May 12 at Little River in Temple Drags Pictures

Here is a fiew shots I took.

 

some more

 

and

 

You got some pics of my favorites out there. That Nomad looked like it could have been a stocker restoration until you looked at it closer. Had the waffle interior and all.

And I love seeing the '55 will the baby blower run hard. That car strikes me just right.

Did the Stude make a pass? I saw him get backed off the line one time, and I never saw it run. It's a great car, but I'm not sure it's been sorted out and made a strong pass yet. At least, not at any events I can recall.

 

They wouldnt let the Stude run because he had dirt on the tires.. And that nomad was sweet.

 

under the hood of the nomad

 

Do what were the Dirty's ET's?

 

I really am sorry I missed out on this cool event. None of the guys we had scheduled to go made it. Great Pics Dirty, it helps me feel a little mo bettah knowing that at least alot of good cars were there doin' their thang. What was the over all turn out?

 

I am still tweeking on the old Caddy and didnt run it.

 

I was # 90 and I got there kinda early. I wished I would have took more picts of the cars running.

 

I missed it due to customer Model A ass kissing but would not have gotten to run if I went to keep from embarassing the car legacy, next year

Rusty

 

good pics, Thanks.

 

Steve & Danny that Nomad is an old local drag car that has been rebuilt/restored. If you looked in the owner's enclosed trailer that he hauls the car in there are a bunch of pictures of it on the trailer walls with the front tires about 2 feet off the ground taken back in the '60s. Local guy named Ed Moraw ran it back in the '60s with a SBC, around 270 ci, would launch at about 9 or 10,000 rpm. Ed has always been involved in drag racing, currently he and his son in law run a dragster with a small displacement SBC, specially made block, etc. He was at the drags Saturday for a while. He is a living legend on the same level of August Hartkopft(sp?) to those of use that hung around Temple drags back in the '60's. Ed still does engine work for others, mostly balancing & such. Super nice guy.

 

this is why it rules to have guys like Bellm around.

I was pretty sure I was one of the few who knew ANYTHING at all about Auggie "Hands" Harkopff. What I know, I have as information from his brother Butch Lake.

he suffered a head injury as a child that damaged his pituatary gland. it is the gland that makes us grow. more importantly, it is also the gland that makes us STOP growing. Hands weighed over 300 lbs when he died, stood WELL over 6 feet (I have heard everything from 6'10" to more conservative 6'8") he wore a pith helmet with no liner as his racing helmet, and there is an "imprint" of his right hand at Austin Performance like a child would make...my right hand fits inside its impression much like a childs hand would fit in an "average" adults.

he had a ridiculously fast chevy for it's time. but my favorite stories aren't about racing cars. it's about his feats of goofiness...like racing another team down the track...on foot, while carrying an engine block. I have heard "short block" bare block, and bare big block
all I know is, Auggie carried his, and the other guys had a shopping cart. and he won.

 

Wish I could have made the drags...guess I'll have to wait til the fall.

"Hands" Harkopff is a legend that always comes up when you start talking about drag racing in Central Texas. I've heard lots of stories, from being able to drop a silver dollar through one of his rings, to how he ran a motor that was bored only on one cylinder bank to pass a teardown protest after a race.

I don't think I've ever posted this photo. I scanned this from the collection of my friend David Kirk.

"Hands" and his '56...you can see how big his hands were in the pic.

 

Is this that 56 ?

 

Man it was a GREAT time, even with no sleep, a bad shifter and blowing the power valve on the way home.

 

Man, this is a trip. My dad has told me stories about a guy names Hands, he used to race with in the 60's. He always told me the dude had "giantitous". I 'd bet money it's the same guy. I gotta ask him today.....

 

Well, I printed the pic of Hands and asked my dad if he recognized the guy in the pic. He got his glasses out and says. Yep. That looks like Hands.

He was telling me a story but who knows if it is folklore or track bs. He said that Hands won a big race at Green Valley and he was so excited he broke the shifter arm off and was waving it out the window in victory as he passed down the return road.

 

Mark sent me some of his photos a while back for my Texas blogs. Check out my blog for more of his stuff. click

 

He was also featured in a muscle building mag in the 60s by Dr. Terry Todds who was worlds strongest power lifter way back when. This photos show Terry Todds hand next to Auggie.