Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Unbievable!!! Charlie,I'll stop and see you at INDY.

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Oh Charlie,Charlie,Charlie.Look up the word criticize.I believe you just ate a pound of crow.You're too funny.

Ed F.

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

get a life "family truckster" racer. I am on the dyno right now, what are you doing?
cw

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

If my memory is correct, Jimmy used to have a rig that was painted the same color as the vette and the ole 68 camaro, so Scott Wilcox's car is the car Jimmy is racing now!!!


Stephen Johnson #2162
Horace Johnson #2167
SS/D 427 Ford Fairlane NHRA-IHRA

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Just got off work.Getting ready to go to T&T at Cecil co.It must be an awesome burden to be such a legend in your own mind.Say hi to Bucky at Indy for me.

Ed F.

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

I am confused how the need for 3 speed automatic 283 chevy is different than running a vette only PRODUCED in small numbers.No 4 speed stick 55 chevy was ever produced. At least the vettes were available and some were sold. Seems less of a stretch to be legal than creating a whole NEW combination and calling it legal while enforcing the NUMBERS deal to prevent competition. Consistency has always been weak in the rules department though.
How about making a Hood scoop illegal on a 71 vette but not removing the HP that was tacked on because one was being used to make the cars fast?
Conway you are correct. Keep them all under the same set of SS rules and allow them all to run together. If its built the number is really the least of the issues we have with these cars....
Dick Butler

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

I'm not real sure Jimmy is racing Scott's old car. Back then, Jimmy and Scott had their stuff all painted the same. But Scott stopped racing the Corvette and left this area before Jimmy stopped racing the Camaro. Tom Polk now has Jimmy's old rig. In any event, if things go okay for me, I'll talk to Jimmy this weekend and try to get the whole story.

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Correct!
Scott Wilcox

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

First of all take word " class WAR " out of it . Someone has watched one to many Fast and Furious movies ..lol

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Scott, refresh my memory; is that car originally Ronnie Trafenstadt's MP car?

Dwight S.

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Dwight, Jimmy and I were talking a while back, the car did once belong to Ronnie Trafenstadt, as well as Mike Robinson.

That car is, as Jimmy says, a "storied piece", with a lot of history behind it.

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Alan so this was before nhra let paper cars race 😉

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

For those interested in the story behind Jimmy Bridges' Corvette, SS/A from that period, the L-88, and a few other things of note, stay tuned, Jimmy Bridges called me this evening, and we're going to sit down and talk soon, I'll post on the history of Jimmy's Corvette (yes, it was Scott Wilcox's car, and has an amazing history) and plenty of other interesting facts.

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Can't wait ....... I'm all ears.:)

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Y'all are braking my heart, so you got a raw deal, welcome to the club, we Mopars have had quite few too.
Mike

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

On a side not whatever happened to Scott ? I know the Federal Govt. took him to court for fraud and got a huge judgement against him. Don't know if he ever did any jail time tho---FED 387

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

I don't know if they could qualify unless it is a short field, but why not open the Hemi Challenge to any Hemi powered car?

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

He gets on this site once in a while so I know he is still around. I saw a segment on the 60 Minutes TV show many years back about Scotts business and legal issues. That was a bad *** ride when he was running SS/A with that car

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Seems like a nice guy to me.

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

So, we sat down with Jimmy Bridges himself, and we discussed the Corvette he currently races, the story of that car is well documented, and we will tell it now.

Lonnie Garner from here in Nashville bought that car, a truck, and a Chapparal trailer in Texas. The car first came to Nashville in 74. He ran it from 74 to sometime in 77 in F gas where he won a lot of races at Union Hill and Bowling Green. He sold it to Mike Robinson in Nashville, who soon sold it to Ronnie Traffansted. Ronnie ran it in Modified, and did quite well with it, won a few division 2 races with it. Ronnie sold it to Dallas Pennley in Morgantown KY. Dallas made it into a 64 and ran it in Super Stock K. Dallas didn't run it a lot because he became a Western Car and Truck Dealer. December of 87, we bought the car for Scott Wilcox and rurned it back into a 67 and built the L88 motor to run Super A. Scott showed up in Atlanta in 88 with it for its first race as a 67. Larry was driving his Chevy II that weekend. Summer of 89 Mike Keown went to redo the motor. After that he set the A and B records. In 90 he won in the Southern Nationals. Whenever he showed up in Houston to run Super Stock A mod with an Oldsmobile, and did not have the Corvette, they cut the 67 L88 from the classification guide. Reason was that it had aluminum heads for road racing applications. There were only 22 sold to general public. 59 to road racers. After the L88 was made obsolete, the 427 was made into a 425HP, and the car changed it to a 66. Ran it a couple times as a 66 while Scott owned it. Scott sold to Glenn Young from Murfreesboro TN. Mike Lynch started working and driving for Young. They won class several times with it. Glenn swapped the car off to Noel Davis. Davis raced the car the most successfully, he won 1995 IHRA World National Championship. Won a Muscle Car championship in 96, and another Muscle Car Championship in 97. Then the car sat, and at the 99 Sports Nationals in Bowling Green, Noel still had it, and the rolling chassis was purchased by Jimmy Bridges who put 396 in it and ran Super Stock C. Jimmy first raced it at Indy in 99. Lost to Adkins that weekend. Next race was in Memphis, which we relighted against Dwight Southerland. Next race was in Dallas, we beat Roger Brogdon in class. Since then, we've won Indy class 9 straight years and beat ourselves in 10. Thats the history of the Vette.

On a side note, I spoke with Tony Rhodes, who owned the black Corvette, late last Fall. Tony still owns that car, it has not been raced since the 427 L-88 was removed from the guide.

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Alan
Great history lesson on Jimmy Bridges Corvette. Seen that car race many
times by different owners. A very strong stock / super stock community from
Indy south to Alabama along I -65. I do not want to hi- jack this site but you
might know. What ever happened to the Ronnie T. / Larry Seay / Don Wolfe
66 Nova. Another great looking and running car that had the same circle of friends and owners.Got any idea where it is resting at today. Thanks

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Jimmy often looks in on the site, and will tell me what he knows about things, we talk often. He looks at this thread, I'm sure he'll check this thread to read what I posted about his Corvette.

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Alan -
A couple of bits to add to the story:
The height of the Hemi contingency's campaign against the '67 L88 Corvette was at the Memphis national race in 1989. Several Chrysler racers and the factory race director who flew in specifically for the meeting, met with NHRA officials in the tower before eliminations began on Sunday morning. Several Chevrolet racers, including me, knew what was going on and wrote many letters and made many phone calls during the remainder of the year to pose our objections. I believe that the following year was when the combination was removed from the Class Guide. It's hard to beat cubic money and GOB relationships. I still argue that it is purely partisanship, even based on NHRA's "50 units" rule.

Does anyone know who in Texas originally built and raced the car? I was pretty familiar with most of the MP crowd out of TX during that time but I have not made the connection.

Seems that I concluded that the car was originally a 1965 car based on the VIN. The car I raced in SS/C that belongs to Leonard Lamia was also a '65 car that we raced as a '66 so we could run the 427-425 combination.

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

Dwight, we sat down with Jimmy yesterday, and he didn't mention who Lonnie bought the car from, and I'm not sure he ever has. He may not know.

Mike Robinson was associated with two F/Gas Corvettes, Jimmy's car, and a 1963 Corvette. Around the same time. We don't know where that car went, either.

As far as the 1967 L-88 Corvette being removed from the guide goes, that's a matter of politics and selective enforcement on the part of NHRA. Depending upon who you talk to, Chevrolet produced and sold at least 36 of the 67 Corvette L-88 cars to the general public, complete and running. According to some sources, beyond that, a couple of dozen, give or take, were "provided" to racers in various forms of racing. Some say there's also the two versions originally available, and in different numbers, the L-88, and the L-88 with the L-89 aluminum head option. I don't even claim to know which sources are correct. Now 50 years after the fact, I'm not sure anyone can say with absolute certainty. But the cars were legal for more than 20 years, before NHRA decided that they were not. Sort of similar to the 69 ZL-1 Camaro. I'm sure that with your vast amount of knowledge and infoprmation collected, you can provide several examples of cars being in the guide when less than 50 were produced. It sure didn't seem to matter between 2008 and 2016, did it?

Re: True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why
 

For me, the inconsistency of NHRA's application of the "50 unit" rule is what was evidence of preferential treatment and their arguments sometimes hurts my head. The argument against the '67 L88 Corvette was that the L88 was only available in the Corvette, so the fact that less than 50 were manufactured disqualifies it, whereas other rare combinations often had engines that were available and sold in greater quantities in other bodies. The '70 and '71 Barracuda Hemi convertibles are examples of that. There were only two documented '70 Hemi convertibles built and the collectors are very adamant and proud of that fact. But, since more than 50 Hemi Barracudas were produced, NHRA argues that combination is legal. Same for Dick Simon's '67 Fairlane 427 convertible that he raced for years.
On the other hand, the rule always stated that the car had to be available and in the hands of the general public, which the '67 L88 Corvette was. It was available to anyone who wanted to buy one; it's just that Chevrolet did not advertise it and thus few people ordered one. As opposed to special production vehicles that were produced in quantities greater than 50, but you had to be specially qualified through relationship to purchase one.
Then you have the ZL1 '69 Corvette, where more than 50 ZL1 Camaros were built and are legal, though the Corvette is not. Or the '70 Yenko Chevy II which was produced in the hundreds by an outside firm, sold through Chevrolet dealers, used production parts and is still not legal, though the Shelby Mustangs are.

You get my drift.