Thought I would throw this up on the racing forum to remind us all of the name and reputation a Y block has among the general public who are realistic when it comes to our great engine's place in history (then and now).

I went to Carlisle, PA, today for their annual Ford show - lots of rain, so I hung out at all of the swap spaces that took about 3-4 hours of time to peruse. Wouldn't you know it...I spotted 2 mcculloch blowers. One was a demo "cutaway" version for a sales man I guess, and the other was one that had been rebuilt.

The owner and I began discussing VS57's because I was talking to him about Y blocks, needing a carb bonnet, etc. This eventually led to Ford and Paxton's work on the VR blower. Well, this fella was a Korean War vet, did some time as an NHRA official in the 50's etc.

He said there was a guy with a 57 Ford passenger car, blown 312 (VR57), back in the late 50's that ran at a drag race in Detroit, MI. He said this fella was eating up chevy's left and right. He also said that this Y blocker had put 4 speed gears in a 3 speed transmission case, and the NHRA allowed it because the rules were not specific enough...He mentioned John??? Hoosier could that have been you by any chance?

Anyway, it was good to spend some time with him benchracing the Y!

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

Also had another uh.......stock, Pontiac Catalina, 9 passenger wagon, 4 speed 421 SD (405 hp) that I ran in stock. Never saw too many of those on the showroom floor.

      The car was originally a 389 auto car, converted to the Sd combo and I bought it used. I broke a crank in half at York during a launch. Pontiac wanted $590 something dollars for a new crank and a couple of rods. I was making $600 a month as an Industrial Engineer. That was the end of that adventure.

      Point is, NHRA accepted the car as stock. It was one of NONE ever built by Pontiac. Had it been a Ford, or Mopar I'd have had to run Gas or Modified Production, NHRA wouldn't have bought the stock thing.   

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

I've always known that NHRA and NASCAR have written their rules to pacify GM,particularly Chevy.I'm not into drag racing but until recently I've been into stock cars all my life and I know that NASCAR has been biased toward GM since 1957.Every time Ford or Chrysler starts winning too many races we get a rule change.Chevy can win 70-80 percent of the races and NASCAR doesn't change a thing.NASCAR has never outlawed a GM engine,but they have,in the past,banned engines from both Ford and Chrysler.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO