Those nascar holleys will run a surprisingly long time on the fuel that is in the float bowls. The old sterno in the intake was always a favourite when qualifying and you are limited on fuels. Now though its Nitropropane or other oxygenates and they jet it rich and let the fuel wash it off into the cylinders. Couple dozen extra HP for a few laps.
I heard that one too...but like a good urban legend it was Smokey Unick going through tech at Daytona. Car had no fuel in it, he got tired of them finding minor infractions (fuel contents not one of them) so he just fired up and drove out. Oh, seems like Junior would create small infractions for the inspectors to find. After they would find several small things they would be happy. Junior would be happier they quit and didn't find the larger things!
This really is'nt so much a cheating story as an unbelievable one. Went to the drags at Seattle International Raceway for the Bracket races in my 70' 340 Dart Swinger; took my younger brother Alan along. Was with my friend Dean who had a 66 Chevelle. My brother dissappeared and when Dean pulls into the pit area after a run he opens the trunk and out pops my brother! He put him in there for weight to get traction. Could'nt believe it. Alan was about 14 then and this was in the summer of 70'. Deans car had a stock 283, 2 barrel, powerglide, and what the heck he needed traction for was beyond me. So, I still tell the story the only time my brother went down a dragstrip was in the trunk of a car. I swear this is true! BUTCH.
Again, Smokey Yunick was involved in similar circumstances. NASCAR had been sure his fuel tank was too big, removed it, measured it...Smokey got pissed off, withdrew his entry and drove his race car MINUS FUEL TANK back to his shop in Daytona Beach. Smokey was a master of "reading between the lines" of the rule sheets. If it didn't say you couldn't do it...he did! When working with Hudson Motor Company in the early fifties, he developed a bunch of "racing" parts. Suspension, brakes, cams, manifolds, carburetors, etc... Hudson would mkae them production parts and sell them as "special duty Taxi Cab or Police Cruiser packages". They beat the Oldsmobile overhead V-8's handilly.
Syracuse 1980...Kenny Weld built this car and had Gary Balough drive it. This car's innovations weren't illegal at the time, but it was never allowed to race again, after its dominating win in dirt's biggest race. The car took advantage of aerodynamics like had never even been considered for a dirt track before. The nose was so low and narrow that the radiator was mounted in the side pod. The roof was designed like an inverted airfoil to increase downforce. It was elevated high to catch "clean air". The side pods had a vacuum effect and combined with the side skirts created even more downforce. A few years later, nearly every modified had similar body panels.
Back in the early ‘60s when blowproof bellhousings first became mandatory, my uncle had a Logghe chassis with an injected SBC in it…weighed a tick over 900lbs in ready-to-race trim. I don’t know everything he did, but I do remember him telling me about the aluminum bellhousing with iron filings in the paint so the magnet would stick to it. “That was good for 25 pounds!” he grinned. I was at National Trails in Ohio in the ‘90s when the Pontiac Pro Stock team had a nitrous bottle blow up…It was a small bottle hidden in their oil sump tank. It was in the pits when it let loose, covering a bunch of spectators with warm oil. The crewchief came over, picked the still-spinning bottle off the ground, loaded the car into the trailer, locked everything and left the track. NHRA posted a sheriff at the trailer all night, until the team showed back up the next morning. If I remember correctly, the driver threw the crew chief under the bus. I know another guy who was an engine builder and raced a little 4-cylinder roundy racer. The engine was stroked a ton. He won a lot, and was always being torn down and the engine checked. He’d stand there, and when they slapped the breaker bar on the crank bolt to rotate the engine, he’d offer a hand and turn the crank for them while they watched their gauges. He’d keep an eye on the gauge, and when it reached the legal number, he’d simple reverse his arm motion and start turning the crank the other way so the piston was coming back up the bore. Know a Mopar Super Stock Max Wedge with an aluminum front-end car. He had someone metal form a new “factory” hood scoop for him that was ½-inch taller for more air. Same guy used to practice “palming” valve spring keepers. He’d keep a legal keeper set in his hand, and in a mirror he practiced the motion of swapping the ones in his hand for the illegal ones he just pulled off the engine, while handing them over to the tech inspector. Keepers let him run a longer valve stem I guess, which opened the valve a little more? The same guy also showed me a crank he had and asked me what was wrong with it. “Dunno.” Here, I’ll put a stock one next to it. “Oh, okay…the drill hole in the counter weight and the little square notch in the counterweight are covered over. “Yeah, I weld those up to reduce windage.” Okay… “Here, look at it from the end.” When you compared them side-by-side, looking at them from the flange end, you could clearly see that the counter weights on one had been cut down an inch—that’s why it didn’t actually have that balance drill hole and the notch. He had taken 18 pounds out of the crank and re-balanced it with the stock rods. “I had 5 pairs of tech inspector’s legs under the car, and they knew something wasn’t right, but couldn’t say what, so it passed tech!” Heard from another guy who used to be a tech inspector that on ’67 B-Body Mopars, a trick used to be to section ½-inch out of the leading edge of the front fender, just about the headlight. It was good for a couple MPH in the top end. A big deal in the lower /Stock classes. Finally, my old boss, “Johnny Junior Stock” Dianna told me he used to acid dip his Dusters. He put one in the tank at an angle, leaving the quarters out so it just got the front unit-body, floor pans, cross member and most of the roof. This left more weight over the rear tires. While at a national event in Indy with the car, he did a dry-hop in the staging lanes before getting to the burn-out box. (after watching that vintage drag movie post that was on here a while ago, I understand what he meant—those guys were always doing dry-hops and stuff before getting to the burn-out box) He gave it a little too much, and pulled the front tires off the ground. When it came back down, the whole front end buckled because it was so thin, and set the cross member right on the ground. NHRA invited him to never bring the car back to one of their events. -Brad
I believe that was Dodge. Alderman? Pretty sure that was also right before their shop "got broken into and all their B1 racing parts destroyed."
i read in a issue of TRJ that one guy who ran in a stock class had 2 tractor carbs under his manifold and some of his other flatheads were upwards of 420 ci!
Nope, that was the car Jerry Eckman drove, owned by Bill Orndorf. Here is the story. http://competitionplus.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1547&Itemid=24 The Dodge Boys had other issues at the track, "nitrous like" back fires through the scoop etc. Then cam the infamous break in.
Chevron Phillips makes a racefuel (was Phillips now TrackTeck) called TT100. This is a clear 100octane fuel developed for a racer that ran a class where race gass was not allowed. It sold so well they now carry it as part of the reguar product line.
Donnie Williams of B.S. Mo. gave NHRA cause to re word the rules regarding carbs by using a gigantic Autolite 2 bbl tank carb on his Chevelle and spankin' the shit out of his class with it in the 70's. Cheating?
Used to be the cars were only weighed before the race. Lead filled roll of "200 mph tape",Lead filled crash helmet, Lead filled dummy radio(DW at Nashville), all for going on the scales.Switch everything out before the race. Frame rails filled with Lead Shot;drain onto the track.(Gary Nelson) Formula 1 cars were only weighed after the race,Tyrell used a large water tank as ballast,filled it up on the last pit stop. Mercury for movable ballast,to cheat on short track pavement left side % rules.Worked great until the car crashed,and Mercury leaked out on the track.The EPA gave the track a nice fine for clean up. Hollow "ballast" on the right side,when the track didn't have a way of measuring left side percentages.(Jr. Hanley at Cayuga ) Soaking tires in chemicals to soften them,a local racer built a machine that would slowly rotate his tires in large tubs of chemicles. Worked great,until the fumes ignighted and burned the shop down. Ever see a car spin on a short track,and the tire smoke has a definate yellow look to it ? That's the tire softening chemicals. BIG motor at Daytona.(Richard Petty's last win.) Roll cages were sometimes required to have inspection holes drilled to check material thickness.I know one guy who's cage was too thin,so they carefully built up the edges of the hole with Silicone sealer. Petty had to redo the cages on all the Magnums Kyle was driving because Nascar got a sonic checker. -------- This thread could go on for a LONG time.
Tyrell also got nailed for some kind of solid material added inside the fuel tank,that would disolve over the course of the race. The fuel started out legal,but by the time it reached the motor, it was a little different.
I know a guy who raced dirt track back home who coiled up about 50 feet of gas line between his tank and carb... i guess it gave him a little bit of an advantage in mileage, or gpl, gas per lap...
I remember one of his stories- rules said "no grinding or polishing the ports & intakes". Rules did not say "no running an abrasive slurry thru the ports & intakes, and no painting with 47 coats of clear laquer" - same effect, (barely) within the rules, kinda. He'd also grind new cams, complete with stock (raised) part numbers (or get the Hudson factory to make them).
I stand corrected. Lots of those guys were into fishy stuff, especially in the late '80s through the '90s. I remember a few instances of "carb backfires" at the line back then. Must have been jetted pretty lean - or maybe the timing was cranked way up.
No, that was Smokey. He brought a car to Daytona, the inspectotrs found 20some things that had to be corrected before they'd allow the car on the track. Smoke got pissed when they pulled the fuel cell, told 'em to add another item to the list and DROVE that car the 6 or 7 miles back to the shop!!!!!!!! Gawd knows how much fuel like he had snaked through that sucker.... BTW, I've NEVER cheated up my stuff....and I'll definitely go to hell for that lie... I'll tell a story or two later. Jan
I've got that copy of Super Stock & Drag Illustrated shown in that link. If anybody is interested I can try and scan the article.
better go over to competation plusplus.com and read the story by Eckman and find out the real story on who was incharge on the car. wasn't Eckman.
I remember seeing an interview with Richard Petty when he told a story about Marty Robbins, the country singer. It was during a period that Petty was virtually unbeatable, Marty Robbins had a Nascar team and drove when he could as a hobby. Petty started at the front of the pack and Robbins was toward the rear. Sometime during the race Petty lapped Robbins and a couple laps later Robbins blew by Petty like he was up on blocks. After a couple more laps, Robbins pulled into the garage area where the tech guys found some VERY illegal modifications to Robbins engine. When they asked him why he did it, he just grinned and told them "I just wanted to know what it was like to pass Richard Petty."
I just love going to Stock class drag races and seeing all those cars supposedly factory stock running 2 or 3 seconds faster than they did when they were new. There are a million things you can do to eliminate weight or redistribute it. All those little things that make up a few ounces here and there add up to pounds pretty quick. We used to put a heavy steel plate between the gas tank and trunk to put more weight on the rear then lighten the front by gutting the insulation from the firewall, under the dash, hood, kick panels and doors. the carpet pad, springs and adjusters from seat frames, door guts, glove boxes, Wiring and guages and radio delete. Turning down the insides of the brake drums, switching front springs to lighter weight ones. Removing bolts from bumpers and front clips or cutting them off right at the nut if you actually needed them. Building new brackets out of lighter material. Getting rid of wiper motor and fan motors and heater cores. Any un-nessesary wiring in the car for things like marker lights, dome lights, un-needed guages, dash lights. There are a million ways to dump a lttle weight here and there and still have the car LOOK stock. Just don't try and roll down the window or sit on the passenger side or in the back seat. Your ass just might hit the floor and that window crank isn't connected to anything. And that's without doing things like dipping and rechroming or replacing the bumpers and body panels that the guys with money or factory backing can pull off. (Remember the Thunderbolt and Z-11?) If you can't remove and redistribute a couple hundred pounds and still have the car look stock, you're just not trying. I had a buddy in Northern California that had a stock looking chrome front bumper and brackets that you'd have no trouble holding out at arm's length with 1 hand. Most of that wasn't really cheating, just bending things a bit.
As I remember it, Rusty Glidden was never caught using nitrous. The car he was running as a privateer, but I believe owned by Bob, was pretty competetive. He told his dad he was using nitrous, and that everybody else was too. Bob more or less fired him and outed him in an Indianapolis newspaper interview during the US Nationals, and caused a huge uproar. Allegedly they had rifle drilled the motor plate and the nitrous was plumbed through it, into the hood, exiting over the carbs. A buddy and I had bought the Wayne County (Mopar team) crew chiefs' shirts at the DRAW auction before the race as souveniers. We ended up wearing them around the pits for laughs and even had a picture published in Super Stock. Anyway, we looked like the real thing. So wearing the shirts, we would park a golf cart just outside the teardown garage and just sit and watch. Eventually I guess we became enough of a distraction because they shut the doors so we couldn't see what was going on. NHRA was tearing down a bunch of prostock cars that week. They had been made out to look like they weren't smart enough to catch anybody cheating. That's how I remember it. Don't hesitate to correct me if I have some bad info. It's funny how a nascar "cheater" is pretty much accepted, or even put on a pedastal. Their counterparts on a dragstrip don't get off nearly as easy.
Penske ran Trans Am way back,the Camaros had vinyl roofs. Which seems like extra weight. Some people say there was an aerodynamic advantage because of the texture of the surface. Others say it was to disguise the distortion in the roof skin from when the bodies were acid dipped.
I use to SCCA road race a 1981 4 cyl mustang in the late 80's - early 90's. Every year I finished 4th in the CENDIV points for cars under 2.5L. The 3 cars in front of me in year end points could keep up with 5.0 mustangs and camoaro's down the the mile straight at BIR. The SCCA protest was so useless that it was not worth bothering with, so the joke in Tech in our division was I had the fastest legal car in the division.
The Jalopy Journal
