im just curious how many people did/do race pickups. I didn't find anything dedicated to trucks so maybe this could become the thread for all the guys runnin em. technical info as well, suspension and chassis particularly as many people say its a little harder to hook in a pickup. just anything and all things of the past and present to do with takin a pickup down the strip. photos are greatly appreciated especially from back in the day. im switchin some things up in my apache, gonna be my track toy. im fabbing a new chassis and throwing in a BBC backed with a Muncie and beefed up 9 inch. post em up fellas
Pick-ups were especially popular in the Gasser classes, and particularly with the Willys AA/GS cars. In the days of crappy drag slicks, the extended pick-up beds were a great place to stick the battery or some extra lead for traction... A lot more here - http://georgeklass.net/gassers.html
Great topic for discussion. I have great interest as well, hoping to drive and race my truck in the next few years.
Not really in "the day", but in 1979 I was 18 and I started racing my 59 apache long bed. Had a 396 in it, first with a 4 speed, then a TH400. For a few years, I raced pretty much any time the old Tucson Dragway was open.
Been a while since i checked on this. Thought it would just disappear after a while but im glad its gotten some interest. Im gonna start on the chassis soon for my apache. Leaf spring rear with a flipped axle and ladder bars. Im not sure about the front yet. I started this thread to get some inspiration and also hopefully some tech info so keep it comin guys ! I love that scout man ! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Heres a truck that raced out of Calgary Alberta Canada in the later 60's! Hilborn injected 426 Hemi! If anyone has any info on the where abouts of this truck, I would very much like to know! Brant.
Directly behind the green Willys P/U Truck of the Slo-Pokes, is Jim Green's (of Green Elephant Funny Car fame) gas dragster. It's been restored and gets carted around to the car shows and nostaqalgia events. Just thought I'd throw that out there, and that's the big, banked, turn of the road race course at Pacific Raceways (Kent-Pacific Raceways to Seattle International Raceway-back to Pacific Raceways). Butch/56sedandelivery.
I missed your post squirrell, very cool! What were your times ? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Thats not bad at All. What were the specs on the 396 ? Was that time with the th400? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
That was with the 400, after playing around with stuff for a while. The 396 was a mild engine, basically a stock 325 hp with bigger valves, a mid 500s lift hydraulic cam, long tube small diameter headers (hedman 68-87 truck hedders), switch pitch ST300 converter, single plane Weiand intake with a 750 holley 3310. years later I put the engine back in the truck, after freshening it, and ran close to the same ET with street radials, a bit more stall, and 3.55 gears, with an iron intake and Qjet. I don't remember if I ever got into the 14s with the 4 speed, at that time it has 3.73 gears, and ProTrac L60-15 tires, and a milder cam.
I've heard a ton of stories from back in the day but 3 always seems to pop up on a consistent basis 1) Fast as hell when it went straight - best times reported were mid 10's in the late 70's 2) I saw it going 100+ mph on the (add road name here) with 3 guys hanging off the roll bar 3) Me and 2 other guys were doing 100+ mph on (add road name here) hanging onto the roll bar My resurrection of the Elephant Hunter saw me replace the monster rear springs and Pontiac diff with a modern 4 link and Dana 60. The Scout launches hard and runs dead straight. The first sbc was pretty basic single carb / roller cam 377 but it went 10.69 / 121. Lots more in it as we found a convertor problem and some bad head work. Before we fixed all that I dropped a Dart block 406 with an old school 6-71 in it. The convertor problem still exists so our best to date is a 10.57 / 123 with a soft tune and 6lbs boost. Were hoping the new convertor will push that set up to low 10's and possibly a 9 sec pass . If that all works out we'll swap the pulleys and turn the boost up to about 12 lbs
No one else said anything about it so I wanna know... WHAT MOTOR IS IN THAT THING? Looks like a V-24...
Cool man. Sounds like you had a blast with it. Im really trying to dip into the 10s with the rebuild on my apache. I know its not traditional but the 496 stroker builds are very budget friendly and make great power for the money. I may go that route And just dress it up traditionally. M20 muncie, unsure what clutch i wanna run. Then im gonna brace up my 9 inch i already have with the moser shafts in it and fab up a ladder bar setup when i fab the new box tubing chassis. Inner fenders will be gone, probably no bed floor, ditch my stock bench and go with lightweight period buckets. Just a bare bones drag toy. Cant wait to get goin on it as soon as it warms up some Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The Jalopy Journal
