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

Great pics Rick, really enjoy this. Thanks for posting! Mikey.

 

Ernie's Camera/Bill Alexander...

 

You're welcome Mike, lotta great memories...

 

Adams & Enriquez...

 

Freight Train with Chryslers/Walt Rhodes...(1 yr. deal)

 

"Sounds pretty accurate, except that's not Gotelli's TE440 in the background. I can't ID it." potvin d.

"That is Colletts te 440 on the left background" - wavemaker

"This is not Gotelli's. He ran Algons, car was black, at the time Stuckey was running.

I doubt that this is a Nor Cal strip. I only went to Cotati once, but the fence, the background, doesn't match up to any of the other Nor Cal strips. It not uncommon but the car doesn't have Cal plates.

At the benefit race Gotelli had put Rods equipment on Gotelli's engine.

Yes, Jim McLennan is the first to have that type fire suit, but it was not practical and went back to a leather jacket, which was required after the strip manager got together in Dec 1960 and made the Jerry rule requiring a leather jacket in open fuel cars.
My brother Jerry's fire Dec 18 1960 was the first major fire in a open car. We wore a leather jacket and had a leather face mask.
I am not sure when Diest or Simpson came up with fire suits, but I believe it was early 1963.
I had my custom extra long , triple lined, leather pants and jacket made in Jan 1961. I also had a insulated leather face mask, Nick Cauchhi (sp) had made.
When Bud tried his come back run he borrowed my leathers. ( side note) He made a run and never gave it full throttle and told me, now I know, that's it for driving." -Denny F.

"This is when Bud Barnett was driving Stuckey's car to full fill a race Stuckey had booked at Kingdon.

Do you think the picture of the 3 cars was at Kingdon? Read my other posting I doubted it was.
Do you recognize the 2 Chassis Research cars?

On Caldwell's, Bud's face looking like a burnt steak, I cannot make out if Bud has a face mask or if he has gloves.
I believe he had Golfing gloves, not sure in these pictures." - Denny F.

"It looks like Kingdon 1961?" - geri

"This is a picture of Dad wearing the fire suit for one of the first times in the new Gotelli Fuller car. It was a proximity suit that he got from the San Francisco Airport fire dept, 1960/61. The story was that after Bud Barnett was burnt at Half Moon Bay, Dad and Gotelli went to the airport fire department and had Dad try on the asbestos fire suit. The "test" was to have Dad run through a small puddle of lit gasoline. As Dad approached the fire he slipped and fell into fire, the suit worked. In my younger years I heard the story from my Dad and from Gotelli, classic recall from the two of them. My Dad said Gotelli ran up to him to see if he was all right, Ted seeing he was fine said Jesus Christ you should feel my heart, my Dad " your heart, mine is ready to come out of my chest"!

The fire:
Bud Barnett was driving the Gotelli/Champion car at Half Moon Bay with the Chrysler in it. It was a charity event to help pay for Rod Stuckey's medical bills from a fire he had a few months earlier. Dad was driving the car all day except for the last pass. They wanted to give Bud a shot at setting the MPH record on the last pass. I'm pretty sure this was 1960/61, I was 6 or 7. I was standing in the back of the Champion pick-up with my Dad at about the 1000 ft mark. As the car approached us it let go, popped the blower and flame was all over Bud, this particular car had the fuel pump driven off the back of the blower, it was a fire hose pointed right at Bud. To this day I can see the event as it was yesterday. The car went off the left side of the track and rolled a few times. My Dad wouldn't let me go to the car but all hell broke loose with everyone running to get Bud. I was speaking with Bud about this a few months ago, his recollection of the accident is just incredible. The racing God's were with him that day." B. McLennan​

 

Thanks, Tirewiper, for the clarifications, I was not sure on the Gotelli car, it does look like Collett's TE-440 behind the Stuckey car. I am also not sure where the track is, Stuckey built this car when he was on the West Coast, but may have run it elsewhere...the background is faint, but if those are grape bushes, it could be Fontana, but really not sure. At least I got most of the firesuit story right, these guys were forward-thinking (fire can help you do that!!) and their efforts probably saved lots of lives...

 

X2!! I keep wondering when Rick runs out of pictures, they just keep on coming...thanks for posting!

 

This is the top fueler of Dean Turk, Bill Box and JD Braswell at Beeline in late '63 or early '64.
Am happy to report I bought that car yesterday! It is verified the original car! It was built approx. Jan'63 and ran with a Pontiac- blown, injected on nitro. In late '64, they lengthened it and changed to a 392.


It set many ET and MPH records in Az and so Cal in its day and also runner upped at the '65 AHRA Winternationals.

My plans are to restore the car to the way it was in '63''64 time frame in running condition.
I am looking for any pictures and information on this car to help ID details of it for its restoration. Dean Turk ( driver/chassis builder ) was contacted today along with Bill Cox ( engine guy ). They will be assisting me with pics and info as well. Restoration is starting in a few weeks.

Thank you for any help. Would love to see some 'in motion' pics and some in color.

 

"Guys, I raced @ event as did a large turnout of fellow racers after Don Maynard was killed in highway crash enroute to AHRA W-Nats 1963 along w/Hirata-Hobbs who survived." - Griffy
Mystery pic: https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=7328...pub=SDX.Photos&sff=1&authkey=!AHqrBFZxhMtwqK4

 

How well do you know the history of the Stuckey car? I spent some time with Rod back in Kansas City in September of '64. He told stories, one of which was that the Greer, Black and Prudhomme car was built using the chassis he was burned in. Although I did not know him well enough, I tend to believe him…he was an accomplished driver/chassis builder….why would he need to make something like that up?

Then, when Hot Rod magazine featured Bruce Meyers' restoration of GBP a few years ago, that story confirmed Rod's claim. This claim has been disputed on other threads here, despite the fact that apparently, Bruce Meyer believes it too. Shed any light on this?

By the way, for those who don't know, Rod died in a motorcycle accident in the late 60's. He also had a small plane that he flew.

 

I'm a member of the Standard 1320 group. That's where I post H.A.M.B. questions and get knowledgeable responses like this: "I suppose if this caption is correct, that Stuckey could have built a carbon copy of his very successful Fuller car. By the date of the caption the Fuller-built car would already be the Greer, Black, Prudhomme car. Seems too "carbon-copy", down to the 2" blower belt and the valve cover breathers. ??? - potvin d.

"This is before the Stuckey car became GBP. According to what Fuller told me in 1961 he was running the Fuller-Zeuschel-Prudhomme car, which was built at the same time as Rod Stuckeys chassis. Rod bought the chassis bare and took it home and added the axles, body, seat etc. In the early Summer of 1962, the Fuller-Zeuschel-Prudhomme team split up and Zeuschel took his engine to Ivo’s shop and it went into the brand new Barnstormer. This would have been the last week in June, 1962. The Fuller car was sold to Louis Senter to replace the Rod Stuckey/Cash Auto/Ansen Automotive car which Lou Senter had sold to Tommy Greer. Greer took the car to Fuller who removed everything that Stuckey had put on the chassis and replaced it with his own components. When the car was completed Fuller suggested that Greer and Black temporarily hire the out-of-a-job Prudhomme, while Fuller built a new car that he would run with Prudhomme. I don’t recall what car that was but Prudhomme liked the Greer-Black operated ride and decided to stay there. The GBP car was finished not very long after the July 1 introduction of the Ivo built Barnstormer. The former Fuller-Zeuschel-Prudhomme car became Ansen Automotive with Tommy Dyer driving.

I don’t know what car was the first Stuckey built Fuller copy, but it could well have been Lou Cangeloses car. I think Lou had an actual Fuller 3 point car first though, probably 1961. I’ll see if I can figure out who might know and try to find out." - big yohns

 

I know this is a old post. But the Al Green nova was bought and the new owner cut the fast back roof off and put a regular nova roof on it. I got the info for it from Dick Milner who was the driver for Al Green.

 

"Peters & Frank, Quincy Automotive. Great shot. Never saw it in that configuration." - potvin d.

 

"Peters & Frank, Quincy Automotive. Great shot. Never saw it in that configuration." potvin d.

 

The original configuration consisted of a single crank driven 6-71 feeding both engines.


Then, the rear engine was given it's own belt driven blower, as shown in the original photo above.

And finally, both engines had their own belt driven pumps...



All these photos had Floyd L. in the seat...

 

Don't worry Dave I haven't shot my wad yet, I've got plenty more in my stash. It's gonna be hit or miss though, I don't spend as much time on the computer or the HAMB since I received my lung transplant...too busy livin' life in the finite time I have left.

 

Photo courtesy of Stephen Justice from the estate of Steve Wallace.

Gary Ormsby @ Half Moon Bay, 1966...

We used to call him Bucket or Bucket-mouth... (he had a vast repertoire of expletives) He died way too soon, cancer blows. R.I.P Gary

 

Bob Sidebotham...

 

Tex Randall...

 

HAMBer Sam Davis in the Train @ Bakersfield, 1970...(winner T/Gas)

 

Der Wiener-Dog...

 

Speaking of the Standard 1320 group, Fuller himself has a note on Stuckey and his relationship with him:

http://www.standard1320.com/Stories/1320Stories.html

 

Rick thanks for the great photo's any idea what times the Adams and Enriquez turbo car ran

 

Thanks, guys, very enlightening.

 

From Norb Locke: