Hot Rods Official hot rod's of the dry lake's thread

Deserving of a bump and update.


Here is Gaters members the Hersom Bros Belly tank that ran in El Mirage and the first SCTA Bonneville event in 1949. Photo courtesy of the AHRF (Jim Miller).

 

Arnold Birner's Modified

 

some art that I've done of cars from the period

 

Jimmy B....very nice thanks for posting.

 

The ball just left the ballpark!! What incredible depictions of hot roddings golden age!!

 

love the art work jimmy. Is this a pick of stu hilborns wreck?

 

What does the letters stand for as far as class? I see B C D and did the numbers mean anthing or was the number what ever the owner wanted?
Just trying to learn,

 

in SCTA
A = 0-183c.i.
B = 183-250c.i.
C = 250-350c.i.
D = 350c.i +

superchargers and DOHC automatically bumped you to a higher class.

The numbers were designated depending on where you finished in the points the previous season. The first 100 numbers were designated to individuals accordingly.

The numbers above 100 were designated to how the Clubs finished in the points championship. They were given a allotted amount of numbers according to club membership, better your club did the lower the numbers. the smaller clubs were lumped with the high numbers like 340, 425 etc

 

Thank you, It makes since now, I wondered if C meant Coupe why roadsters used it, HAHA!!

 

Not to heckle, but I run in G (122 ci max) from the 2011 SCTA rule & record book:

AA= 501 CID and over
A= 440-500.99
B= 373-439.99
C= 306-372.99
D= 261-305.99

On down through the cheap(er) seats

G= 93-122.99

K is the lowest, it reads "up to 30.99 CID0" (not sure about the zero).

 

The info you shared isn't relevant to the scope of this thread, which is Dry Lake Racing up to '48. Your info above is for modern racing so it does shows how classes have evolved in the past 60 years.

The info I posted was from the May '49 SCTA program. The structure was for the most part carried over from '48.

 

Good to know, a reference to the source in your original post would have been useful.

 

Bump for a great thread!

My new dry lake style project.

 

Glad you've bumped this fine thread - love the history.
Thanks and keep it going.

 

I posted this story, from Bonneville 2012, on my build thread, but I'm going to post it here too-this is a cool car with a lot of history!


Sometimes on the salt, the unexpected happens_ you're thrashing in the pits, things haven't went right for a day or two, and it's frustrating.

That happened to me this year-we were having fuel issues, and blew a freeze plug.

We were all working to get the car back on the track, and I kept noticing a gentleman of Japanese descent watch us curiously, and he seemed pretty interested in the flathead.

I got to a point where I could chat, so I made my way over to him.He introduced himself, and we chatted about the FlatCad for a while.

Walter Nakamura was his name, and he owns the Meteor lakester-very probably the first Cadillac flathead powered dry lakes racer! Needless to say, I forgot what was going on in the pits, and chatted about the car his dad and 2 friends had built. Wow, what are the chances?

This is some of the story about the car, that I 'borrowed' from elegantcars.com:



The Meteor was raced at Muroc and hit 104 mph in 1940. Records show only 29 cars broke the 100 mph barrier in 1939.In 1940, three West L.A. high school buddies were obsessed with hot rods and dry lakes. George Nakamura, Dick Phippen, and Carl Hoogoian had little in common, except their interest in fast cars.

Nakamura found the Meteor with its bird cage-like framework, which has riveted sections of aluminum scrap from Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach. It had two velocity stacks pointing skyward with a pair of Stromberg 97 carburetors. When Nakamura bought the race car, he drove on the streets of Culver City with its headlights buried inside the nose and 1939 Ford tail lights.
He drove it regularly until a minor head-on collision sidelined it. Nakamura was slightly injured, but the Meteor was relegated to a yard because he was unable to pay the storage fee. The yard owner removed and sold the flathead engine in the Meteor.

When the three friends were able to get the rest of the car back, they installed a 1937 Cadillac LaSalle V-8 engine, which still remains in the car six decades later. The lives of the three young men changed when Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, except their friendship.
By mid-1942, Nakamura and his relatives were interned with thousands of other Americans of Japanese descent at Amache Internment Camp in Colorado. His two friends were appalled by this. Nakamura was given a 72-hour notice to leave Culver City, so Phippen offered to store the Meteor.
When Nakamura returned three years later in 1945, he started his life over again. Walter Nakamura, the elder Nakamura's son, often asked his dad about the Meteor, but his father refused to discuss it, possibly because he feared his son would be injured while racing it. After George Nakamura died, Phippen called Walter in 2003 and asked if he wanted to take his dad's car home.
Walter was able to get the Meteor back on the road with the untouched patina of storage corrosion and dust.
Walter Nakamura plans to bring the 1939 Lakester Meteor to Santa Barbara from his home in Pleasanton, California.
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great thread,super pics,thanks guys,need more!

 

I just found this site today. I was looking up My Dad(Roy Siegner) and found this. You guys were talking about my Dad and I had to register to see if any of you are still reading this site. I'm Kirk Siegner. So,If any of you knew my Dad I would love to talk to you. My User name is Kirk Siegner. Thanks

 

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Wow, Thanks for the pics. I'm Roy's son Kirk and I just ran across this site. Sure would like to talk to you if your still around. My Username is Kirk Siegner.

 

Up.

 

Damn, this thread needs an up!

 

NEED TO BUMP THIS ONE UP!!