Thread: old drag cars

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Does anybody know when the picture that hotrodpaint posted was taken? I could be wrong, but I believe that the guy in the blue jacket and shades right above the "T" in the Lions Drag Strip sign is yours truly.

Prior to 1970

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Prior to 1970

That's what I was thinking, I spent a lot of time at Lions

I did too from late 69 until it closed, you probably saw us there a few times

Without a doubt, Jerry, without a doubt. I spent some time at Irwindale and OCIR and some at Carlsbad, but my favorite place was Lions.

The Hurst Hairy Olds was out running a Tornado with twin blown old's in the front and back doing runs lighting up all four tires almost the whole strip.

Grumpy Bill Jenkins ran super stock with Camero's and Vega's and Monza's

There was a guy out of Mich called The Mich Mad Man that ran a SBC sideways in a bike.They would wheel him up to the staging lights and put the bike on rear wheel kick stand.Then remote start the engine like ones used on dragsters and he would rev it up and kick the bike off the stand laying down over the whole thing.

Twin engined dragster called the Freight Train.

The Hemi underglass and The Little Red Wagon doing battle as wheelstanders

Jimmie Oddy ran a BB/gas Austin that won a Indy national.

Originally Posted by 1gary

The Hurst Hairy Olds was out running a Tornado with twin blown old's in the front and back doing runs lighting up all four tires almost the whole strip.

Grumpy Bill Jenkins ran super stock with Camero's and Vega's and Monza's

There was a guy out of Mich called The Mich Mad Man that ran a SBC sideways in a bike.They would wheel him up to the staging lights and put the bike on rear wheel kick stand.Then remote start the engine like ones used on dragsters and he would rev it up and kick the bike off the stand laying down over the whole thing.
.

that guy with the bike was E J potter THE MICH MAD MAN

Art Arfonce(sp) was out running a jet dragster.I remember a match race between him and Big Daddy Don.

Big had a clutch blow up and cut the car in two.Not at the above match race.

Connie was running a dragster and then a early funny car.Shirley was hanging out in real life,yepper"heart like a wheel".

Dandy Dick Landy was running his dodge Hemi deal.

A race at Lions( or Irwindale or OCIR) just a normal Sat nite race , you could see just about everybody you ever heard or read about--Snake, Mongoose, Ivo, Freight Train, Wild Willie,Panic, Hazen, Pure Hell, Rain for Rent,Tony Nancy,Pat Foster, Steve Carbone,Schultz&Glenn,etc, etc(old age ) and from the time of the Winter Nationals til Bakersfield March meet Garlits, Chizler, etc

all you young guys probably don't remember after santa ana shut down there was 2 drag strips long before Irwindale there was san gabriel race way I went there in 57 58 59 and early 1960 there and lions of course there as san fernando race way ( nick named the frog pond ) not many guys went there because you had to run mufflers I spent almost every week end at san gabrail or lions my mother would drop me off about 8a.m. and pick me up at 10 pm ( too young to drive )I hung around the pits and helped some of the racers got to know ivo, mazamanian saronian, dougie cook, tom strum, doug thorley pete everet, tere robinson, and many more. then in 1960 they tore down san gabreil and started building the 605 fwy. next year the built irwindale about that time mickey thompson built fontana so would run all 3 then about 66 or 67 the built o.c.i.r. there was also antelope valley raceway not vary popular but I ran there too. I also was a member the rod riders we an s.c.t.a. club we ran at lsr cars at carls bad and riverside 1/2 mile drags in the winter when we couldn't el mirage or bonneville those were the good ol days business to run no wife no kid no mortgage sorry for the reminiscing but after about 20 yrs life gas come full circle and I coming back and it feels good ....ted

all you young guys probably don't remember after santa ana shut down there was 2 drag strips long before Irwindale there was san gabriel race way I went there in 57 58 59 and early 1960 there and lions of course there as san fernando race way ( nick named the frog pond ) not many guys went there because you had to run mufflers I spent almost every week end at san gabrail or lions my mother would drop me off about 8a.m. and pick me up at 10 pm ( too young to drive )I hung around the pits and helped some of the racers got to know ivo, mazamanian saronian, dougie cook, tom strum, doug thorley pete everet, tere robinson, and many more. then in 1960 they tore down san gabreil and started building the 605 fwy. next year the built irwindale about that time mickey thompson built fontana so would run all 3 then about 66 or 67 the built o.c.i.r. there was also antelope valley raceway not vary popular but I ran there too. I also was a member the rod riders we an s.c.t.a. club we ran at lsr cars at carls bad and riverside 1/2 mile drags in the winter when we couldn't el mirage or bonneville those were the good ol days no business to run no wife no kid no mortgage sorry for the reminiscing but after about 20 yrs life has come full circle and I coming back and it feels good ....ted

Really is is kind of amazing how in the early days those guys hung on to drive these cars and how much we have learned since then.

I remember Art Arfons and his Green Monster -

The most famous "Green Monster" was powered by an F-104 Starfighter General Electric J79 17,500 lbf static thrust jet engine with four-stage afterburner, which Arfons purchased from a scrap dealer for $600 and rebuilt himself, over the objections of General Electric and the government, and despite all manuals for the engine being classified top secret.

Originally Posted by jag

OK....so a bit of information for this post.

Wayne Gapp started was racing from the late 1950's and started working for Ford in the early 1960's. Lincoln-Mercury provided George Delorean's old Comet to him which he ran with the 'Hi-Risers', a group of Ford Engineers.

Here's a link to information about the vehicle:
Wayne Gapp’s Wheelie Maker | Gapp Online

The next vehicle was a Cougar called the SuperCat. Both the Comet and the SuperCat were 427 Cammers.

See a pic of the SuperCat here:
Super Cat Cougar… | Gapp Online

From that vehicle he got a chassis from Logge, put a Mustang body on it and and inserted a injected gas Boss 429 into it and ran the AHRA East Coast circuit. This vehicle was prepped with Bill Jameson whose name can be seen on later Pro Stock vehicles as well.

See here:
Boss Hoss to Boss Gasser | Gapp Online

Since he was in charge of the Boss 429 program for NHRA and NASCAR he also had a garage business build engines for races. Why? Not many people built Ford engines those days. The biz was successful so he moved from the garage to a building. The business was called 'Performance Engineering'.

Around late '69 or so Ford decided this was a conflict of interest. A friend recommended a guy to partner with who could run the engine business. That person was Jack Roush.

Ford soon shut down racing operations and so the two went racing themselves.

The list of vehicles that ran under the Gapp & Roush banner include:

1. Super Stock - Mustang
2. Pro Stock - Maverick (2 or 3) - Boss 429 power
3. Pro Stock - Pinto(s) - variety of years *
4. Pro Stock - Mustang II *
4. Pro Stock - 4-Door Maverick *
* There are other vehicles but these are the basics
* Engine displacement depended on application (i.e. NHRA vs. Match racing) and the displacement in NHRA depended on weight factors.

Another good article about WG can be seen here:
Competition Plus

The first vehicle was fielded in 1970 and the last in 1978. WG drove until near the end where Dondero was hired to drive (1977?). JR wrenched. JR drove a few times.

I can't talk about JR's involvement in racing before 1970 though there are references to 'The Fastbacks'. I have not been able to find a single reference, magazine article or other information about the 'The Fastbacks'. If you know of any I would love to see it.

His involvement in auto racing after 1978 is well documented :-)

The Fastbacks were a regional and national drag racing club that formed in the closing months of 1963. They were Ford Motor Company employees who answered the call to promote the sales of Ford products through racing at various events. Several men chose drag racing at the meeting held at Ford World Headquarters one night. Some men had heavy drag racing experience and were given Fairlane Thuderbolts to drive. Ten men were left. They had only street racing experience. Ford Racing Counsel told them good luck and left them to their own devices. The men formed a club, collected dues, and bought a 1964 Galaxie 500 with a 427 cu. in. engine. Through trial and error they were able to make the car fast enough to take the national record in B/SA at Muncie, Indiana in July '64. At regional points meets they went undefeated that year. In 1965, they won the trophy at the Winternational Drag Races with the Galaxie. They had recently purchased a Mustang with a 289 cu. in. engine. It would eventually take the national record in C/SA that summer. Towards the end of the summer of '65, a young guy named Jack Roush joined the club. I was an unofficial junior member at 13 years old, but the men let me work on the car. Jack began elbowing me out of the way because I was just a kid. So I made myself useful by remembering what jets, plugs, tires, collector lengths, timing, etc worked during different track and weather conditions. Ford would not give the club a Super Stock for the '66 season so the club sat out the season. They obtained the first 1967 427 cu. in. dual carbed automatic trans Fairlane off the assembly line in the fall of '66. From scratch, with no help from Ford Racing Counsel, The Fastbacks turned that Fairlane into the record holding SS/BA at Indy in Sept. '67. They won class and took it to the final round or semi final round of Super Stock Eliminator, as memory serves. It was a wheels in the air start for The Fastbacks and Ronnie Sox in his Plymouth GTX SS/B. I was at the finish line. As they went through the traps, I put my face on the ground to look at their tires. I couldn't tell who won until the light came on in Ronnie's lane. The Fastbacks had given him a run for the money in a handmade super stocker. They carried on as a team until the end of the 1970 season. They held the national record every year that they competed.
Don McAlpine

Not sure about your Studebaker coupe ? But might of been Peter Magel and the Maggot. They raced the Chicken Hawk and beat it at the light for a National win.
Peter felt Ted won it and had the officials give Ted the win .Ted never forgot that act and on several of the forums has a lengthy message about that race with Peter /Maggot. Dead now, loss of Jr Stock killed him ,his whole life gone. If right
car /driver have great Niagara Race Track story for you Carrw