Projects Gene (Moonlighter) Cromer's A/G Willys Resurrection

Gene...Congradulations on the induction in the Hall of Fame. You have a great looking car and you are a FIRST CLASS person....JT

 

very kool gene! doesn't get any better than that!

 

Watching Gene, hanging on the fence, I was transformed back to the 60's as a 13 year old kid again watching my Hero race.

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Gene didn't disappoint anyone.

Afterwards I talked to Gene,Ruth and Melvin,,smiles were the order of the day!

Thank you Frank for sharing the great video,but I suspect you just might have another one up your sleeve.HRP

 

What kind of E.T. was that? Looked great!

 

Genes first run in completion in over 40 years, the video against me ( Y'all didn't think I would let anybody else have that honor did you LOL) was a 6.58. The next pass witch would have been only his 2nd in completion against Tim Bailey was 6.25 Gene won the round the place went nuts.


Mission accomplished


Thank's to all the Hamb members for the support there was times on this rebuild that I was about to give up then someone would post something nice that would keep me going. Thank's again ~Quain~

 

After watching that vid I clicked back on page 1 to remind myself how this all began and thought to myself, man, what an awesome thread this is!

 

So true!


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I LOVE IT!!! GO, GENE!

To see him hanging the front wheels on a launch after 40 years brought tears to my eyes. What a great story, and a huge thanks to everyone who made this very special man's dream come true.

 

Excellent ! It's so good to see Gene making a run in his car, just excellent !

 

Gassers at Greer, got to love it. Nice to see history saved. Quainn you and you're guys who helped do this should be sainted.

 

There are a bunch of pictures up at www.competitionplus.com

 

Believe me,you are not the only one. HRP

 

My guess is Gene wont be needing the Viagra this weekend!

It was a good show and enjoyed the day.

 

Thank you for bringing us along on the rebirth of this great car and driver! One big Aloha and Mahalo to you Quain!

 

Thanks Quain for everything you have done, not just on the car. You and Cynthia have really done a great job of making all of us feel like family. I could say you don't know how we old farts feel seeing Gene racing in the Moonlighter again, but I know you feel the same way.

 

Yesterday is a day that followers of Gene Cromer will never forget. I believe we witnessed the Ted Williams of drag racing because he began as a winner and came back as a winner. You will never meet nicer people than Gene and his family. Gene has always commanded respect by the way he has lived his life but NEVER demanded it. Thanks to everybody who made this possible but I want to thank Melvin Craft for being such a loyal friend and assistant to Gene. Yesterday, he worked like a energetic 22 year old, pulling plugs, making adjustments on wheelie bars (that old girl still had the front wheels a foot off the ground!) and suspension.

 

You nailed it with this post, especially about Melvin. He's been right beside Gene every step of the way and is perfectly happy to stay out of the spotlight.

 

Here's Gene's 1st round win in over 40 years, a 6.25 in the 1/8 is pretty good.http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kN_qxbueZo

 

Right around 9.88 in the quarter mile.... That FE is runnin!!

Anybody know what the mph was?

Congrats Mr. Cromer!!!

Link wouldn't work as above.

Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kN_qxbueZo

 

6.25 would be a low 9.80 1/4 mile time at around 130mph! Nice pass Gene.

 

Awesome, just awesome.

 

I knew Frank had filmed Gene's win,the link didn't work but I am happy to help out. HRP

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After this run I asked Ruth what she thought when Gene pulled the wheels off the ground. She said, "put'em down and go"!

 

Looks like it didn't take much to get Gene on his game. There is nothing cooler than seeing a legend put 'em down again. I sometimes wear my Moonlighter tee shirt to work and I'm looking forward to letting the Tuners know that this old mechanically injected beast can still lay down 9s.

 

1st run was 109 mph 2nd run was 106 mph.

 

That video of the moonlighter wheelie rules, Gene pulls those gears!


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Some period perspective is in order. Gene's car is built back to 1967 spec's wih old period spare engine parts and injection. Quain added about 100lbs of safety bars to the car and it is running a stock stroke 427 crank, not the 468 stroker crank it had back then. The National Record in A/G was 9.83 back in 1967. I'd say Gene's setup, tuning and driving must be very near spot on to turn the times he is turning.When he puts a more powerful setup between the frame rails, it should be an easy 5 second 1/8 mile machine. Gene & Melvin, I'm so proud of y'all !! --- Steve ---

 

We had the legendary announcer Bret Kepner fly in from St.louis to do the announcing I wish Y'all could have heard him he knew all the history on Gene even the date when he won his first race at Greer dragway. It was an awesome day.

 

Pretty Sweet, race cars racing, I like it

 

Your right oldcolt the engine was built and tuned by Gene. He drove that car like he had never gotten out of the seat.The first practice run the car went hard left Gene did a quick petal and went right down the track, my heart dropped but he had it under control. Also keep in mind that our rules don't allow any rookie switches like 2 steps or electric shifters he did this with no driver aids.