Ted,

I will add my congratulations as well! That must be something to open road travel at those speeds for extended periods of time with the y block exhaust note in your background.

FYI .... I should be making my Texas trip again in 2017 but this time I will be in Fortworth, not Waco. I am pretty sure the date will be the Saturday after Valentine's Day. We will have to get together!

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

First time Ive had a chance to read this.. Well done to you [both] sounds like a lot of fun and as someone said time to install a gopro camera so we can all enjoy ; )  unfortunately in this "Nanny" country we cant do things like that  ; ( 



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"

It sounds like you and Linda are ready for the Nevada Silver State. I didn't know Texas had one. Congrats......

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

VERY impressive, congrats Ted!

I love the smell of burning rubber in the morning!

The turtle and the hare !


  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Enough can't be said about this great accomplishment, kuddo's to you and Linda! P.S. Be careful with your secrets, Corvette folks may be spying on the Y block site!

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

While the 150 MPH speedometer (salvaged from a ’55 Ford Police car back in the Eighties) was reasonably accurate with the 27.1” tall tires, that accuracy went out the window when I put H speed rated 25½” tall tires on the car for the race.  In this instance, a GPS was used for the mph and maintaining any given speed.  The reason for the tire change was both for the speed rating and age.  The existing 27.1” tires were in excess of 4 years old and were also only speed rated for 112 mph which would have limited the car to the 85 mph class.  The key to nailing the finished time though was Linda using a stop watch at various points along the route to confirm the actual mph average.


This ‘55 was originally an overdrive car with 3.89:1 rear gear; the tranny was upgraded to a T-85 w/overdrive back when the engine was rebuilt.  The rear axle housing was upgraded at the same time and is a 9” out of a ’58 Ford and uses a 3.56:1 rear gear.  Engine braking with the overdrive engaged at speed was still good in this instance.  Because the highway is shut down for the race, all lanes are available which makes it much easier to straighten out the curves and not lose as much speed.  I spent quite a bit of time in the oncoming traffic lane without having to worry about oncoming traffic.  Never had to use the brakes except at the finish line.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted,
That sounds like a lot of fun.   What transmission and axle ratio are you running in the 55?   If it is an OD transmission, you probably would run out of OD for engine braking in the curves.  Great job with all the competition.

Paul J. - '57 E Code

Ted, did you use the original speedometer or did you have something more accurate?

  Dennis in Lititz PA

Thanks to all for the kudos.  This race is indeed one of the few instances where Linda and I can share competing as a couple.  Just finishing the race with one of these older vehicles is an accomplishment but then winning the class is icing on the cake.  Added to the win were a couple of other awards which actually means as much or more than the win.
 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)