Article on George Williams

[art leong]

Originally Posted by mopar68

Speaking of Ray Cook, whatever happened to him? Last time I saw him was at the Summernationals about twenty years ago with his Cook & Liquori Dodge Aspen C/EA (?) Comp car. The few times I briefly chatted with him in the pits I found him to be a personable fellow. He always had time to answer a few questions this Hemi "head" asked. And to a racing fan that means a lot.

I remember seeing the B/SA Cook & Leong Dodge Challenger ragtop at Englishtown many times. Just curious, Artie, why did you guys end up selling all the Stock Eliminator Challengers you had (Hemi-powered ragtop, 440 Six Pack-powered ragtop & Hemi-powered hardtop). Did NHRA make them uncompetitive? Were any of them numbers matching Hemi cars?

I remember one racer from Staten Island (Dom Burris) had one of your Challenger ragtops for sale at one of the swap meets at Englishtown in the mid-late 1980s. From what Dom told me, it was it was an original 440 Six Pack convertible and he (by 1980s resto standards) restored it as such but decided to keep original C & L race car paint and lettering. I don't remember if he told me it was ragtop number one or two.

M68

P.S. How long did you guys run the S & W Dodge-sponsored 1971 Charger R/T (Superbee?). Was that an original Hemi car?

The 71 Charger was an original Hemi car And had quite a past. We could never get a straight answer about that car from the Chrysler guys. But it was less than 3000 pounds with a steel headed hemi. And no baggage.
That car grossed over $100,000 street racing.

NHRA never factored our combo It was always 440 hp. We quit because of the acid ported heads. It was use them or get outrun, or quit We chose to quit.

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by art leong

The 71 Charger was an original Hemi car And had quite a past. We could never get a straight answer about that car from the Chrysler guys. But it was less than 3000 pounds with a steel headed hemi. And no baggage.
That car grossed over $100,000 street racing.

Whoa! That is light and that is heavy $! Those 1971 B-bodies w/HEMI hovered around the 3900 lbs. mark in stock form. Remove the street stuff, etc. and I can see maybe 3400-3500 lbs. but 3000 lbs. is a freak!

NHRA never factored our combo It was always 440 hp. We quit because of the acid ported heads. It was use them or get outrun, or quit We chose to quit.

I don't blame you; I'd do the same. I didn't know acid porting went that far back.

M68

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by mopar68

Whoa! That is light and that is heavy $! Those 1971 B-bodies w/HEMI hovered around the 3900 lbs. mark in stock form. Remove the street stuff, etc. and I can see maybe 3400-3500 lbs. but 3000 lbs. is a freak!



I don't blame you; I'd do the same. I didn't know acid porting went that far back.

M68

Don't kid yourself.
A prominent Div 3 engine builder from back in the day, relayed the story to me, a few years ago, about how the cylinder heads were done on a late 60's World Champion Mopar.

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Don't kid yourself.
A prominent Div 3 engine builder from back in the day, relayed the story to me, a few years ago, about how the cylinder heads were done on a late 60's World Champion Mopar.

Without naming the driver/team or car, was it a Dodge or Plymouth?

M68

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by art leong

The 71 Charger was an original Hemi car And had quite a past. We could never get a straight answer about that car from the Chrysler guys. But it was less than 3000 pounds with a steel headed hemi. And no baggage.
That car grossed over $100,000 street racing.

Looks to me like that is Ray behind the wheel.

More here:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/g...cussionid=1202

M68

[art leong]

Originally Posted by mopar68

Looks to me like that is Ray behind the wheel.

More here:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/g...cussionid=1202

M68

That was Ray and I'm holding the car You can tell it's winter by the coat I'm wearing.
That article originally printed in 1979, prompted Wally Parks to have a talk with us. It was probably the last time Tex (Ray) drove a street race.

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by art leong

That was Ray and I'm holding the car You can tell it's winter by the coat I'm wearing.
That article originally printed in 1979, prompted Wally Parks to have a talk with us. It was probably the last time Tex (Ray) drove a street race.

Artie,

That was my intitial thought (it was you).

M68

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by art leong

The 71 Charger was an original Hemi car And had quite a past. We could never get a straight answer about that car from the Chrysler guys. But it was less than 3000 pounds with a steel headed hemi. And no baggage.
That car grossed over $100,000 street racing.

NHRA never factored our combo It was always 440 hp. We quit because of the acid ported heads. It was use them or get outrun, or quit We chose to quit.

Here ya go, Artie. I'm pretty sure this photo is from a 1974 issue of Raceway News...



M68

P.S. That's a pretty damn wide rear tire. What's it, like a N50 x 15?

[Robert Swartz]

Originally Posted by mopar68

Here ya go, Artie. I'm pretty sure this photo is from a 1974 issue of Raceway News...



M68

P.S. That's a pretty damn wide rear tire. What's it, like a N50 x 15?

No, probably the old M&H street slicks. My partner and I had a pair on his old 67 Camaro (which we street raced). Those things were about 11-11.5 inches wide. All they were was a slick with tread grooves etched into them. I don't remember when NHRA opened the class to allow slicks. For a time, you had to run a "street" tire, these skirted that rule.

[mopar68]

Thanks for the info, Robert.

Well, Artie, is he correct?

If I recall correctly, post-1971 Stock Eliminator rules allowed you to run any width (threaded) tire you could stuff into the rear wheel housing without ANY modifications to the inner/outer wheel house and quarter panel.

Bona fide drag slicks were (again) legal to use in Stock by 1975.

M68