I could read name "Tinsley" above the door but couldnt make out the second name! Like a lot of other tri-5 racers of the day, they switched bodies on a "regular basis" to gain better class advantage with the same engine and or a stick to auto change. Heres a shot of Marv Ripes ex-Barkley in the background behind Larry DeVita's "Too Far Gone" 427 Fairlane.
Larry Devita's Fairlane --another example of changing the grille to make a '66 into a '67. The rocker panel trim and rear quarter emblems are '66 style. Syl
Did tech commitees check VIN's of racers? It seems strange to me that tech would tear down engines to check #'s on intakes, check cam lobes, etc, etc. but would allow racers to put a grille and or misc. trim/parts on a car, and enter it as prior or next year car? Am I missing something here? Attached are body rules from 1969. Maybe the rules were less strict on this matter prior to 1969? And how did racers who lost against these "customized" cars feel about it?
I know of several '66 427 Fairlanes that were upgraded to '67s so they could run in Stock classes--'66s couldn't run in Stock with the glass hood and only 57 built. Tom Schumacher set a record in A/S(If I remember correctly) with his gold Dave Smith sponsored '67 Hardtop with a glass hood but at the National meet in E-Town after winning class(again if my memory serves me) NHRA wouldn't let him run that hood so he searched the parking lot and borrowed my Green Ranchero hood ,put it on the car and ran it in eliminations. Sylvanus
Great story and Thanks for sharing it Sylvanus. Here are 2 of Tom's Fairlanes and that may be your hood in the first photo. It's from the 68 Spring Nationals.
This was a relatively touchy subject in the early years. Most of us can recall specific stories that reflect on the issue of car models and years. On one occasion, tech cracked down on '67 and '68 Camaro hoods, mostly on the use of the SS hood on 327-powered cars and flat hoods on 350-powered cars. At the Winternationals that year, there were blue cars with white hoods racing against white cars with blue hoods as the racers found a down and dirty way to address the problem. Another time, I remember Val Hedworth cutting the dash out of a '68 Nova to swap in a '69 dash and steering column so that he could run it as a '69 and use a 350 motor. On another occasion there were issues arising from the swapping of front sheet metal between '66 and '67 Novas. Those racers were temporarily stymied by the location of the door lock mechanisms. I recall that the '66 pull knob was located near the rear of the door while the '67 was four inches-or-so farther forward. These days, things are a great deal less tense about these issues. Racers are the most vigilant at complaining about others moving things around to gain an advantage. Tech guys are much more concerned with safety issues than verifying the correct year of the body. For example, there is an untold number of '68-'72 Novas racing with a mis-match between the firewall plate and the tech card. c
Colesy; If that's a pic from the '68 SpringNats in E-town that definately was my hood--all Tom had was the fiberglass one with him. The second pic is the car I bought from Tom in the fall of '69. In the spring of '70 I went to work for John Lingenfelter for the summer and raced the circuit in the midwest div. 3. Sylvanus
Hi folks. I sent a lengthy post to the "General Discussion" thread a few minutes ago, and colesy mentioned that I should hop in here. Some of you may know of Max Sterling, driver of White Lightning. Max was my "almost father-in-law"; he passed away about a month ago. :-( I'm at the family home in northern West Virginia helping with a bunch of stuff, including the eventual disposition of much of Max's racing-related stuff. Rather than quote that whole long message here, I refer any interested parties to that post: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=544491 If it's appropriate, perhaps we can discuss this here? Thanks, -Dave
Sounds like an excellent opportunity for someone Dave. There's no shortage of racers who follow this thread so hopefully you'll get some results. Thanks for joining us here! Also, you may want to check out racingjunk.com to sell the Pontiac. Here's the links that will take you directly to the Stock-Super/Stock and Nostalgia sections. If my lottery numbers come in this week I'll buy that 62 Poncho. It's one beautiful race car! Best of luck Dave. http://www.racingjunk.com/category/31/Stock_Super_Stock.html http://www.racingjunk.com/category/150/Nostalgia.html
Hi! Yes, it's going to make someone VERY happy I'm sure. In my circles (big antique computers from the 50s/60s/60s) things are almost exactly the same as with you guys...incredible passion for the subject, "favorite" makes/models, cringing when we hear about something getting destroyed by someone who doesn't know something is special, people who know every wire/component/circuit of their favorite systems, etc...For example, I can practically draw the schematics of the DEC PDP-8, a fridge-sized scientific computer from 1965, from memory. I'm learning very quickly that things are exactly the same in the world of serious cars. I don't know a damn thing about this stuff, but I appreciate what goes on here. Walking through Max's garage, seeing the love he had for his stuff, I see a lot of my own life reflected in it. The passion is the same. -Dave
One word for this Pontiac... Incredible! Oh, hey noclub... welcome to the thread. When are you going to make the Nova into a Junior Stock tribute car? We'll go head to head at Da Grove!
Howard Maseles' Packer Pontiac was up for bid in 2008 at Mecum Auctions. Not sure how much the car fetched but you can bet it was a fortune. Max's Super Duty has an excellent race history as well. http://ca.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0oG75...m/auctions/lot_detail.cfm?LOT_ID=SC0508-66030
First time we brought out the new 68 Z/28 stocker in 76 they checked the VIN to see that it was a real Z/28 and also that it had the 2 piston caliper Corvette brakes on the front. Also said we had to run both front & rear spoilers or neither. I snuck the silver painted Doug Nash transmission case with the name ground off by then though. We would always give them one blatant thing to make us change it so they were happy & would quit looking. You just dont see many $500 68 Z/28s any more, dont know why. Mucho Bondo is what we called it.
After going to many cruise ins and car shows, my buddy and I have reached the conclusion that there are more Z-28s now than when Chevy built them.
More on Max Sterling including coverage of his Stock win at the 1969 Spring Nationals in Dallas defeating Fred Anderson's "Good In-Tension" 57 Chevy L/Stock in the final.
Those tech guys..... the only thing the V.I.N. on a '68 Camaro told you was whether is was a 6 or V8---even the cowl tag data plate didn't decipher it being a true Z28 in 1968---only on '67s and '69s built after December of 1968. The brakes could've been added and I have a real good friend that ran a REAL '68 Z and took the original front brakes off and put on standard drums! Who knew then what we know today! Until next time..... Dave.
Just glanced at those latest results---you guys know I'm partial to F/S Oldsmobiles ('69 W31 to be exact) check out Ron Garey--quicker and faster than E/S with a little ol' 350 4-speed Cutlass! I really do dig that '62 Poncho though; any idea how much they are going to want for it yet?
sounds like fun to me...... iam more of a hot rod guy as you found out but iam up for giving the old Nova alittle change.... give me some ideas
Regarding Max's win at the 1969 Spring Nationals in Dallas, here's the trophy, I pulled it out of its case for a quick pic. -Dave
@DW31S: Not sure how much it'll go for; we'll let the market set the price. I'll be interviewing each potential buyer and looking them in the eye, though, to make sure it goes to a good home. -Dave
Dave sorry to hear about Max passing. Great pictures they pull at your heart know the history. Great stuff please keep us posted.
Dave, I'll be glad to help in any way possible. If in fact it falls within my "budget" I may be a buyer, if not I'll try to make some contacts. I'm an Oldsmobile guy at heart (3 generations) but down deep it's a passion and I'd be honored to own it. Please contact me at 410-206-9427 or [email protected]. Until next time..... Dave.
its close to lookin like the first 2 pics.... i just gotta get rid of those damn rally wheels...i didnt like them when i put them on, also i dont know if skinny little cheater slicks are going to do much for me it takes a act of god for me to hook up now and thats with a 10inch drag radial...
Its sad to hear about Max. I knew him well in the early to mid 60's racing at Aquasco. I even had the "Pleasure" of seeing the tail lights on both the 61 and the 62 in the traps on a Sunday afternoon. He was a great guy. I will have him in my thoughts.
If youre looking for a "good man" for advice on helping you check out starting the car, I would suggest you contact Gary Glover on here --- I believe he is in WVA very near Elkins. Good Luck with Max's car!
<!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --> Dave - If you check many of the class win lists you will find that Ron Garey ran quicker in F/S than even a D/SA car! Dont remember who eliminated him that day in Dallas, but I'm sure he didnt get "treed" --- Nobody EVER treed him -- he was the best i ever saw on the tree. He always said that his "edge" was greatly reduced when they started posting and printing Reaction Times!! LOL --- I once saw him leave on a guy that he was giving a .08 headstart!! ( in an championship race too)LOL! Luck was never with him and he never won a major race with that car - Actually he never got another national win until about 1992 -- long drought from 68 Springnats. He did manage runner-up to Boertman at 70 Nationals. Boertman ran too far under for him to catch his quick G/SA W-25 car!! In 70 you could run as far under as you needed to to win in the final round. Ron wanted to race him in semi-final because he thought he could push him out but knew he couldnt run him down in the final! And he didnt! <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->__________________
Do you know what ever happened to Tom Scumacher's white 66 A/S car? Or was it the same car "converted" to a 67 and repainted? P.S. What was reason or advantage to convert a 66 to a 67 for A/S? I never did know? I saw earlier where the comment was made about the "Too Far Gone" car having been converted from a 66 to a 67?
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