Chicken Hawk destroyed in racing mishap

Ted is a class act as I spoke with him last year in BG for the first time.

Hope everything heals with a little time.....

 

Wow! What a hard crash. He's very lucky to have come out of that one alive. It looks like the only straight piece left on the car is the bullet nose. It would be great to use it again if he builds another Starlight Coupe.

 

That was one ugly nasty wreck....I can't believe he is still with us.....kiss that roll cage! Best to him...if he's like the guys I know (and I'm sure he is) he'll probably build another one........

 

Damn, I was up all night thinking about that wreck and how my car would come out of something like that! Glad and amazed he made it. He must be one tough dude. I love he was talking about salvaging the motor and how he was on the pass of his life!! At 74 he is my hero. Get well soon man. Stay tough!

 

Yep, he didn't just race the Stud, he took the time to show the car at different meets and national Studebaker events. Sure glad he's pulling through to continue living the dream..........

 

wow, hope he comes out of this OK

 

I hope he has a speedy recovery!

Wow, what a mess! Now that is a car that went out in a blaze of glory.

 

That is a wreck! I hope he walks out of the hospital, anybody doing what he was doing at 74 isn't somebody you want to mess with for sure. No doubt in my mind he'll be fine as soon as his head quits spinnin from all those barrell rolls.

 

Roll cage sure did it's job...... . Imagine the result in a stock Stude without seatbelts and helmet.

 

My prayers to the driver for a speedy recovery and prayers and moment of respect to the car. In the end if a car had to go, its better to go out that way in glory than to rust to death.

 

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" height="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>this is from the studebakerdriversclub.com forum......



</TD></TR><TR><TD height="100%" vAlign=top>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] Update Monday morning, May 11, 8 AM. I received the following communication from John Feistritzer last evening. John, you may recall, is one of Ted's long-time racing friends from Muncie Dragway adventures.

Ted and John go back a long, long way. If you have back copies of Turning Wheels, there's a picture of John and Ted together, and a write-up on their friendship, on Page 30 of the February 2002 Turning Wheels. John runs a supercharged 312/300HP 1957 Ford Fairlane tudor, the "Hoosier Hurricane."

John Feistritzer is also an SDC member and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. ('Sharp as a tack, too...but then again, he did go to Purdue University.) John lives in Selma, Indiana, fairly close to the track.

John was not racing Saturday night, but was called at home when Ted crashed. John immediately went right over to the track and assisted with extracting the damaged Chicken Hawk and getting it loaded on Ted's 1961 Studebaker flat/tilt-bed truck after Ted had been transported to the hospital. Then, John took the rig to his [John's] house for safekeeping until Ted (or Mary Ann!) wanted it back home.

Thanks, John, for the following update: [I clarified a couple items in brackets.]


Bob:

Thanks for the report. There seems to be a little discrepancy about where he hit the post, and it is to be expected. Also, the number of rolls reported by various sources vary. Only a video of the whole thing would tell the truth, and if one is out there I'm sure it will surface.

The guy I talked to who was on the return strip directly in line with the scoreboard said the car backed into the pole at the bottom, then stood upright on the pole and the front of the car knocked the WIN light off the scoreboard.

I noticed the pole had a definite "kink" at ground level, then a gentle curve back toward vertical. Not purely vertical, but not bent over like a 20 foot high hit would bend it. I'm sure Ted thought he was 20 ft up while it was vertical.

I posted earlier that the pole stopped just short of the back window. I wondered why it stopped there; it was just sheet metal. Today I saw it. The rear end is what stopped the pole from penetrating further. The back cover of the 9 inch [Ford differential assembly] is severely dented, 'looks like it may be wrapped around the ring gear some. The bolts securing the ladder bar crossmember to the frame are sheared off on the left side.

I talked to Ted about 8:30 this evening, he sounded tired, so we didn't talk long. He was pleased that his car was secure. I also told him I had his cell phone, which really pleased him. Judy and I plan to take the car "home" tomorrow; he seemed to want it home.

You are right about his mental state [i.e., he's "all there"], he told me to take a little extra gas with me, the truck was low and he had intended to gas it up on the way home. [The truck's gas gauge doesn't work.] He said it should make it, but take a couple gallons along just in case. Think I'll just put some gas in it before we leave Muncie.

He asked me if I looked at the car, and did I have an idea what happened. I told him about the rod sticking out of the pan, and that he slid in the oil.

He was saddened to hear the engine broke. I told him I was sorry I made him feel worse, but I would not lie to him about it. Then he related how he had seen 8000 rpm on his tape [recording of a previous run] a couple weeks ago, and wondered if that was the start of the failure. 'Mind is still working!

If I can get Judy rolling early enough, I'll see if I can stop and see him tomorrow after we deliver the car. He still needs our prayers.

John[/FONT]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

Well it sounds like he is with it..and thats great..
amazing after what kind of ride that had to be

 

Thank God he survived. Hoping for a speedy recovery.

 

Seems like he is on the road to recovery which is great. I think he should just leave the car the way it is and build another car from scratch or just a different car altogether. That car went out in a blaze of glory and would be kind of a shame to even try to fix it or use parts off it. I'd park it in the barn and let her rest for a while, she deserves it. Donating it to the NHRA Museum I think would be a good idea if they would take it and display it. They are kind of tight for room there though. Regardless, Ted's a total die hard racer and I am sure he will do something fitting with it one way or another.

 

Ted Harbit you have always been an inspiration and one of our Heroes..you are in our prayers and hope you have a speedy recovery and back to Studebakers!..remember folks, Ted does what he does with all Studebaker stuff, 8,000 rpm and ten seconds out of a 289 Studebaker mill...parts that haven't been made since the early sixties....

 

Ok so he would have kept the track clean but I can't imagine that it would have kept it from getting away from him. I haven't read the article but haveing had one or more let go at speed I'm going to assume that he didn't slip on his own oil. It just doesn't fall that fast.

Never the less preach your rule book bro.

 

I think what he's bringing up is that if there was a diaper in place then there wouldn't have been oil on the track which he then would have drove through and could have caused the accident...assuming that's what actually happened.

 

My heart goes out for a speedy and painfree as possible recovery.

 

Wow that is some wreck ! Get well soon .

 

Best wishes to you Ted for a fast recovery.

 

i have sent a link to maryanne harbit teds wife soohe can read the kind words you all have spoken....

 

Get Well, Ted! You are an icon to all of us!

 

Speedy recovery, Ted!

An inspiration to us all.

 

A memory from HRM, early sixties, that I think is about this car...someone correct me if I'm wrong:
The car won N stock at a major national meet, then was disqualified due to bore being .001 too big...Stock classes had serious rules on everything back then, including max overbore.
Owner and tech guy went over everything, and discovered tha the official micrometer and the owners' differed by .001, and no cheating had been intended, but car was out.
It was noticeably slower in those days...

 

That is true. It seemed a bit petty but whatever. It used to run a tuned 232 and now has a twin turbo'ed 299.

Hot Rod article here. Gives the history of the car.
http://www.studebakerdriversclub.com/chickenhawk.asp

 

Wishing Ted a speedy recovery. Don't know if a diaper would have helped, and won't postulate on that. I will mention that this is the reason the PPE couldn't make a full pass. Stuff happens, and the reason for cages and belts and driveshaft loops and helmets is shown in those pictures!

 

Glad to hear he's still kickin. Thats rough.


There's a lot of cars that end up that way for the same reason. My dad went through the traps at 170 mph on the roof and over 7 times back in '88.

 

That hit was quite a bit harder than mine.....I wish him a speedy recovery...

 

Thank God he wasn't set up for 1/4 mile. The last article I read on that (HOT ROD, August, 2006) showed it to still have a bench seat and running high 10s in the quarter.
Wonder what the Stude guys will do about this. Do pray for Ted. We older ones know that lots goes bad in hospitals.

 

damn shame..wishing ted a speedy recovery