runner Up...... Bill Stiles; 1968 Hemi Barracuda {SS/BA} -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1969 @ York US30 Dragaway {August 9 & 10} Stock * Winner....... Frank Iaconio - 1957 Chevrolet 150 - 283/283 HP 'Fuel Injection' {H/S} * Runner-Up.. Laverne Berner - 1957 Chevrolet 150 - 283/283 HP 'Fuel Injection' {H/S} Super Stock * Winner * Runner Up -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1970 @ York US30 Dragway {May 8 ,9 & 10} Stock * Winner * Runner-Up Super Stock * Winner......... Carroll Fink; 1967 Plymouth Belvedere RO 'Street Hemi' {SS/DA} * Runner Up ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1971 @ York US30 Dragaway {May 7, 8 & 9} Stock * Winner * Runner Up Super Stock * Winner........... Centolanza Brothers; 1967 Plymouth RO Belvedere II 'Street Hemi' {SS/DA} * Runner-Up....... Tritak & Morgan; 1970 Plymouth Barracuda 'Street Hemi' {SS/DA}
I raced with Carmen Rotunda and his brother Dominic back in the early 60's. We used to street race out of Rutt's Hutt in Clifton N.J. Carmen had a black '58 Chevy with a 409 called STONECRUSHER and ran B/G.
RUTTS HUT has hot dogs deep fried in 90 weight , ate there once a month when I Worked at NOT chevrolet welcome aboard
The hot spots in 1960-63 to street race in Northern N.J. were Rutt's Hutt, Bonds, The Texan, Don's in Livingston and The Adventurer Car Hop in Union N.J. The idea was to pull in , ride around and find a car you thought you could beat and challenge him. Pontiacs were very rare in S/S back in the 60's so I "sold" my '61 Catalina as a 389/348 Tri-Power which was basically a street hydraulic lifter engine....But, I had a 421 dual quad solid lifter race engine under the hood. I tried to avoid opening the hood but if I had to, I had disguised the Dual Quads by using the stock large Tri-Power Air Cleaner, but modified the bottom to accommodate dual quads....most races were at night, so it was pretty easy to fool people. I had little trouble beating 409 Chevys, 406 Fords and 413 Plymouths of the day, since I usually negotiated a 3-4 car spot and had to feather the throttle to avoid beating them by too much!!! Boy, those were the days !!!! My come uppance came when I agreed to race a 1963 Plymouth 426 Max Wedge. I got my typical 3 car spot but had to stay in it because this Plymouth was FAST....Turned out to be Jerry Stein's record holding S/S car !!! Everybody knew a 389/348 Pontiac could NEVER stay with Stein's mid 12 second car and I was found out!!! But, It was fun while it lasted !!!!
Excellent Post - Mr. Biscayne...... On the 1968 Super Stock Nationals, I think Carmine Rotunda beat Wayne Jesel in the Finals. But I'm not sure if they were still running a 265/225 'Dual-Quad' in the 1956 Sedan Delivery - which would have been classed in 'L/SA' in 1968.
You mean nobody heard the solids? My first cousin's husband had an original light green '63 Cat with a 421 Tri-Power circa mid-seventies, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It also had those finned wheels. I remember thinking that he wouldn't be going anywhere fast with those skinny old rubber bands on the thing. To my knowledge, he never even spun the tires when he drove it.
I thought that some of you might enjoy something a little different, so I dug deep and came up with an old Hot Rod article, dated May, 1955. Hope that it's cool to post this before Jr. Stock days was even heard of. Let me know... Part II will be on next post because length of article.
Here is a couple of mid-fifties NHRA regional drags. Look at the stock class times. I wonder what hidden mods if any these guys had used back in the day. Anyone know?
Only the "Shadow" knows for sure. At least two names on the Stocker list of class winners should ring bells for Junior Stock racers. Bernie Partridge became and remained the Division 7 Director for many, many years. Doug Thorley became a truly iconic figure across the entire world of drag racing. What they did and what they got away with will probably never be known but I've heard stories about the swapping of things like rocker arms on Oldsmobiles in order to pick up lift because the ratios varied from year-to-year. Carburetors on Cadillacs looked very much like carburetors on Oldsmobiles and could be interchanged when a little extra was needed and no teardown was likely. When Wally Parks named Bill Dismuke to be the National Tech Director things got a lot tougher. By the time I got involved in 1963, camshafts were being measured for lift, duration, and overlap. Valve spring pressure was being checked. Carburetors were being measured both at the throttle bore and the venturi. Wheelbase and overhang were being checked. We were bounced in teardown at the 1964 Winternationals because the factory changed the duration spec from 300° to 308° but didn't submit the change to NHRA. We had flattened the factory cam in the max wedge car, went to Milne Brothers to buy a replacement, and put it in the motor. I don't think we even owned a degree wheel at that point. Anyway, it checked long on duration and we were out! No questions were answered nor discussion allowed. c
Stock drag coverage was scarce in fifties magazines. Here are a few selected pics from the era around the country that were published in Hot Rod Magazine.
Here is a few more in Texas. Anyone recognise them? We often hear about the well-known and legendary racers of the day, but, what about the little-guy (locally known) guys and gals who raced reputable cars that never made it on a national level due to costs, time, expertise, etc.?
Here is the 1958 NHRA Nationals Event Program Entry List. I don’t see too many recognisable stockers. Could there have been so few? Was anybody there? LOL!
HRMs first complete coverage of all of the stock classes came in 1961. Here is the full article. Part I of III.<O</O
The Jalopy Journal
