History Jesse James LSR Car HISTORY *NFD-JTF*

NFD - JTF = NO fucking drama, just the facts!!!!!!!!! What is the past history on the Hydrogen powered car Jesse James ran at El Mirage back in June? The run will be on the Sunday show, and I know the car is old with Lake and Salt history, may even have a Hot Rod cover shot. Post some photos and info if you have it.

 

The actual car being used is a former land speeder called the Dees-Milodon Engineering-Davis B Streamliner, which had previously attained speeds as high as 237 miles per hour at Bonneville. Replacing the car's old Chrysler powerplant will be a brand new 572 cubic inch Chevy crate motor that's been converted to run on gaseous hydrogen


Motorcycle madman Jesse James has unofficially broken the land speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle, and he did it in a car that packs modern technology into a vintage racer more than 40 years old.

The guy behind West Coast Choppers blazed across El Mirage Dry Lake Bed at 199.7 mph in a car he claims he spent “a couple million bucks” building. He’d been toying with the idea of an alt-fuel racer, but rather than start from scratch — as BMW did with the slick H2R racer that previously held the record — he modified a ’60s-era streamliner to run on gaseous hydrogen.

“I think it’s way cooler to take an old hunk of shit that many considered useless and make it haul ass,” James told Wired.com. “It has built-in soul and history. Plus, it’s recycling.”


That hunk of shit is a somewhat historic machine called the Dees Milodon Engineering - Davis B streamliner, and it is no stranger to the salt. The car once hit 237 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats using a Chrysler engine, and James says it set a record for a front-wheel-drive vehicle. It hadn’t seen action for awhile, and when James first saw the car it was hanging in a friend’s shop.

“I always loved the way it looked,” James said. “Kinda like an evil flying saucer.”


now for some drama,,you made it this far on the HAMB and you can't do a seach on the internet?

 

i blame it on my meds,

kinda wish it would have been redone with the hemi again and run to see if it could break it's old class record

That hunk of shit is a somewhat historic machine called the Dees Milodon Engineering - Davis B streamliner, and it is no stranger to the salt. The car once hit 237 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats using a Chrysler engine, and James says it set a record for a front-wheel-drive vehicle. It hadn’t seen action for awhile, and when James first saw the car it was hanging in a friend’s shop.

“I always loved the way it looked,” James said. “Kinda like an evil flying saucer.”

 

Pretty sure the car was on the cover of Hot Rod in it's original form.

Since they were using a historical car and re-vamping it I would have preferred they converted period enigines to hydrogen. Would have made a more interesting comparison. Just my 2 cents.

 

The evil flying saucer.

 

Thanks Oldchevy! I can Google, but thought some HAMB members may have worked on the car in years past or watched it run. As a MILLER nut I've always wondered if Mark Dees ever thought about running MILLER power in the car.

 

Just, simply, COOL AS HELL.

 

well front wheel drive and i supose they thought like most others using a newer powerpalnt the chrysler went in, not to say the miller engine couldnt have been made to run,

 

..this has been dug over at landracing.com where a few folk who know their onions have had their say....
http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php/topic,6235.0.html

200mph with a 572 in a 'liner ain't real quick even if it was running on farts. JJ is all about the publicity, if it was about the facts he'd mix it with the big hitters ...which it seems he is studiously avoiding.

 

What facts? This thread is about the original car and hoping to get some information on it. Save all the silly shit for that other thread: yeah, we know it doesn't "hold" the record, and speaking for myself, I don't give a shit.

It's cool that he took an old speed machine and updated it with new technology and put it back in its environment, rather than putting it in a freakin' museum to collect dust.

 

Good for Jesse.. Doin it right. Lucky

 

I would think two bills plus or minus at El Mirage is pretty crisp, sanctioned or not. And wouldn't it be a bit of nice if some of the old timers, who are always aching for a little publicity for dry lakes going-ons (and the clout it brings to help save-the-salt) would extend an invite for Mr. James & Co. to join them at Bonneville for a real go at the factual reality of tech and clocks? Whats wrong with that? If memory serves, there is a history of etiquette in the racing ranks, whether the man in the machine be a wonker or not.

 

Agreed Lucky!

 

Anyone know if the car is gonna be at the salt? What about the Hydrogren car the school built that was there last yr?

 

don't think so...could be wrong but.

Agreed, but he doesn't need to be invited, he just needs a club membership and I believe he has one.

each to his own 'dude , and as you pointed out the thread is about the car...but you need to know that that car ain't some old sh**ter , it held a record for a long time....hang on , I found this thing called Google search....the following was C&p'd from an article by John Wilson....



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Don "Muldoon" Alderson​

12/2/1932 - 9/10/2001​

Don Alderson was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 2, 1932. His parents were teacher/missionaries and Don's early memories were of an idyllic time when Hawaii was still a quiet, simple place where a barefoot boy could run with the wind.
Following Pearl Harbor the family moved to Los Angeles, where Don spent his teenage years, attending Newberry Park Academy High School. Like many boys of the period, Don worked at a local gas station. In those days you could get a learner's permit at the age of 13½ , in preparation for which he purchased and rebuilt a Model A roadster. From that point onward he always owned a Model A, sometimes two or three at a time.
After high school, Don attended La Sierra College in Riverside, during which time he began his formal racing connection at the old Santa Ana drag strip, now the Orange County airport. In 1951 he transferred to Walla Walla College in Washington state to work toward an engineering degree. During this period, Don and a friend built up a T-bucket roadster, towed it from Washington state to Santa Ana during Christmas vacation and ran it to a top speed of 109 mph. However, in 1952 the Korean War interrupted and Don found himself in Korea, serving appropriately as NCOIC of a motor pool operation. War is hell, but when he reminisced Don always preferred to relate the inevitable wild and cocky things which accompany young men at war.
Ending his two-year Army stint, Don returned to California and a job at Schrillo Tool Engineering in Los Angeles. At Schrillo's he was privileged to go through a very complete apprenticeship in design and manufacturing of aircraft components and assemblies. Rising to the position of Shop Foreman, Don built and oversaw assembly of aircraft subsystems such as cabin pressurization units for the DC-6, 7 and 8 aircraft.
In 1957, Don and his friend Milo Franklin determined to branch out on their own and in November of that year formed "Milodon Engineering, Inc". Initially, Milodon was primarily an aircraft and missile job shop. However, automobiles and automobile racing were always close to Don's heart, and gradually Milodon began to produce a few items which went primarily into Don's own cars and engines.
Don was by then fully involved with Bonneville racing, 1/4 mile drags and Dry Lake Bed racing. Don was an active member of the Gear Grinders, a major club within the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA). In 1956 Don drove his street roadster to a record speed of 131 mph. When fellow racers inquired about the source of a special part and received Don's reply "I made it", the inevitable request was "next time you make one, make me two!".
This demand accelerated a drift at Milodon from aircraft components to automotive product development. Quantities of "special parts" grew from batches of three or four to dozens and finally to thousands. In 1962 Don acquired sole ownership of the company, and soon Milodon was a full time race engine part manufacturer. The products grew from support items such as beefed-up main bearing supports, oil systems, oil pans and the like to major products such as 426-Chrysler and 350-Chevy style aluminum blocks manufactured specifically for racing engines. Wins by Chris "Crazy Greek" Karamesines and Don Garlits in Milodon-engined dragsters made the company a byword. By 1985 Milodon had 42 employees and a product line of some 900-plus items.
For Don, the '60s were the glory years of racing. In 1965, Don's engines powered the Herda, Knapp and Milodon streamliner. Bob Herda was the driver of the streamliner and in Don's estimation the best aerodynamics guru in the automotive racing business. Running both big-block 460's and smaller 299's allowed the car to compete in both Class B and Class C. The streamliner rolled to a Bonneville record on it's first outing. Over the next three years the car broke it's own record 18 times, eight times in a single year. In 1967 the Ford Autolite division contacted Don and asked if he would build up a special SOHC engine to run in the streamliner in November of 1967 as a special tribute to Henry Ford's record breaking runs at Daytona Beach 40 years earlier. The deadline was met, and the streamliner's final best speed of 357+ mph set that November was to stand as a class record for an incredible 28 years.
While automotive racing was Don's first passion, his love of speed quite naturally attracted him to a parallel involvement in the world of aviation. In 1963, an old buddy who was an ex-military flight instructor seduced Don into purchasing a WW-II era T-6 trainer. Not satisfied with the speed and performance of the T-6, he moved to a T-28 and finally to every young boy's testosterone-fuelled dream, a P-51 Mustang. Quite naturally, this interest and activity led to supplying parts for many major air-racing names. Special machining, gearbox mods and the like went into such record-setting aircraft as Darryl Greenamyer's Bearcat & F-104 Starfighter, and Ed Browning's highly modified P-51 Red Baron.
In addition to the ex-military heavy iron, Don also owned a string of more "normal" aircraft, such as Twin Beeches, a Baron and several Bonanzas. An interest in T-34 trainers led eventually to the purchase of two T-34's and connected Don with Earl Parks of Parks Industries in Amarillo, TX, for whom Don made special castings and parts used in Earl's restoration of T-34 aircraft from all over the world. Don remained very active in the T-34 "community" until declining health finally dictated otherwise.
In 1986 Don sold Milodon and moved to semi-retirement as one of the original residents of the Rosamond Skypark north of Los Angeles. Semi-retirement, in addition to flying the Bonanza and the T-34s, meant the formation of Muldoon Engineering to manufacture and market a limited line of automotive performance products and "special" items. These items were marketed under the Muldoon Engineering name and also as "no-name" and/or major-name branded products and were well respected in the performance industry.
Don's contributions to motorsports and the automotive performance industry have been honored numerous times by many organizations that are household names in the field. The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and the Special Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) have both honored Don with awards at their conventions. Posthumously, Don was selected for the Dry Lakes Racing Hall of Fame by the Gold Coast Roadster & Racing Club. Capping the list, a blue-ribbon selection board has tapped Don for induction into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, founded by racing great Don Garlits.
Don was a large man in both body and spirit, and he lived a life to match. He described himself as a "horribly impulsive man". Perhaps, but the impulse this writer saw was to live the best and most rewarding life he could. And that ain't so bad.
John Wilson
Rosamond Skypark
September, 2002


Gee I have to admit that was even tougher than sitting back and throwing Sh**....
[/FONT]But wait!! there's more.....
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[/FONT]The outlaw Jesse James stirs up controversy in land-speed racing
So did Jesse James set a record or not?

That’s the question buzzing around the landspeed racing community this week after the motorcycle builder and television star drove a hydrogen-powered streamliner to 199.7 MPH at El Mirage on June 16.

Of course, the press release issued by Spike — the network airing James’s show, for which the run was filmed — claims that he did break the record for hydrogen-powered, piston-engined, wheel-driven vehicles, topping an earlier speed of 184 MPH set by BMW.

And nobody seems to doubt that James did indeed reach that speed in the 1960s-era Dees Milodon Engineering – Davis B 777 streamliner, which James (under the guidance of land-speed racer Mike Cook) bought, lengthened, updated and fitted with a twin-turbo 780hp 572-cu.in. big-block Chevrolet V-8, converted to suck down 5,000 PSI of hydrogen.

But the controversy, spearheaded by landspeed racing historian Louise Noeth, centers on which sanctioning body supervised the run and how exactly the run could be stamped with a record. Noeth has stated that because no sanctioning body oversaw the run, it does not qualify for a record. The Southern California Timing Association, the sanctioning body that typically runs events at El Mirage, has distanced themselves from the run and stated that James never set any record.

Mike Cook, who not only helped James build the streamliner, but also handled course layout and timing for the run through his company, Cook’s Land Speed Events, said that, indeed, the run was not part of a sanctioned event. “We didn’t feel there was any reason for sanctioning this event,” Cook said. “Because there is no class to sanction the car in.” While the BMW’s record was FIA sanctioned, Cook said FIA provides no class for non-production-based vehicles such as James’s. However, Cook said he did use FIA-certified timing equipment and set up the course for James’s run exactly as courses are set up for typical racing at El Mirage.

“Jesse only wanted to go 200 MPH on hydrogen,” Cook said. “And he is going to try again to meet that goal.”
- By Daniel Strohl


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Boy you sure did pick a delicate subject Bob. I remember the previous thread about this got way outa control i refused to read most of it. Let's hope this one stays on topic.

I'd also like to know more of this car. What was done to upgrade it to todays rules. Many racing cars are made redundant after a decade so this one is interesting. Maybe those esteemed gentleman from Landracing can fill us in.

 

I went to the trouble of posting a disclaimer/request in the first sentance, but the thread is vearing off course. PRE J.J. history is what I requested, there must be some magazine coverage,& photos taken. Did Mark Dees ever drive it? Thanks for the Wilson article Dr. Goggles. Knowing any race cars full history is always interesting to me.

 

If you want to look at old streamliners look to the 444 Vesco liner. First ran in '57 I believe. Has run plenty fast through the years. Back to a four banger these days. Just going fast with out all the drama. You ever see the show? "Jesse gona die. What a hero." What bull.

 

That was the yellow drop tank with the Riley 4Port, right? Did it ever top 200MPH?

 

The first narrow streamliner in 1957. Went 211 with Offy power later. Also a picture of how it looked in '08. Goggle Vesco for lots of info.

 

Total Publicity Stunt..........







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I wonder how much dirt gets caught in those chutes...

 

good for J

i wanna go 200

 

Jessie, would you ever consider doing a motorcycle land speed record and if so what class would you like to compete in? What would the current record be for that class?
Enjoyed your shows that have aired, hopefully we'll get to see more new episodes next year!

 

what kind of injectors does your car use Jesse?

 

Plenty

 

Hey, the man had the nads to strap in and do it.

Kudos, James

And BTW, JESSE has no fucking "I" in it!!!

 

Crazy.

Any plans to run it at a sanctioned event? What class?
Or is that a political shit-storm?

- Joe

 

Wow.
Good job.
Great photos too.