Was there ever a successful Flathead FED

Here's a shot of Stanley and Joe Hendricks at the White Hall Dragway Reunion last September (2011).




Three weeks later, at Havana, IL, ...... the car looked like this.






Maybe they should have left Stanley in the seat!

 

The Bean Bandit flat head which was from San Diego, CA. They ran 239,256 and 336 flat heads for years and showed a lot of competitors their tail lights at the finish line. Another was the Gareth Bros out of Long Beach. Same thing. Fast flat heads.
Normbc9

 

Martin & Rea has a new dragster now, with nitro!

Running 8,2 sek on alky!! What will the wizards from down under do with Nitro???

Didn't Rick Schnell build a new 900+ HP flathead??


.............................
Taildragger&fenderless

 

olds, cad ,chrysler made all flatheads irrelevant like the v8 did the 4 banger---garlits pulled the hemi out of his tow car after it out ran his flathead dragster--there was no era of overlapping success for flatheads---they became obsolete after 1948 and no flathead even won a street race after 1955-the way i remember great bend some local guy won on a by run when rice could not fire then wally stuck his nose in it---exceptions to any of this are minimal--- in other words it's mostly true

 

Please don't use that obs. word again. You are in mixed company here. Never won a street race ? Just plain wrong in my book . My dead stock '51 Merc. against a '56 Chev. on the highway between Baker and Barstow, Chev. passes Merc- Merc passes Chev. --Chev tries one more time and is whupped by the Merc. again. Became friends afterward and was always asked about that Merc. ,broke the block and stuck a Chrysler in the hole.

 

you put the hemi in before you out ran the chevy 6 cyl right?

 

I used to pit next to the Bean Bandits at Paradise Mesa east of National City. Good talent, great ideas and the first fast 180 degree crank 256 flat head I saw run. They still go up to El Mirage every year. Some of their iron is still an inspiration to us old guys. Art Chrisman and John Bradley were others to inspire and impress us!
Normbc9

 

Ditto on Joaquin Arnett and the Bean Bandits from the early 1950's from San Diego.

Jerome

 

Not a front engined car but a very successful flattie. "The Smokin' White Owl". Had Garlts by 15+ years.

 

Johnny Hart, Portland, Oregon with his 354 incher, using a Crankshaft Co. 1" stroker, set the national record in 62. There was an article on the car in Hot Rod, in 63.

 

Sorry for dredging up ancient history, but I stumbled on to this thread while looking for something else. Isn't that always the way! I thought I might add to Whitey McDonald's info. In Denver, I saw Whitey run fairly consistent 9.30s in 90º+ temps. I'm not sure what that would translate to at sea level. I have seen Whitey run in the 8s at lower elevations, most recently at Mid America Dragway near Arkansas City, Kansas. As far as I know, he has never been in the sevens. The first time I saw Whitey race John Bradley, I expressed some concern and Whitey said something to the effect of, "I don't know. Every time we've raced, I've won." And he did that day, too, and several times after that. I did see Bradley beat him once. It was in Albuquerque. Whitey went red by .001 on a 0.400 pro tree. Too bad, because he had him covered. I think it should be mentioned that this was late in Bradley's racing career and it is hard to say what would have happened if he had been in his prime. I should also add that if being a nice guy would win races, Whitey would run in the fours. I think Whitey is pretty much retired from racing now, but you never know. Think how many times Don Garlits retired.

 

If ever an old thread deserves to be brought back up this one does!

Here is an old video of Stan's twin motored car again thing was competitive in the 60's
Judging by the poor starters reaction to the fumes, I'd say Stan was "tipping the can" pretty good again on this day too!!!