Paul,

            I have been to Garlits, great museum, He was there working on a rail with TC Lemmons!! He was 69 or 70 the year I was there (2003) still racing. His mother (!) took the tickets and showed me around, how cool was that?        

      The pure stock rules are designed to keep the speeds in check, and part breakage to a minimum. Drivelines hold up better on slippery street tires than they do with Slicks or drag radials. Doesn't work, we have a Corvette (L-88) going 11.50's, couple of Hemis in the same neighborhood. All are at or above 120mph.

     You can go back pretty far on the "Muscle Car" subject. My Dad had a T with a Frontenac head in the late 20's,early 30's. Duesenburg made some (expensive) rocket ships in the 30's. Buick named the Super, with a Roadmaster straight Eight, the Century. It was supposed to run 100 mph. I had a buddy with a 40 Century, who restored it in high school in the 50's. That thing would give a 265 Chevy or a '55 272 all they wanted! Must have been something in the 40's, when you could get gas for it !!

      56 Cadillacs  were available with a dual quad (WCFB's) Eldorado motor. 365 inches I believe. I rode with my Grandfather in a black four door sedan  DeVille with one of those and watched him positively decimate a couple of '56 Chevies on Woodward Ave one afternoon in 1956. That was fun for a fourteen year old!!  

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Those old cars bring back great memories.  The old 40's Buick Century's had dual carbs too.  When I visited the Garlits Museum, his mother was also there taking tickets.  She said she thought Don was getting too old to be racing.  A guy I know has a car on loan to the museum, a 57 Dodge D-501, a very rare car.  It has a 354" Hemi, like a 56 Chrysler 300B.  It is a red and white 2 door post with column shift and used to be Arnie Beswicks race car when it was new.  I'm sure most of us have heard of, and seen pictures of, the old Ardun OHV flathead conversions?  You may know this, they were designed by Zora Arkis Duntov, developer of the Chevy Duntov cam.  Another very successful racer with an older car is Jack Clifford.  He raced a 54 Hudson Hornet in L/Stock Automatic, I think, and won the NHRA Nationals several times.  The car ran in the 15's. He has a business now, Clifford Engineering, and specializes in 6 cylinder motors.  His advertising logo is 6=8, you probably have seen that.  I know I have mentioned this before, but George Chaltin, in his F Code 57 Skyliner, won his class at the NHRA Nationals two or three times. 

Paul J. - '57 E Code

Another old time racer still active is my friend, Ted Harbit.  He was 8 times class winner at the Nationals with his stock '51 Studebaker.  Early Olds rocket 88's were his most common victims.  He ran in the lowest class NHRA had, and every couple of years they would add a class at the top and combine the lowest two classes.  He continued to win.  He still has the '51, raced it with a Paxton blown 289 Stude engine, then dual Paxtons, then dual turbochargers.  He has run 10 teens at 140 mph with it.  He also races in the Pure Stock races with his '63 Super Lark, a blown Avanti engined Lark.  Available from the factory that way.  It has run 12.90s on street tires.  He also drives a friend's '64 Super Lark at the pure stock races.  Ted is in his early '70s.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

John, 502 am!??

     You're supposed to be retired!    

         I had heard that Jack Clifford had passed away, don't remember where I heard that, hope it's incorrect.

      Ted Harbit, re: John's post is a class act, nice people. He was inducted into the Hot Rod Hall of Fame at the H R Reunion held at National Trails earlier this Summer. I have posted some photos of those two cars in one or two of the articles I wrote for YBM. I am amazed at how little I knew about those cars and that company (Studebaker) until I moved into the South Bend area twenty odd years ago. Still don't know much. I can tell you this much, I'd like to see the kind of representation from our group at one of these races, that the Studebaker guys have. There were 15 or more 'Bakers at Stanton and one lone Y block. Two if you count Brian Steffina's '58 Merc. Marauder 430, 400 hp.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

John,

I remember seeing Ted's old Studebaker run at the Indy Nationals.  I think he got torn down, in fact weren't all National winners torn down in those days?  I read that the blown Larks weren't allowed to run when they were new because Studebaker didn't publish an advertised horsepower for them.  The NHRA couldn't divide the power to weight ratio to classify them.  I really loved that old heads up class racing.  It's good to see a guy in his 70's racing, I hope I have some more years to enjoy this into my 70's, which are fast approaching. 

Paul J. - '57 E Code

Frank / John,

You know for a couple of "Retired Teenages" you guys aren't half bad!

I will fully admit that a YOUNG wippersnapper like myself can learn a lot from from you guys, so keep it up!

Rob

I love the smell of burning rubber in the morning!

Paul:

Yes, the class winners were all torn down.  Ted's problem was that he always had to put it back together so he could DRIVE the car home.  I hadn't heard that about the super Larks, but it could be true.  A few years ago Mike Burns, another friend and once an NHRA tech inspector, tried several times to talk Ted into running a super Lark in Stock Elim just to drive the chevvy guys nuts.  So at least Mike knew about them.  Another story about Mike.  He raced Buicks in stock when I ran the Hurricane in stock.  He was always a tick off the national record, so wasn't very competitive in stock elim.  I could always seem to keep the Hurricane on or under the record.  One weekend someone set my record down a couple tenths, from 13.10 to 12.90, and I showed up the next weekend running on the new record.  Mike walked up, got right in my face, and said, "I'll bet if they set your record in the 11's you'd still run on it".  Strangely enough, the Hurricane has run in the 11s, but it's not legal stock now.

Frank, there's a 2 hour time difference between this site and Hoosierland.  It was 7:02, I usually am up at 6:00 or shortly thereafter.  I have not set an alarm clock in the 3+ years I have been retired.  I just like to get up now that I don't have to clock in anywhere.

Rob, keep your mind, ears, and eyes open, you will learn more.  But you may have to ignore the comments from that guy south of the equator.  He's off the wall sometimes.  He he.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

hey john i hope you mean lon & not the rest of us aussies haha

moz. geelong victoria australia.

graduate 1980, bus, truck, car, hot rod, boat, submarine, hovercraft, hydrafoil, firetruck, mobile home, jet, helicopter, cruise ship, motorcycle, bicycle, santa's sleigh, clock, alloy bullbar, alloy fuel tank, lens, dr who's tardis, matter - anti matter warp drive buffer & y-block lover

Most likely caused by the walls being upside down.

         Lon, Thanks for the $50 AU prize money. That's about $50 more than came from Canada!! How's the truck coming?

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

p.s. i forgot sorry lon i was only joking nothing wrong with queenslanders brisbane has a ford factory just like geelongs

moz. geelong victoria australia.

graduate 1980, bus, truck, car, hot rod, boat, submarine, hovercraft, hydrafoil, firetruck, mobile home, jet, helicopter, cruise ship, motorcycle, bicycle, santa's sleigh, clock, alloy bullbar, alloy fuel tank, lens, dr who's tardis, matter - anti matter warp drive buffer & y-block lover