Ss/x
 

I have friend who owns a 57 Chevy wagon, a street car now but it used to be a super stocker. He sent me a couple of pictures when the car was running super stock in the early 70's. The car has SS/X on the windows, what combo is that? 6 cylinder 3 speed or?


Dennis Breeden

Re: Ss/x
 

283 2 bar. 4 spd. ??

Re: Ss/x
 

265 3spd. Had one just like it only white. Dave Walther

Re: Ss/x
 

Don't think the 283 would drop to X, even with PG
There were no automatic classes from about U and lower.
I believe Dave is correct.

Re: Ss/x
 

I just had lunch with the two brothers that raced the wagon. They ran a 265 2 bbl and a 3 speed in SS/X. They later ran the car in stock and then in modified. The current owner runs a blown small block and a 4 speed in the car, it is street driven only now. Thanks for the replies


Dennis Breeden

Re: Ss/x
 

Could the 57 wagon run with the 60 Chevy 283-2bbl 3 speed in the SS/X class? J. Gower O/S 3058

Re: Ss/x
 

Here's the same car today.


Dennis Breeden

Re: Ss/x
 

+20 cu in, +half point of compression and better heads on the 283 back then. Probably not. Was SS/X a 20 lb class or a 21 lb class?

Re: Ss/x
 

According to what I can find (1972 and 73 rule book) it was 21.00 and over. Was the class only for a couple of years? Or was it more than that?

Re: Ss/x
 

http://classracer.com/classforum/att...7&d=1437147166


http://classracer.com/classforum/att...8&d=1437161213

Re: Ss/x
 

Just a couple of years. By 1974 SS/U was the lowest class at 18 lbs. Probably politics was at work to get rid of the lower classes. It wasn't because of lack of participation because there were 7 cars in SS/X at Indy in 1973.

Re: Ss/x
 

That's what I was thinking, but couldn't confirm.


By the way, your site classracerinfo is awesome and very easy to use. I have told friends about it and have used it myself for information.

Re: Ss/x
 

Here's an example of the '60 2bbl combination.

c

Re: Ss/x
 

Remember Dwight Cox (Stuttgart Arkansas) running one of these (blue)back in the day.
http://classracer.com/classforum/att...7&d=1437252104

Re: Ss/x
 

I would say you are correct, Dwight.
You couldn't have the 14 second 2bbl Chevies beating the factory supported Chrysler Hemi teams now ,could you?

http://s16.postimg.org/x9odajtj9/ssx.jpg
[


http://s2.postimg.org/bxmxzpbbt/162721_500_0.jpg
[

Re: Ss/x
 

That Black 60 Chevy # 1834 was run by myself and my brother when I was 15.
Had a friend drive it as I wasn't old enough for a licence. That car broke transmissions
and twisted more axles than you would believe as we couldn't afford good parts.
Turned me off stick cars forever!!

Re: Ss/x/ chuck Norton. Photos
 

Chuck, you sure captured a lot of history in that photo from Harrison County Dragway. Before that 60 Chevy relocated to the louisville,ky. area it was raced by Gregg Luneack in Michigan. It is now owned by Joe Smith somewhere in the northeast. I have lost track of joe in the last few years.The55 wagon was owned by Pat Ryan who later bought the Checkerboard car from Val Hedwoth . The checkerboard car now resides in Hopkinsville, ky. And hasn't been seen at a racetrack in decades. The driver of the 55 wagon in the picture is Shay Smith. After the towing accident and death of one of the Neja brothers, shay drove to California and bought a 57 wagon from the surviving brother. ( sorry I can't recall his first name) . Shay flat towed the car back to Louisville and the car still races two or three times a year , always at the Bowling Green reunion race.The 57 wagon to this day s painted Red with white stripes on the roof. That track, Harrison County Dragway was the first drag strip that I ever went to. On a Sunday afternoon Good Ole Captain Jack asked me if I would like to go watch him race and the rest is ...shall we say history...Ironically one of the first cars that I witnessed going down the track was a 66 nova that belonged to Buddy Hughes....wow chuck, You sure brought back a lot of memories with that one photo. THANKS.......M.J.

Re: Ss/x
 

The pictures did bring back memories, also spent some time at the Harrison track with Mr Odie Isom. He had a few of those oldsmobiles man what a great time I had couldnt ask for better memories, Thanks Mr Isom and thanks for the SS/X thread. Keep the pics and stories coming. I know you have some MJ.
Jerry

Re: Ss/x/ chuck Norton. Photos
 

The '55 wagon was the one that Pat Ryan bought from Val. Val drove the wagon and a couple of other cars ('55 4-door and '56 2-door wagon) while winning the Division 7 Stock Championship in '71, then switched it to SS/V and won the Super Stock Championship with it in '72. He sold the '55 to Ryan and delivered it to him just after the U.S. Nationals in '72.

c

Re: Ss/x
 

Pat may have bought the checkerboard car from val, but it was or had been Tim Neja's car. Tim was killed in the towing accident. There were two cars painted almost the same, lettering slightly different. Tim's brother Tom has faithfully restored the other car. It is gorgeous. And yes the other one is resting, i visit it when in Hopkinsville. Made a lot of laps in that old car, saw a lot of win lights. Great ol car.

Re: Ss/x
 

I have a complete running '57 265 2bbl if anybody is looking for one. under 1000 miles since rebuild.

Re: Ss/x
 

Mr P , You've got your T's reversed.
Tim is very much alive .He participates in The HAMB Junior stock thread from time to time.

Re: Ss/x
 

My very sincere apologies to Tim. I never met either and had fogotten which one was killed. The car we have is the one with Tim's name on it and was in Super Stock magazine a long long time ago.

Re: Ss/x
 

Wasn't there a 60 4 door wagon model that fit into X class with a 283 2 barrel. We ran a 59 283 2 barrel, 4 speed Biscayne in K and later changed to P/S

Re: Ss/x
 

Mr. Stevenson, my memory is failing..didn't Charley Moores purchase the Checkerboard car from Ryan ? I always thought that Ryan purchased the Checkerboard car from Hedworth ? M.J.

Re: Ss/x
 

MJ, to the best of my knowledge, Val never owned a '55 two-door, Tim's checkerboard car or any other. He had the orange '55 wagon and the matching '55 four-door, and the all-white '56 two-door wagon. Ryan bought the '55 wagon and the Zoelle Brothers ended up with the '56 in Super Stock in 1972. Don't have a clue as to the final fate of the four-door. After the 1972 season, he switched from the Tri-fives to a '65 Malibu 327 SS/NA.

Re: Ss/x
 

Talked to Ted Harbit a little over the weekend at the Old Time Meltdown drags at Byron IL. .He won class at Indy in his Studebaker "Chicken Hawk" 8 years in the 60s to early seventies.Sadly the Chicken Hawk was destroyed in a racing accident in 09.He told me sometimes there was 20 cars in his class(k/s to v/s).He quit racing NHRA in 72 when they got rid of the old cars in stock.

Re: Ss/x
 

Despite a slightly better engine, those '60's had to work a bit harder due to that wider body...maybe that in itself equalized the '57 cars...but then again we're talking
about cars that had trap speeds of maybe 90 mph?

I remember 3 basic combos in the class...the 162 hp '57 Chevy...the 170 hp '60-'62
Chevy, and the 135 hp early Olds...were there other ways to get into SS/X?

Re: Ss/x
 

Wasn't the checkerboard car owned for a time by Bruce Wilkerson from KY? He had
a '55 -150 in SS/T in the '70's and I though that was the car.

When the Neja's ran it in Stock...believe it was featured in PHR magazine...maybe
others?

Re: Ss/x
 

Dwight...would you know what kind of cars those 7 entries were? As far as who the
"hitters" were in SS/X....Kronenbitter would be top spot with the "Bits-n-Pieces car...
wasn't he runner-up at Columbus? Also, I think Randy Heer made some noise down
your way with his early Olds.....That's about all I remember.....

Re: Ss/x
 

No further comments? I'll add a couple...I wish I was able to see some of those early
Olds' run in SS/X...missed them all. There was a Toronto-area '57 Chev 2-dr wagon
that I saw run in "X" about '73 or so...might have been a D1 points meet. I think there's
a couple of photos of it on the HAMB site...got the Maple-Leaf flag on the door?

So maybe the '57 with the smaller engine was a viable combo in SS/X? Guys probably
built them due to the success the Nejas had....

The only other SS/X car I actually saw run was a '61 Bubble-Top...also in D1...maybe
white in color?

A few years earlier, I saw the "Bits-n-Pieces"...that "Copper-Stopper" car mentioned
before...and also a '59 Chevy called the "Blue-Tick" from Al Provoast...all running in
U/S class at the '71 Summernationals...the year of the "old" Stock Elim rules....

Re: Ss/x
 

Oops...meant to finish that previous statement as "the last year of the old Stock Elim.rules"....

Whatever became of Ray Dissette?

Re: Ss/x
 

Jack Mullins ran in ss/x with a 60 chev for 1 or 2 years. I remember seeing it at bowlingreen and the cloud of smoke at low Rpms. There was some "interesting" stuff going on with the 2 barrels to get more air back then. I ran a 53 olds in ss/x for 1 year. The magnesium rocker arms didn't work out too well.

Re: Ss/x/ chuck Norton. Photos
 

MJ, asking about the 55 in Hopkinville. Was it last raced in the early 90's? Is it two tone brown? If it is the last I heard the son wanted to turn it into a street car? If so I always heard this car came from Neja originally. Neat to know. Thanks

Re: Ss/x
 

We raced a 61 white chevy 2dr hardtop with a 283 2bbl combination,A-1 powerglide, in SS/X at Lancaster, Niagara and Cayuga in 1972. We moved the drivetrain to a 1962 two door post car (also white)because the SS/X record got blasted and set the SS/W MPH record at Cayuga. I think the 57 you are talking about was brown in color but I don't remember the name on the car. I know we raced it several times.
Dave Hofer

Re: Ss/x
 

MJ,

Joe Smith stopped by my trailer at the Epping points race on Saturday. I usually see him somewhere about once a year. He still has the car.

Greg

Re: Ss/x
 

I wasn't aware that Jack tried a '60 Chevy...Think you're referring to aftermarket rockers
for the Olds...guess the choices for speed equipment for the Rocket 88 was kinda
limited compared to the Chevies?

Re: Ss/x
 

So I believe I saw you guys run...do you recall the times for both cars? Were you able
to use the aluminum PG?

Re: Ss/x
 

OK guys , Thank you all for setting me straight about Ryan purchasing the car from Neja. For those that don't know, Ryan was in a wheelchair and later went on to play Wheelchair basketball. The cars were named Ryan's Express and Ryans Caboose. Robert, the moores 55 was painted brown but Mr. Stevenson would be the one to ask because he is still in contact with the family. My last recollection was the family built a GT Monte Carlo, raced it a little bit and then they vanished from the track. Time sure flys ....M.J.

Re: Ss/x
 

wannapee - Looks like there were 5 Chevrolets and 2 Oldsmobiles in SS/X at the 73 Nats.


I don't remember Jack Mullins ever having a '60 Chevy SS/X car. He raced a 52 and a 54 (maybe 53) Oldsmobile in Stock. The first SS car I remember was the 63 Pontiac sw SS/U. He also did a 63 4dr hardtop Pontiac SS/R for a bit to harass Dwight Cox.