Drag car enthusiasts - old timers only!

herr_oberst · 10-07-2010, 10:17 AM

Here's what I know about this photo; this is John Peters' Freight Train, this shot was taken in 1966 at the Winternationals and I'm not sure which of the guys in the railroad hats is John Peters.

Is this the way they used to fire these things up? Gas powered rollers embedded in the ground?

Heel n Toe · 10-07-2010, 10:21 AM

That's probably a scale.

herr_oberst · 10-07-2010, 10:23 AM

Here's the caption from the picture (abridged):

John Peters' AA/GD 'Freight Train' shown on the rollers at the 1966 Winternationals.

sammyg2 · 10-07-2010, 11:08 AM

Since he doesn't have any front brakes and I don't see and form of tie downs, I gotta go along with the scale theory.

sammyg2 · 10-07-2010, 11:10 AM

LOL, did a google search and this came up on the first page:

Quote:

How to Rebuild and Modify Porsche 911 Engines 1966-1989 - Google Books ResultWayne R. Dempsey - 2003 - Transportation - 223 pages
Driveline Losses Since the dyno testing is performed using rollers on your car, there are going to be forces that are going to slow down and reduce the ...
books.google.com/books?isbn=0760310874...

sammyg2 · 10-07-2010, 11:17 AM

Hmmm, seems they are starting rollers, go figure:

Quote:

This race track is Bowling Greek Kentucky and was one of the very few race tracks that had rollers built into the ground on the starting grid. The rollers were powered by a small block Chevy (stock). You would push the car forward where the rear wheels of the race car were on top of the drive rollers and the push vehicle would come up behind the race car and provide something for the race car to rest against while the rollers were turning the tires on the race car. The roller operator would rev the engine up and the roller would start turning the wheels. The driver would let the clutch out and the car would go back against the push truck push bar and the engine would start turning. Quick oil pressure check, open the throttle, close the throttle, flick the mag switch on and the engine would fire and the driver would drive away from the rollers ready to do a burn out.

Nostalgia Photos - Ken's race history

herr_oberst · 10-07-2010, 11:21 AM

What could possibly go wrong?

Safe as mother's milk!

sammyg2 · 10-07-2010, 11:33 AM

LOL I can imagine a top fueler getting it started and accidentally hitting the throttle and the car launching off into space

Heel n Toe · 10-07-2010, 11:55 AM

Yup... let your eye follow that pole downward and there's the right top edge of the radiator for the engine powering the rollers.

Maybe there was a chain or cable attached to the axle to keep it from moving.

URY914 · URY914's Garage

Jeff Higgins · 10-07-2010, 12:14 PM

That's an old Top Gas Eliminator car. It used to be a very popular class. Twin engined cars were the norm in that class, where they were very rare (and not competitive) in Top Fuel Eliminator, where they were eventually outlawed anyway.

My favorite Top Gas Eliminator car was the Odd Couple, running a small block Chev in front of a 392 Hemi. Cool stuff.

These cars were almost gone by the time Garlits actually made rear engined dragsters a reality at the Winternats in Pomona ('70? '71?), and never really made the transition from slingshots. We lost a lot of really, really cool classes in the '70's and '80's, like Fuel Altered, the old AA/FA class, with guys like "Wild" Willie Borsch wheeling short wheelbase, blown, nitro guzzling T-buckets and Anglias through the traps damn near sideways at over 200 mph. Fun stuff...

And yes, those are definitely starting rollers. And no, they didn't tie the cars down, at least not all the time. A couple of guys might grab the cage or something, but that's about it. Things were different then...

Jeff Higgins · 10-07-2010, 12:18 PM

Rednine11 · 10-07-2010, 12:45 PM

I read an article a few days ago that said someone was working on making a movie about the life and unfortunate death of Jungle Jim. I used to love watching him. The article mentioned they were looking for someone to play Jungle Pam....Do we call them the good ole days or not? Either way I still miss it ..Jungle Jim, Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney and Connie Kalitta...man I'd like to find some of those races on DVD

URY914 · URY914's Garage

Mo_Gearhead · 01:54 PM

Orange County had a set of "roller-starters."

We would drive up from Camp Pendleton on weekends. These pics. are circa summer of 1971:

As I recall, these were in the pit area, they fired the dragsters, then they made the short drive, a U-turn (around the tower) and there was the starting line.

Dual-engine dragsters were not uncommon at all:

The "Freight Train" ...upgraded to blown Hemi's by 1971:

This one has injected small-block Chevy's:

This one, all-aluminum Big Block Chevy in front - iron block w/aluminum heads BB Chevy behind:

_________________

Dust in the wind - OCIR, Lions, others ...all gone now.

Memphis drag-strip sold last year to the railroad - to become a switch-yard?

St. Louis International - for sale now (so I heard).

Good memories.

sammyg2 · 10-07-2010, 02:19 PM

I remember OCIR well and ran there in high school, but almost all of those cool cars were gone long before that.

Por_sha911 · Por_sha911's Garage

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! Nitro-bruning funny cars! Englishtown Raceway. Gates open at...
Ah yes. I remember the old greats like rivals Snake vs Mongoose, Big Daddy Don Garletts, TV Tommy Ivo, and Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney.

Mo_Gearhead · 10-07-2010, 02:24 PM

Here is where the term "Funny Car" came from: Altered wheelbase, steel bodied cars with the engine set back and the rear axle moved forward.

The term "flopper" was later used, when the cars became full tube-chassis cars with one piece fiberglass bodies that lifted up (flopped).

The "Scootin' Cuda"

Friendly Chevrolet Chevy 2

Frawley Dodge

Taken as the cars came back down the return road: Oct. 1966

*The camera was a white plastic-bodied Instamatic(?) that discharged the photo, then you counted to thirty (seconds), peeled the paper backing off, and wiped the photo with some chemically treated magic wand. High-tech baby!

Dueller · 10-07-2010, 02:25 PM

Remeber "TV" Tommy Ivo and his 4 engine 4wd buick d ragster?

Zeke · 10-07-2010, 02:48 PM

I'd forgotten about the rollers. Before rollers, they pushed started the diggers coming down the strip from the far end. Each would make a wide arc behind the lights and line up. That made the show kinda slow. So, before remote starters, they did do the rollers for a time.

I don't remember exactly when burn outs became the norm, but in the beginning they used gasoline on the ground during the finals. You can imagine the show when the gas lit and burned.

That's Muldowney trying it out. Circa 1975 and didn't last too long before NHRA put a stop to it.

RE: multiple engined cars, NHRA outlawed nitro methane for a couple of years. That's when Ivo built a 2 engine and then 4 engine car. When NHRA allowed nitro back in, the multiple engines became moot. You could get as much HP out of the elephant motor (Chrysler Hemi) as more than one with much less weight.

Been that way ever since.