Spokane Raceway Park
I remember walking the freshly paved asphalt at thenewly constructed Spokane Raceway Park in 1972, I was only 11 years old, and at the time, it impressedme as the coolest racetrack ever. The stadium styleconcrete seating surrounded the racing surface onboth sides, creating a kind of tunnel that was boundto capture the sights and sounds of drag races yet tocome. The track immediately lived up to expecta-tions, as sell-out crowds witnessed the likes of DonGarlits, Chris Karamesines, Frank Bradley, JohnForce, Dale Pulde, and on, and on, and on. My firstrace as a driver was in 1977 in my dad’s A-Gas drag-ster, then on to numerous events there with a seriesof top alcohol dragsters. I’ve been lucky enough towin a few of the "World Finals" events there, andalways had a great time racing other Northwest drivers, Paula Gage, Red Gobel, Randy Jenson, BillEdwards, Craig Smith and Leon Aines to name a few.
Spokane was, and is, a really fun place to race. Thefestive atmosphere hasn’t changed since day one, the fans are still excited to be there, and the racers all feel they have a chance to win. The track itself has been allowed to deteriorate and fall behind thetechnological advances (concrete starting line, timingequipment) that all the newer tracks have long agoimplemented, but it is also part of its charm, as dollarsand computers don’t benefit the racer as much ascommon sense and "seat of the pants" tuning does.
Recently, the turmoil at Spokane Raceway Park, precipitated by the accusations and subsequent lawsuit between the shareholders and the city ofSpokane against the track owner, Orville Moe, hasput the future of the track in peril. Being a very valuable piece of real estate, it seems reasonablethat the shareholders could get paid back by sellingoff the property; the question is, will it remain a racetrack, become a gravel pit, a new housing develop-ment, or an extension of the penitentiary that resides next door? Jim Tice and Larry Taylor have done anadmirable job of keeping the racetrack going for thelast couple of years, and it just seems wrong that thisplace would not get a second chance, as it is truly a"home away from home" for many Canadian racers.
This is the cross road that any spectator, racer, orinterested bystander should take notice. There is agrass roots effort within the Spokane community tosave the race track by asking the Spokane CountyCommissioners Office to purchase the land and allowracing operations to continue. The land is largeenough that the race track could remain intact, even ifthere was a desire to place other structures or activi-ties there. If you are interested in saving the track,knowing that once it is gone it will likely never comeback, there is a form attached for that purpose.
Our good friend Leon told me that as he was in thewater box, getting ready to race us in the final roundof their last major event in 2007, he was thinking itmight be the last time we go down this track together.Let’s hope not.......................................... Ken Sitko
Bitten by the Bug-Again!
One of the first Drag Lane articles featured alittle 1949 Fiat AA/FAnamed the "Out cast" assembled by Edmontonian’s Gary Egbert and BrentSeaman in the mid 60’s. They had partnered to buildan Olds powered altered out of a drivable car thatBrent had bought for $75.00. It was an all steelFiat/Simca that looked just right to be made into a racecar. Altereds using a small body of some sort with amonster motor were very popular in the mid 60’s. Atrip to Spokane Washington to see nitro poweredrace cars gave the pair the bug to make it into one ofdrag racings most unpredictable cars.
Many hours of welding, grinding and drilling holeswere needed to bring Canada’s one and only AA/FAtolife. Although the life of the Fiat was short with Garyand Brent it held a special place in Brent’s heart. Oneof Brent’s best comments is "why did we did we spendso much time drilling all those holes to save fivepounds!"
Brent forgot about the car for a number of years until afellow from up north contacted Ron Hodgson inEdmonton to see if he was interested in an old racecar. Ron was not real interested, but asked somequestions. Ron was reasonably sure that this was theold "Outcast" double Afuel altered that Gary andBrent had built. Since Ron and Brent are good friendsRon gave Brent a call with the information he had justgotten. One thing led to another and Brent was bittenby the bug once again. The clincher to the deal wasthat the owner said he would deliver the car toEdmonton.
Brent had received pictures of the car in the conditionit was in, so it was no surprise to see it when it wasdelivered. It was in a sorry state, but all the parts andpieces were still there, somewhat of a state of disrepair, but usable. The only piece that was not therewas the original rear end, so Brent had Wally Protz inEdmonton install a nine inch Ford in place of the original Oldsmobile. The Ford rear was chosenbecause it was similar to the Olds, and parts are readily available. Since the old drum brakes were alsomissing the decision was made to upgrade the brakesto a new modern set of Wildwood rear discs.
Wally also installed the new front engine mounts forthe 392 Chrysler that was to be put back into theframe rails. Former partner Gary Egbert then took therough little Fiat, and redid the body in his hot rod fabrication shop in Edmonton.
When the body and rear end work was completedBrent took the car back to his home in Calgary wherethe restoration of the Outcast has involved more racers. Mike Broome, who used to race top fuel cars in the 60’s and 70’s, just happened to have a nice supercharged 392 Chrysler Hemi, what better homefor a 392 than in a AA/FA.
Brent also managed to scare up a nice set of rareHalibrand wheels. Aset of M&H race-master slickscourtesy of Dale Adams in Calgary added to the nostalgic flavour of the Outcast restoration. Brent had Gary Egbert redo the front and rear wheels,which by the way turned out superb. Not only didBrent find a set of rare wheels he managed to get hishands on an original Donovan clutch can, just like theone they used in the Out cast the first time.
With a bunch of nice piece’s gathered it was time tofocus on getting the chassis shortened(at some pointin time someone had lengthened the chassis), thefront end mounted, and a few chassis modificationsdone. This is where yours truly has come into the picture. I had mentioned to Brent that I would love todo an article on the restoration of the car, little did Iknow I would take a big part in the Outcast. It didn’thurt that I have a garage full of fabrication and weldingequipment, as well a lot of racing experience. Afullrestoration, with a few concessions towards safety ismoving ahead nicely now. At the present pace theOutcast AA/FAwill be completed in the spring of 2008.Not only will the car be ready for the spring, the plan isto attend the California Hot Rod Reunion in fall of2008.
I will be keeping all the readers up to date with morecoverage of Canada’s one and only historic AA/FA. Part two to follow.
Vern Scholz
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Back in July, I had decided to go on theCross-Canada Hot Rod Tour, which came throughCalgary July 24th. This was about a week early, as we don't usually shut down till August. There isn'tmuch choice - the girl who does the production on myappraisals takes off. She knows I need her a lot morethan she needs me. Also, I forgot that she is smarterthan me; she leaves a day before she says she isgoing. When the tour hit Calgary, the Foothills StreetRod Association and Allan Rod & Custom held a bar-beque at Mount Pleasant Community hall.
Even though the rain was sputtering, we had a greatturnout. Thanks Calgary. Early on the 25th, I packedmy stuff in the back of the Shorty '57 Chev and head-ed out at 7:00 AM to meet the guys at the host hotel.We got under way smoothly except one of the guysunfortunately wrecked his new '34 Ford, and wasunable to go. Since we were scheduled to drive toKamloops in one day, we kept moving, but stopped at most of the A& W's, as they were a major sponsor.
At one point going through the mountains, I glanced inmy rearview mirror to see what looked like a little mile-long train behind me. I had calculated using my vacu-um gauge, the tachometer, and my 3.55 gears that theultimate cruising speed was 47 miles per hour (theShorty can't even pronounce metric). I figured thatwith all these vehicles making their optimum gasmileage, the tree huggers would endear me, maybeeven embrace me. When we stopped, I got quite a different reaction. There were a bunch of militanttruckers and people who actually had to be some-where, and it was plain they were not trying toembrace me - they were trying to get their handsaround my throat!
After that, the Shorty moved right along with the traffic, but it was not nearly as economical. We pulledinto Kamloops at about 2 pm. I followed the group tothe host hotel up on the highway to the west. I didn'thave a room, so I phoned my daughter to see if Icould bunk on her couch. About 5:30, four RCMPcruisers and a motorcycle pulled into the hotel parkinglot. They gave us an escort across town to the A& Won the north side.
We drove at a steady 25 mph, and they leapfroggedahead and shut down the intersections for us. The A& W had reserved the prime spots for us, and wewere treated like royalty. The parking lot and theadjoining Safeway lot were filled to capacity.Everywhere we went, the ladies loved the little pinkShorty. I had mounted a little flea market set of hornsonto the front of the hood, explaining that this means thatit's a "he." I didn't want them thinking it was asissy car.
My daughter isn't really into old cars, but she wasimpressed by the enthusiasm of the group. I askedher if she wanted to accompany me to the coast.Surprisingly, she took time off from her studies (WorldDomination) to go. Next day we drove the scenic routeto the coast, and it was set up so we would stop at anA& W every hour or so. Checking into the host hotelin Langley, everyone washed the bugs off the front oftheir car. The Old Car Centre put on another barbequefor us, but with a twist. I had the best burger in recentmemory, and then they had fresh fruit, salads, pineap-ple, and to top it off, strawberry shortcake. Talk aboutclass!
There were a couple hundred hotrods there, all new tous, and many were spectacular. Most of the Tour con-tinued the next day, across to Vancouver Island inpreparation for Deuce Day. I was out of time, so Iheaded back to Calgary to get Poopsie and the Buick.The Shorty stayed home. We went back to the coastfor a family wedding, then up the coastal highway.We wound our way back to Kamloops. Our 43rdanniversary was celebrated there with our daughter. It would only be a couple of days until the KamloopsShow "Hot Night in the City." We stayed at theTravelodge downtown so we were near the action, but not in the centre of it. Quite a few Calgary carsshowed up, mostly Corvairs. The North Shore A& Whosted a huge get-together on Friday night. Saturday,the downtown area was blocked off for the show.Again, the cars were all new to me.
We finally headed home to Calgary, me with a realbear of an air-conditioning cold. As the holidays ranout, Poopsie was sitting out on the deck, analyzing thesituation. She's been at The Bay Downtown fordecades now, and would normally be coming homeany day with a retirement package. "Instead, I'm stuckhere raising the big third kid who refuses to leavehome - who leaves his toys littering the back yard andparked all down the block." I never know what she'sgoing on about.
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser who owns andoperates Nelson Racing. Reach him at 403-242-3856.
The ""Old Trapper""
- by Vern
During the mid 60’s the car companies were
embroiled in the legendary muscle car wars, and during
this time there were muscle cars that stood out
amongst the crowd. The 1967 Hemi GTX was one of
the cars that stood out with its classic styling. It was
not just the classic lines; the 426 Hemi sitting between
the fenders made the GTX a special car.
Jim Ronaghan from Edmonton Alberta was a big
Chrysler fan and knew that he just had to have a
Hemi GTX. Jim ordered the car through Turnbull
motors in Edmonton and picked the car up in Windsor
Ontario. Jim ordered his GTX, soon to be Old Trapper,
with; -Radio delete - No consul - Disc brakes - Track-
Pak code 393-4 speed transmission -A833 new
process 18 spline, code 406 – 3:54 to 1- 9 3/4 rear
axle -Stage 1 solid lifters -Code 73, 426 Hemi.
When Jim picked the car up he took it straight to the
famous Ram-charger Racing Engine shop in Detroit
Michigan. At the Ram-charger shop the suspension
and engine were modified to be state of the art super
stock components. One change that was made was to
change the front disc brakes back to the drum brakes.
This was in compliance with the NHRA rules that stated
in order to be legal to run in super stock the Bendix
disc brakes were not legal because it was the first
year that Chrysler used the new disc brakes.
Since the car was too heavy to run in SS/B the seats
were exchanged with lighter seats out of a 1967
Belvedere. The steel super stock hood was added
sometime later.
Jim raced the car all across Western Canada, the
North West USA, California, and even into the state of
Texas. During that time the "Old Trapper "became on
of the most well known super stock cars racing out of
Canada. A lot of race-cars are given a name, and only
a select few remain synonymous to that particular car
or team. The "Old Trapper" is one of those names that
will always be remembered as Jim Ronaghan’s
Chrysler super stock race-cars.
Years later another Jim was came to own, and restore
the "Old Trapper". Jim Baraniuk came to know the Old
trapper in 1968 when he was racing a 1968
Roadrunner at the infamous Shepard Raceway in
Calgary. Jim raced the Old Trapper in time trials, and
the Old Trapper went by Jim before he even pulled
second gear. At the time Jim thought to himself someday
he would like to own that GTX named the Old
Trapper. That time came to be as in 1978 Jim B, who
now lived in Breton Alberta, because a fellow who
happened to own the Old Trapper stopped by looking
for parts. Jim B had a few Mopars on his acreage, and
Ken Edwards stopped by looking for parts. Since both
of them were Chrysler fanatics it was only natural that
they became friends. Although Ken did not sell Jim the
Old Trapper at that time, twenty-five years later Ken
did sell Jim the car that he so wanted.
In the early nineties Ken had a transmission line burst,
which led to a fire that burned the electrical and
engine bay. Thankfully Ken had taken the power train
out and stored all or most of the original parts. Ken
never did get around to repairing the Old Trapper, so
when Ken sold the car to Jim it was purchased as is.
Once Jim got the car home he checked over the original
Ronaghan built Hemi, and found the Hemi to be in
amazingly good condition. All that was done to the
engine was to change the oil pick up and install the
original deep sump oil pan. The engine still has the
original super stock piston, Crane cam, lifters, and
hogged out factory intake manifold. Not only was the
engine in good shape the 11" clutch, steel flywheel,
and RC scatter shield was in super condition also.
The body and paint is in original condition except for
the rear fenders which were bulged out slightly to
accommodate the 10.5 inch slicks.
With the power train checked out Jim proceeded to
restore the rest of the car to its present condition. The
car is not perfect, but it is perfectly restored. Let me
explain, Jim has left little imperfections and race
usage on the car which represents the car as it was. It
was a perfect way to restore a wonderful piece of racing
history.
When Jim started the car up it immediately brought
back memories that I had seeing the "Old Trapper"
tear up the drag strip here in Alberta. There is no
sound like an uncorked Hemi!
Special thanks to Jim Baraniuk, Albert and Lois
Branham, Dick Panther, and Ken Edwards.
In Memory of Jim Ronaghan
So Many To Do, So Little Time To Do Them.
- by Turbo Girl
I know exactly what your wicked little mind is thinking
and while that may also be true we’re talking cars here !
Anyone who lives in the lower mainland/ Fraser Valley
area and says there’s nothing to do on the weekend
needs to put down their crying towel, step away from
the bar stool and go for a drive. Pretty much every
weekend from April to October is filled with motorized
events.
The Tailgaters Truck Club moved their annual show
from September at Colossus to Cloverdale’s Berry
Festival on August 11/07. A new venue brought on yet
another successful event for the many truck enthusiasts
who participated and gave spectators something
berry different to look at!
Despite the lack of sunshine the Aldergrove Legion
had a decent attendance for their August 18th show.
There’s always the very affordable breakfast in the am
and drinks to enjoy afterwards at a Legion show!
Drag race fans were over enjoying Thunder In the
Alberni Valley in Port Alberni. Friday night kicked
things off with a show and shine and the rest of the
weekend was all "just for show". Door slammers,
Pro-Street, Modified, Bikes were all there to entertain
the masses.
Up in Chilliwack the North West Mud Racers
Association was hosting a two-day event at Heritage
Park that brought folks from as far as Willies Puddle
and Oregon. With varied classes such as Street Stock,
Modified, Competition, Super Competition, Unlimited
Tractor and Pro Modified, these events draw
spectators from eight to eighty.
The rain held off Saturday for qualifying but poured
overnight and into Sunday morning. Oh well, what’s a
little more mud? Check them out at http://nwmra.com
for a full schedule of events and results.
If you wanted to continue the day you could move further
east and catch the KERSHAW STREET SPECIAL
at Agassiz Speedway. http://agassizspeedway.com
Tom Bean drove his first Street Stock event and after
bouncing off the wall in qualifying, seeing well over
7000 RPM’s on the tach during the main he said it
was "more than he ever expected". "I have a whole
new respect for those guys, even the slowest car is
going fast" says Bean, just ask him about it when you
swing by the Racers Swap Meet at the Twilight Drive
In, September 22/07. Without a doubt this experience
will be something he’ll talk about for some time to
come! (Hopefully we don’t get snowed on at this
swap meet!)
If you were into a "three-hour tour" you could go see
Pete Harding run his first 2007 race at Sun Valley
Speedway in Vernon. This CAN-AM 125 lap event that
is part of the Newalta Late Model Challenge Series
also included familiar names like Rob Angus and Bill
Lawrence. http://www.sunvalleyspeedway.com If it was
drags you wanted on the 18th Eagle Motorplex in
Ashcroft was hosting the 5th annual Zimmer Wheaton
"Graffiti" Night Of Fire Drags, featuring top fuel nitro
burning dragsters.
www.eaglemotorplex.com
Now if you’re looking for things to do or see there’s
lots coming up.............
Every Friday night you can trip over to A&W in
Langley to have a burger and check out some trick
rides or out to MRP for the Mopac sponsored Friday
Night Street Legals. Do I really need to add MRP’s
website? Are you new?
Langley Good Times Cruise in is coming up on the
weekend of September 8/07.
www.langleycruise-in.com
That one is always a great time. Will we be partying at
the Arian Nations HQ again Catfish??!!
If you’re a total Ford Fanatic you won’t want to miss
the Mega Ford Weekend at MRP going on September
8/9, yes the same time as Cruise-In. All Fords, all the
time; dragging and showing.
www.megafordweekend.com
Swap meets, car shows, racing, mud bogs …. now
you know what I mean when I say so many to do and
so little time to do them in.
Rain or shine, there’s always a good time!
Til next time,
Sitko Family Racing Takes Small Step Towards a Big Leap
- by Sitko Family Racing
Two-car teams are for the pros, with a few exceptions.
Right now, to compete in the professional categories
in the NHRA, if you don’t have a second car (or third,
or fourth), it’s nearly impossible to compete at a high
level. When you think about these teams, you think
Schumacher, Kalitta, Bernstein, Prudhomme, Force
and Pedregon. But, do you think of the name Sitko?
At nowhere near the same level and with nowhere
near the same funding, Sitko Family Racing took the
big step July 21 and 22 at Castrol Raceway in
Edmonton Alberta. Nathan Sitko (Top Alcohol Funny
car pilot and former Top Alcohol Dragster driver) stood
on the outside while older brother Troy took the wheel
of the Martin Sjogren/Ken Sitko-owned Top Alcohol
Dragster. The new adventure into multi-car teams
began over the off-season when the team began
thinking of the possibility of Troy getting behind the
wheel.
Troy and Nathan’s father, Ken Sitko and his father
George Sitko began discussing the situation with longtime
friend and fellow drag racer, Martin Sjogren and a
deal was made soon after. The team picked up the
dragster with truck and trailer in the spring and began
work. There was a lot of work to do and very little time
to do it if the team wanted the dragster out at the track
at all in 2007. With a lack of an IHRA track located
within 5 hours of Edmonton, the decision was made
for Troy to get licensed in the IHRA Top Dragster
class.
The car was brought up to date by Ken, Troy, Nathan
and George and an engine was built using the team’s
spare parts and used pieces from other teams, including
a valve cover that had literally been set on fire and
hit a wall at 230+ miles per hour by Steve Gasparrelli.
During the final week, George and Ken built a new
Lenco front to back and Steve Sitko (the former driver
of the dragster) and Troy changed rear end gears.
Finally the car was ready to run. The team started the
dragster in the driveway behind the Sitko’s home
(which didn’t go well with the neighbours) and the car
was loaded up Friday night for testing.
The first day went very well. The car went straight
down the track as Troy got more and more comfortable
in the car. The first two passes were half blasts to
make sure the car would hold up. After all, the car was
built in a span of about 50 days.
On his third pass, Troy ran his first 6-second pass and
he spent his next 3 runs over the 200 miles per hour
mark, earning his IHRA Top Dragster license.
Nathan signed Troy’s license along with a couple of
Top Dragster-licensed drivers who attended the
bracket meet in Edmonton that weekend,
Tom Ebertz and Randy Modersohn.
Congrats go to Nathan, Kenny, George and team on
the win in TAFC in Spokane, further congrats go to
Nathan’s brother Troy for his semis placing at his first
real race!
I often get asked why I don’t write about a
certain person or event, or better yet, what does it
take to get mentioned in one of your columns.
The above statement reminds me of a program in
effect currently in the City of Langley, called, "Pay it
Forward". Taken from the same titled movie, where
random acts of kindness are carried out, and the
receiver in retribution pays it forward, and it snowballs.
The only thing I disagree with is that these acts of
kindness are printed, published with stories and
photos and rewarded by participating merchants.
It totally defeats the purpose, as good Samaritans are
not looking for recognition or a reward for their good
deeds, unlike some "Look at Me" politicians, M.P.
Though I thought one event I attended last month
needs mention, as it all started with a wax sealed
hand delivered wedding invitation by both the bride
and groom to be. I don’t normally report on weddings,
but this one (#3 for Doug) had many personal touches
that caught my eye. Ice sculpture(s), power-point
photo presentation, personally labelled bombonieres,
and seeing the (Bestman) Timmy from Tireland, in a
tux. His daughter commented on that it was the first
time she also has ever seen him in one, and he
looked dapper. Topping it off, as I was in the bathroom
(library) yesterday reading my mail, I opened their
thank you letter, which in it had rose flower petals and
a bunch of sparkles, (which fell onto my unit) with nice
hand written personal notes. Extra time consuming
effort was and is put into this marriage, which didn’t
go unnoticed.
Its stuff like that gets your name and picture on the
cover of the Rolling Stone, or here in Canada, the
inside cover of QUICKTIMES MAGAZINE.
To my old cowboy hat wearing 43rd Ave neighbour,
thanks for the invite!
Congratulations Doug
& Leanna Brassington.
AKA: (Mr. & Mrs. Fairlane)
The views and opinions
of "Catfish" are his own
and not endorsed by
his employer(s) none
come to mind, call him
if you know of anything,
Quicktimes, his family,
friends or anyone else
on this planet.
Thirty-Three Years of Foresight
- by Fred Nelson
We’ve mentioned in the past that the highwater mark for the musclecars was 1970.
Gasoline with 100-plus octane rating was availableeverywhere for 45 cents per gallon. The Establishment had not yet rammed litres, ormetres down our throats.
By 1974, the horsepower had all been taken away,and the industry thought it important to be seen asdoing something about emissions. Sadly, their solution was low compression engines and smogpumps. Gone was our beloved high-octane gas.
Also gone was the lead that was used to raise theoctane inexpensively. But the performance was onlya memory.
Some pretty lame stuff was being offered by the BigThree, and they seemed surprised to see everyoneflocking to the Japanese showrooms. But, I digress.
Brad Hartsburg was eighteen in 1974 and ran acrossthis 1970 Road Runner coupe in Edmonton. It hadthe original 383 Magnum engine and factory 4-speedwith that intimidating pistol-grip shift lever. But that’snot all; it had the N96 Air Grabber hood. When youwalked on it, a big flap opened up in the centre of thehood to feed cold air directly to the carb.
With only 45,000 miles, the original owner had takengood care of everything. Adeal was made, and Bradbecame the proud new owner. Like a lot of guys, heused to wheel and deal, and there was not a bigdemand for used musclecars. Sometimes he’d onlyown one for a half-hour, then flip it to someone else.
The Road Runner was his favorite, though. DragRacing was popular at the time, and nobody was surethis new-fangled NASCAR stuff would catch on.
The coupe was set up for the drag strip, but Bradresisted the urge to cut anything. Mechanical partscan be removed without hacking things up.Like anyone who makes a lot of runs down the quarter-mile, some days you win and some days youlose. And your opponent doesn’t care why you lost.
One particularly tough Saturday night at the drag stripin Edmonton, Brad lost a race. It wasn’t from lack ofeffort, however, because the carpet under the gaspedal had a badly-worn section from being on thefloor.
Unfortunately, he had missed a shift at full RPM, anda connecting rod had escaped through the side of theblock.
Since the numbers-matching engine was notrepairable, Brad had a balanced and blueprinted 440-V8 built up with 11 to 1 compression. Aset of trickheads and big cam made the car even faster thanbefore. No longer in the Stock class, the ModifiedProduction boys were a little tougher. Brad held hisown, but decided to restore the car and return it tostreet use.
The scattershield and 3-in. exhaust system wereretained, along with the 850 Holley carb. With 4.10gears in the diff, it was loads of fun on the street, andthe outline was reappearing on the new carpet underthe loud pedal. Even a short stint of highway drivingwith those gears is annoying, and the high RPM burnstons of gas.
There is a solution, however. Brad took the car toDale Adams, who is a dealer for Gear Vendors overdrive units. On the 833 4-speed, this unit replaces the stock tailshaft housing with an overdrive.This essentially gives eight forward gears, but it wasthought wise to electronically block the overdrive forfirst and second gears.
Brad always wanted a six-pack setup, so he had Daleand the boys supply and tune a complete newMOPAR unit for this engine. I asked Brad’s wife, Lynnwhat she thought of the little coupe after 33 years.
“He had that car before he had me,” she replied. And she knows the order of what’s leaving first.
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser.
Reach him at 242-3856.
Back to Stories
Funny Times by Vern Sholz
Ken Achs with his Mid-West Express AA/FuelDragster had a successful 1970 season, but the funnycars were growing more popular every day, so it was during the winter of 1970 Ken purchased Tom Hooversold Challenger funny car. Another change was fromthe venerable 392 Whale Hemi Ken had been using tothe bigger 426 Elephant Hemi.
Ken picked the car up from Keith Blacks shop inCalifornia where all the big names congregated. Since the weather was so nice Ken also got his funnycar license at the now famous and long gone defunctOrange County International Raceway. Tom Hooverhad made arrangements to use OCIR, and as whenKen licensed for his dragster license in Arlington yearsearlier it was a mid week session and also like beforethere were only a few people watching. Only this timemost of the equipment such as the crower glide styleclutch and the bulkier fire suits were familiar to Ken.
It was a different story when they lowered the body forthe first time, to Ken it seemed that he was lookingthrough a long pipe, and for a few moments claustrophobia set in. Ken figured that all these otherguys were driving these monsters, and he was experienced in a dragster, so he said to himself letsget this done! Not only did Ken complete his requiredruns, but he discovered that there was an addedbonus; funny cars were way more fun to drive.
For one the burnouts were longer, you could burnoutuntil the cockpit filled up with so much smoke you hadto stop, and secondly there were the dry hops beforeyou staged the car. Later Ken found out unlike thedragster where vision was never a problem, humidtracks and calm nights such as Seattle, the smokefrom the burnouts would not dissipate so vision wasrestricted when trying to back up or make a run, but it was still a blast to drive the car.
Another concern cropped up on shorter tracks, as thecar was heavy, had a small chute, and had rearbrakes only .These hindrances made stopping a real adventure. Ken had to make sure the chute was outwell before the finish line. This lesson was learnedwhen during the first outing with the new paint job asthe car went off the end of the track in FresnoCalifornia. This learning experience led to an all nightthrash at Mr. Ed’s shop to repair the car for the nextday’s race.
Ken raced the car for a year as the Mid-WestExpress, and during the winter thanks to BrentSeaman, picked up the Black Sheep Boutique fromAlberta as a sponsor. From then until Ken stoppedracing the car was known as the Black Sheep. Alongwith the new name a new paint job was applied by thefamous painter George Cerny in California, and thelettering/ hand painted graphics were applied by thefamous California artist Kenny Youngblood.
Although a fairly new car in its day the ex Tom HooverChallenger was a heavy car, and it was a time whennew techniques were being used to build lighter andnarrower funny cars. In short Ken’s funny car was atank compared too many of the state of the art cars.
With a weight and size handicap, in Ken’s words" theyate us for lunch" fit when they raced the newer lightercars. Although it sounds like the other cars were somuch faster the Mid-West Express/Black Sheep funnycar ran a best of 7.06 at 221 mph, and the hitter carswere running times in the 6.80 range.Ken and crew raced the car all across WesternCanada, and from the NW United States all the wayto California.
Due to the growing demands of Ken’s business interests one day he made a decision to concentrateon the business, also to be competitive a new carwould have to be bought, so Ken loaded up the racecar on the ramp truck with all his parts and drove toEdmonton. In Edmonton he dropped the rig off withRon Hodgson and told him to send a cheque whenthe whole thing was gone.
In Ken’s words," I gave up fast cars for fast women"!That was it for Ken’s drag racing until his old friendand crew chief Brent Seaman found the Mid WestExpress dragster in Calgary 32 years later.Aspecial thanks to Ken Achs, and Brent Seaman forall the pictures and stories.
Vern Schholz
Back to Stories
Rat rods aim to rule the road with flat black
Hot rodding is a culture, with rites and customspassed on from generation to generation. Hot roddinghas always carried strong overtones of counterculture,similar to the taboos once associated with tattooingand rockabilly. Back in its '50s-'60s heyday, those whocouldn't afford sporty new cars stripped down family-style roadsters, souped up the engines and paintedmenacing flames on the body. Attaining the highestvelocity and a sinister appearance were prerequisitesfor drag racing down a quarter-mile dirt track.
Rat rod is a newly developed name for the original hotrod style of the early 1950s. Rat rods are usually vehicles that have had many of their non-critical partsremoved, are usually finished in primer-like paints andare often period correct. They are very often conglomerations of parts and pieces from several different cars of varying makes and models. Many rat rodders do not consider their cars rat rods.The term 'rat rod' is considered derogatory to manytraditional hot rod builders, but new fans of hot rodswho notice the difference from yesterday's shiny hotrods to today's primered, lower and more radicallydesigned hot rods call these cars 'rat rods'.
Atypical rat rod is an early 1930s through 1950scoupe or roadster with the body set low on the frame,fenders removed, whitewall tires, big-little tire combos,exposed engine bay, home-made upholstery, and lotsof power. Arat rod is considered to differ from a hotrod in a number of key aspects.
Arat rod is a home-built, low-budget, one-off customvehicle that is frequently driven and has many flawsand imperfections. In popular usage a hot rod is nowdefined as a high-end, high-budget show car thatemulates the early hot rods in style but sports flashypaint, high-quality upholstery and generally sees littlein the way of road time.
Hardcore rods are totally different from kustoms andleadsleds, and belong to another subculture of the hotrod community. Hardcore rods are built by people witha passion for custom cars, who create their masterpieces over many years. The shoestring budget most operate on is what leads to the publicappearances of many rat rods in coats of primerrather than paint, as in the creative process onesometimes can not afford to build, paint and trim therod in one hit.
But there was another side in the 1950s, and it wascalled rockabilly: raw, countrified rock music that sel-dom got Top 50 airplay. Think Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochrane, or Elvis' earliest days. That is the theme atthese outings, such as like Viva Las Vegas, a rockabilly weekend held in mid-April, Most peopleare unaware of the rockabilly subculture, but it's huge;some 4,600 people attended this event last April, Thisis a lifestyle, not a weekend masquerade; althoughmost are only in their twenties, they embrace thestyles of half a century ago in their daily lives. Thisevent is the mainstray of the culture unfolded. The2007 edition of Viva Las Vegas runs on next year'sEaster weekend; for more information, visit www.vivalasvegas.net.
As independent as the owners/designers/transformersseem to be, their work shares some central traits ofthe larger art world. One is the creation of art fromfound and discarded objects -- over and over the walltext for these cars will say something like, "This roadster body was found in a NorthernSaskatchewan creek bed ..." The other is the modernist, minimalist idea of stripping art down to its most basic form. Who needs fenders?
Like many of those who were creating it in 1950s and'60s garages, the postwar hot rod culture has grownmature, rich and rather respectable. In place of personalized jalopies cobbled together with cannibalized parts, many modern hot rods flaunt thelatest electronic toys, custom fiberglass bodywork andnearly fluorescent paint. High-end customizers likeBoyd Coddington are television celebrities, buildingcostly cars on camera for wealthy collectors.
In counterpoint, like Goths amid the temples of Rome,a growing movement of hot rodders is taking thehobby back to its greasy, barebones basics. Their rough and ragged cars, often called rat rods,wear matte black and gray primer and roll out on steel wheels wearing wide whitewall tires.
Clubs of rat rodders are flourishing, and shows ofthese old-style, do-it-yourself cars -- part of a growingmovement for traditional hot rods and Kustom Kulture-- are finding large new audiences.
Rat rods could also be called roots rods, becausethey often feature the stripped-down, hoodless andfender-free look of cars that were popular amongearly hot rodders.
"Some take the name rat rod as an insult, but we areproud of it," say most, "We are poor-boy rodders withattitude. All of our cars are true hot rods. They maynot be bright and shiny, but they go."
The clubs usually include both pure hot rods,stripped-down vehicles with an emphasis on powerand speed, and "kool kustoms," which are modifiedproduction models that stress appearance and style.The K's are meaningfully flip, suggesting the patina of irony that suffuses the movement. Some cars fit both categories.
Hot rodding was burned into pop culture by the musicof the Beach Boys and the 1973 film "AmericanGraffiti." The quintessential hot rod platform is probably the 1932 Ford coupe, the "little deucecoupe" of the Beach Boys song.
Hot rod culture was also recognized as early as 1968as an American folk art, at least on the West Coast, in several museum shows curated by Phil Linares ofthe Oakland Museum of California. For younger drivers, hot rodding is history waiting to be rediscovered and revived.
Hanging around the Diablo’s or another like club islike stepping into a black-and-white world. Not onlyare most of the cars monochrome, save for the occasional accent of painted flames, but their ownerstend to dress in black T-shirts, black Dickies pantsand black work boots. White socks can pass, akin tothe wide whitewalls common on rat rods. (Even some contemporary photos on club Web siteswere shot in back and white.)
Rat rodders favor hairdos as sculptured as their fenders, suggesting early Johnny Cash or charactersfrom "In Cold Blood." Most listen to rockabilly musicwith the garage filled with the sounds of Gene Vincentand Johnny Burnette.
So, now with your new found knowledge you canlearn to appreciate and respect the heavily coinedand not always politically correct phrase of the…
"rat rod"
Back to Stories
Thirty-Three Years of Foresight
We’ve mentioned in the past that the highwater mark for the musclecars was 1970.
Gasoline with 100-plus octane rating was availableeverywhere for 45 cents per gallon. The Establishment had not yet rammed litres, ormetres down our throats.
By 1974, the horsepower had all been taken away,and the industry thought it important to be seen asdoing something about emissions. Sadly, their solution was low compression engines and smogpumps. Gone was our beloved high-octane gas.
Also gone was the lead that was used to raise theoctane inexpensively. But the performance was onlya memory.
Some pretty lame stuff was being offered by the BigThree, and they seemed surprised to see everyoneflocking to the Japanese showrooms. But, I digress.
Brad Hartsburg was eighteen in 1974 and ran acrossthis 1970 Road Runner coupe in Edmonton. It hadthe original 383 Magnum engine and factory 4-speedwith that intimidating pistol-grip shift lever. But that’snot all; it had the N96 Air Grabber hood. When youwalked on it, a big flap opened up in the centre of thehood to feed cold air directly to the carb.
With only 45,000 miles, the original owner had takengood care of everything. Adeal was made, and Bradbecame the proud new owner. Like a lot of guys, heused to wheel and deal, and there was not a bigdemand for used musclecars. Sometimes he’d onlyown one for a half-hour, then flip it to someone else.
The Road Runner was his favorite, though. DragRacing was popular at the time, and nobody was surethis new-fangled NASCAR stuff would catch on.
The coupe was set up for the drag strip, but Bradresisted the urge to cut anything. Mechanical partscan be removed without hacking things up.Like anyone who makes a lot of runs down the quarter-mile, some days you win and some days youlose. And your opponent doesn’t care why you lost.
One particularly tough Saturday night at the drag stripin Edmonton, Brad lost a race. It wasn’t from lack ofeffort, however, because the carpet under the gaspedal had a badly-worn section from being on the floor.
Unfortunately, he had missed a shift at full RPM, anda connecting rod had escaped through the side of theblock.
Since the numbers-matching engine was notrepairable, Brad had a balanced and blueprinted 440-V8 built up with 11 to 1 compression. Aset of trickheads and big cam made the car even faster thanbefore. No longer in the Stock class, the ModifiedProduction boys were a little tougher. Brad held hisown, but decided to restore the car and return it tostreet use.
The scattershield and 3-in. exhaust system wereretained, along with the 850 Holley carb. With 4.10gears in the diff, it was loads of fun on the street, andthe outline was reappearing on the new carpet underthe loud pedal. Even a short stint of highway drivingwith those gears is annoying, and the high RPM burnstons of gas.
There is a solution, however. Brad took the car toDale Adams, who is a dealer for Gear Vendors overdrive units. On the 833 4-speed, this unit replaces the stock tailshaft housing with an overdrive.This essentially gives eight forward gears, but it wasthought wise to electronically block the overdrive forfirst and second gears.
Brad always wanted a six-pack setup, so he had Daleand the boys supply and tune a complete newMOPAR unit for this engine. I asked Brad’s wife, Lynnwhat she thought of the little coupe after 33 years.
“He had that car before he had me,” she replied. And she knows the order of what’s leaving first.
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser whooperates Nelson Racing. Reach him at 242-3856.
Back to Stories
Funny Times
We’ve mentioned in the past that the highwater mark for the musclecars was 1970.
Back to Stories
Thirty-Three Years of Foresight
Ken Achs with his Mid-West Express AA/FuelDragster had a successful 1970 season, but the funnycars were growing more popular every day, so it was during the winter of 1970 Ken purchased Tom Hooversold Challenger funny car. Another change was fromthe venerable 392 Whale Hemi Ken had been using tothe bigger 426 Elephant Hemi.
Ken picked the car up from Keith Blacks shop inCalifornia where all the big names congregated. Since the weather was so nice Ken also got his funnycar license at the now famous and long gone defunctOrange County International Raceway. Tom Hooverhad made arrangements to use OCIR, and as whenKen licensed for his dragster license in Arlington yearsearlier it was a mid week session and also like beforethere were only a few people watching. Only this timemost of the equipment such as the crower glide styleclutch and the bulkier fire suits were familiar to Ken.
It was a different story when they lowered the body forthe first time, to Ken it seemed that he was lookingthrough a long pipe, and for a few moments claustrophobia set in. Ken figured that all these otherguys were driving these monsters, and he was experienced in a dragster, so he said to himself letsget this done! Not only did Ken complete his requiredruns, but he discovered that there was an addedbonus; funny cars were way more fun to drive.
For one the burnouts were longer, you could burnoutuntil the cockpit filled up with so much smoke you hadto stop, and secondly there were the dry hops beforeyou staged the car. Later Ken found out unlike thedragster where vision was never a problem, humidtracks and calm nights such as Seattle, the smokefrom the burnouts would not dissipate so vision wasrestricted when trying to back up or make a run, but it was still a blast to drive the car.
Another concern cropped up on shorter tracks, as thecar was heavy, had a small chute, and had rearbrakes only .These hindrances made stopping a real adventure. Ken had to make sure the chute was outwell before the finish line. This lesson was learnedwhen during the first outing with the new paint job asthe car went off the end of the track in FresnoCalifornia. This learning experience led to an all nightthrash at Mr. Ed’s shop to repair the car for the nextday’s race.
Ken raced the car for a year as the Mid-WestExpress, and during the winter thanks to BrentSeaman, picked up the Black Sheep Boutique fromAlberta as a sponsor. From then until Ken stoppedracing the car was known as the Black Sheep. Alongwith the new name a new paint job was applied by thefamous painter George Cerny in California, and thelettering/ hand painted graphics were applied by thefamous California artist Kenny Youngblood.
Although a fairly new car in its day the ex Tom HooverChallenger was a heavy car, and it was a time whennew techniques were being used to build lighter andnarrower funny cars. In short Ken’s funny car was atank compared too many of the state of the art cars.
With a weight and size handicap, in Ken’s words" theyate us for lunch" fit when they raced the newer lightercars. Although it sounds like the other cars were somuch faster the Mid-West Express/Black Sheep funnycar ran a best of 7.06 at 221 mph, and the hitter carswere running times in the 6.80 range.Ken and crew raced the car all across WesternCanada, and from the NW United States all the wayto California.
Due to the growing demands of Ken’s business interests one day he made a decision to concentrateon the business, also to be competitive a new carwould have to be bought, so Ken loaded up the racecar on the ramp truck with all his parts and drove toEdmonton. In Edmonton he dropped the rig off withRon Hodgson and told him to send a cheque whenthe whole thing was gone.
In Ken’s words," I gave up fast cars for fast women"!That was it for Ken’s drag racing until his old friendand crew chief Brent Seaman found the Mid WestExpress dragster in Calgary 32 years later.Aspecial thanks to Ken Achs, and Brent Seaman forall the pictures and stories. Vern Schholz
Back to Stories
Rat rods aim to rule the road with flat black
Hot rodding is a culture, with rites and customspassed on from generation to generation. Hot roddinghas always carried strong overtones of counterculture,similar to the taboos once associated with tattooingand rockabilly. Back in its '50s-'60s heyday, those whocouldn't afford sporty new cars stripped down family-style roadsters, souped up the engines and paintedmenacing flames on the body. Attaining the highestvelocity and a sinister appearance were prerequisitesfor drag racing down a quarter-mile dirt track.
Rat rod is a newly developed name for the original hotrod style of the early 1950s. Rat rods are usually vehicles that have had many of their non-critical partsremoved, are usually finished in primer-like paints andare often period correct. They are very often conglomerations of parts and pieces from several different cars of varying makes and models. Many rat rodders do not consider their cars rat rods.The term 'rat rod' is considered derogatory to manytraditional hot rod builders, but new fans of hot rodswho notice the difference from yesterday's shiny hotrods to today's primered, lower and more radicallydesigned hot rods call these cars 'rat rods'.
A typical rat rod is an early 1930s through 1950scoupe or roadster with the body set low on the frame,fenders removed, whitewall tires, big-little tire combos,exposed engine bay, home-made upholstery, and lotsof power. Arat rod is considered to differ from a hotrod in a number of key aspects.
A rat rod is a home-built, low-budget, one-off customvehicle that is frequently driven and has many flawsand imperfections. In popular usage a hot rod is nowdefined as a high-end, high-budget show car thatemulates the early hot rods in style but sports flashypaint, high-quality upholstery and generally sees littlein the way of road time.
Hardcore rods are totally different from kustoms andleadsleds, and belong to another subculture of the hotrod community. Hardcore rods are built by people witha passion for custom cars, who create their masterpieces over many years. The shoestring budget most operate on is what leads to the publicappearances of many rat rods in coats of primerrather than paint, as in the creative process onesometimes can not afford to build, paint and trim therod in one hit.
But there was another side in the 1950s, and it wascalled rockabilly: raw, countrified rock music that sel-dom got Top 50 airplay. Think Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochrane, or Elvis' earliest days. That is the theme atthese outings, such as like Viva Las Vegas, a rockabilly weekend held in mid-April, Most peopleare unaware of the rockabilly subculture, but it's huge;some 4,600 people attended this event last April, Thisis a lifestyle, not a weekend masquerade; althoughmost are only in their twenties, they embrace thestyles of half a century ago in their daily lives. Thisevent is the mainstray of the culture unfolded. The2007 edition of Viva Las Vegas runs on next year'sEaster weekend; for more information, visit www.vivalasvegas.net.
As independent as the owners/designers/transformersseem to be, their work shares some central traits ofthe larger art world. One is the creation of art fromfound and discarded objects -- over and over the walltext for these cars will say something like, "This roadster body was found in a NorthernSaskatchewan creek bed ..." The other is the modernist, minimalist idea of stripping art down to its most basic form. Who needs fenders?
Like many of those who were creating it in 1950s and'60s garages, the postwar hot rod culture has grownmature, rich and rather respectable. In place of personalized jalopies cobbled together with cannibalized parts, many modern hot rods flaunt thelatest electronic toys, custom fiberglass bodywork andnearly fluorescent paint. High-end customizers likeBoyd Coddington are television celebrities, buildingcostly cars on camera for wealthy collectors.
In counterpoint, like Goths amid the temples of Rome,a growing movement of hot rodders is taking thehobby back to its greasy, barebones basics. Their rough and ragged cars, often called rat rods,wear matte black and gray primer and roll out on steel wheels wearing wide whitewall tires.
Clubs of rat rodders are flourishing, and shows ofthese old-style, do-it-yourself cars -- part of a growingmovement for traditional hot rods and Kustom Kulture-- are finding large new audiences.
Rat rods could also be called roots rods, becausethey often feature the stripped-down, hoodless andfender-free look of cars that were popular amongearly hot rodders.
"Some take the name rat rod as an insult, but we areproud of it," say most, "We are poor-boy rodders withattitude. All of our cars are true hot rods. They maynot be bright and shiny, but they go."
The clubs usually include both pure hot rods,stripped-down vehicles with an emphasis on powerand speed, and "kool kustoms," which are modifiedproduction models that stress appearance and style.The K's are meaningfully flip, suggesting the patina of irony that suffuses the movement. Some cars fitboth categories.
Hot rodding was burned into pop culture by the musicof the Beach Boys and the 1973 film "AmericanGraffiti." The quintessential hot rod platform is probably the 1932 Ford coupe, the "little deucecoupe" of the Beach Boys song.
Hot rod culture was also recognized as early as 1968as an American folk art, at least on the West Coast, in several museum shows curated by Phil Linares ofthe Oakland Museum of California. For younger drivers, hot rodding is history waiting to be rediscovered and revived.
Hanging around the Diablo’s or another like club islike stepping into a black-and-white world. Not onlyare most of the cars monochrome, save for the occasional accent of painted flames, but their ownerstend to dress in black T-shirts, black Dickies pantsand black work boots. White socks can pass, akin tothe wide whitewalls common on rat rods. (Even some contemporary photos on club Web siteswere shot in back and white.)
Rat rodders favor hairdos as sculptured as their fenders, suggesting early Johnny Cash or charactersfrom "In Cold Blood." Most listen to rockabilly musicwith the garage filled with the sounds of Gene Vincentand Johnny Burnette.
So, now with your new found knowledge you canlearn to appreciate and respect the heavily coinedand not always politically correct phrase of the… "rat rod"
Back to Stories
Most people have never even seen a 1941 Ford Convertible, so while driving down a Calgary street, in February, in the snow - well, I figured my eyes were just playing tricks on me.But like an old hound dog once he gets the scent, I hit the binders and made a U-turn. Even better, when I pulled up I recognized, fellow Foothills Street Rod Association member, Trevor Landage. He was, indeed, wiping down a black 1941 Ford Special Deluxe convertible in his driveway. I asked why I had never seen this one, and he informed me that it is new to him.
It has only 53,000 original miles, and was at Pearl Harbor. It would have been brand new back then. An American Serviceman had owned the car in Hawaii, and brought it back to California after the war, in about 1950.It had been sold to another Californian, who did a cosmetic restoration, but drove it sparingly.In 1990, a fellow from Washington saw it at the Munroe Swap Meet in Washington State. His name was Gordon Sargeant, and he bought the ragtop and pampered it for another 16 years.Trevor and his wife, Janet started going to the Munroe Swap Meet about ten years ago. They enjoyed camping at a little campground where several attendees stayed while the event was held.Trevor worked at the meet, dragging a tape measure around, marking spots and helping with the setup.
He got to know a bunch of the guys, and they’re was a dinner bash on the Saturday night. One of the guys commented that he hadn’t seen them at the dinner, and asked why. We’re not from here. We live in Calgary ....... Alberta ...... Canada?, Trev said. That’s no excuse, they replied, and sold him a membership to the Bellingham Ford Club. The fall swap meet was to become an annual year-end deal, a fun time.
In October, 2006 Gordon brought the little convertible back where he had bought it 16 years earlier. Trevor admired the car, but when he heard the price, decided against that large an expenditure. Throughout the meet, Gordon talked to a steady crowd of admirers, all of them quite interested in the car.Back at the campground, one of the vendors told Trev that the car had been sold. Naturally, car guys need to know how much, and Trev said that he would have taken it for
that price, which was considerably less than he was first quoted. The vendor told him that the buyers had not given a deposit, and Trev had only to put up some coin.Trevor’s word is good, so he decided to wait and see if the buyer came back the next morning. Early the next afternoon, Gordon came over and informed them that the people had not come back, and would they be interested. In the brief consultation that followed, Janet and Trevor agreed that, if they bought this, one of the other cars would have to go. A quick trip to the ATM, and a deal was made. The cheque for the balance was given to a group of lawyers, who were also very helpful in importing the car to Canada.
The car is extremely rare, in contrast to the 1940 Fords which, along with the 1932's, are the most popular of all time. At the border, the girl who had been looking after the paperwork said that it had been the only 1941 Ford convertible registered in the entire State of Washington. Now there are none. Once back home, Trev placed an ad in the Auto Trader for both his 1936 Ford and his Ford pickup. It comes out online about a week before the magazine hits the stands. He got a call from Australia, and three days later the fellow arrived in Calgary to buy the 36. It’s being driven around down under as you read this. Trev assured me that he’ll take the ragtop to a few shows next season. You’ll love it. That little flathead is so quiet, you’d hardly know it’s running. It idles down to about 300 RPM. This little Museum Piece is definitely a keeper. Fred Nelson is an accredited appraiser who owns and operates Nelson Racing. Reach him at 242-3856
Back to Stories
North West Knight
The North West Knight technically began in California as a 1965 Chev Impala with a supercharged BB Chevy on nitro. Bob Davis originally built
the car as an A/S class car, and soon morphed into a fuel injected match racer. As with all racers the need for more power led to a supercharger for the BB Chev, with a dose of Nitro methane for extra measure. The Jolly Green Giant was a popular car, but it was heavy and not very aerodynamic .Even with these handicaps the JGG did run in the mid 9’s at 145 mph. Bob looked for a lighter more aerodynamic car, and found a water damaged Corvette at a dealership .The Corvette was modified to accept the drive train from the Impala, and he named this creation the Jolly Green Giant II. This combination resulted in times in
the low nine’s at speeds over 160 mph.
One of the fellows involved with the JGG took both cars in trade, possibly for monies owed, and moved to Lynnwood Washington. There the JGG’s received supercharged nitro burning engines. Don Helier who had the cars sold the Corvette as it was quite a handful on the track, and he never did get it to make a decent pass. It was two brothers who were loggers from Everett Washington who bought the JGG Corvette. The brothers actually looked the part of loggers with cut off cover alls, and hob nail boots, but they did get the car to run some decent runs in the mid 8’s.although the JGG II was running in the 8’s it soon apparent that the new lighter tube framed funny car route was the way to go, so they took the car to Kenny Martin, a racer from Puyallup, to build them a new longer and lighter chassis. They took the original body crudely stretched the body, and just screwed the doors in. It was heavy, but still much lighter than the previous combination. Also at this time the car was renamed the North West Knight, and given a nice multi color candy blue over white paint job.
The Christensen brothers ran the car until 1972, and were very competitive with times in the low 7’s with speeds over 200 mph. They raced the car all over the NW states, and Western Canada. The North West Knight was a striking race car, and I can still remember seeing this car perform on our local tracks in Alberta. For reasons known only to the two brothers they sold the car, and it disappeared until the early 80’s when it reappeared .Forrest Leblanc, who went on to race alcohol funny cars, came out with the old NWK as a bracket racer .He installed a BB Chev with a tunnel ram and 2 -4 bbl carbs, and used a clutchflite transmission to back up the BB Chev. Other changes were to a dark blue paint job, and a name change to Addiction. Forrest ran the car until the late 80’s where it changed hands again.
The new owner took the car to Art Morrison, a NW chassis builder, who the replaced the old style chassis with a new modern narrow funny car style chassis. At first it was run with an injected BB Chev. The JGG soon received a supercharged alcohol engine, and was match raced against regular alcohol funny cars. After a couple of seasons it was sold to Jim Nordhaugen from Colorado who updated the car, and added an Allen Johnson blown Olds. It was in this last configuration the North West Knight made its return to the tracks of Alberta. When the NWK made its return to Alberta, it was a much faster car with the new Allen Johnson Olds. Times in the 6.40’s at speeds over 220 mph made the Corvette a real threat to the other alcohol funny cars. Two interesting features of the car were an onboard starter, and a hydraulic body lift.
The North West Knight holds a place of being somewhat special as I saw the car perform in it’s hey day, and I wound up racing the car years later; once in Spokane with my Fiat, when Forrest Leblanc had it, and again in Calgary in my alcohol funny car. Interestingly I wound up on the plus side winning in both instances. The North West Knight was a neat race car, and if you follow nostalgia funny car racing the match race nostalgia funny cars are making a huge comeback. Could it be because of the more interesting show, the cackle from the pipes, or a remembrance of more colorful race cars, what ever itis, all I can say is let the good times roll!
Vern Scholz
Back to Stories
Street Rodding Now Affordable
The ‘32 Ford is considered to be the ultimate hot rod,and this year is the Deuce’s 75th birthday. They werethe first car to have the flathead V8 engines fromFord, and their popularity has never faded from DayOne. Nowadays, the Deuce is reproduced in bothfibreglass and steel, so there are more "new" cars hitting the streets each year. Rod Bushfield farms nearCalgary, and he works long hours from the springthrough the autumn. The winter is a little more relaxing, so last year he decided to build a ‘32 Ford 3-window coupe. It was good experience, and he contracted out some of the more intricate portions ofthe job.
He also found that some of the shops take a littlelonger to do things. While waiting for a call-back fromone of the shops, Rod recalled being at one of thelarger shows during the summer. He rememberedseeing two Model Acoupes parked beside each other.One had several trick parts and much billet & chrome,but nobody seemed interested. The other was paintedflat black, ran an old wheezing flathead, and had abare interior with a Mexican blanket tossed over theseat. There were about fifty people milling around it allday. The current name for these, although not reallycorrect, is "rat rod". Since Rod’s Deuce had somepretty whizzy parts on it, he started gathering parts tobuild a little pickup on a much lower budget.Rectangular tubing was used to build a frame with a5½-in. cab height. ATCI dropped axle and spring set-up came with disc brakes. The rear diff from a FordMaverick was just the right width, so now he had arolling chassis.
Out in a field sat an old, weathered 1937 GMC 2-tongrain truck. It hadn’t moved for years, so Rod wasable to purchase the cadaver. Once the cab wasmounted, it was found that a new grill shell and insertwould cost a fortune. Rod reasoned that the truckwould look better with a traditional ‘32 Ford grill, andcost a whole lot less. He purchased a fibreglass grillshell and standard (non-chrome) insert, then had aspecialty shop in Colorado cut a steel design of a young lady bending over, tending her garden. Thedesign is similar to the nose-art on the front of WorldWar II fighter planes. Even down on the farm, yourbest tool is still the Internet. Old truck boxes are beatup, at least, and usually rotted. Anew one was available, however. The box kit was easily assembled,and filled with new strips and wood. Most guys weld inthe raised transmission tunnel, but Rod bolted his intoplace. He also built a dash insert and filled it with AutoMeter gauges. Wiring was accomplished with one ofthe popular kits. Surprisingly, a new moulded headliner was available, and Ron Howrie stitched upa bench seat in dark brown, like a bomber jacket.From the Bargain Finder came a built-up 350-V8Chevy engine and a rebuilt 700-R4 overdrive trans-mission. Now the Maverick 8-in. diff received a newposi unit and 3.80 gears. Steel wheels and widewhitewall tires look just like the fifties. With a set ofcustom-built lake headers and aluminum carb scoop,it was starting to look pretty cool.
The paint is a work of art. It looks just like about 40years of rust, both inside and out. But, it’s all illusion - a fibreglass grill shell can’t rust. And the nicething about building a rod like this is, if you encountera little dent, or a little rust hole, you can just incorporate it into the theme.
It’s supposed to look like a "field truck gets new chassis". Rod’s ‘32 3-window is almost completed, but he’s having a lot of fun with the pickup. He’s evenstarted a website to show people that they can affordto build a rod, and do a lot of the work themselves.The site is www.vintagerods.ca so be sure to check it out.
Fred Nelson is an accredited local appraiser who operates Nelson Racing. Reach him at(403)242-3856.
Back to Stories
Ex Western Canadian Royalty
It was the early 70’s and Top Fuel dragsters wereundergoing a transformation thanks to Don Garlits. Amove to the behind the driver engine location was allthe rage which left many nice front engine dragsterchassis available for the new Pro Comp class. Pro-comp was a mixture of supercharged alcoholburning funny cars, blown alcohol altereds, blownalcohol dragsters, blown gas dragsters, and nitroburning dragsters. The Pro-comp class was very popular and pretty much all the combinations werecompetitive with each other.
In Calgary, Rod Hodges had been running an exAustin Bros gas dragster with a relatively short wheelbase of 168 inches, and was looking to update hisride. It just so happened that a state of the art frontengine dragster was for sale in Calgary. This car wasthe Royal Canadian AA/FD of Don Kohut which was aDon Long car, and had a 215” wheelbase, best of allhad it all the mounts to transfer his early 392 styleHemi engine into the new chassis form his old car.Rod’s early Hemi was assembled using a 5/8 strokecrank and was bored +.030 from a stock 331 Chryslerwhich gave a final cubic inch of 403. Gene Adamsfrom California modified the Hilborn fuel injection sys-tem; the internals consisted of a Crower cam,Donovan gear drive and rockers. Many Pro-comp carsof the time were running either a 2 speed or a 3speed transmission, but Rod elected to run a directdrive with a Hays clutch. This did not affect the per-formance of the car greatly other than being a touchslower off the line than a car with a transmission.
With the torque made by the hemi on nitro this slightdisadvantage was more than made up for on the topend. While many cars of the time were running speedsof 180+, Rod’s combination always had a great topend march with speeds approaching 200 mph. Rodraced the car in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Washington,and compiled a win loss record of 90%. At one raceRod actually qualified for the Top fuel portion of theprogram in the number 5 position, but the AAguy’s wouldn’tlet Rod play with the big dogs. Might have been a touch tooembarrassing for them! At a WCS point’s race in EdmontonDale Armstrong was there with his rear engine Chevy pow-ered injected nitro burning car and was very impressed at thespeeds that Rod’s direct drive car was reaching. Rod did notwin the race as Dale Armstrong went on to win the eventwith a speed of 187 mph. Dales A/FD was extremely quickover the first part of the quarter mile, so what he lacked in topend speed he made up for on the bottom end.
The best that Rod’s car ran was a 7.36 at 196 mph ona national record of 7.30 seconds.With these times theA/FD was one of the top cars in Western Canada inthe Pro-comp class during the early 70’s.In today’s drag racing world direct drive has becomethe way to go with the nitro burning classes. Thanks to Rod Hodges for the pictures and the memories.
Vern Schholz
Back to Stories
Rag Top was New at Pearl Harbor
Most people have never even seen a 1941 FordConvertible, so while driving down a Calgary street, in February, in the snow - well, I figured my eyes werejust playing tricks on me.But like an old hound dogonce he gets the scent, I hit the binders and made aU-turn. Even better, when I pulled up I recognized, fellow Foothills Street Rod Association member,Trevor Landage. He was, indeed, wiping down ablack 1941 Ford Special Deluxe convertible in hisdriveway. I asked why I had never seen this one, and he informed me that it is new to him.
It has only 53,000 original miles, and was at PearlHarbor. It would have been brand new back then.An American Serviceman had owned the car inHawaii, and brought it back to California after the war,in about 1950.It had been sold to another Californian,who did a cosmetic restoration, but drove itsparingly.In 1990, a fellow from Washington saw it atthe Munroe Swap Meet in Washington State. His name was Gordon Sargeant, and he bought theragtop and pampered it for another 16 years.Trevorand his wife, Janet started going to the Munroe SwapMeet about ten years ago. They enjoyed camping ata little campground where several attendees stayedwhile the event was held.Trevor worked at the meet,dragging a tape measure around, marking spots andhelping with the setup.
He got to know a bunch of the guys, and they’re wasa dinner bash on the Saturday night. One of the guyscommented that he hadn’t seen them at the dinner,and asked why. We’re not from here. We live inCalgary ....... Alberta ...... Canada?, Trev said. That’s no excuse, they replied, and sold him a membership to the Bellingham Ford Club.The fall swap meet was to become an annual year-end deal, a fun time.
In October, 2006 Gordon brought the little convertibleback where he had bought it 16 years earlier. Trevoradmired the car, but when he heard the price, decidedagainst that large an expenditure. Throughout themeet, Gordon talked to a steady crowd of admirers, all of them quite interested in the car.Back at thecampground, one of the vendors told Trev that the carhad been sold. Naturally, car guys need to know howmuch, and Trev said that he would have taken it forthat price, which was considerably less than he wasfirst quoted. The vendor told him that the buyers hadnot given a deposit, and Trev had only to put up somecoin.Trevor’s word is good, so he decided to wait andsee if the buyer came back the next morning. Earlythe next afternoon, Gordon came over and informedthem that the people had not come back, and would they be interested. In the brief consultation that followed, Janet and Trevor agreed that, if they boughtthis, one of the other cars would have to go. Aquicktrip to the ATM, and a deal was made. The chequefor the balance was given to a group of lawyers, whowere also very helpful in importing the car to Canada.
The car is extremely rare, in contrast to the 1940Fords which, along with the 1932's, are the most popular of all time. At the border, the girl who hadbeen looking after the paperwork said that it had beenthe only 1941 Ford convertible registered in the entireState of Washington. Now there are none. Once backhome, Trev placed an ad in the Auto Trader for bothhis 1936 Ford and his Ford pickup. It comes outonline about a week before the magazine hits thestands. He got a call from Australia, and three dayslater the fellow arrived in Calgary to buy the 36. It’s being driven around down under as you read this.Trev assured me that he’ll take the ragtop to a fewshows next season. You’ll love it. That little flatheadis so quiet, you’d hardly know it’s running. It idles down to about 300 RPM.This little Museum Piece is definitely a keeper.
Fred Nelson is an accredited appraiser who owns andoperates Nelson Racing. Reach him at 242-3856
Back to Stories
The North West Knight technically began inCalifornia as a 1965 Chev Impala with a super-charged BB Chevy on nitro. Bob Davis originally builtthe car as an A/S class car, and soon morphed into afuel injected match racer. As with all racers the needfor more power led to a supercharger for the BBChev, with a dose of Nitro methane for extra measure.The Jolly Green Giant was a popular car, but it washeavy and not very aerodynamic .Even with thesehandicaps the JGG did run in the mid 9’s at 145 mph.Bob looked for a lighter more aerodynamic car, andfound a water damaged Corvette at a dealership .TheCorvette was modified to accept the drive train fromthe Impala, and he named this creation the JollyGreen Giant II. This combination resulted in times inthe low nine’s at speeds over 160 mph.
One of the fellows involved with the JGG took bothcars in trade, possibly for monies owed, and moved toLynnwood Washington. There the JGG’s receivedsupercharged nitro burning engines. Don Helier whohad the cars sold the Corvette as it was quite a hand-ful on the track, and he never did get it to make adecent pass. It was two brothers who were loggersfrom Everett Washington who bought the JGGCorvette. The brothers actually looked the part of loggers with cut off cover alls, and hob nail boots, butthey did get the car to run some decent runs in themid 8’s.although the JGG II was running in the 8’s itsoon apparent that the new lighter tube framed funnycar route was the way to go, so they took the car toKenny Martin, a racer from Puyallup, to build them anew longer and lighter chassis. They took the originalbody crudely stretched the body, and just screwed thedoors in. It was heavy, but still much lighter than theprevious combination. Also at this time the car wasrenamed the North West Knight, and given a nicemulti color candy blue over white paint job.
The Christensen brothers ran the car until 1972, andwere very competitive with times in the low 7’s withspeeds over 200 mph. They raced the car all over theNW states, and Western Canada. The North WestKnight was a striking race car, and I can still remem-ber seeing this car perform on our local tracks inAlberta. For reasons known only to the two brothersthey sold the car, and it disappeared until the early80’s when it reappeared .Forrest Leblanc, who wenton to race alcohol funny cars, came out with the oldNWK as a bracket racer .He installed a BB Chev witha tunnel ram and 2 -4 bbl carbs, and used a clutch-flite transmission to back up the BB Chev. Otherchanges were to a dark blue paint job, and a namechange to Addiction. Forrest ran the car until the late80’s where it changed hands again.
The new owner took the car to Art Morrison, a NWchassis builder, who the replaced the old style chassiswith a new modern narrow funny car style chassis. Atfirst it was run with an injected BB Chev. The JGGsoon received a supercharged alcohol engine, andwas match raced against regular alcohol funny cars.After a couple of seasons it was sold to JimNordhaugen from Colorado who updated the car, andadded an Allen Johnson blown Olds. It was in this lastconfiguration the North West Knight made its return tothe tracks of Alberta. When the NWK made its returnto Alberta, it was a much faster car with the new AllenJohnson Olds. Times in the 6.40’s at speeds over 220mph made the Corvette a real threat to the other alcohol funny cars. Two interesting features of the carwere an onboard starter, and a hydraulic body lift.
The North West Knight holds a place of being some-what special as I saw the car perform in it’s hey day,and I wound up racing the car years later; once inSpokane with my Fiat, when Forrest Leblanc had it,and again in Calgary in my alcohol funny car.Interestingly I wound up on the plus side winning inboth instances. The North West Knight was a neatrace car, and if you follow nostalgia funny car racingthe match race nostalgia funny cars are making ahuge comeback. Could it be because of the moreinteresting show, the cackle from the pipes, or aremembrance of more colorful race cars, what ever itis, all I can say is let the good times roll!
Vern Scholzs
Back to Stories
To bring you up to speed, the National Hot Rod Association as a sanctioning body has not been sold. What has happened is that NHRA has entered into an agreement with HD Partners to help grow and promote the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. This agreement essentially 'splits' the NHRA into two entities; NHRA Pro Racing and NHRA. HD Partners will also receive rights to commercialize the NHRA brand and to further promote the NHRA Pro Racing segment. To the average drag racing fan, this boils down to a partnership where a lot of money has exchanged hands and HD partners will now essentially be able to manage the professional side of NHRA drag racing.
Once this deal is finalized the drag racing fan at the track will probably notice very little difference. The same classes of cars will be racing along with all the same drivers fans have come to know. The big difference you will probably see is that the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series will be getting a lot more exposure. HD Partners specializes in managing and growing branded entertainment services.
If this partnership will help the NHRA make gains in securing more sponsorships for both the drivers and its races then it will all be worth it. If HD Partners can leverage its relationships and investment capital to market and brand the sport to those that are not currently a part of the fan base, that will be huge. Imagine tuning into Monday Night Football and seeing a commercial during the two-minute warning promoting the speed and excitement that drag racing provides. Prior to this partnership the NHRA never had the money to run an advertising and marketing campaign of that magnitude. This agreement could help facilitate things like that.
At first glance this sounds like the NHRA has beensold. Not in the slightest. This is a partnership that will help grow and expand the sport. With the fear of sounding like President Ronald Reagan, this partnership will also have a 'trickle down' effect on sportsman racers. Raising the awareness on the professional side of the fence can only help the sportsman racer. That's not to say that it is a guarantee but let's hope this partnership delivers what is expected. Sounds like a win-win to me.
NHRA Pro Racing was bought for $121Million value, and $100M of that was cash (wow!). The $100M is to be used to keep the NHRA Association going. Chairman Hartenstein said the NHRA, “was not an active seller.” Wonder what sealed this deal then in the NHRA management’s minds? That is a hunk of cash to get - other buyers/investors might have tried to pay for the NHRA mostly with stock options. Cash is good.
Yet, I’m kinda confused. You have a 56-year-old nonprofit company (NHRA) suddenly sell off only part of its original corporate body for $121M, and make another company? I thought that was one of the reasons noted over the years that the NHRA would be hard to sell because it was a non-profit with all those NHRA members as essentially “shareholders.”
Could the proposed acquisition of the NHRA's professional racing take an unexpected turn? A source tells us the leading teams are inquiring through unified legal counsel on certain financial aspects of the program. Could the prophecy of "the purchase will only work if the players play" come to pass?
The meeting hasn't transpired yet, but it is coming. This one could hit the fan next week. Stay posted here with more news as it happens.
Don
Back to Stories
Getting over the Martini Era - by Turbo Girl
Well, the current lower mainland race news is pretty simple; everything is rained out, worries about flooding, whining about breakage on the only day it didn’t rain and so on.
So what to write about??
Hmmmm, Catfish always said I have complete creative freedom so here goes!
I’ve been looking at buying a new vehicle which of course includes visiting car dealerships, and dealing with the dreaded (used) car salesman. I’ve never liked salesmen, especially the “old boys club” type of salesman. You know the type: he laughs at his own jokes (as his beer belly bounces under a loud golf shirt) pats you on the back and constantly calls you “my friend”, or “sweetheart”.
Hey ass clown, news flash … YOU ARE DEFINATELY
NOT MY FRIEND, OR MY SWEETHEART!
My friends buy me birthday cards and better yet …
birthday drinks, and my sweetheart does WAAAAY
more than, well we won’t even go there.
Being fair I’ve watched a few salesman impatiently listen
with noticeable disinterest while my man asks
questions and tells a few stories.
Smarten up “my friend” we’re paying your bills.
We are no longer in the “martini era” of the sixties but
yet these guys still talk to me as though I’m the “little
woman”. Not only could I drink their sorry asses under
the table but I could most likely tell them more about
the ride I’m interested in then they will ever dream of
knowing.
Couple years ago I called a dealership (a Chrysler
one in the Maple Ridge area) a while ago to inquire
about a 98 Dodge pick up they had. The salesman
was completely clueless when I asked if the CTD was
a 12 or 24, he did inform me that most vehicles on the
road were 12 VOLT.
NO SHIT, really???
Wow, thank God I called. Where can I get an adapter
for my curling iron?
All he could tell me about the truck was that it had a “
real pretty paint job”, which included the large cover
on the back (might that be the canopy) that most of
the ladies liked. I’ve helped swap injectors out of a
pick up in a parking lot and this dork is worried about
color schemes. Maybe he was the one who was too in
touch with his “girly side”!
Now don’t go rolling your eyes and thinking I’m one of
those feminist types, nowhere near. The right to vote
for complete idiots combined with the privilege to get
liver disease and lung cancer from drinking and smoking,
there’s some progress!
I was just as pissed as “the next guy” when they started
making strip clubs into “sports bars” and the year
Snap-On quit making their calendars and had “girl in
bikini” calendars made for all of our good customers!
Hell I loved the Blue Boy & The Fraser Arms; at strip
bars all the guys were trying to tag the dancer, which
of course always worked out.
YEAH .. IN YOUR DREAMS!
Having proved beyond a shadow of a doubt (did you
know that a girl can single handedly pull off motors
and front clips that required two guys and a forklift to
put onto a flat deck) that my “huevos” are in my head
and have admitted that sometimes my attitude resembles
that of a 300lb, 6’4 dude, its offensive to be
stereo typed.
It’s 2007 chicks aren’t the only ones who know how to
operate a coffee machine, or ship parts, less and less
of us sit behind a desk, chewing gum and filing our
nails while directing your very important calls. Mind
you there are some days when being the “Loni
Anderson” type would be far less strenuous!
Guys can go on “maternity leave”, they may not call it
that but that’s what it is. I worked with a guy who was
a classic “misogynist” (which incidentally he couldn’t
even spell) but as soon as “the old lady popped out
the kid” he was first in line for “mat leave”. I’ve spent
20 years working in and around automotive and have
yet to take maternity leave.
Sad but true folks … the world that Archie Bunker
knew and loved is long gone but if you miss it, visit a
car lot and look for the salesman that shouldve retired
when Bewitched went off the air!
Well that’s all I got, so til next time .... Cya at the
track, or if the rain continues maybe in gyno row!
Turbo Grrrl
