I think yer rules are fine as is. Some of those here don't have a clue what "could happen" regarding over powered cars and safety regs at the tracks hosting events. One big fuck up and ya got an old lookin car that's worthless and illegal. There'll always be "Johnny Lotsadough" racers in any sanctioned and ruled class. So what. Let it fly. No money at stake to win? Trophies only? Who fuckin cares if ya really want this to fly. For what it's worth the hudson deal sounds bitchin and spot-on for "spirit". No cid rule. These old slug fuckin motors aint gonna git it very often if over done. Automatics are fine in my book. There's a safety factor there too for those just gettin into things. No Tbrakes tho. Never had em. I see one poster already opted out from something here tho I dunno what. You can all count on one thing for sure. If you build it for fun and spirit you'll have a fuckin smile so big at the end of the event you'll need to turn yer head to finish it. My .02 if any of ya give a shit...
My 2 cents if ya want fun set forth a set of rules and let them gurge race each other no more pairings or eliminations, just runs down the track kinda like a exhibition class (aka like wheelstanders were in the 60's).Each person could run who they want and pull in the lanes together or set their own personal goals to run each lap faster. Take the King of the hill thing out of it and leave it at that.Like this year you already knew which car was the fastest from time runs and unless some misfortune fell up on it it was gonna win.Not to take anything away from all the guys and cars that worked hard to run but the yellow car guys really did their homework. Take it from me I had just as much fun goin at it with Crow on our 2 bikes which only 3 showed up and we knew who was gonna win of the 3 so it did not matter to me and Crow we just had a blast rippin the track up. Most of the time fun and big money do not go hand in hand.But like stated early,doing your homework and research is also something you should be penalized for either........ Human nature is to up the next competitor in the other lane if there is no carrot on the string then it has to be for fun.......... Also waitin on them rules to see if I want to play along............ Shoe
Here's one my chat buddy, Pete, built in 1952. I'm pretty sure there wasn't an auto trans in it..... First rail job in the PNW ?
dont feel bad, i confuse myself all the time i think what im trying to get at, is keep it heads up racing, no bracket HAMBsters. allowing big CID overheads, T-breaks, late model inline 6's (post 62 ohv liner 6 mills) or any V-8 ohv's from the fifties... where do you draw the line? PLEASE ... dont get me wrong, time and effort are the least of what i'd look down on, or anyone else i think. if you bust ass and build a nice lookin hard runnin car, THATS cool. what my point was, if you wanna build a HAMBster with a C-6 backed windsor motor, hell, run it by all means! have fun an run what ya built, but is THAT car realy in the original spirit of the HAMBster class? thats what im gettin at as far as my "over the top" comment. NOT anything to do with a clean, good lookin and well built fast car that runs within the rules. as far as "most money spent" thats exactly what im gettin at. and i think what Ryan and the rules guys are tryin to weed out. but as has been mentioned, thats a fine line. you can build one hell of a flatty with the right machine work which turns into cubic dollars for most. for a few of us, high buck machine shop work only equals time because they have access to the tools. sadly, numerous rules for mods need to be in place, and as Ryan said, someone needs to be the prick and enforce em to keep it fun for the once a year guys who want to build a once or twice a year purpose built racer that can be competitive year after year. hope this clears up my comments, but more than likely made it worse traves
The yellow car is called the HORNET. To date we have $2,850 in cash invested in this car and a lot of donated parts from the 16 guys(who all have skills that were used in building this car)who brought this dragster together. We have never had so much fun and we hope more of you will build cars and join us. Like all drag racers we read the original rules and tried to build the fastest car that we could with the cheapest parts we could come up with. Our motor is from a 1958 truck, rebuilt with stock parts except for a mild Comp cam. The carburetors are one barrel rochesters from 235ci chevy engines. We obviously made a mistake using a trans brake ( didn't mean to cause so much controversy ). The new rules outlaw this feature, so we wont use it at the next Hamb event. The point is that a bunch of old gearheads can still have fun without a lot of money. I don't know where this high dollar thing came from---- our car is painted with spray cans!!! We want to have fun but we will always try to win. That's what racing is all about. Hope to see you at the drag strips. The Hornets
nailhead mike....That engine ISN'T the later than '61 seven main bearing engine?? If it ain't, I was confused by the appearance. Good job !
Johnny, I'm not sure what you are looking for but our engine has 4 main bearings and we pulled it from a salvaged 1958 chevy 1 ton truck at The Reverend Willy Cottons salvage yard in Inola, OK. Nailhead Mike
From the first time saw one of these early rails I knew I would have to build one. I started collecting parts and have collected enough crap to build what ever the rules end up saying is legal. I have a Model A frame to start boxing...or I have miles of DOM ready to start my Dragmaster replica...today I bought a 48 flat motor and tomorrow I will likely bring home a 59 392 hemi. All I need is a little direction...I will build the car to suit me anyway...and it will have to pass tech at the local track so I can go out and infect the world with the excitement I have for my little project. The thing that we can never forget is that the guys that built these machines back in the day were not trying to build a car for a dollar ninety-five. They weren't trying to skirt safety rules...they just didn't know any better. As soon as they got resources the cars changed and were made with more driver safety in mind. It happened quickly too. Those old "grasshoppers", as we use to call them, were killers. I want to stay true to the school too...but I am not going to die in a car that is unsafe so that it can look cool going down the track. The order is safety first...then performance...then looking cool. Lets keep our priorities straight.
Do we have rules yet? Seems like we were supposed to see them today. Not that I'm anxious or anything. For what it's worth, I spent a little time today watching a video made by the Sunflower Rod and Custom Association showing drag racing at Great Bend, KS, from '53 to '59. Of course it included the first NHRA Nationals. Great stuff - Bustle Bomb, Bean Bandits, lots of others.
I'm watching footage from great bend in '58 right now! Also a lot of KCTA footage - Wichita Falls, Texas - Enid, Oklahoma - Salina, Kansas - and lots of other great stuff. I don't know exactly who put this footage together though. Looking forward dot those rules myself. I was out in the garage earlier pulling cotter pins and spraying PB Blaster on the front end I plan on using.
Hahahahaa..., I'm still waiting for the T-Shirts from two years ago...!!!! Really..., "Don't hold your breath...!!!
Very interesting reading all that stuff from almost 10yrs ago. I went from driving the little flathead car to driving the car in my avatar,BIG difference. But what fun it was and is.
The Jalopy Journal
