Oh - almost forgot to say THANKS for the "instructions" on how to push start something! I know that it was posted quite a while ago, but still a good read! I honestly never thought about the finer points of it! SHORT detour but on a similar subject... A couple of summers ago I was asked to help a buddy of mine make exhibition runs in the old HIPPIE HEMI funny car. I've been around cars and dragstrips all my life, but never a blown alcohol funny car! He rode us to the track and then explained all of the details of hanging that big ol' starter motor on the blower snout, the squeeze bottle full of fuel.... but he didn't mention how far up into your body that your boys would try to go when that thing hit! Keep in mind that you are straddling the frame rails with your legs wide open and have a 1500 horsepower supercharged alcohol-fed Hemi a mere 12" away from your twig & berries... I still agree though that push starting something would be almost as fun as driving it. I'll try both and get back to you!
In about 1968 I saw a 68 ford push truck run up on top of a fuel dragster at the Bristol dragway in TN. The truck was completely on top of the rail. All four tires off the ground. Can you say race delay? No one knew how to safely get the truck off the dragster. It took hours.
Now this is what I am talkin about! 1957 Furd Push Truck! That is what I call my 57 Furd F-100, "the push truck" One day I will make a removable 2x12 and tire treads and hang that on mine. Of course that will be after the 368Y, dual range hydro, and stacks are installed.
Dino - tried to send you a PM but your inbox is full. Got any info on the owner/driver of this A/Comp?
Time to resurrect this thread... My '61 Plymouth Sport Suburban wagon, and long time friends, freshly restored digger at last years Jalopyrama show in MD:
I made ours to bolt in place of the bumper. Drive to the event with the bumper on, unbolt and put in the hotel room :0) bolt on the pushbar. Made out of chromoly tubing, and mesquite wood(very hard) dont remember the height from the ground, alot of the dragsters are at different heights, and we had one we couldnt push because we were too low!
The exciting part!! At the top end waiting your turn, hearing the ones that have already fired up and are cackling!!!
Here's a few from the salt. I'm pretty sure the first picture is a young Barney Navarro at a Dry Lake.
Cool stuff, I have always thought that the "wanna be" Bonneville posers would look the part a lot better if they were driving a pickup or car with a push board on the front around Bonneville and Wendover looking like a legit push car/truck than driving a rusted out clapped out Model A without fenders with C/G hand scribbled on the quarter panels. Who knows, they might even get asked to use it as a real push truck.
Well the push board got made but I'm still working on the champ car. I haven't had the heart to wail on the push board to make it look "pushed".
I think I would have to have rough and ready push board to actually push the car with and keep that one for show and tell time.
The Sidewinder ready for some action with the Cadillac 2 door sedan push car. SOUND sidewinder with the Cadillac push car at the 2017 Lions Dragstrip museum Hello, We saw the original 1959 Sidewinder from the Paul Nicolini/Joe Maillard group at Lions Dragstrip almost weekly. At the time, the film was a silent 16mm color version. But with the miracle of an old LP album of the 1959 U.S. Nationals recording the Sidewinder on a warm up and run works well with the original film. The edited sound film fits right in, as if we were sitting in the stands listening to the original sound at Lions Dragstrip in those early days. Jnaki A new version or old version, it never gets old listening to that powerful sound coming from a supercharged Hemi motor in sync... The 1959 Lp Album was called Hot Rods and Dragsters in Hi-Fi/Stereo. Many West Coast racers went back to Detroit for the 1959 Nationals. The album was digitally converted and edited to the silent 1959 original, Lions Dragstrip films. Enjoy: real “SOUND” from the 1959 edition of the Sidewinder.
The Jalopy Journal
