old Jr. Stock racers

[dahkahuna]

hey Greg keep your eyes open for those parts. Thanks Doug

[Hemi Moose]

dahkahuna, great story, and post some pic's or updates on your build.

[Tony Janes]

I may have some parts, WCFB have to look. I hope there is A after the P.

[Greg Reimer 7376]

I might have a carb.Years ago, I had a 65 Chevy, 327 with a 3 speed stick.It had a WCFB.I think I sstill have it upstairs in the garage. It would take some digging .If the engine spec page shows that that one would work, give me a call. E bay might be the place to find the intake. Can you use a #459?

[Grant Eldridge]

Very cool post, thanks for sharing! It brings back lots of great memories for me, we had some friends in common it seems so long ago. I had made the flat tow down from Canada to race at the Winternationals in 1970, I was just 24 and it was magic to come over the fabled grapevine hill and down into LA. We somehow met Ron Zoelle and his family, and hung out with them at Irwindale, Orange County, and of course at Pomona. They helped us out with meeting Tony Rossi, Val Hedworth, Richard Salcido, Pepe Estrada, Gene Oly and others of the day I'm struggling now to recall.
We won class in A/S that year and got as far as the quarter finals before a pushrod broke through a rocker as we tried to chase down Keith Berg, who had a six second head start in that lumbering '52? Olds! After three more trips to Pomona, and lots of fun with and help from those guys on our trips down, we hung it up for over 25 years finally returning to drag racing in the last ten years.
If anybody reading this knows how to contact Ron Zoelle, I'd love to give him a call and bs about the "good old days". If you could PM me, or post contact info here it would be great to get back in touch. Hope hes still around. My last contact with Ron was at his parents place at 525 S. Citrus in West Covina. Be great to talk to his brothers Ken or Larry too. If you would prefer to give him my number, it's 604-644-8485, or email grant4060@yahoo.com. Thanks!

P.S. If anyone has a copy of the National Dragster with the Winternationals results from 1970, I'd sure appreciate getting my hands on one. We were just kids, never thought we'd get old and want to look back at this stuff...lol I do still have the Wally, though, what a rush for a kid from Canada!

[Mark Yacavone]

Grant,
Are you trying to ruin your reputation by saying you hung around with the Zoelle Bros.?
Surprised you didn't mention Big Daddy Crader.
You better edit that post! LOL

[dahkahuna]

Well, I checked out as much as what the specs NHRA prints and a #2366S 1956 carb also fit the throttle and venturi dimensions and as far as i know there is no other manifold NHRA will accept. If anyone knows anything differint please post on this thread. I know there is girl named Shelby driving a P/SA recently so maybe they know of something?As for Grant Eldridge, Ron still lives in West Covina in the same house, I used to work weekends for Val and Ron at the old SPEED TRENDS speed shop when they were racing, Zenon Kotelko was like a fixture every year during those times, Ron has traded racing for a stable of children but I don't have a recent phone #. Pepe Estrada built the rear in my '57 ' back then also. Dave Crader was doing General contracting around those days and me being a flooring contractor we did alot of bussiness together he eventually went to work for IN-AND-OUT Burger building new stores and after Val was around their Fuuny Car operation alot then we lost contact. And Tony let me know if you find some parts, the "55" runs O/ P/&Q/ and its automatic what trans I will run. See if you have any old General Kinetics collecting dust over there if I recall the #2 grind was the best although the legal lift is 336/343 with solid tappet lifters.

[Grant Eldridge]

Mark, I think Ron would say it was the other way around! Back in the day, they thought we Canadians were hard drinkin' partiers! Of course, we'd egg that on by pouring beer over our cornflakes for breakfast, etc. We were definitely out to check out all the bars, clubs, strip joints around Pomona. Does anyone remember a place called the Wildcat? One year I remember it rained out twice so we were determined to wait it out anyway and race. We got to hanging around some strip club in Pomona, ended up taking one of the girls home to Canada for a while...lol . This gal used to get up in the morning and take a slug of Southern Comfort to get rolling! Crazy times...OOPs, hope my wife's not checking these posts...

Grant

Dakahuna, thanks for the info, I do remember Big Daddy Dave Crader now that you mention the name. I think Chuck Norton was another racer I was introduced to down there around that time.....

[Jack Matyas]

I might have that intake - 'gotta go up in the loft ..........

[ScottFE427]

I knew Ron and Val back then. Speed Trends used to be my regular hang out. I was one of the local kids with a car hoping to make it go faster. Not a lot of stuff avalable for a '70 Buick Skylark though. haha!