I've been going through some old vids of mine from back in my racing days and found this one from the Heartland Hot Rod Reunion at Thunder Valley in Noble Oklahoma. I had to edit out a few things so its short but enjoy... Check out the Ford cammer on nitro vs the smallblock who lost reverse after his burnout.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMK8o6udDJQ
thanks for posting, I was there and runner uped the nostalgia gas class , it was a good event, wish they still had it..
What a cool race, I remember sammy hale blowing up his car the run after claude ran. We were pulling the car back when it happened and we were the first there, and remember sammy getting out of his car and the header pipes were still on fire and he took out a luck strike and used the flames from the pipes to light one up. That race was bad ass!!!!!!
who was driving the iron smallblock dragster on nitro that exploded at the 1000 ft mark earlier in the day, if I recall the tower said he was 17 years old????
I think the driver of the master cam car was young, maybe he was 17?? I think his name was Sean????? but they had a hemi. Sammy was running an alum. small block that completly blew #1 and #3 holes apart, and when I think about it now it was sammy that blew up earlier that day. my bad. later RC
That was none other than "Wild Bill" Alexander driving the Mastercam car that day against Sammy Hale in the Champion Speed Shop SBC fueler. Bill didn't finish out the weekend due to some issues with the way the car was setup, but flew home Sunday AM. I don't know if Bill would be delighted or insulted to be though of as 17 years old, though... seeing as he did race at the very first March Meet in 1959... And I believe you're thinking of Sean Bellemuer, who drove the High Speed Motorsports fueler, but never drove for "Root Beer" Frank Hedges who owns the Mastercam car.
Guys - I was there too. A great race and a great time! I've been fortunate enough to have seen both Wille himself as well as Mike Boyd at the tiller of the Winged Express. Willie was "wild" indeed, but you can't short Mike regarding big balls. He's every bit the hard-ass driver Willie was. Regarding the "blow-up", Sammy Hale was in the motel coffee shop the next morning - looking a bit singed - but well able to tell the whole story to the rapt crowd. What fun! There was also a great awards banquet featuring Bennie Osborne, Vance Hunt, and others (Kansas John Wiebe was scheduled, but didn't show). It's a real shame that event hasn't been able to carry on.
The Jalopy Journal
