Thread: A blast of the Northwind.....

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Got this as an email today and thought I'd pass it along unedited with a few pictures of how the car looks today. They need to get humpin'!



By Jim Rockstad


In Part 1, I discussed the history of the top fuel car that put the Northwest on the map in the sport of drag racing.


In the 50’s and 60’s, hot rodding was at a fever pitch in the Northwest. Hot rod shows and rallies were very popular with events taking place nearly every weekend in the Portland-Vancouver area. Drag strips, mainly just airstrips, ran events every weekend in places like McMinnville, Aurora, Madras, Eugene, Woodburn, Scappoose and Delta Park. Those tracks were just in Oregon. In Washington there were tracks in Puyallup, Shelton, Kent, Bremerton, Deer Park an d Arlington. “Gear-heads” could attend or compete in several events every weekend during the spring, summer and fall months. Madras, Oregon would start up the season in February well before the tracks on the wetter side of the state.


In those days, the car clubs were the core of the hot rod involvement. If you weren’t in a car club and you weren’t into cars……well, you were really “square”. In North Portland there where 3 clubs within a few blocks of each other ~ that’s how popular it was. Gustin’s, a service station on Union Avenue, housed the Pharaohs. Across the street from Gustin’s were the Headers of Portland, and on the other side of the railroad tracks was yet another club hidden underneath a bridge. I was a member of the Headers right out of high school in the early 60’s.



The early years built a bonding of friends that continue to this day. They were built on the many struggles of building a race car, traveling to events throughout the region and never having enough money to keep up with the passion of the sport. We borrowed and swapped parts and equipment just to be able to keep up with the other racers in the area.

It was the feverish pace which created these life-long friendships ~ the same friendships that motivated the Northwind project..


Jack Coonrod, a Camas, Washington native was passionate about hot cars. He met Jim

Albrich in a north Portland garage while Jim was installing a Chrysler motor in an old Ford. At the time, Jack had a ’27 Model –T Ford Touring with a flathead motor and was interested in a Chrysler power plant. With Jack’s Touring and the Jim Albrich’s tuned Chrysler, Jack and Jim set a new NHRA national record of 135 mph in 1961. After that huge success, it was on to bigger and better things for the pair as they entered into the fuel dragster wars with the first Northwind in 1962. It was a short wheel based, Scotty Fenn fuel dragster, driven by Early Floyd. Earl drove just about anything with four wheels in those days from gassers to fuel-dragsters! However, the whole operation got off to a tough start when in the first fire-up the throttle stuck and rolled over into a ditch on an abandoned road. What a way to get this operation off the ground….but those are the struggles that cement the bonds of friendship over the years.


Jim Albrich borrowed $1,500 from Household Finance for a motor to get started in this drag racing world. After a summer of running the first Northwind, the bank account was empty. So, Jim moved on in one direction and Jack went the other. Albrich hooked up Mike Grimm, Max Bowman, Dean Rowley and Bill Jwayad with different fuel dragsters. As was usual back then, the money ran out with each partnership. Jim parked all his motors and parts until a guy named Ed McCulloch walked in the door.


Jack Coonrod headed in the direction of gassers ~ the funny cars in that era along with Wayne Harry, a local machinist. Wayne had a’33 Willys pickup and in it went Jack’s Chrysler power plant. From there on it was supercharged gassers through the rest of the 60’s. Later, the Willys truck was replaced by a ’33 coupe with a Chuck Finders’ setup as Jack readied the car to go on tour back east. Jack was one of the first to head out on tour in 1967 & 1968. There were two to three events a week throughout those summers from New England to Florida and all points in between. The friendship bonds created through many struggles during that time bring us forward to the winter of 2005. The news of Ed McCulloch’s struggle with colon cancer shook us all up here in the Northwest. & nbsp;One of our life-long friends was struggling with his health and was going through chemotherapy for this terrible disease. Our prayers were that everything would go well for him in his battle against his cancer as well as the battle for the points chase in the Brut funny car. At the time we felt there had to be something we could do to encourage him in his struggle.


When the photos of the Northwind came out in a magazine last winter, it lit a fire in Jack Coonrod. His bond with Ed McCulloch was very tight and Jack felt that he could give Ed “one day in the sun” and divert his thoughts away from that terrible disease. The plan was to find the gold Northwind that launched Ed’s career by rebuilding it, taking it to Pomona in November of 2006 and have Ed start it up.


After Pomona, the car will be displayed in Jack’s museum that is located in his home. This museum is dedicated to the world of gassers including old mementos from Jack’s touring days in the 60’s. The museum has an area set aside just for his special friend of forty years, Ed McCulloch. Ed has also contributed many items for Jack’s museum from the old days.


Jack then gathered up his friend Earl Floyd and the two of them burned up the phone lines in search of the famous gold car. For almost 3 months the leads came in hot and heavy as Earl “the bloodhound” Floyd was relentless in the search. He tracked each lead until it was found to be fruitless. There was a car in Idaho and several in Oregon and lots of them that seemed to be the original, but one after another they were found to be the wrong car. Jack, at one time, thought maybe he could copy the original car and fabricate an all new one but it just wouldn’t be right; it had to be the 1965 Drag News #1 car in the nation ~ the famous gold Northwind ~ no copies for this deal!


When the search hit a dead end, a $250 finder’s fee was offered to Lon Russell, a local drag racing enthusiast and computer-savvy guy. The industry-wide websites were all posting the many needs to accomplish the goal of rebuilding the Northwind. Many searches were being conducted throughout the Northwest. All of a sudden; pay dirt! The actual car was found in an old barn in British Columbia, Canada. Talk about long shots!!


The car had been in Canada for over 30 years. The last time it had made any runs down a drag strip was as a gas dragster in the early 70’s. The car had been lengthened twice and was 13” longer than when it ran in top fuel. A different front axle was on the car and it had been a parts-car for other dragsters. The car was purchased from Swindahl race cars of Tacoma at one time. The late Bill “Madman” Phillips, who ran alcohol dragsters for many years, had the car and wanted it displayed in a museum. After his death, several of Bill’s friends were planning to display the car, once a museum was built. The museum never came about. Canadas’ Bill Bennett willingly sold the car to Jack Coonrod knowing that the car would be used to honor Ed McCulloch and honor the memory of Madman Phillips. This car now has two purposes for getting it rebuilt.


And so, on January 20, 2006 the car headed back to the US because Jack Coonrod bought the machine that hadn’t seen a race track in 30 plus years. Now the hard part begins. There were many parts missing; the original front axle, the steering and spindles. But the most important part of all ~ the over-the-roll-cage tail section was no where to be found. On the positive side, the cowl and side panels were in excellent shape because of the earlier lengthening of the frame was in the motor area. As Jack headed for Vancouver, Washington and to his shop with a smile on his face he also knew that he had a huge project ahead of him. Finding the original replacement parts wasn’t going to be easy but his strong determination kept him driving forward.


To keep the car original was paramount. This would require using old pictures of the car

and starting from scratch on building new parts. Jack knew it would be time to reach out to many drag racing friends to find the old pieces and to get some support as he started putting the car together.


The question has to be asked “is there enough time and support to accomplish this huge undertaking and make it to the Finals in Pomona in November of ’06? It doesn’t seem possible that there’s enough time left but then again how was it possible that you could find an old dragster that hadn’t been run in thirty years? Don’t bet against Jack and Earl! They are reaching out to the drag racing industry and together they will pull it all together.

Thanks for the story and pics, Bob. Goes to show what strong friendships are developed throughout racing... Sure do wish I could make it to Pomona this year, hope someone from the gang is there to take about a gadzillion pics of this very important part of our drag racing history.

Very interesting Thanks for taking the time to shear with us

Hello all, I just found this place and a write up about the Northwind dragster.
I owned and raced that car for almost 14 years and sold it back to Bill Phillips around 1998.
It is so cool to see it being saved !
Dave Craig (Nitro™).

bob dont forget "deer-park"............

Thanks Bob. Nice reading.

The only thing is I keep remembering Big Daddy getting his foot blown off in a front engine rail job.

Yeah I also know about numbers and odds and stuff. Probably just that I build prototypes and have seen soooooo many failures.

I would love to drive it though

Kitz

great story thanks for posting that, all those old cars are somewhere. tucked away in old barns and behind garages. sad thing is most people who have them do not even know what they have.

I would say half of them know exactly what they have

Does anyone know the E-Mail addy for the gentlemen who now has the Northwind car ?
As I may have somemore imput for him about the car after Bill Phillips sold it to Don Gryte (sp) and after Don sold it to me back in or around 1976 or 77.
Thank you.
Dave Craig (Nitro™).

Dave,
You've got mail!

I agree with the fact they know what they hqve Thats why you dont see many for sale

Got another installment in the email box tonight, so here it is, unedited again, just as I received it. I presume it's the same author, not sure about parts 2 & 3. BTW, this was written before Dave (Nitro) talked to Jack Coonrod who's doing the restoration, so there may be some historical perspective in the next installment based on Dave's experience with the car.

NORTHWIND PROJECT: Part 4

Since the last episode of the Northwind Project, Team Northwind has been continuing to gather the rare parts needed to bring this fuel dragster back to life. The chassis is all complete and refurbished, awaiting the completion of the rear and front axles. It’s time now to move on to the powerful Chrysler power plant. First a little history about the motor designer and builder, Jim Albrich.

Jim Albrich and Jack Coonrod hooked up together back in 1961 with a partnership on an
A/SR ’27 Ford T Touring. The beautiful yellow machine sported a 354 Chrysler with a
huge 5/8” stroker owned by Larry Nicholson. Jack was to drive the car and Jim was to tune this huge motor. The pair had quick success back then running a new NHRA National Record for street roadsters at 134.55 mph at the old McMinnville, Oregon
drag strip. It was quite apparent that Jim Albrich knew and understood these hemi motors
way back in the early 60’s.

After a year in top fuel with Jack Coonrod and the original Northwind in 1962 and then with Mike Grimm through 1964, Jim hooked up with Ed McCulloch as they assembled the beautiful gold-flaked magicar built by Kent Fuller. For this cutting edge race car,
Jim chose a 392 Chrysler bored .030 over to equal 396 cubic inches. He used a set of modified 426 hemi rods re-machined to accept the smaller 392 wrist pins.After he designed and built the original set of short rods, he had Mickey Thompson build
additional sets. One of the keys to the huge power of the Jim Albrich-tuned Chrysler was the needle bearing Crower DG205 camshaft. DG205 stood for Don Garlits 205 mph which was one of the fastest speeds of that time period. A secret, known to very few, was Jim Albrich installed the camshaft 13 degrees retarded which helped cool the combustion chambers and piston tops allowing for more power. In May of 1965, the Northwind ran
206.xx mph at Woodburn Drag Strip setting the stage for the “Sneaky” Pete Robinson
Showdown for the Drag News number one spot in the nation, later that summer. Jim utilized the Tony Cirello magneto running the motor between 32 and 40 degrees advance
depending on track conditions.

The steel cylinder heads were provided by Mondello with Earl Floyd doing the valve and porting work Two inch Donovan stainless valves and exhaust rockers completed the heads. Always concerned about being précised, Jim built his own fixture to correct the
intake and exhaust rocker arm pad center points so that all valves would open the same amount. The shorter rods caused additional loads on the pistons so Jim used 70w racing oil to assist with the extreme piston skirt load. Milodon had a main cap support that Jim used to keeping the bottom end together but over the years changed to the aluminum spread bolt main caps.

Back in those days, it took a smart motor man to run the big numbers of that day. It was trial and error and build your own parts as the engine builders fought for more horsepower to compete against the challengers. With each advancement in these high powered motors something would fail somewhere else and new stronger pieces would be needed. The sport required continual advancement, stretching all the parts to the limit. If you wanted to run with the best you had to continue experimenting with new items that you produce yourself. And of course, you would do it secretly. After all, it was all about beating the guy in the other lane at his own game…..and then continuing to do it over the years.

Jim Albrich, Earl Floyd and Jack Coonrod spend many afternoons at the shop putting together the Northwind motor. It was a time of bonding with old pals and not exactly
a 90 minute motor fix as you see on television with modern era drag racing. A couple of these guys have reached the 70 mark for age and so things move at a little slower pace
than in years previous. Nonetheless, the motor is complete and ready to slip between the
frame rails as the project continues forward. The powerful Chrysler motor built and tuned by Jim Albrich back in the 60’s will once again be cackling soon. We can all hardly wait!

No doubt, the biggest headache in this whole rebuild job is to replace the over-the-rollbar
tail section. As near as anyone can tell that part of the body never made it past the early 70’s. Full bodied dragsters weren’t the rage when the 70’s rolled around so a lot of those
beautiful tail sections were hauled off to the dump. But the plan has always been to return
this 1965 Northwind to its’ original condition. The handmade piece was one of a kind and
there was a completely different roll cage on the car when it was found in early 2006. How in the world do you begin this project and who has the skills to make it all look like it did way back then?

There is several fabricators around the Northwest. Finding the guy with a long background around hot rods and race cars and has the time to do this project and, of
course will take it easy on the price, isn’t exactly easy to come by. Jack interviewed a group of them as he attempted to find the right guy to fill the need. Bingo! Dale Withers
of Estacada, Oregon has been working on hot rods and race cars for over 42 years. He has won many awards for his fabricating and expert painting and all he works on is special
interest cars. Dale said that he would do the tail section and other tin work as a side job
so that he could charge a lesser amount. Of course that would take more time but it is in the middle of winter and Dale feels that he can get the job finished in the not too distant
future. Wow! It is people like this that are allowing this car to come back together again.
Dale understands going into this project the significance of this car returning so that Ed
McCulloch can fire it up at one of the National events sites and that this car has to be
right and original from one end to the other.

A few months ago Dale got started and it was flat amazing watching his approach to
duplicating the old tail section. He built a plywood “plug” with many pieces of ¾ inch
plywood as a template to wrap the aluminum around. Then the plug was mounted on a
motor stand with wheels so that the template could be moved around easily. Once again,
a craftsman has stepped forward to help launch the Northwind and support the cause.
With each hurdle Team Northwind goes over you can just about hear the cackle from that
Jim Albrich Chrysler,,,,,,,,,,it’s coming soon.

Part 5

In the next episode of the NORTHWIND PROJECT the tin work should be getting
finalized and the whole thing will be heading to the paint shop. An open trailer like those
back in the 60’s is in the works as this whole project heads towards the finish line.

Keep them coming Bob this is history in the making
Thanks Charlie

For those who have been keeping track here's the 5th edition of the story. The completion is in sight!
http://competitionplus.com/index.php...iew&id=2320&It

Going to be a blast to see the car done and go down the quarter. Thanks for the link, Bob. I also had to read some of Jon Asher's stuff...Good to see he still dearly loves the brass at NHRA!!!!