I saw a thread covering the '58 Nats on here, and people seemed interested, so figured I had better do my part and post some '59 Nats stuff I've collected over the years...
And here's a regular participant decal...the gentleman I acquired it from couldn't authenticate it's originality 100% as it was in with some other vintage decals he ran across, so for now I'll call it a reproduction...
And, the very reason(s) I became interested in the '59 Nationals...Ken Barnhart & Ted Harbit. I've became "friends" with these guys over the course of my racing career, and through conversations with them found out they raced each other in the finals of E/Stock way back in 1959...Harbit was the winner, Barnhart was runner-up. That is Ted in the picture on the left, next to his post-'59 Nats Studebaker, his original "Teacher's Pet"...he ran an earlier Stude in Detroit, but unfortunately doesn't have any pictures. In the picture to the right below is Ken...this picture is of Ken & the very car he raced in Detroit in '59, and was taken by his mother when he stopped by her house...I *believe* the car is a '39 Caddy? Don't shoot me if that's wrong...!!
I have the soundtrack from the 59 Nats! 28 tracks of the top cars warming up and taking off, put out by Riverside "Sounds in Motion" Records. This album was at my parent's house when I was a kid, I have no idea where it came from. Recently found it in a box while we were cleaning up Mom's estate. Kinda cool to listen to, my brother burned it to a CD for me.
If you would like to see a video,look on youtube under ingenuity in action. As you watch this great film,and notice a blue 34 roadster called CONFUSION,Ive been fortunate to own it since 1970. But watch the film,its a good source of what went on.
I've had a couple guys ask if I had pictures of their cars @ the Nats, so if I get a chance I'll scan the pages of the Drag News coverage, and maybe someone can recognize some cars...
A little known fact is that Buster Coach started his career at Dtroit Dragway when Ed Eaton wanted to check the crank in Buster's car and buster would not let him. So Buster could not race, so Ed made him the starter for the 59 Nationals. This was told to me by Ed Eaton. George
chevy454 ... cool thread ... but get ready to be inundated with Private Messages and/or E-mails ... when I started my "The 1958 NHRA Nationals" thread (click HERE), I was overwhelmed with PM's from HAMBers wanting higher resolution copies of my pics, programs, etc.
I thought Barnhart's car was a Caddy. He ran a 55 Chevy in a lower stock class after the Caddy. I heard he won so many trophys, that he sold them back to the Oswego drag strip. I knew a guy, Bob Busse, who built a 41 Caddy for a lower class and won his class at the Nationals one year. Bob raced a 50-51 Ford before the Caddy.
The Jalopy Journal
