History Stock-S/S-F/X 1959-1966

Taken by Dave Strickler's father in York PA. Part of the Strickler family photo collection. The MW hardtop was headed to the used car lot. It remained in York after Strickler and was street raced quite a bit from what I've been told. This shot was taken right by the Strickler's home at the time in York.

 

Thanks Hendelec ... was aware of the historic information that you added about Strickler-Jenkins ... I should have made that clear ...sorry. I was looking for specific information about the actual photo which pal Jody Aberts posted. Your reply is appreciated though.
By the way ... I see that you are from GA ... do you have any early sixties (1960-64 S/S-F/X snapshots, photos) from your region to share?
Joel

 

I'm looking for the feature on the Thumper '61 409 of Gene Carter ... at least memory tells me there was a feature on the car in one of the early issues! I sold all my issues years ago. Can anyone post some good scans of the feature if there was one? Thanks.
Joel
Joel Naprstek
[email protected]

 

Joel, check the jr stock thread, there is a feature on the Thumper, might've saw it there.

 

Thanks ...

 

Posted by Johnny_Steele these today in the drag cars in motion thread

 

More from Johnny

Interesting Falcon pickup in A/FX

 

Les Ritchey AFX mustang





Les Ritchey AFX mustang

 

The Bachelder Brothers out of Maine received a new aluminum frontend 1963 Chevrolet Z-11 427 that they raced in AFX. The photo shows their car loaded on the trailer behind their machine shop.

 

Meanwhile, Al Kitts, from Richfield Springs, New York, started racing on the streets of Schenectady, New York, in the late 1950s, with Shirley Muldowney and many others. He won his first sanctioned race in 1960 at Fonda, New York, and a year later, he had 48 wins in Super Stock driving a 1961 Ford Starliner with a 401-hp 390 that Ford Motor Company delivered directly to him. Al said he beat Cha Cha many times with this car.

Larry had a 1963-1/2 Ford Galaxie lightweight delivered to Al in New York. Black Jack DuBrul was originally intended to be the driver of this car, but it did not work out, so Al got the ride. According to Al, this “changed his life.”Al quickly established dominance on the race team driving the lightweight Galaxie. This car was one of the main attractions at the Milton Strip running in the A/FX class turning just over 12.5 seconds consistently. All Larry asked was for Al to keep on winning. Al beat Arnie (The Farmer) Beswick in his Pontiac at Daytona with this car. The lightweight Galaxie became the “Bad News.” Bardahl became a sponsor and Ford assisted with parts and engineering. Al said they were the “Tasca Ford of Vermont.” A major magazine article was published in the Ford Dealer Magazine, and National Dragster coined the dealer “Willis Flying Fords,” with race car graphics announcing Willis as the “Home of the Flying Fords.”







Romy Hammes A/FX falcon In 1964





Ronald Swann 1964 A/FX Falcon wheels WAY up





Stark Hickey Ford Goldfinger Mustang A/FX

 

Some chevys

Running out of Royal Oak, MI, Pete Seaton’s series of Seaton’s Shaker Chevys were well known throughout the country. Del Heinart handled both the wrenching and driving duties on this 1964 Chevelle, which ran an injected 396 big-block. With virtually no aftermarket parts available, the car reportedly ran 10.30s at 136 mph with a Turbo Hydramatic while weighing 2,830 pounds.





In 1963, no better Chevy could be had than the lightweight Impala with the Z-11 option featuring a dual quad 427/430 four-speed Posi-traction rear and an all-aluminum front end. Dave Strickler and Bill Jenkins ran this one–in S/S with the factory sticker still on the rear window just above the car number.

 

A great shot of Les Ritchey wearing high performance penny loafers and a polyester leisure shirt, replete with go fast stripe.





Gas Ronda 1965 A/FX Can't tell where the slick screws are located in this shot.





Goldfinger A/FX

 

Jerry Harveys the quiet one A Bob Ford Red 1965 Galaxie with a 427 SOHC, weighted 3855 lbs. It won the 1965 BFX class Winternationals with a time of 11.91




Phil Bonner's pair of light weight 1963 fords




Gas Rhonda's 1962





Early Tasca Ford Fairlane AFX




Tasca Ford campaigned a new midsize Fairlane, Challenger II, in 1962, powered by a 406 engine that was not available in the car. The biggest engine Fairlane came with was the new 221-inch small-block, forcing Tasca to run in A/Factory Experimental. Tasca Family Archives





This Ford Light weight running B/FX this time will be turned into Expressway Gulf




Bob Brennan Falcon




1962 Chrysler 300 Hot Rod Magazine 413 Long Ram Dual 4 Barrel 405hp Drag Race Car




Early farmer

 

Petty OUTLAWED Cuda



Lawman A/FX

 

Posted by who else swi66 in the vintage thread

 

Nice set of Mopars. Always liked the 64-65 models especially. Could one of you Mopar guys shed some light on Eckstrand's '65. Never seen a hardtop Belvedere with a post. Running sedan doors? I realize anything goes on a matchracer..

 

Looks like two door sedan doors installed on a two door hardtop.

 

Standard fare on mopar factory awb.

 

Ok folks here is a nice history on "Dyno Don" I had a time figureing out where to put this because he had so many cars and the Comet thread is is home but in the end decided on here because he also had Chevys and all or most of his cars were SS or FX.

The man.

There have been few drag racers equipped with more versatile skills as a driver and engine builder/tuner than "Dyno Don" Nicholson.
Originally a circle-track roadster campaigner in the late 1940s and then a participant in dry-lakes racing in El Mirage, Calif., and Bonneville, Utah, Nicholson went on to become a pioneer in Stock, Factory Experimental, Funny Car, and Pro Stock competition.
Because his career spanned the 1960s and 1970s when there were relatively few NHRA national events on the calendar, the bulk of his wins came in match race competition, where he usually won more than 90 percent of his races.
Many drag racing historians agree that if Nicholson had been able to race in the 1980s and 1990s, he would have compiled an NHRA record similar to that of Funny Car racer John Force (97 career wins) and Pro Stock racers Warren Johnson (86) and Bob Glidden (85).

Still, Nicholson holds the record for final-round appearances in the most NHRA eliminator categories, scoring either wins or runner-up efforts in Funny Car, Pro Stock, Super, Comp, Stock, and Street.
He was the first Ford campaigner to win a national event in Pro Stock, at the 1971 Summernationals, and he earned the NHRA Winston Pro Stock championship title in 1977 at the age of 50.

During the era of manually shifted four-speed transmissions, Nicholson had no equal because in addition to driving, he also turned his own wrenches. Ronnie Sox might have been his equal with the four-speed, but Sox never worked on his cars. Bill Jenkins was a more innovative engine builder, but he preferred to let other individuals such as Dave Strickler and Larry Lombardo do the driving whenever possible.

One of Nicholson's advantages was that he already had raced for many years in other forms of motorsports by the time that sanctioned dragstrips began to open up at various locations throughout Southern California.

He earned his "Dyno" nickname as one of the first to utilize the benefits of a chassis dyno, which he operated at a Chevrolet dealership in Pasadena, Calif., in the late 1950s. By the time that NHRA announced to hold its first Winternationals at Pomona Raceway in 1961, he was ready to put his well-honed skills to use.
Nicholson not only won the Stock title at the '61 Winternationals, but he also successfully defended his title in 1962 to become a household name in drag racing circles throughout the country.

Match race promoters in the Southeast offered him so many lucrative bookings that he soon relocated to Atlanta to compete against the likes of Strickler, Sox & Martin, the Ramchargers, Dick Landy, Arnie Beswick, Dick Brannan, Phil Bonner, and Gas Ronda. During the mid-1960s, these rising stars popularized the pre-race rosin burnout rituals, and their contingent of fans grew from hundreds to thousands.

When Chevrolet dropped their factory backing in 1963, Nicholson jumped to an A/Factory Experimental Mercury Comet in 1964 and enjoyed a match race winning percentage in excess of 90 percent that year.

Jim Thornton, driver of the feared Ramchargers Dodge team, said, "When we raced Nicholson, we knew we had to be ready. He and his mechanic, Earl Wade, were very tough."

Buddy Martin, who along with Sox also ran a Comet A/FX car in 1964, said, "The thing about Nicholson was that he was always looking for an edge. He never showed up just hoping that he could win. He did everything he could to come up with any kind of performance advantage he could get."
Sox added, "The thing I remember most about Nicholson is that sometimes he'd show up at the track at the last minute, and sometimes he didn't look very organized. He'd be working on the car right up to the first run, then he'd go out and make the quickest run of the day. He was amazing."

There was a method to Nicholson's unorthodox approaches. Though he had a few weeks to prepare his 409-engine prior to the '61 Winternationals, he did not take delivery of his Chevy Bel Air until the day before the race.
Fearing that the new suspension would be too stiff to provide proper weight transfer to the rear tires, he had one of his crew members drive the car roughly 500 miles that night to loosen up the front shocks and coil springs.

Nicholson was also among the first racers to use narrow rims to accentuate the wrinkled-sidewall effect on the tires in the mid-1960s. He accordingly recorded the first 10-second runs for a doorslammer with his '64 A/FX Comet and was also the first to begin lifting the front wheels of the ground on gear changes.
The rivalry between the Dodge-Plymouth teams and the Ford-Mercury camp was extremely intense in the mid-1960s, and Chrysler made major moves for 1965 by luring Sox & Martin from Mercury to Plymouth and gained a significant performance advantage by moving the front and rear wheels forward for superior traction.

The cars were declared illegal for NHRA competition, but their nine-second performances easily outclassed the 10-second potential of the NHRA-legal Ford and Mercury entries. When Ford subsequently disallowed their cars from competing against the new Mopar "Funny Cars," Nicholson faced a serious loss in match race income.

By August, Nicholson was forced to take matters into his own hands, and he converted his A/FX Comet into a Funny Car by altering the wheelbase and adding fuel injection and nitromethane fuel. Weeks later, he defeated the swiftest Mopar entry, the Ramchargers Dodge, in a pivotal match race with 9.30, 150-mph clockings.

Mercury's racing manager, Al Turner, had the foresight to envision where the whole Funny Car phenomenon was headed, and he accordingly commissioned the Logghe Bros., of Detroit, to build tube-chassis Comets with one-piece flip-top bodies for the 1966 season.

This gave Nicholson such a performance advantage that the only driver who had the potential to defeat him was his protégé and Comet teammate, Eddie Schartman. Today's Funny Cars still use the same flip-top format that was established by Nicholson's Eliminator I Comet.
Nicholson was virtually undefeated in 1966 and recorded the first Funny Car seven-second clocking at Martin, Mich., late that summer.

There is more later history that is beyond the cutoff for the HAMB if you are interested :
https://www.elevatecars.com/galleries/dyno-don?photo_p=1

Now the photos the best part LOL. No captions but they speak for themselves.

The Chevy years. Note some of the photos are HUGE to see them big click on the photo.

 

His early comets. AWB and A/FX
















EDIT this is not Dyno it is Ed Schartman #647 corrected by fiveoh108







This one "The Comet" says The Farmer but was in this batch of photos. did he drive for the Farmer? EDIT: According to 65 comet NOPE this is really the farmer and dyno never drove for him

 

His 66 Comet funny car

 

OK we covered the Dyno Don history let's continue the history with the Dick Brannan's history and it's a long one he was involved with so many things all ford sorry chevy guys but a history of Earl Wade is coming next time in the corvette hot rod thread.

First part of this series the early years. We can't do Dick credit without mentioning "Romy Hammes" dealership who he worked for and won for for years.

Some reading then photos. This amalgamation of history come from many sources rolled into this article.






The early years then we will move onto the 63 Lightweight and later the T Bolt



Not my CD I have no connection to it in anyway





The earliest drag racing car I can find. His own privateer he owned and ran with no help 1959 Ford look at all those trophies. Parked at Romy Hammes dealership where he worked in sales.





Moved onto a 1961 where he got noticed. And romy Hammes gets involved.




Then he gets into a dealership 1962 Galaxie from Romy Hammes who thinks it great wining on Sunday to sell on Monday (think that is where the ford slogan comes from LOL)

The Romy Hammes - Brannan "brand" relationship began with a gentleman's handshake in 1959 and continued through 1964. It was based on a trust. Our goal was to win, have fun and develop a close and lasting relationship. It still exists. The result established a "brand", Romy Hammes - Brannan . That helped the Romy Hammes Ford dealership and Dick Brannan become a leader in racing. Race on Sunday, sell on Monday. That brand also established Ford Motor Company as a competitor and a dominant influence placing Ford Motor Company on the national map. It was about Drag racing during those years and Daytona 500 in 1963.

So rewind back to 1959. When I was informed that one of my sales demonstrators was drag racing at the local track on Sundays my reaction was great and how did it do? IT WON! That was in 1959, a black Galaxie 500 Ford square back. Dick Brannan was a very good salesman, very good mechanic for 6 days, and a very good driver on Sundays. We partnered from then on for several years. Brannan was also a very very savvy driver, and a very intelligent engineer and with street smarts. All of this was needed to get the edge. For example he invented details like using a windshield washer set up to wet the tires at the starting line. He had that as an exclusive until it was discovered and others followed.

The winning 1962 Lt blue one with it's brother the dark blue one that was a super lightweight version.




The dark blue LW one at 62 Onondage Michigan




Dark blue lw 62 in pits think that strange front bumper would fly today?








Letter from Ford with terms of sale for the dark blue lw




Motor trend article

 

A bit more historical reading on the 62

invitation to the 1962 NATIONALS















Next part the LW 1963s where big things happen

 

Well let's get back to the Dick Brannan story. This part is on the 1963 lightweights ALL of them. 823 was probably the
car out of all of his over the years with the most wins and records.



63 lw sets record York PA., July 13Dick Brannan in the '63 Ford fastback drove to a new high in SS touring a 12.42 second e.t. for a new National Record. Brannan's Ford is well known throughout the U.S. for top performance.




823 at Detroit dragway Nationals





Still at the nationals




All these next ones are the cars that he or somebody had to beat to be national winner. And did LOL

 

The LW 823 story continues




A loss to the grump



At Mason dixie













Prizes offered to Drag Contest winners at the winternationals



Mag cover



Promo photo




823 & 824


Onto the other 1963 lightweights of the Brannan Romy Hammes team

 

The other white 1963 lightweight 824 which has been dogged by speculation for years.

The photo was taken in the mid 1980s at the Dale County Dragway in Newton, Alabama. It is the car that Skip Norman owned and for a while the one he claimed was the original #824. Newton is about 10 miles east of Dothan, Alabama located in the southeastern part of the state. The race track closed around 1990 and never reopened. The Christmas Tree starting (lights) shone in the photo gave clue to the time period since only a handful of the very large tracks started to use the system in 1963 when they were first introduced.








Real one for sale??? Note the removal of Romy Hammes and Brannan off the quarter panel.

The words "Romy Hammes - Brannan" and "South Bend, Indiana" were removed either from the car or on the photo. The reason? The words are misleading leading as the Worlds Fastest Ford was #823. #824 was a back up also driven by Brannan at times as well as Ron Stealy. Was this the real #824 or another bogus compliment?





Mag Article Sorry if it is too small to read the print but the photos are good.


The end story of 824