All day Saturday I tried and tried to get the old mans yellow Henry-J into a respectable bracket and pass after pass I was having fun but realized it was not going to run in the 12's or better. Hell I was happy to see a 13.89 against FIDDY, by his mistake I might add, but still slower than I had run in the 80's with the old car. It was a long tip, fourteen hours, plus a two hour cat nap thanks to a 5:30am bed time , to get the old car back to Georgia and the whole trip home I was thinking "what can I do to the old bird to make her a FAST CROWD PLEASER for next year"????? I drove and thought of all the toy's I could put on her for next year and how I could get rid of the old hard drag slicks and get some SOFT STICKYYYY one's, better ignition, more carb, a blower, new ALUMINUM HEADS just some paint and a little metal shaving's and no-one would know they were aluminum-------- and on and on!!! Got up this morning at 8:00am, after going to bed at 5:00am and did the same thing all day!!!!!!!!!! Sitting here in my chair tonight I caught a show of the the drag strip in 1959 and they were peeling some killer fat times--- much like the ones ------- the ones I was pulling--------------could it be that the thing that the old man was trying to do was ---- HELL I WAS FAST!!!!!!!! I FIT ALL THE TIME SLIPS THEY WERE TURNING THEN!!! I just realised I was racing with yesterday's "TECHNOLOGY" against a bunch of old looking car's that were built with TODAY'S TECHNOLOGY". Not to knock the ones that showed up built in the last twenty years but, the old HENRY is as close to what it was in the 1960's, shy of the automatic tranny, as a car from that period can get. In short I am about to go to bed with about sixteen hours of sleep in since Thursday morning at 7:00am with a since of satisfaction, and that same stupid grinn on my face I have had since 3:00 Saturday afternoon!!! I had a blast!!! Thanks to all who helped it happen and I will be there next year with a few new gadgets but probably still in the 13's so look out FIDDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, all I know is that I drove 700 miles to make the drags at mokan and I thought that Henry J was right on the mark. Didn't care what the time was, it was a pleasure just to see and hear it run. Last henry I got to see was back in 1963. Thanks big time for making my weekend and it's a show piece as is. ManiacT
Good gawd... I hope it doesn't become un-cool to run "non traditional times"... Build a motor, get a converter, and some tires... and run that sucker! But on the other hand... if you're having fun, screw it... keep pecking away at it! Sam.
By all means sam, I was impressed and a little squeamish at some of the times turned. I know htere are a few folks looking to add a rollbar to their cars, if not they should be. I find it truly awesome to look at the type of car and compare it to the same thing 40 years ago and see us running a second or two faster. Good ol days my ass, we are living them.
I was just talking to Dad about the same thing. Intake, 4bbl carb, hei dist, and a poly trans mount. The rubber one I destroyed will be my new paperweight on my desk. It will remind me every day how much fun we had this year. Ill be back next year and who knows I might be a little faster. Pooch
keep yer pants on dude... I was EXACTLY one second slower'n you in my eliminations pass with a 14.89 @ 91.17 i figger, more tire, headers, cam an' a HEI and im gunna be pullin some times DEEP into the 14's... maybe even topside 13's... make sure you bring that cute yeller lawn-tractor back in '08 now, ya hear? looser (you) buys the post race brew.
I sure miss seeing that ole car around Columbia. Sounds like you had a blast. Atch sent me a pic of it a few years ago lined up against another Henry J at Mokan. Great photo.
Yup, that was year one with Jerry and Tommy. The Vagabonds were talking about that day, those two guys are missed.
Dude - loved the Henry 'J', my favorite drag car. Don't go overboard, just have fun with it, man. I dug it just the way it is.
I loved your car and was hoping to get to run ya, but maybe the next time...as far as the times, most of who I talked to in the staging lanes complaind that their car was running off that day....I would have to agree as my car was at least 1/2 second slow.... I was mad about it the first 2 passes, but then I realized after that that I was racing strait up with no bracket bull shit and having a great time. It was like the old days.....Heaven. Don
old hard drag slicks ?,can add 1 or 2 more to your time all by them self. New tire's maybe the only thing really needed. My Study LARK Daytona GTS Steet Stock showed that def with just new tires,15.02 down to 14.10.
I'm not bashing the thought of non trad's technology, shit if it weren't for the history of the old car and the old lady leaving me I would have stopped Summit in Atlanta yesterday on the way home and maxed out every credit card I have. Do not get me wrong, I had probably a better time than most at the drags knowing I was doing something my dad had pasted on to me in the car he built in 1960 and held the world record in the same way they were running them back then. I kept meeting his old friends and they kept telling me how good a person he was!!!! SHIT it was more than I could almost take! I'm almost glad I didn't come last year, I don't think I could have made the whole weekend with the all the talk about him. Thanks to Ryan and all who made it such well orchestrated weekend and please don't change a damn thing!!! Although,,, I may have to pull one of the old Henry-J shells and build a GASSER with the new bells and whistles to fill the need for speed I was lacking!!!!!!!!! Maybe she won't leave me---I'll miss her if she does--at the TRACK!!!!!!!!!!!
all ya gotta think is....man i had fun, i did a big smokey under the ramada awning at 2 am, and got a buzz with some really great folks tim!!!! and remember, your pop was lookin down the whole time sayin.."thats my boy" todd
Unless your driving skills have improved sometime during the last twenty years, I'd stick with what you've got for a while...
Are you sure you didn't bend all the valves from redlining it in the parking lot like twenty times on Fri. night? Sweet car man I think it was perfect.
Damm you Breeder... You got me thinking about my father. I raced with him from 1959 till he died 5 years ago.
yeah, i told several buddys that if dad hadnt passed last year he would of at the drags...close to heaven on earth as pop could get! nothin woulda made dad happier then to see them willys and anglias rippin it up..
pooch .you need to bring that thing to ardmore this sat for the reunion race, i have free car full tickets and you can run with the gasser group...............sam
Alright ,,,,,, I may have two more cars???????????? Is that Sean cracking jokes from the recliner again??? Where in the hell was your asssss? I drove a fourteen hour trip it took sixteen with problems and you couldn't even get out of your chair??? If I were you I'd stick to the recliner!!And yes the 2:00 am burnout was the highlight of the weekend! Thanks for the closest thing I could get to other than the old man being there in the flesh and yes "HE WAS PROUD"!! TIIIIMMMMMYYYYYYYY~!!!!!!!
*ahem* Being one of the builders of a "techie rod", I can say, with 0 uncertianty that we cheat. But, ask anyone, Cheating is racing. and we like to race, therefore, we cheat. and for the record, our Killer aftermarket heads are Iron, not looneymum. (we save those for cars with hoods...Except D.W., but there ain't alot of hiding his cheating.)
Cheating is doing something against the rules. If there are no set rules, then there isn't any cheating. If we were racing in a class that said no aftermarket heads, I wouldn't be running them. Or anything else that didn't fit in those rules. Cheating may be racing, but I don't cheat. It's one of the many reasons I do this as a hobby, and not for money. If I didn't become a liar, or cheater, after a decade in the car business, I'm not going to start now. Sorry, you just hit a nerve. Besides, he didn't say anything about cheating. He was just making the point that his time slips were like comparing apples to bowling balls.
The Jalopy Journal
