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

It's slingshot time again

With the driver seat behind the rear end (usually with his legs draped over the axles), they were dubbed "slingshots" (reportedly by Mickey Thompson, one of the first to perfect the design) because the driver looked as if he were a rock held out behind the car ready to be fired. Because clutch and tire science in the 1960s wasn't advanced, drivers often launched with towering wheelies and rear tires that smoked the entire length of the track, making for some exciting race watching and some brave pilots.

Here's Norm Weekly in the Weekly-Rivero-Fox-Holding Frantic Four dragster in prototypical-early '60s Top Fuel posture.




"Big Daddy," here he is at the wheel of Swamp Rat VI, acknowledging the crowd at Indy after winning the 1964 Nationals, his first of eight wins at the Big Go.



The pride of Denver, Alan Bockla, gets some air in the rare air at Continental Divide Raceway in Castle Rock, Colo.




Pomona, this time with Roland Leong's Hawaiian, which won the Winternationals back to back in 1965 and 1966, first with Don "the Snake" Prudhomme and then (pictured) with Mike Sniveley.






Also from 1966, here's Tom "the Mongoose" McEwen in Ed Pink's famed the Old Master dragster. Note the bulges in the cowl area to accommodate McEwen's knees.




A titanic, tire-smoking Top Fuel final highlighted the 1967 NHRA SpringNationals in Bristol, Tenn., where Don Prudhomme, far lane, driving Lou Baney's Brand Ford Special, powered by an Ed Pink-tuned SOHC Ford engine, drove around "Sneaky Pete Robinson" for the win, capping a strong series of six-second runs at a time when they were still rare, with a 6.92 at 222.76 mph. Robinson shut off near the traps to a 7.20 at just 177 mph.



Tom Jobe, Bob Skinner, and driver Mike Sorokin, a bucks-down trio of evil nitro geniuses from Santa Monica, Calif., (the car was housed in a garage at Red Apple Motel, owned by Skinner's mother) became fan favorites in the 1960s. Dubbed "the Surfers," their car's distinctive sound and winning ways made them SoCal legends.




The slingshot's propensity to wheelstand led to teams strapping lead weight to the front axles to combat their desire to head skyward when the driver dropped the clutch and hammered the throttle. This is the late, great James Warren in the feared Warren & Coburn Ridge Route Terrors machine




Leslie Lovett photo of Jim Davis' just-launching slingshot as the book's majestic cover photo. The header flames are pouring out of the pipes, the tires are wrinkled and grabbing, and it's all systems go



The Odd Couple may have been the perfect name for this entry; the Ken's Automotive Engineering group not only decided to put two power plants in their rail, they went with two different engines altogether. Yes, that's a Chevy in the front, followed by a Hemi behind it. Interesting, to say the least.

 

After moving to Southern California from Alberta, Dale Armstrong bracket raced a Chevy II and, in 1966, converted its small-block Chevy to run on 20 percent nitro. In honor of his heritage, he named it The Canuck

 

Hey Dave,
Thanks, now, I have two more names to go along with the old racers. This is getting fun remembering those racers and dragstrips from back in 1958-60. Thank you
Junji
I will keep searching in my own files for other racers that pop up in my films and photographs. Thanks again...

 

Who owned and drove the Northwind car?
Jimbo

 

Was the NorthWind car owned by Al Bowes?

 

Joe Gardner

 

"Note the bulges in the cowl area to accommodate McEwen's knees."

Feet, not knees. The bulges in the cowl were to accommodate the driver's shoes when on the pedals...

 

One more of "Jungle Pam" this time with a Wally.

 

"Go ahead and protest me"

 

First Top fuel race


Until the 1963 Winternationals, Top Eliminator was the big prize at NHRA national events, but with the official introduction of the class at the 1963 season opener, where Don Garlits became the first winner, the class has raced into history. Last year, Richie Crampton became the class’ 100th different winner with his victory in Englishtown.
Here’s a look at the class’ milestone events leading up to No. 800. Thanks to Bob Frey for the info.

First Top Fuel race: 1963 Winternationals

Final round

Don Garlits def. Art Malone

Low e.t. Garlits 8.11
Top speed Norm Weekly 188.66

 

Sorry, I don't. I had to draw the line somewhere and I guess the full size behemoth Fords was it.

 

This is an Altered. An Altered coupe.


This is also an Altered. An Altered roadster.

I have been having a lot of issues lately with my site. The issue is that there are too many photos (over 4000) and it was becoming unstable to edit in new photos, and slow to load for viewers. My site uses a "drag and drop" editing system (easy for me to use given that I am basically computer illiterate) and although there is nothing wrong with the system persay, too many photos on any one page causes problems.

When I started the site in 2013, I uploaded about 800 photos and spread them out over several pages. A Home Page, a Super Stock/FX page, a Gasser/Modified Sports Car page, a Street Roadster page, a Dragster page and an Altered page. As the collection grew, the Super Stock/FX page became unstable to edit and so, I split them up over two pages (a Super Stock page and a F/X page), which pretty much fixed the problem. Recently, I had issues with loading additional photos on the Gasser/Modified Sports Car page, and so I split those up into two pages. And now I have done the same with the Altered page. One page is for Altered Coupes & Sedans and Competition Coupes & Sedans (Altered page) and the non-coupes (open top cars) are the Roadsters & Modified Roadsters (Roadster page). Hopefully, this will make the site easier to load for the viewers and easier for me to continue to add photos. I'm still getting over 120,000 hits per day, still no ads, and still no membership requirements...

http://georgeklass.net/index.html

 

Your site and hard work is greatly appreciated

Sent from my XT1585 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

That's very kind of you, thanks.

 

There were 11 other Twins that used two different motors: http://twotogo.homestead.com/dtbd.html
This one unidentified.

 

No, thank YOU, George.

Roo

 

Never saw that one before. A Chrysler and a SB Cleveland Ford...

 

Roo has got it right!! Thank YOU George.

 

X3 or more I agree. Thanks

 

Jack Doyle's Slider AA/Gas Dragster, wish I had this one back...

 

George, THANK YOU for this great site!!

 

Ed Sigmon began racing at dragstrips at age 18 in 1960 with this pink '49 Chevy that was sponsored by Fiasco Automotive, a North Hollywood, Calif.-based shop that the late Richard Johnson owned.



At the suggestion of Fiasco Automotive owner Richard Johnson, an MG enthusiast, Ed Sigmon built this '53 roadster, pictured racing Doug Thorley in Jack Lufkin's Corvette at a mid-1960s Hot Rod Magazine Championships event in Riverside, Calif.



In the days when cars sported nicknames, Ed Sigmon had one of the more popular with his Snarpeezel, a five-legged creature that was originated by the car painter.







Ed Sigmon briefly ran a 6-71 GMC supercharger and Hilborn bug-catcher injector. "It gave me too much motor for the car," said Sigmon, "and my wife didn't enjoy watching me make runs. So it didn't stay on there for very long."

 

Danny Ongais, known as “The Flyin’ Hawaiian,” had a fairly short drag racing career that spanned from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, when he moved on to open-wheel racing, where he enjoyed a long and successful career. Though his drag racing career was short, Ongais definitely left an impression. In addition to scoring twice in Funny Car, Ongais won in the Top Gas class, and he competed in Top Fuel, recording a runner-up finish in that categor.

Ongais’ first NHRA win came at the 1964 season opener, where he wheeled Roland Leong’s entry to victory in Top Gas. Interestingly, Ongais' final-round victory came against Mickey Thompson, whom Ongais would later team up with in Funny Car.




This photo of Ongais from 1966 is probably best described using the caption on the back of the original, which reads, “Before he became a championship IndyCar racer, Danny Ongais cut his racing teeth on the quarter-mile. At the wheel of the Harbor Honda Mangler, Ongais defeated [Don] Prudhomme in the 1966 [NHRA Nationals] Top Fuel semifinals and was runner-up to [Mike] Snively in the final.”




Ongais and Thompson show off the Mickey Thompson’s Mach 1 entry during a studio session. Ongais drove one of Thompson’s team Mustangs during 1968 and 1969.