Old drag race trivia, nostalgia

Just a pure guess.... D.A. Santucci chokes on gum, doesn't choke in final at the 1969 Indy Nationals. SOHC Ford Motor?
CH

 

Great site with lots of big names. It must also have every 'no name' F/C to ever turn a wheel there. Lots of info in one place, thanks!
CH

 

James the 1965 Pontiac Catalina push car was sort of a clue for Eddie Hill. As you know an early race car of his was Pontiac powered to. There is also a pic of a 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix with 8 lugs. Thanks
CH

 

The Cammer was Ford's answer to the 1965 Chrysler Hemi. NASCAR didn't buy it though so Ford went drag racing with the 427 instead. Jack Chrisman got it going first in a 1965 Mercury Comet that was one of the first true funny cars. Dragsters made it work even better in 1966 with Pete Robinson taking the World Finals win at Tulsa OK that year. He retired as a driver in 1970. He made the fatal mistake of returning to the driver's seat at the 1971 NHRA Winternationals when his driver backed out of driving their new 'ground effects' dragster. He would suffer fatal injuries when his dragster crashed at that 1971 race.

What "Big" event changed Top Fuel at the 1971 Winternationals?
CH

 

"Sneaky" Pete died just as I became aware of who was driving the cars, although I hadn't heard of him until I got older and more into Drag Race history. He was truly an innovative person that just got unlucky.

Big event? That's too easy - "Big" Daddy Don Garlits won that race with a rear-engined dragster...the first non-front-engined car to win a national event. Top Fuel would never be the same again.

Interestingly, as many of you know - his wasn't the first. Tony Nancy had the beautiful Wedge and Wedge II dragsters in the mid-60s, although they didn't work that well. I think the Wedge II was auctioned off recently (damn, I wish I had hit the lottery)!!!

 

I did give a "Big" hint but you are correct. Don Garlits Swamp Rat XIII had the motor in front and on that dragster the frame rails were exposed. Swamp Rat XIV successfully introduced the engine mounted behind the driver concept. The frame rails were covered and conveniently created more space for advertising on the car. A nasty clutch explosion Garlits suffered before that was the catalyst for Garlits to mount the drivetrain behind the driver.


CH

 

I have some pics of the actual explosion from an old drag magazine...have to dig it up. His explosion was not uncommon - Mike Sorokin's death was the result of a similar thing (albeit near the top end) IIRC?

I was at the '86 Summernationals when Garlits did the end-over-end with his streamlined dragster. He was definitely a guy with some luck, as many of the accidents in the early days were often fatal.

 

Garlits and some others were lucky over the years. One racer whose luck ran out was Dick Harrell. I saw his Camaro F/C crash when a tire exploded at Golden Horseshoe dragstrip in 1971. Tripp Shumake came to the track with him but didn't drive that day. He also would loose his life years later; not in a race car but due to a drunk driver in a Arizona road accident.
CH

 

Very true - the sport has come a way, but you still see deaths I wouldn't have expected (Darrell Russell, Scott Kalitta).

Interesting trivia - see if you know it (it's an easy one): Dick Harrell's daughter (Valerie) has a significant other that followed in his footsteps - who is it?

 

Her significant other would be Dale Pulde. His cars I think had Bill Carter paint.

One car that always had great paint was the Phil Castronovo's Custom Body Enterprises Chrysler Funny Cars. Later on a certain 'Tom Prock' drove for Phil.
CH

 

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Somewhat of a trick question - he used to switch engines. He had a Chevy and the cammer motor, but I think he used a 289ci Ford "Cobra" engine.

I believe the innovation that earned him the "Sneaky" nickname was the "vacuum cleaner" ground effects. He had a tube running from the blower underneath a chamber at the bottom of the car to "suck it downward". Similar to what was later tried by both Penske in Can-Am and even later, Brabham in F1. Quite brilliant, really.

 

Racing success with the small block Ford motor gave him the chance to obtain the Ford SOHC motor for competition. Also the nitro cars got way more 'ink' in the press than the Top Gas car he raced. The "Sneaky" nickname was I think earned by his fanatical attempts at getting weight out of his race car. Every part was looked at to see how it could be made lighter. He looked for every advantage he could find when building his race cars.
CH

 

God, you guys are bringing back memories! When i was a kid in HS I worked in staging and the starting line at Irwindale. I went on to travel with Steve Gibbs and his crew as an "official" at the NHRA national events. It was good fun, and basically all the guys were crazy and or insane!

 

Hayden Proffitt raced for more than 3 decades in a variety of cars with great success. Perhaps his greatest success was with his 1962 409 'bubble top' Chevy. He was the 1962 NHRA Stock Eliminator Champion with that race car. The 1963 General Motors racing ban forced a switch to Plymouth, with the S/S cars pictured. (Even Bill Jenkins and Dave Strickler switched from Chevrolet to Plymouth race cars during that time) Also as pictured he got one of the 1965 Ford SOHC 427 Mercury Comet Cyclones to run in the NHRA A/FX (A Factory Experimental) class. He switched again to a Chevy Corvair funny car but that didn't last long. The AMC Rebel funny car followed and was a two year deal with a new car run for the 1968 season in the AMC factory colors 'red white & blue'. While he was a successful driver he was also a great engine builder whose skills were much in demand.
CH

 

If you like vintage drag racing, you should check this out:

http://www.hyperkuhl.com/vintagevideos.htm

 

Thanks! Great Bend KS is neat. Lots of great pictures there.
CH

 

scotts car was a heck of a street car,