History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

The Cougar you describe sounds a lot like Wanye Gapp's '67 NASCAR U/S 1 Cougar. Wayne was my neighbor, and I used to walk down to his house and watch him build it. I was building my '67 Tunnel Port Fairlane at the same time. Attached is a picture of the car with Wayne Gapp.

 

Bring back the AHRA and NASCAR into drag racing fold. Hell, bring back Ultra Stock.

WCD

I would have welcomed a return of either NASCAR or AHRA. You could actually make money racing back then. My '65 Falcon and my '67 Fairlane were built with $2,500 out-of-pocket money (plus the free parts from Ford) and we used to race three nights a week for $100 per round. We paid for the cars many times over, and even after traveling costs and maintenence, we were money ahead. In fact, those winnings bought new furniture for our home, a new truck, and helped pay for a new house. A new Ford F350 chassis and Cab truck was under $3000 and $1500 more for the slant-back hauler body.

Fourty years later I was still racing for the same $100 a round, but now with a car that cost over $50,000, a diesel duallie truck that cost $35,000, a $20,000 trailer, $3,000 golf cart, $1,000 racing radios, a $1,000 fire suit and a $250 helmet.


Back in the day NASCAR and AHRA Racing was good, fast and cheap (did not have to pick two out of three)

Wally Parks did a lot to professionalize drag racing, but a lot less money went to the racers. And I am sure his staff made more money than NASCAR and AHRA.

 

Mr. Lyall;
Even though you were FMC connected, how many contingency product decals did you have to plaster your cars with back then, just to be able to race, let alone be competitive on a national level ?

I've said it before and I'll continue saying it with every opportunity I have:
Marketing the sport of auto racing did more harm than anything the sanctioning bodies or competitors could ever have done, and to all forms of auto racing.
Tom S. in Tn.

P.S. and a side note;
My hats off to you Dave and all the guys standing alone independently from the global driller/refiners and trying to make a living selling retail fuel to the public.
It was horrendous in 74'-75', but I simply don't see how it's done in the present day contrived volatility of today's market.
And I still cringe every time I recall what happened to the national chain of Flying J fuel stops. A magnificent and extremely well run organization that was victimized by some pimple faced kids shooting craps in the commodity exchange markets.
Tom S. in Tn. (again and thanks)

 

my brother-in-law and i did the same thing in the 60s but didnt quite win enough for the cuda we bought. no sponsors, worked everyday, raced twice a week anywhere we could and get back for the next work day. mid 70s just too expensive and we had to quit. still have the cuda though in almost show room condition

 

Any pic's of the Cuda?

 

do have pics of the cuda but havent mastered posting them

 

Smirnoff:

Which of my stations are you referring to? One was the Sunoco on the west side of Middlebelt just south of Warren Avenue in Garden City, Michigan, and the other was the Sunoco on the S/W Corner of Inkster Road and Avondale in Inkster, Mich.

Clyde Detrick was my Mechanic on my '69 and '70 "Going Thing" Mustangs, and when I sold out after the '70 season, I gave him all of my remaining spare 427 Tunnel Port Parts. He teamed up with Antieau as Antieau's Welding was "The Place" for all forms of chassis work, roll bars, engine machining and heli-arc welding. Russ Antieau made both of my Tunnel ram Intakes for my Boss 429. One was built by mating a big block Chevy Tunnel Ram top with a Ford 429 NASCAR lower. The other was made from Aluminum tubing and aluminum flat stock. Antieau probably made the fuel injection manifold for their car that Clyde drove using a Hilborn Hi-Riser upper and a Tunnel Port lower section. They were capable of making almost anything a racer needed in those days, and a Ford Racer needed a lot because the After-Market guys were slow to tool up for the Ford Stuff. Here is a picture of the Boss Tunnel Ram they built for me using the Chevy top and middle and the Ford bottom. Ford used this manifold as the base line for developing the Weiand Boss Tunnel Ram with Weiand. I used to take it in to the Ford Dyno Lab every Monday, and pick it back up Friday to go racing for the weekend.

 

What size Holleys are on that Boss 429 tunnel ram? Also,are you aware that Doug Herzog is restoring Fast Eddie Schartmans Super Stock Boss 429 Cougar?

 

Dave,

It was the station on Middlebelt in Garden City, back then I also remember you had a 1960's Ford station wagon that the guys used for part runs, could have been a '64 Fairlane station wagon that was lettered?

Thanks for posting the photos of the intakes!

Also....when you wrecked your Mustang at Detroit Dragway during the evening, three (3) of us faintly saw & heard the crash. We were at the end of the dragway that night waiting for another friend to run his Comet to hear the problems (missing) the car was having in 4th gear going through the lights. While waiting for him, unknown to us that is when you made your run.....all we heard were tires squealing & saw sparks flying everywhere, which didn't last very long. One of my friends jumped into the tow car & raced back to let the dragstrip staff know there was a crash & debris was scattered on the track. We yelled to let you know help was on the way, don't know if you heard us or not, you were busy kicking around scattered parts & appeared to be OK.

 

I have a pic like this one that Mr Norm signed for me at the Mopar NATS one year. Nice guy.

 

I recall this car from it being shwon in a few magazines over the years. Big fan of the old BB/GS class cars. The very class that this competed in. Here in So-Cal we had a 8 car open circuit for BB/GS. Very fun to watch as the AA/GS had morphed into gas funny cars by then, while most of the BB/GS still retained the classic body styles that gassers were known for.

 

Analog Dog:

I don't know if the carbs in the pictures, taken by the restoration specialist while he was restoring the car to period-correct 1969, are the actual carbs I ran in 1969 - 1970. Originally, I used Holley prototype carbs, which were refered to a "770s".

They were Holley 780 bases with different venturi boosters and mechanical secondaries, and double squirters. They resembled what Holley later released for production as 660's, only with bigger bores, and they strongly resembled the Holley "750 Double Pumpers" which were released for production by Holley several years later.

 

Dave Lyall... I'm amazed at what racers did to modify the Holley carburetor back in the day.I remember reading somewhere that "The Grump" was at the track testing and had 4 brand new Holleys sitting on a bench.He then proceded to take a hacksaw to them and cut them in half.He then epoxyed the 2 primarie halves together to make 1 carb.He then did this to the other 2 carbs as well.When asked why he was doing this he said that Holley didn't make them the way he liked....

 

Great thread, guys. The first race I ever saw was an Ultra Stock event at old Pittsburgh International when it was NASCAR sanctioned, in April of 1965. The winner of the event was Melvin Yow, whose #1 65 Hemi Dodge inspired me to build my own 65 Hemi Dodge, which I've raced for 43 years.
I wrote a piece on NASCAR drag racing some years back...if they want to bring it back, it's fine with me. http://www.competitionplus.com/07_15_2004/nascar_drag.html

 

Thanks for the article Steve.
Tom S.

 

WCD. good catch on my avatar picture! it is indeed the "bad news coupe" it was the fuel altered that got me hooked on drag racing. i think you and i may be the only people on this site that remember the car.

 

Many of us on the HAMB were in Southern California in the mid-60's and remember that car well.
I remember it many times out at Fontana and was standing mid-track went it rolled into a ball at Irwindale one afternoon.
There's quite a few racers from those days and from here in SoCal that chime in all the time here. I shot this right after it was loaded on the trailer...piece by piece.

 

Or if you need some 2 bbls.

Glenn Self Racing.

 

wow! what a great shot. i was there that day also as i was whenever it ran. Joe Martinez built another car very soon after the crash, a topolino body on a top fuel car. much like Flamin' Frank pedregon's car. i have some photos of it and i will try to down load them. Mazooma, do you have anymore photo's of the b.n.c? and do you happen to ever sell any?

 

Fontana...1966

 

WOW!!! that is a great shot...you are making my day!!!!

 

Seeing this photo taken at Fontana can't forget to praise the advertising of Ben Christ in these full center page spread that were in numerous 1966 Drag News.

 

I don't have it anymore but The Bad News Coupe was featured in a late fifties-early-sixties Hot Rod when it was white or a very light color. That and the Fiat from MD, named Anxious are two favorite Fiats of mine.
Joel

 

Doug is right. The Bad News Coupe is well remembered here. I remember my friend and I riding our bikes down to Bruce Mc Dowell's mom's house in La Puente in 1958 to watch Bruce and his high school friends build the coupe. They pooled their money to buy a clean original Fiat body, a Model A frame, and a wrecking yard Chrysler hemi. They managed to get the coupe running and took it to the '59 March Meet. Running the 6 carb hemi they didn't have much success, but had a lot of fun. Then Bruce met Bob Sidebothom, and Demar Ray. Bob reworked the frame to a super short 86" wheelbase and Demar provided his 400" blown fuel hemi, and the original Bad News coupe was born. Bob drove and Demar wrenched, and the team made history. Bruce sold the coupe, and the version in your avitar that Doug saw get rolled into a ball by the new owner was an evolution of the original car first built by some tallented high school kids. Bruce's son, Steve, ran an alcohol funny car named, of course, the Bad News coupe! I was 14 when I watched the Bad News coupe make is very first pass on a drag strip at the '59 March Meet. Remember it, indeed!