Home from Ocala

[41chevy]

The R and I got to Ocala and home back on L.I. Met Don Garlits and delievered my car to him and ended up struggling homes with a leaking fuel tank. Split weld on the tank seam. Still a good trip. Missed meeting up with Slpwlker by 2 hours.... Paul

[hatcity]

Glad you made in down and back. Did you need the towel at the restaraunt?

[David]

Blow the horn on that R next time you go through NC.

[41chevy]

Glad you made in down and back. Did you need the towel at the restaraunt?

My grandson was with me.......don't think he was ready for neck ed dining. I'm heading back down after New Years to pick up my swap from Mr. Garlits so we'll try than....course being winter I'd best bring a sheep skin for the vinyl .

[vision386]

What kind of car Paul? vintage drag racing is kinda' another hobby of mine,i always enjoy stopping at "Big's" museum,one of the few "celebrities" i ever met who actually took the time to talk to people on a one to one basis,great guy! one of my alltime heroes!......................................Mark

[41chevy]

What kind of car Paul? vintage drag racing is kinda' another hobby of mine,i always enjoy stopping at "Big's" museum,one of the few "celebrities" i ever met who actually took the time to talk to people on a one to one basis,great guy! one of my alltime heroes!......................................Mark

This is the original photo of my AA/FC at N.Y. National Speedway in 1972. Sponsered by Marino's Italian Ices from Brooklyn N.Y.. It was never a competitive Alcohol car. The 392 ended up in the late 70's in a 1968 Dart 'c' class racing fire truck in Oyster Bay N.Y.. The rest was picked at for 38 years,left about 70% complete or so in as raced trim from 1973. I got pics of it loaded whenI can find the camera chip. Swapped it for a 1964 Corvair Rampside. Don Garlits, Arnie Beswick and Shirley Sheanan (drag-on lady) are 3 of the best people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, bar none. Paul

[41chevy]

[vision386]

Nice pictures Paul! thanks for sharing! dig the old funny cars for sure! i'm a bit of a gasser fan myself,buddy of mine owns a 41 willys coupe,owned by none othe than Stone,Woods& Cook,it was destined to become another "Swindler" in the sixties,but they decided to change classes and body styles so it never happened. Doug "cookie" Cook autographed the firewall at englishtown back in the late seventies,its never been anything but a street car,but looks like it walked right out of the sixties! straight front axle,pearl white tuck and roll uphostery,etc. only picture i have of it is a crappy polaroid! one person i'd add to that list is of course "Miss Hurst" Linda Vaughan,always gracious about signing pictures and talking with people,and (still) not too hard on the eyes! LOL!....................................Mark

[umodelnut]

nice MOPAR pictures.

[41chevy]

Nice pictures Paul! thanks for sharing! dig the old funny cars for sure! i'm a bit of a gasser fan myself,buddy of mine owns a 41 willys coupe,owned by none othe than Stone,Woods& Cook,it was destined to become another "Swindler" in the sixties,but they decided to change classes and body styles so it never happened. Doug "cookie" Cook autographed the firewall at englishtown back in the late seventies,its never been anything but a street car,but looks like it walked right out of the sixties! straight front axle,pearl white tuck and roll uphostery,etc. only picture i have of it is a crappy polaroid! one person i'd add to that list is of course "Miss Hurst" Linda Vaughan,always gracious about signing pictures and talking with people,and (still) not too hard on the eyes! LOL!....................................Mark

Never met her but read her interview in Hot Rod good person. One who lives next town over and did some engine machine work and balancing for me is Jack Merkle. The engine in my 55 is a 302 GMC 6 from 1957, with a Wayne head my dad built in 1960. Jack Merkle remembered the car running 1/8 mile in its day. He was the only one who wasn't afraid to set up the bottom end. Here is Merkles page. My 55 today, people see only one fender well header and get confused..

http://gassermadness.com/merkel/index.html

[vision386]

Nice 55! reminds me of the one in "two lane blacktop"a real traditional looking car! i remember a few guys running sixes "back in the day",as they say today,always thought it was a sound idea. I remember one guy (cant remember his name),that ran a 56 chevy sedan delivery at Atco,NJ in the seventies,did real well with it, if i remember correctly it was also a GMC-6,backed by a four-speed. Never met Jack Merkle,but i do know of his work,i have an old model kit of a model-A gasser with decals for Merkle speed & performance..........................Mark

[Mike]

Those were the good ole days for me, seeing those 5,6 & 7's running strong. I do recall a 62 Chevy 2 with a 6 pulling the wheeels off the ground and would beat most V8's.

mike

[41chevy]

Nice 55! reminds me of the one in "two lane blacktop"a real traditional looking car! i remember a few guys running sixes "back in the day",as they say today,always thought it was a sound idea. I remember one guy (cant remember his name),that ran a 56 chevy sedan delivery at Atco,NJ in the seventies,did real well with it, if i remember correctly it was also a GMC-6,backed by a four-speed. Never met Jack Merkle,but i do know of his work,i have an old model kit of a model-A gasser with decals for Merkle speed & performance..........................Mark

Tri 5 sedan delieveries were the way to go. They were classes as a commercial vehicle so you could run a 4 speed hydramatic. My 55 is a Bel Air Hard top. Originally had factory air and power windows. Merkle was the L.I. big shot as long as I remember for running with the big boys and sometimes beating them. Paul

[other dog]

Those were the good ole days for me, seeing those 5,6 & 7's running strong. I do recall a 62 Chevy 2 with a 6 pulling the wheeels off the ground and would beat most V8's.

mike

I used to go to Richmond dragway about every weekend in the '70's. It was the local track, had some fast cars but they didn't have what you'd call "big time" national events or anything.

But I did go to the old Suffolk, Va. drag strip where they did have NHRA events. The track was on an old airport runway, don't know if it's still in existance or not, but that's where I saw a couple of 66 or 67 ChevyII Novas running 11 second 1/4 mile times with 6 cylinder engines. Had never seen such before.

There was also an early model solid black corvette that I liked turning 10.0's with one of the old GMC 6 cylinders in it. It had wheelie bars on it and when it left the front wheels would come up about 6 inches and every time he hit another gear they'd hop up about 6 inches. Ran straight every time- and fast!

I still remember this, these were my favorite cars to watch, 10 to 12 second cars with 4 speeds, like Freightrain's, rather than top fuel or funny cars.

[joes mack]

nice 55 reminds me of my old 55 i used to race. i miss that car it had a tube chasis that me,my dad and 3 family friends built because it was diferent everyone else had a 67/69 camaro,or nova, with a few dragsters where we used to race. i won my first race in that car. then the next race i won was in my dads dragster the first time i ever drove it. then i went stupid and sold the 55 and bought a dragster not a bad trade off ive won alot with the dragster but i still miss the 55 it was my first competitive car.

[41chevy]

nice 55 reminds me of my old 55 i used to race. i miss that car it had a tube chasis that me,my dad and 3 family friends built because it was diferent everyone else had a 67/69 camaro,or nova, with a few dragsters where we used to race. i won my first race in that car. then the next race i won was in my dads dragster the first time i ever drove it. then i went stupid and sold the 55 and bought a dragster not a bad trade off ive won alot with the dragster but i still miss the 55 it was my first competitive car.

Won alot of street races with it in the 70's. My pop set a national record with it in 1963 in E/G. At one point I put in a 427 and a 4 speed for racing on Cross Bay Blvd and North Conduit in Queens. I put the 6 back in it about 12 years ago.

When Funny cars and such went "corperate" I stopped watching. Gassers and street cars were always more fun to watch. When I was young we had New York National Speedway, Hamptons Drag a Way, Islip 1/8 strip, Freeport Oval, Islip Oval and Bridge Hampton Road course....all gone by the mid 80's. Now it's 3 hours each way to E town or Atco for 2 or 3 runs. I go in the early morning to the former Grumman plant in Calverton an make a blst or 2 down the closed runway, only thing left is Cruise nites....BLAH! rather buy an English sportscar and a kilt. Paul

[joes mack]

ive been planing to go to the hotrod reunion i bowlingreen but like most other things i plan its fell through for the last 2 years.

[Mike]

ive been planing to go to the hotrod reunion i bowlingreen but like most other things i plan its fell through for the last 2 years.

Hey Joe,

Glad you mentioned that event. Do you recall when and what time it happens? I'm about an hour south of bowlingreen, KY. Have flown into BWG many times, day and night. Is a Class D airspace, so we have to call them on the radio first before busting into thier airspace about 10 miles out.

mike

[41chevy]

Always wanted to go there and to the Marston Mile .....well the Hot Rod Reunion is stiil on and Cackle Fest at E town in May or June I think.

Hey Mike, isn't the old Thunder Valley strip near you?? Ran there in 1972 with the Icemaker, beautiful track and surrounding area as I recall.

Paul

[Mike]

Always wanted to go there and to the Marston Mile .....well the Hot Rod Reunion is stiil on and Cackle Fest at E town in May or June I think.

Hey Mike, isn't the old Thunder Valley strip near you?? Ran there in 1972 with the Icemaker, beautiful track and surrounding area as I recall.

Paul

Hey Paul,

Actually no.....Thunder Valley is up in the eastern corner of our state and about 400 miles. That is Bristol, TN. I've been there back in 1990. I went to an IHRA event just to see the most impressive racer that I liked very much. Mr. Ronnie Sox with his red, white and blue 64 Comet with a 707 ci Sonnie Yates motor, running Funny Car size tires and a 3 speed trans. running a consistent 4.01 clock @ 207 mph. I miss his presence on the track. I have him taped on VHS in 1990. I hope someone has put his cars in a museum somewhere.

mike

[41chevy]

A lot was restored including his Dodge Hauler by fans. Don Garlit I believe has his '65 Belvedere in his collection. Paul

[vision386]

I enjoyed reading the story about the restoration of Ronnie Sox's hauler by Don Prudhomme on his website............................Mark

[joes mack]

i think the hotrod reunion is going to be in august in 2012. thunder valley is about a hour and a half from me its only 94 miles from my driveway to copperhead road entrance. i usualy go every year one of my best friends is real close to waren/kurt johnson and he takes pics for dragracing online mag.so i usualy get free tickets..

[41chevy]

i think the hotrod reunion is going to be in august in 2012. thunder valley is about a hour and a half from me its only 94 miles from my driveway to copperhead road entrance. i usualy go every year one of my best friends is real close to waren/kurt johnson and he takes pics for dragracing online mag.so i usualy get free tickets..

Told my wife I'd like to go this year and she already was looking for a place for us to stay.

Thunder Valley was the farthest we ever went. Our carrier was a 1967 D 500 roll back with a 225 slant 6. Learned a lot of new words that trip. I have "Super 8" films of when we were there,no idea how to get them on VHS or CD though. Paul

[mowerman]

certainly was a fun era,,just found out about a rod show they have every year,around 200 miles from here...will definately try to go next year,,had a dart like that one,,also a 55 like that one niether one was set up like yours,,they were stock,,got both cars for just a couple hundred bucks,wow try buying them now.lol.bob