Another old time racer still active is my friend, Ted Harbit.  He was 8 times class winner at the Nationals with his stock '51 Studebaker.  Early Olds rocket 88's were his most common victims.  He ran in the lowest class NHRA had, and every couple of years they would add a class at the top and combine the lowest two classes.  He continued to win.  He still has the '51, raced it with a Paxton blown 289 Stude engine, then dual Paxtons, then dual turbochargers.  He has run 10 teens at 140 mph with it.  He also races in the Pure Stock races with his '63 Super Lark, a blown Avanti engined Lark.  Available from the factory that way.  It has run 12.90s on street tires.  He also drives a friend's '64 Super Lark at the pure stock races.  Ted is in his early '70s.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Those old cars bring back great memories.  The old 40's Buick Century's had dual carbs too.  When I visited the Garlits Museum, his mother was also there taking tickets.  She said she thought Don was getting too old to be racing.  A guy I know has a car on loan to the museum, a 57 Dodge D-501, a very rare car.  It has a 354" Hemi, like a 56 Chrysler 300B.  It is a red and white 2 door post with column shift and used to be Arnie Beswicks race car when it was new.  I'm sure most of us have heard of, and seen pictures of, the old Ardun OHV flathead conversions?  You may know this, they were designed by Zora Arkis Duntov, developer of the Chevy Duntov cam.  Another very successful racer with an older car is Jack Clifford.  He raced a 54 Hudson Hornet in L/Stock Automatic, I think, and won the NHRA Nationals several times.  The car ran in the 15's. He has a business now, Clifford Engineering, and specializes in 6 cylinder motors.  His advertising logo is 6=8, you probably have seen that.  I know I have mentioned this before, but George Chaltin, in his F Code 57 Skyliner, won his class at the NHRA Nationals two or three times. 

Paul J. - '57 E Code

Paul,

            I have been to Garlits, great museum, He was there working on a rail with TC Lemmons!! He was 69 or 70 the year I was there (2003) still racing. His mother (!) took the tickets and showed me around, how cool was that?        

      The pure stock rules are designed to keep the speeds in check, and part breakage to a minimum. Drivelines hold up better on slippery street tires than they do with Slicks or drag radials. Doesn't work, we have a Corvette (L-88) going 11.50's, couple of Hemis in the same neighborhood. All are at or above 120mph.

     You can go back pretty far on the "Muscle Car" subject. My Dad had a T with a Frontenac head in the late 20's,early 30's. Duesenburg made some (expensive) rocket ships in the 30's. Buick named the Super, with a Roadmaster straight Eight, the Century. It was supposed to run 100 mph. I had a buddy with a 40 Century, who restored it in high school in the 50's. That thing would give a 265 Chevy or a '55 272 all they wanted! Must have been something in the 40's, when you could get gas for it !!

      56 Cadillacs  were available with a dual quad (WCFB's) Eldorado motor. 365 inches I believe. I rode with my Grandfather in a black four door sedan  DeVille with one of those and watched him positively decimate a couple of '56 Chevies on Woodward Ave one afternoon in 1956. That was fun for a fourteen year old!!  

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Thanks Frank,

Your ET's are great, especially considering that your running street tires. I guess the idea is to make it sort of like it used to be in the era.  Do the winners get a trophy or anything?  I think the muscle car/high performance cars first appeared in 1955 with the "Power Packs" and in 1956 Dodge had the D-500, Chrysler the 300, the 56 Chevy had the dual quad Corvette engine and Ford had the dual quad dealer option.  Pontiac also had a dual quad option in 1956 and then went to Tri Power.  One could argue that the Hudson Hornets with the Twin H option were pretty strong and Oldsmobile was pretty much at the head of the pack when they added the 4 barrell carbs to their cars in 1952.  I guess the manufacturers got serious in 1957 with the F Code Fords and FI Chevy's and Plymouth Fury with dual quads, Buick Century's, Old's J2 and the Studebaker R series cars.  If any of you get close to Ocala, Florida, be sure to visit Don Garlits museums.  One is for drag racing and the other for other antique cars, etc., both are great.

Paul J. - '57 E Code

Paul,

       You qualify on Friday, with a series of timed runs. Gives you a chance to experiment with tire pressures, shift points, etc. They take your best time (ET) and pair you with the car that has the closest time to yours. Sat you race that car in a best of three runs. 2 of 3 wins,will win the match. Same format is used at Stanton, Michigan, Muncie, Indiana and a new race at Kansas City, KS. Also some East Coast races are being run, some for Pure Stockers, but most for the FAST class cars ( Factory Appearing Stock Tire) cars. They also do not allow cars built prior to 1960 or 1964 at some of the East Coast events, Effectively eliminating my car. According to the sponsors "Real muscle cars started with the GTO!!"  That statement makes it important to me that when I get a chance to blow off a GTO or scrub I'll do it. At Stanton two weeks ago, we were matched with a '68 GTO, 400 HO. Beat him in two races. He did have transmission problems, or it would have been a very close race. The cars were evenly matched. I went a 13.70 @ 105 in the second round, best ever. The car gets a lot of attention and questions in the pits, And that's half the reason I do it.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Frank,

Do you just race one car, best out 2 out of 3 races?  What kind of awards do they offer to the winners?  I have been looking at their web site and it looked like you just race one car.  Are the races heads up or bracket/ET adjusted?

Paul J. - '57 E Code

Didn't figure you were legal, but you can still spectate, no rules there.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

www.purestockdrags.com

Rules seem pretty stiff, but looks like fun - my car is definately not allowed (of course it's also pretty slow  )

John: Lake Forest, IL



'57 Fairlane 500 - Looking better every day.

Steve,

    In most cases they're "optimized". Some of the rules are enforced and some aren't. Stanton is more strict than Martin. Check out the rules section at Pure stock muscle car drag races.com. The Red Ford would easily pass an NHRA stock class tech. You're allowed to run up to an F-70 tire, (I don't, they're 205/ 75's). You can run a locker in the stock rear end (I do) you are supposed to run the original transmission, (I don't, it's a Mustang toploader). All castings are supposed to be as original to the vehicle, no replacements ala Chevies so called replacement castings.

      The Camaro's a real 375/396 Yenko, the tires were 4 or 5 years old, and the guy driving's a buddy, we like to bash each other's brains in, but I doubt if he'd cheat just to win. His son runs the program, so they play by the rules. Right to the edge, but we all are.

     The whole point was to get them to take a new look at Y Blocks, and seeing a 50 year old Ford run him down got his attention, let me tell you!  

     You live in Illinois don't you? come and see it at Stanton in September. Really a good time.

          

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Good show, Frank. Way to stay out there!

To bad about them "technocalities and rules", etc. In my rule book you won just by showing up.

You've got a great car.

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK