A number of years ago I remember that at the Charlotte CVA meet there was the Curtis Turner replica. I can remember looking at a couple of the 55/56 Ford race cars (can't remember they might have both been 56's) and noticing what looked to be a dual-shock setup? Does anyone out there have any specs on this or how this was accomplished? I assume that everything was completely fabricated at the race shop like the photo below? I tried to find a photo of what I am trying to explain but just came up with this. I don't think this convertible 56 has the setup I am speaking of...looks like this photo was taken when the heads and intake were off the block?



any of these gents in the photo still alive and kickin'? Is the above photo of Depaolo's shop?



Flat out awesome race car right there!

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

My Dad raced a lot of circle track and all the twin shocks were usually one in the stock location and one attached to the outside of the lower A Frame and a bracket welded to the frame for the top mount.

Gary Ryan San Antonio.TX.

Daniel, The top picture is a shot from the garage that Factory Ford under the name DePalo Racing ,used in Daytona Beach getting ready for the 56 speedweek.

The second picture is of the #26 car that I built in the early 1980's. A tribute car to Curtis Turner and the winnest car in NASCAR history, 22 wins in 1956. That picture was taken in the Museum of Speedway motors. I do have pictures of the dual shock mounts and will try to look them up.

  JUST A MIDNIGHT CRUISE DOWN THUNDER ROAD!!! TOM DRUMMOND MIDWEST DIRECTOR 57 FORD INTERNATIONAL

The car in the forefront of the first photo, appears to be that of Glenn "Fireball" Roberts. Is that him standing by it? Turner's #26 is of course in the background.

Paul

Paul,That is not Fireball standing buy the car. I think this was a mechanice and his first name may have been "Red" . At one time I asked Ralph Moody , but I can't remember who he said the different people were? I wish I had written down evert thing Ralph told me ,but i was only interested in the stories about Curtis Turner!

  JUST A MIDNIGHT CRUISE DOWN THUNDER ROAD!!! TOM DRUMMOND MIDWEST DIRECTOR 57 FORD INTERNATIONAL

What was the theory back then in racing convertibles? Surely the wind swirling around must have caused excessive drag issues?

Gary - 1958 Star Customline and 1940 Ford Deluxe Hotrod

Gary, The thought behind the convert. series in NASCAR was that the fans could see the drivers working the steering wheel like at the indy car races and the hotrod races. It was also a way to sell more tickets having a seperart race than the hard tops on a different night.

Aeodynamics was not a problem because the ragtops and the hardtops did not race against each other, altough in the last few years of the circuit there were a few races called sweepstake races when the hardtops and ragtops ran in the same race, but each division had a winner.

When the factories backed out in mid 1957 and money was drying up,for 1958 some teams built cars called zipper tops, Cars could be raced as converts. on Saterday and a top was bolted onto them and raced as a hardtop on sunday.

The convertible division in NASCAR only ran from 1956 untill 1959 and Darlington ran the Rebel 300 for a few more years as a once a year ragtop race. But in the four years of the convert. division, it was some of the best racing NASCAR has ever offered.

  JUST A MIDNIGHT CRUISE DOWN THUNDER ROAD!!! TOM DRUMMOND MIDWEST DIRECTOR 57 FORD INTERNATIONAL

Tom,

From the vintage video footage I have seen, I could not agree more with your statement about convertible racing being some of the best.

Were you at that CVA Charlotte meet way back in let's see... '92 or '93? I know there were race cars there just can't remember exactly which ones.

EDIT: Where can I find more photos of Depalo's shop?

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

Daniel, Yes i was at Charlotte, and I built both of the race cars that were there. The orange and white #26 and the purple wild hog #99.

I have talked to you at carlisle, I was always with Cy, the old guy with all the superchargers and y-block stuff.

I will look through some of my old stuff,and see what I can turn up.

Go on facebook to NASCAR before 72 and you will see a lot of old time shots.

  JUST A MIDNIGHT CRUISE DOWN THUNDER ROAD!!! TOM DRUMMOND MIDWEST DIRECTOR 57 FORD INTERNATIONAL

alright... next question and we will find out how famous you are lol... a few years back, Ford did a commercial that showed its racing history. The footage shown was present day on a current blacktop road as the cars went from Henry's first race car down through the years... the car kept rolling and "morphed" into cars from different era's. I could have sworn that your purple and white #99 was in that commercial!!!!

EDIT: I remember Cy... he and I talked VS57 stuff for a while. IIRC, he worked at the Paxton plant for a while right?

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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