Hi all,

I am new to this board, in fact I just found out about it,... Here is what I have,



This car is from the Dearborn / Detroit area. It's a ‘31 Model A roadster body channeled on a ‘32 Ford frame. It ran in the B/SR division as ‘424 The Blue Racer’ owned by Loren McCombs of Dearborn. It ran a 312 Y-block with a Hilborn fuel injection, but the most significant thing about this little roadster is that it Won the B/SR National Title at the 1964 NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indy, and from what I have been told it is the only modified to ever win a national title with a Y-block Ford ( is there any way to verify this ?). I recently acquired what was left of the car. A big ‘thank you’ goes to Dave Crain for reuniting this car with it's history.

I am looking for anything I can find, there was a picture in Popular Hot Rodding in Dec. 1964 of the trophy run, and a picture in the 64 Hot Rod Annual of Loren standing next to the car with the trophy,..... but that's all I know, any info you guy's can shed on this would be great.



The trophy run at the nats in 64





and how I brought it home










A Sinner Saved By Grace

What a great old blast from the past! You have to bring it down to Columbus, Ohio in September. Lots of old racers and race cars there! You have got to get it running again! If the history is correct the scrub(GM) guys would like to see it disapear! There are a lot of folks out here than should be able to help you with the project. Chuck in NH

I'll be in Dearborn, hopefully for the Woodward cruise and then will be driving to Columbus from there. We have to get togather! Chuck

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Thanks Chuck,



I live about 150 miles north of the Detroit area now, the other thing I am trying to verify is that it set a class record in 64, I just got in touch with someone that thinks they can connect me with the original owner. I will keep you guys updated with what I find out if anyone is interested.


A Sinner Saved By Grace

*UP DATE*



Geez 4 posts on this thread and 3 of them are mine, Hope this is fitting in OK here, (Let me know if I am breaking any rules or something)



As it turns out I got a lead where Loren McCombs might be,... and hit pay dirt !,... I just got off the phone with him and he answered a lot of questions I had. But here is some cool stuff for those of you interested.



(1) Won B/SR Class at the 1964 U.S. Nationals Indy.



(2) Won B/SR Regionals at Dragway 42 Ohio 1965



(3) Was disqualified for B/SR 1965 at Bristol because this Model A

had a 106" wheelbase, was bumped to Altered class,... Loren

added a second front cross member at 103", both cross

members are still in the car.



(4) Went back to Bristol Spring Nationals in 1966 and Won B/SR

Class.



He still has the plaques and trophies and lots of pictures,.... and he just told me tonight he would like me to have them. I feel like I am on cloud 9 ,....

A Sinner Saved By Grace

Hey mate , If you keep posting photos &  "History lessons " like that first one ,we will keep reading them ???? That sure is a piece of " Drag Racing History "

KEEP ON POSTING .

Regards Lon

yblocksdownunder

Welcome to the site Harms Way.

The Blue Racer came up on the old forums briefly and it's good to see that its history is being expounded on.  Keep up with the information and any updates on its potential restoration or return to track duty.

Here's the link on the old forums.

http://www.y-blocksforever.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=1650 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I thought I would give you some details on the engine as was told to me by Mr. McCombs,



He bought the engine in 1961 from a junkyard, his machinist thought

it might be a truck engine, blueprinted, they shaved the heads .035, and decked .065 off the block, Forged high dome pistons,13.5 to 1 compression ratio, knurled crank, bored out to 327 c.i.d., Isky cam,Hilborn Fuel Injection, custom built headers. all built by Leo Gonzales.( He said he got the biggest, heaviest most powerful battery he could find and mounted it in the trunk )



The transmission was a Mercury 3 speed that he said "was really long"

He said the driveshaft was under two feet long.



The rear end might have been a 57 Ford or Olds.



He bought the car as a running Hot Rod in 1961 with a Gonzales Flathead (that he blew up), Zepher trans & 40 banjo rear end. It was light green and had done duty at Eckles Rd. and Motor City Dragway.

A Sinner Saved By Grace

Harm: It certainly is great to hear about another major Ford Y-Block success story. Hopefully, you can do a resto on the car. There are many good people on this site that would be more than glad to help you out... Another similiar story, as I understand, it is this; In 1963, Ted Kramer was running a "B" Altered Roadster, powered by a Hilborn Injected Ford 312, in NHRA Div.3. In third place on the last day of racing, he came from behind to beat a bevy of mostly Chevy powered competitors, and win the Divisional Championship. Appropriately, his prize was a 427 Ford engine...    

Paul

Hi guys, can i add some interesting news from the past also about another y block racer told to me  by a friend in NY, Joe S. He recalls it like this;

hi bill, funny i'm an old y-block guy myself had a friend back in the old
days that held b/street roadster and c/altered NHRA records using y-block power. his name was ron mindge it was a blue t-roadster all home built as were most hot rods.

.......don't think that true's about it being the only y-block to win a national event maybe the only 312 ci but. i'mpretty  sure ron won a national event in the early 60s. his engine was a 292 or 272...my
old brain forgets stuff...but i remember pushing the roadster up to the
starting line and being a good-for . i guess i was in my early teens. this
was also another couple of our gang held national records in am/s don noyes and aa/a ron scott ( i ended up driving for ron scott in the late 70s) don noyes won indy in 1965 and held the national record. ron scott won a few national events and held the record on and off. i was with him when he set the national record at Englishtown...and he went thru the lights backwards at 182 mph. !!!!!!!!!!!!! it was wild and such fun in the day........that's when everyone built their own car and could build all kinds of "trick" parts. i remember when don gartlis would put a rag over a part of the engine...to hide a part...well what gartlis was doing was just shaking the others up a bit as he never had anything special/new under "the rag" . also when ron scott had the national record he'd put a metal part of some sort on the frame and hook it to the engine...it never did anything but sure got people wondering. sometimes to make weight ron would fill his frame up with water....now that was a "trick" all of us are/were from the albany,ny area,  man the things i remember !!!!! End description. 

This story may jog someone elses memory of racer Ron mindge and his y block racer. All the best! Regards aussiebill. 

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Thanks AussieBill,

Is there anyone that can varify this?,... I have been trying to get ahold of Dave Crain to see if this is in the record books, but he has been Ill,............ can any of you other guys varify this ? I would be very interested to see if this is true. Thanks

A Sinner Saved By Grace