Welcome to the group janetmatit. What's your Dad's name and do you know what class the car ran in? We'll see if we can find some info or photos of the car.
LAST SEEN IN CANADA ? Owner wants It Back Billy Liguori & Barry Weighthall bought a 1955 Cheverolet SW from Victor Chapman of Poughkeepsie,N.Y., it was driven on the street daily. this was the first time the two guys got together to build a car and go racing. They named the car "Easy Glider" and took turns in the driver seat. It ran SS/V with a 265cu.in. 180 Horse Power engine and Powerglide trans. They raced it on the NHRA Div.1 circuit from 1968 to late '69. The car ran on and under the NHRA record (13.70's @ 104+ MPH) and they made a few attemps at the record but could not ever back it up. It had a Racing Head Service (remember them) legal NHRA engine. They did pretty good together getting quite a few wins but all good things must come to a end so in 1970 they sold the car to someone (??) in Canada and ended the partnership. Any info on it's wereabouts : Reply at Post In 'OLD CAR LOCATOR" heading at Forum - http://www.doverdragstrip.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1899&p=11757#p11757 www.doverdragstrip.com
Could the 55 be the one Frank Cantusci(Ottawa) had up here? If it was , it has been owned by a few others since then and is back on the street. I don't remember it as a SS car though.
I'm not sure exactly what the class structure may have been in that area but, generally speaking, SS/V did not become a class until 1972. Val Hedworth ran a similar wagon in T/SA in 1971 and converted it to SS/V when NHRA revised the class structure at the end of the 1971 season. It is possible that this car received the same conversion treatment from Stock to Super Stock but someone was probably still racing the car in '72 if it had that class designation. I'm working from an occasionally suspect memory here but I believe that Super Stock classes ended somewhere around SS/H or SS/I in 1969.
Lowest class in SS back in the eray 70s that I can recall was SS/U in NHRA because a friend, Larry Pacy, ran a huge pontiac 4 door wagon it that class.
"Man....what a memory. Mine is starting to fade more and more." Terry, what happened in 1972 is clearly etched. The big problem now is, "Did I remember to eat breakfast." "Lowest class in SS back in the eray 70s that I can recall was SS/U..." Yes, we ran that class as well, in fact I set an NHRA record with Val's '55 four-door in July of '72. The four-door ran SS/U, the wagon ran SS/V, and a 283 car with a two-barrel ran SS/X. Remember all the '60 Chev Bel Airs running around with vacuum leaks whistling in the wind?
Not too far off Chuck... S/S in 1969 had twenty classes and were from SS/A at 0.00 to 5.99 down to SS/I at 10.00 or more. (manual and automatic classes) !970-71 saw S/S change to sixteen classes... SS/A became 6.00 to 6.49 down through SS/H at 9.50 or more. (manual and automatic classes) 1972 saw the big expansion to forty classes ...SS/A 6.00 to 6.49 all the way down to SS/X 21.00 or more. (manual and automatic classes from A to Q then in R to X manual and automatic ran together)
The 60 and 61 Chevys with the 2 barrel carb were classified in SS/X in 1972. That class did not last very long.
Lowest class in S/S changed in 1974 to SS/U at 18.00 or more. Did not matter because all us techmen knew to look for the "vacuum leakers" by then. Without vacuum leaks the two-barrels did not run that good.
Yea Tony, as *I recall (*strange, just like "XTECH," I don't recall what I was doing an HOUR AGO), but I 'think,' a 170 HP 283 61 'Bubble top' coupe fit perr-fit in that class. Alas, I put one together in 72. The body turned out nice (in GM's 'blue toned white'), but I ran outta buck$ for the 'little stuff' ... you know -- forgedtrues, valve train, convertor, tires, wheels, etc ... etc. With the deal 'brokered by' my friend Lee Sherman (R.I.P.), I sold it to PA-based (Jr. stocker wiz) Frank Jordan. Now there's another guy who could certainly add to this thread! FRANK ... are you out there?
I was spectating at the 72 Springnational when Jim Kronenbitters 60 4dr Bits N Pieces got runner up in SS to Bobby Warren.He was a big crowd favorite.Maybe because he was a local guy,and got a big handicap spot.Or maybe because the crowd thought the thing was on its last leggs and was going to blow up at anytime because of the way it smoked(real rich),and sounded!!
Most of you folks already know this, but one reason those 2-B 283s flew was due to intentional intake and/or carb vacuum leaks used in league with huge jets. It worked, but was tricky to pull off due to, how should I say, serious idling issues. It was almost impossible to get the vacuum-leak/jet combo right on automatic cars. NHRA disovered the trick late-in-the-game after some guys went a bit over the top and put 1/2" water spigots in plain sight on their intakes. NHRA then added the seemingly-odd phrase "NO VACUUM LEAKS" to the rule book. Just another example of how NHRA's term "Ingenuity in Action" was really taken to heart by the crafty 'Junkyards for Lunch Bunch' Junior Stock contingent.
Pretty impressive, a 265 with a Powerglide getting a little air under the front tires. Butch/56sedandelivery.
Yeah, impressive, considering yesteryear's poor tires (compared to today's) and non-concrete, non-VHT-coated starting line! Pete
Just looking for a positive I.D. on this one. Anyone? Photo was taken in 1967. Must have been back when "push starts" were still allowed
That was Kenny Adams out of the New Breed club in Norwich, Ct. Same place where Dave Lebrun came from. Good running 283/283 fuelie car. Those are Ct Dragway win stickers on the windows. Looks like Indy to me. I think he won class out there a few times. How's this?:
Thanks a bunch Mark. Where on earth did you find that photo? Looks like we'll have to add Kenny Adams to our hall of fame list as well.
No, that's not the driver (Steve Bellomo) but Ed Kawalek(sp?) aka "Eddie K." founder of Island Dragway, Great Meadows, NJ. Photo circa 1970. Pete
The Weeks, Desmore, Dwyer, Hardy {at different times}54 or 55 Studebaker Crockagator used spring loaded studs that they said stopped the fuel from foaming in the float bowls. What they did was lift the front of the 2 barrel slightly when the linkage bottomed out. Motor puffed black smoke idling but seemed to run just fine down the track. Bob Dwyer later used the same trick to set a 280 hydro Orange Bowl Regatta closed course record with a 273 Plymouth engine around 1978. He said the boat guys werent quite up to speed like the NHRA tech guys. You could write a book on Dwyer pushing the rules, he was drag racings answer to Smokey Yunick.
Colesy, I'm not surprised you would ask, but nostalgia IS my business LOL. About a year and a half ago , I was in Ct., visiting my family. My sister and I were taking a ride down to Foxwoods Casino. I had never seen it. Anyway, we were riding through old Norwich, just the same way we used to go to the R I shore back in high school . There was the same old building where The New Breed had been for decades, old sign and all. I told my sister I had to get a picture of this. Of course, she asked what I was going to do with it. I said, I don't know , but I need to get it! So, there you go,... and this thread gets stranger by the day, doesn't it?
Hey SundayNiagara. I have to add my 2 cents worth here re- the 72 Springnats semis. That wasn't Hayward Register that redlighted to Bobby Warren in the semis. It was me, with the orange Karbelt camaro, running the same class as Bobby. He blew the record, real good in the final catching up with Kronenbitter. Jims car sounded so terrible, no one could believe it made it to the finish line.
You want more pictures of the place? My barber's shop is about 10 minutes away..... if I hit all the lights! It was a happening place back when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s.... used to love driving buy, especially when the boys had the doors open and you could see inside the place! Too bad I didn't have a camera back then!
Hey Pontiyak; Would you happen to have a photo of your Camaro from back then? I remember Frank Cantusci and Gil Tremblay (Camaros) both had Karbelt sponsorship in 72 as well.
Thanks BHfan. I just can't believe that the shop is still standing and the sign is still out front some 40 years later. I guess it's kinda like digging up an ancient valuable artifact to old drag racing fans like us. Maybe we should get some Junior Stock Historic Landmark plaques made up and put one on the side of that building.
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