Looks like a "state of the art" mid '60s racer! And a beautiful photo as well. Taken by someone who knew how to use an above average camera.
I just noticed these two cars look a lot the same, I wonder if they are? https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/front-engine-dragsters-of-the-50s.1263235/
This shot of Big Daddy (or quite likely brother Ed Garlits) needed to be "juiced-up" a li'l bit. Kind of an unusual pic with the big Dodge wedge and the chain driven blower. Don't think I've ever seen this shot before. Thanks for posting it!
If you look closer, you will see that it is a 2" Gilmer belt, with a Delta style swing arm idler, and expanded metal guard.
Actually from the aluminum tag riveted to the top of the idler/snout I belive it may be a Sneaky Pete Robinson 2" belt blower drive. This is the tag on mine in the same location
I guess the texture of the expanded metal guard made the belt look more like a chain, at least to my tired eyes. But then Dean Lowe's reply raises another question. Is that really Don in the driver's seat or is it in fact his brother Ed. The two shared more than a passing resemblance. The attached B&W photo claims to be of Ed.
Looked up the address on Zillow. Pete must have been working out of his house in Atlanta. That's a nice place.
Hello, There have been many times that those brothers were mistaken for each other. It did not help matters when the lettering on the creative dragster builds were similar. But if the motors stayed different, then most of the population would have been able to identify each driver in their respective race cars. In my old 1960 films, I knew there was a section of Garlits drag racing somewhere. In 1959, we filmed Don Garlits at Riverside Raceway in a big Westcoast event. Then the following year, almost the similar look FED race car appeared at Lion’s Dragstrip and it was brother, Ed Garlits, but the lettering was so close and everything looked the same, except for the color of the hemi motor. Jnaki So, it takes time for some research and noted additions from those that were in attendance during those early drag racing days. @296ardun and @Dean Lowe could see the difference and remember. Thanks guys @Marty Strode , with all of the excitement and during the rush to separate segments of the newly formed digital versions of film archives in my files, I thought Ed was Don, and so the story continues… YRMV
This is a Lynwood chassis dragster that was acquired by Bob Swanson, here on the HAMB, from Ridgefield, Connecticut and restored to it's former glory. I helped Bob find many of the parts that he needed for the restoration. We took the bare chassis back down to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to Lynn-Weld to have the steering mount that Bob got from me welded in by Bob Bilbow the son of Pat Bilbow, who was the original builder of the dragster.
The Delta Drive idler was mounted to a boss on the right side of the blower front cover where the tri-angle cover usually is.
Our first 6-71 had a Delta setup on a 327 Chevy, and we didn't know about leaving some slack in the belt. My Brother pulled it tight, and on the first run, it broke the front cover. A good lesson in blower belt tension.
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