More Legends of Drag Racing

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by Rich Erickson

THAT is a funny photo!!!

I see frrom the shoe polish on the windshield, that "PEE WEE" ran D Gas, a 13 pounds per cubic inch class (at least, early on it was.). Even a 265 Chevy motor would have had to weigh atleast 3,445 to run that class.

Maybe it was a later car; one that ran after they came up with different weight breaks... That doesn't look like a 3,400+-pound car to me... but it sure is cute!!!!

[Ed Fernandez]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

THAT is a funny photo!!!

I see frrom the shoe polish on the windshield, that "PEE WEE" ran D Gas, a 13 pounds per cubic inch class (at least, early on it was.). Even a 265 Chevy motor would have had to weigh atleast 3,445 to run that class.

Maybe it was a later car; one that ran after they came up with different weight breaks... That doesn't look like a 3,400+-pound car to me... but it sure is cute!!!!

Bill,you missed the 2,000# weight bar in the rear.

[CycloneFE]

This is a priceless history lesson of a very innovative Class in Drag Racing. I thank all of you for your comments.

Now, were the turbos used by Mallicoat's or Montgomery an advantage? Were they just a flash in the pan? I saw that Montgomery used the Boss 429 motor for a while, did it do well? I thought it was "dead" until I saw Glidden use it in the EXP's and it seemed mediocre at best.

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by CycloneFE

This is a priceless history lesson of a very innovative Class in Drag Racing. I thank all of you for your comments.

Now, were the turbos used by Mallicoat's or Montgomery an advantage? Were they just a flash in the pan? I saw that Montgomery used the Boss 429 motor for a while, did it do well? I thought it was "dead" until I saw Glidden use it in the EXP's and it seemed mediocre at best.

I wasn't paying a lot of attention to turbos when the Mallicoat Bros. and George Montgomery were breaking new ground with their hairdryer experiments, but I should have been. I don't remember the particulars, but I think that those two cars were at least partially responsible for NHRA putting different pounds-per-cubic-inch factors on later turbocharged cars (compared with cars powered by Roots-blown engines.) It wasn't long before the powers that be (at the time) were made aware that a turbo motor was capable of higher specific output, across the board, than a conventionally supercharged powerplant of the same size, as a general rule. So, NHRA responded in different ways.
Turbos are banned in the cookie-cutter Top Fuel and Nitro Funny Car classes. Ditto for both Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car. Makes you wonder what they're afraid of.... Comp Eliminator cars can be turbocharged, but the pounds-per-cubic-inch is closely regulated. Turbocharged Stockers and Super Stockers are a hot topic right now, for several reasons that would be subject matter for another thread, or maybe, two.

I'm not knowledgable enough about Ford 385 Pro Stock motors to say anything at all... sorry. I guess that Blue Crescent motor was derived from the 385 series, wasn't it???


Glad you liked this thread, Steve; there are lots of old racers on here who, fortunately, remember a lot more than I do about this stuff. I appreciate their comments, too!!!

[Bret Kepner]

IIRC, Montgomery's advantage with the turbo in AA/GS was about three tenths of a second. Initially, Montgomery and Mallicoat were both thrown into BB/A but, in 1971 (I think!), the NHRA pushed the turbos out of AA, BB and CC/GS into the turbo-specific classes of /GS(T). After the /Gas Super classes were absorbed into AA/A, BB/A and CC/A, NHRA created similar /A(T) subdivisions, too. Obviously, we still have them today.

[bill dedman]

Thanks, bunnyman; I was hoping you'd come through with some good information!

I think the pertinent thing here is that NHRA recognized, early-on, the significance of the built-in superiority of turbochargers in class racing. I see where that mindset continues, today, with NHRA having reduced the size of the turbos on a Pro Mod (Brad Personnet) for the 2011 season after Brad's performances, lately. And, the beat goes on...

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by Ed Fernandez

Bill,you missed the 2,000# weight bar in the rear.

Must have been a HydraMatic car, Al..... As I said earlier, Pitman-Edwards once ran a 3,600-pound '41 Willys... LOL! No wheelspin there, and the tires didn't much matter....

[Tom Goldman]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

Must have been a HydraMatic car, Al..... As I said earlier, Pitman-Edwards once ran a 3,600-pound '41 Willys... LOL! No wheelspin there, and the tires didn't much matter....

Bill, I never weighed a Hydro,but I've lifted a bunch over the years,and worse, I had one fall on my chest when I was putting it in my '50 Olds! ...Man that thing was heavy!
Whole lot of cast iron in those babys.

[Rich Biebel]

The hydro we used in our sedan delivery was a Vitar. Was pretty heavy and I recall used a thin paper gasket and a lot of bolts on the torus cover to flywheel connection. I usually made my partner do that job. It was really his car in the first place so I could use that excuse...LOL On at least one occasion he missed with the gasket and we had a mess of ATF all over the floor. I think it was something like 11 quarts in one of those tankers.

We adjusted the pressure regulator at the race track many times. Adding or removing a shim made a big difference on the gear change. Too much pressure and the little 283 would bog down on the 1-2 shift or maybe it was the 2-3, I can't recall that detail....too little and it slid...... I used spark plug washers and a big wrench.....Was a nasty job at places like Atco in the sand......but then so was R&R' ing the driveshaft at every race....we had no towing hubs....

Work is slow....can you tell....LOL

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by Rich Biebel

The hydro we used in our sedan delivery was a Vitar. Was pretty heavy and I recall used a thin paper gasket and a lot of bolts on the torus cover to flywheel connection. I usually made my partner do that job. It was really his car in the first place so I could use that excuse...LOL On at least one occasion he missed with the gasket and we had a mess of ATF all over the floor. I think it was something like 11 quarts in one of those tankers.

We adjusted the pressure regulator at the race track many times. Adding or removing a shim made a big difference on the gear change. Too much pressure and the little 283 would bog down on the 1-2 shift or maybe it was the 2-3, I can't recall that detail....too little and it slid...... I used spark plug washers and a big wrench.....Was a nasty job at places like Atco in the sand......but then so was R&R' ing the driveshaft at every race....we had no towing hubs....

Work is slow....can you tell....LOL

Our hydro had the disgusting habit of blowing out the seal between the crankshaft flange and the flywheel and dumping the entire 11 qts. of ATF on the starting line. We called it "Old Leaky." This happened at the trophy race at the 1961 AHRA Nationals at Green Valley (Texas.) Don Biggers went on for the win. He had us covered by about a full second...

AHRA cleanup crews were not amused....

I used the spark plug washer "trick" for mainline pressure adjustment and ended up coil-binding it (un-knowingly,) and I got my first lesson in physics as regards the compressibility of fluids... they aren't.

Blew the whole end off the oil delivery sleeve. Now, we had a 2-speed.... 1st and 3rd....

Live and learn....