History Old Time Philadelphia area Hot Rods + drags

Here are some July 4th 1962 pictures.




I like seeing the old six carburetor set up, which reminds me that this may have been one of the first race cars with the throttle actuated by a cable. As I was building this set up it was apparent that it was going to take a masters degree to engineer all the bell cranks to affect the linkage up to the six carburetors. The gas pedal was only about five inches from the carburetors, so I brazed ends on to a speedometer cable fed through brakeline tubing leading to the straight linkage for the six carburetors. Hence I had created cable linkage in 1961, years before the auto industry adopted that method that is still used today. At the drags they wanted to fail me for tech inspection because they said that it was not positive return. I convinced them to let me demonstrate how well it worked, and they let me run!! That was at Hatfield drags. I was seventeen then.
There were a couple other innovations with that car as well. Needless to say the car had difficulty with traction with those skinny little slicks with the car only weighing 1600 pounds. The engine was only set back about 10% of 86 inches of wheelbase, whereas most dragsters of that time were 30% to 40% engine set back on a 125 to 135 inch wheelbase. I was at a big disadvantage getting off the starting line.
At that time everybody was running about 25 to 30 psi in their slicks to keep wheelspeed up leaving the starting line. I did things a little different.
I tried running 5 or six psi in my slicks but it would bogg down my engine because I only ran two gears, second and high. So I would slip the clutch with my foot to keep the engine from bogging, but it was not consistant. I devised a method to slip the clutch mechanically so I could just drop my foot off the pedal. I put selected amounts of flat washers under the pressure plate of the clutch to adjust the correct amount of slippage that I wanted. Bingo! I had a slider clutch in 1962!! That clutch set up along with 5psi in the slicks won me two championships with that antiquated sprintcar /dragster while I was still in high school !

 

How about a ride down the street in your dragster !!



OK Nick you stayed tuned, here is the rest of the story on the history of this ole #99 sprintcar.
Throughout all these years I have continued to race dragsters all the way up to running Top Fuel dragsters, both front engined and rear engine cars. Although I still have my dragsters I am currently running Nostalgia Funny Cars. I also crew with other race teams on a lot of different types of race cars. One year I traveled with an Indy car team, that was way cool ! I got involved in building engines for dirt modifieds and sprint cars. I now build the sprintcar engines for Grandinetti Racing. Grandinetti has two sprints, Chris Allen will be driving car #1 and Tim Tanner is driving car #2 We have already begun our season having raced New Egypt last Saturday night.
For the last three years Bill Case Jr. drove the #2 Grandinetti sprint. Bill Case Jr. is a second generation driver, his son Sean is a third generation sprint car driver. Bill Case Sr. drove midgets and sprint cars in the 1940's, 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's. Sadly in 2012 Bill Case Sr. passed away and I attended the memorial at his church. The lobby of the church was set up with tables of artifacts and pictures of Bill Case Sr. On the top of one of the pictures there was writing saying "Dads first sprint car ride" dated 1947. There was Bill Case Sr. sitting in the seat of #99 getting ready to be pushed off ! WOW!

The car looked exactly the way that I bought it 14 years later in 1961, Metallic blue with silver #99 on the tail. I could not believe that Bill's dad and myself raced the same car decades apart. Bill Case in the 1940's and Goldy in the 1960's. I don't know if I would consider this history valuable but it means a lot to me because I lived it and enjoyed the moments.

 

Goldy These pictures and storys are really good.! Russell told me a few about the old days keep them coming.We went up to Eastern Museun of Motor Racing a couple weeks ago for a tribute for Kenny Montgomery.it was good Marwyn

 

Cool thread...

 

Hey Nick thats a great video. Thanks for bring back the memories..

 

Super interesting stuff, Goldy. Thanks. I sure hope I have a chance to meet you in person one day soon. In fact, it was so interesting I'm going to read it a couple more times.

 

NickJT; I will be in the pits tuning the #2 Grandinetti sprint driven by Tim Tanner on Saturday night April 27th. That would be at New Egypt Speedway on rt # 539, not far from Great Adventure. If you don't want to pay the $40 to get in the pits, $20 will get you in the stands and they will let you in the pits when the race is over. I will be the little old guy wearing my race hat, a black biret.
Oh !, I realized that I lied when I said that the only part I still have from the sprint was the dash panel. I kept the hand operated pressure fuel pump that was mounted on the side of the car, it's a real keeper!
If you think that you might want to go, PM me and I'll give you my cell number.

I really liked that film on Atco that you posted, I watched it over and over because I raced with all those guys. A friend of mine also drove the K&G 34 Fuel Coupe for a while. His name was Eddie Fox and he was a good friend of Walt Kinsley.
I was so enamored with that Mooneyham&Sharp 554 car, I teamed up with my friend Ted Brine in the eighties and we built a clone. We had the guidence and blessings of Gene Mooneyham on that project. We used one of my 392 Nitro motors in it and went around the country to drag strips, smoking the tires for 1/4 mile exibition runs.
Stay tuned and I'll post some pictures of that car and tell some stories that are pretty cool.

 

Were there non-NHRA drags at Johnsville before 1963? I remember going to Johnsville once for drag racing but thought it was earlier than '63.

 

Do you remember when the Navy jet crashed into Bargain City on a Sunday afternoon? It was Aug 27, 1961 - four of us were coming home from Atco on Rte 611 when we saw what was left......

The next weekend we made our first trip to the Nationals at Indy.

 

Was Bargain City the place that later became the Mart place just south of the Naval Air Base on 611?

I'm going to try to make this race. Sounds like a ton of fun and I haven't seen a race like that in so long it's a shame. Looking forward to meeting you, too.

 

Yes

 

Dave ,I had a Cousin killed in that plane crash.She walked into the building right before crash.They were at a day camp for a picnic when it happened.

 

Ossietim: Sorry, I have no pics of Clayton Wright's car that was sold to Doc. I do know Clayton and his friend Bob Moreland very well. I am more familiar with Clayton's 1968 Hemi Cuda "Slo Motion". When I had my speed shop in the seventies I was involved with Bob Moreland, Ray Valpreda, and Gens with their junior stocker. The 318 cu in behemouth station wagon set both ends of the IHRA national record in 1977. My involvement got my name in the record books. Do you remember the Moreland, Valpreda and Gens car with Goldy's Speed Shop lettered down the side ?

 

Great thread, enjoyed it immensely. Grew up in south Jersey and spent many a weekend at Atco dragway during the 60's and 70's. Also Cecil co dragway in Md. and later Englishtown. A lot of the pictures and stories stirred many a fond memory. They were the days when you could race virtually anything you could drive through the gates and have a ball doing it.
And do I remember the illegal racing that went on in So. Philly. Streets lined with 100's of people, trailered cars. Sheer insanity to be sure. Wonder more weren't hurt.
I also remember being able to sit along the track at Atco, near the guard rails. The stands were often overflowing so management at the time allowed it. In fact I have a not so fond memory of a 57 Chevy blowing a flywheel/clutch in front of me....clutch shrapnel blowing into the stands. Tore a huge hole in the car, fortunately no one was hurt! Didn't say it was safer racing then!

 

Dave Downs; I don't think that there were any other races at Johnsville. The race that you were at was probably the same race. That race did not look like an NHRA race, because it was a one time event put on by the then Northeast division director, Ed Eaton. I don't remember the officials wearing NHRA outfits, but I could be wrong because it was a long time ago.
I remember that there was a pretty good crowd there. I had the only dragster, most of the cars were stockers and gassers. I am not positive on this but I think that Charlie Gilmore was there with his Super Stock Plymouth.
The thing that was most memorable for me was making a "Full Pass" at that event. When I say full pass I mean it !!! There were no other dragsters there for me to race so it was stay and watch or go home. I elected to "go home" via making a run. I ran the 1/4 mile and just kept my foot in it for the entire length of the airstrip, about a mile run. I don't know how fast I went but when I drove over the "arrest cables" that were designed to grab the fighter jets, the car went airborne!! All four wheels off the ground at top speed and I did not have parachutes in those days. After getting it slowed down, I turned around and drove to the gate and stopped. I saluted the gate guard and drove left on to Jacksonville road, turned right onto Street Road and pulled over and shut the engine off. I then waited for my tow car to come get me, as planned.
I admit that I acted like an A hole, but I came all the way from Norfolk, Va. on leave from the Navy to run this race. So I ran my own race, "the flying mile". That was a 'Full Pass".
Dave, if you were there that day I'm sure you would remember that run. It did cause a bit of a stir !

 

Really cool thread !, keep the stories and photos coming. Brings lots of memories because I live in that area..

 

As promised here is a picture of the "clone" 554 Fuel Coupe that Ted Brine and myself ran in the 1980's. We did NOT have 554 on the side because we were not the original car. The 134 was Ted Brine's NHRA license # and it represented one thirty four coupe. All else of the build was spot on copy of the 554, even down to the 200 mph Bonneville Speed trials decal.
We booked the coupe at tracks to make tire smoking runs down the 1/4 mile. And that is what we did!
The very first booking didn't turn out as planned at the very first Nostalgia Race at Englishtown. This race was called the Eastern Nostalgia Nationals. We were booked in to smoke the tires and although we spun the tires all the way down, they just didn't smoke. Even though we ran a Nitro Hemi with 80% in the tank there was still a learning curve to get the old tires to smoke all the way down. When you don't perform you don't get paid!!
We did figure it out for our next booking and there after we continued to smoke the tires at tracks across the east coast. We smoked em' for Maple Grove's 25th Anniversary. Imagine that ! Maple Grove just had their 50th two years ago. Boy am I old or what??

 

here is a eastern drag news add for the johnsville event for May 31st 1964, and a local newspaper stroy I cut out & saved fo the same event. I also remeber Hurst sponsoring a car show & drag race at the air field that had the ramchargers dragster matchracing another hot shoe fueler but I can't remember the name? i have the original add for that event as well but I have to find it in my piles.

 

Tailgunner; Thanks for posting those clips. I never knew that they held any other drags at Johnsville. I am amazed that no one ever told me, although I was on a Navy ship in the Pursian Gulf and Indian Ocean during most of 1964, I did get mail.
I am pretty sure that the race I attended was in 1963, between my first and second Middle East Cruise. I did not get back to the states until October of 64.
Wow! That was pretty hot stuff in 64' The Ramchargers AA/FD was at the top of the list back then, They were the first to use the 426 Hemi instead of the 392. The reason that I am in such awe over this is because I now live only a few hundred feet from the Johnsville naval Air Developement Center site. Now it is a Business center and a retirement comunity called Ann's Choice.

 

Tailgunner ; I remember a red, Chevrolet small block powered, front engined dragster running at Maple Grove. The name of the car was "Tailgunner", was that you???

Post some photos.

 

Here is a picture of the 34 fuel coupe with the hood off exposing the 392 Hemi nitro motor.


Below is a picture that was taken at Indianapolis Raceway Park at a Good Guys Event in the late eighties. Gary Meaders booked us in to race against the original 554 Coupe, owned by Gerry Moreland and driven by Gerry Stiener. For whatever reason they would not run us side by side, instead they ran us solo, one after the other.
Stiener ran 10 seconds flat at 154 mph and smoked the tires all the way through and across the finish line. Two rooster tails of smoke off the tires from the starting line all the way down, that was pretty cool!!!
Our runs consisted of fogging in the tower till about half track where the tires hooked up and pulled through the lights approaching 180 mph in the eight second zone. We had a lot of fun running this car and the fans loved the smoke runs.
The highlight of that race was getting to meet Art Chrisman, a legend, and a really nice guy. He was there making smoke runs in the Hustler#1 dragster, boy did he put on a show!!

 

Anybody remember "GoldenRod"? It was built around 1953 and I saw it around the Philly area when I was a kid. With typical East Coast style, it's still one of my favorite hot rods.

 

How's about an old time Philly area custom? When I was in high school I used to see this driving around Chester, Pa., not far from Philly.

 

from the wayback machine........

 

Aerial Photos of Langhorne and Hatfield


Langhorne 1958 -




Hatfield 1971 - after it closed but you can still see the layout

 

BeatnikPirate and Dave Downs ; You guys really posted some cool stuff. The Atco papers are awesome !! Because the print is so small it is hard to read and see details.
The page on the right, bottom right photo shows what looks like a 60 Pontiac that is Probably Harold Ramsey. Earlier Harold ran a 57 Fuel injected Chevy, a "black widow" that he won races all over, including the Nationals at Indy.
Another very interesting picture and print is about "The Greek" Chris Karamasinnes' setting the Atco record at 192 mph. in 1960. There has been for decades a debate about who was the first to go 200 mph in the 1/4 mile. "The Greek" ran 204 mph at Alton Ill. in 1960 during NHRA's ban on nitro. Well this article shows that he ran 192 at Atco in 1960. That is only 12 mph slower than the 204 run.
When NHRA returned to nitro in 1964, Don Garlits ran NHRA's first 200 mph at Island Dragway in great Meadows Nj. Because it is NHRA, they laid claim to the first 200 run
stating that "The Greek" run never happened, and or it didn't count because they didn't clock the run.
From 192 to 200 could be the difference between A few hundred feet of density altitude, 6% more nitro, and four degrees in the magneto. very interesting history!

Dave; those ariel photos of the tracks of my youth are priceless!!

 

Here's an aerial of Vargo while under construction, dated Sep 2, 1958

The paving in the shut-down area is not finished, no return road, no bleachers. If I remember correctly, the Vargo family had an excavation/paving company and built the strip on the family farm
part-time' when not working on paying projects. This makes sense as if you look at the photo closely there is no construction equipment on-site.

 

Man, wait till you see this video about Atco, K&G Speed Shop, etc.
http://www.dragzine.com/news/video-1960s-drag-racing-action-from-atco-raceway/

 

I just watched it again. That's one of my favorite and haven't seen it since post #80 in this thread It belongs in every pirate's treasure chest and worth watching every day


PS: any of you local guys ever go to K&G's parking lot meets? I think they're the 3rd Friday of each month. I missed the last one but usually go over to check out the rides.

 

NickJT,
Somehow I missed your previous posting of the video. But, as Hy Lit used to say, "It's so nice, we gotta play it twice"...(or maybe it was Joe Niagra?)
Anyway, as you mentioned, K&G Speed Shop is still around and still hosting cruise-ins once a month during the season. I went in April but only saw a handful of old school hot rods...lots of street machines and muscle cars, and a Hemi-powered 33 Willys gasser.