Get a load of this sneaky sumbitch! TWO hidden carburetors UNDER the manifold in the valley! From the "Full Throttle" site (http://www.vaautoracing.org/oval6.htm) [FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]L. O. Stanley was Southwest Virginias most innovative engine builder. Born in Carroll County, Stanley opened his garage in the Meadows of Dan community in 1948. In 1950 he attended his first oval track race in Concord, North Carolina, and returned to tell his wife, I can build a motor that can outrun any of them. Within a year Stanleys first race car was competing. The famed Floyd County racer, Curtis Turner, drove some of Stanleys first stock cars. Stanleys engines were strong racing performers, and he later worked as an engine builder for the Holman-Moody racing organization in Charlotte, North Carolina, and for the Ford Motor Company. Among his innovations, L. O. Stanley invented a cross-fire engine, in which two cylinders fire at the same time. In order to build such an engine, he had to turn his own crankshafts and rework practically every part of the motor. Stanley even had special pistons cast at a Marion (Smyth County) foundry. The cross-fire engine was eventually outlawed in racing. At another time, to skirt a rule limiting oval track engines to one carburetor, Stanley adapted a Ford intake manifold to hide two carburetors inside the motor. Both drag racers and oval track racers used Stanleys engines, and two of his 420 cubic inch flathead engines survive today. L. O. Stanleys reputation in the Southeast stock car racing world became legendary, and the mechanic known as the man on the mountain is still remembered as the genius of regional engine building.[/SIZE][/FONT]
There was no shame in that game! Like King Richard (Petty) said, "If you cheat on 100 things, and they catch you at 50, then you're 50 ahead."
Looks like the bottom two carbs are off an old Ford tractor, got to love that ingenuity, and from a home town guy none the less!
Flathead guru Dave Thomssen, who built the motors for the Garlits owned Swamp Rat 33, built a 326" flathead that had a 1/2" stroker crank and pistons the size of coffee cans. It made lots of power, but had longevity issues.
I would like to know more about these mountain guys and their moonshine and tracker tricks, lots of good old-fashioned ingenuity.
Here's a good story about some of the most famous runners of them all, namely Junior Johnson. http://www.hotrod.com/thehistoryof/113_0510_moonshine_runners_cars_history/index.html
You know I think it was Smokey who said, "It's only cheatin' if you get caught" or was it "Cheat till you get caught, then lie" either way...