Indholdsfortegnelse for February 1965 i Hot Rod

ON-THE-SPOT NATIONALS RECORD “Hurst Takes You to the ’64 Nationals” is a record which almost puts you closer to the Nationals than actually being there. Exclusive driver interviews reflect drivers’ feelings before and after a victory, and the sounds of the cars are so realistic they raise goose bumps. In stereo ($4.98) or hi-fi ($3.98). Send your order to High Performance Records, Dept. HR, Willow Grove, Penna. PICTORIAL CALENDAR In full color. Action shots of your favorite drag machines, 12 big ones (8 ½ x 11), suitable for framing after their month runs out. Photos include such favorites as Greer-Black-Prudhomme, Danny Ongais, “Big John” Mazmanian, Chris “The Greek” Karamesines, Stone-Woods-Cook, and many more. Send $1 to Drag Sport Illustrated, Box 1008HR, Alhambra, California. TROPHYMASTER RACING TIRES Thompson Tire Co. has…

A FEW THOUSANDTHS DIFFERENCE Dear Sir: While reading your excellent article on Don Garlits’ AA/FD in the November issue of HRM a very disturbing point was brought home. That is that if a person has a large enough reputation and produces crowd drawing performances he is shown preference over and above lesser competitors by even the most strict and safety minded technical crews. If, for instance, I were to try to run an A or B dragster at the Nationals with a roll cage not complying with the NHRA regulations I am quite sure I would either be told to change it to comply or, in the event I didn’t, be barred from competition. Since Mr. Garlits’ roll cage is constructed of .095-wall material in direct contradiction to the NHRA…

Christmas, 1964, came early for Norm Thatcher. To be exact, it came on October 28. Norm is too old to believe in Santa Claus — he is 67 and an expectant great-grandfather — and he knows that the really worthwhile possessions one accumulates in his lifetime are those he works for rather than those that come down the chimney. Norm spent a good share of four years of his time trying to make his present of presents a reality. The only tangible things about Norm’s present are two mimeographed sheets of paper. He can’t eat these, or cash them in at the bank, and they won’t keep him warm at night, but their possession gives him a great deal of satisfaction. And understandably so. The hand-written words that fill in…

When Norm Weekly crawled under the wheel of the A/Fueler he co-owns with Don Rivero, Jim Fox and Dennis Holding, he had come a long way since his soap box derby days. The Pomona lads have constructed a mighty sudden and speedy rig, with best marks off the clocks being 7.68 seconds and 202.24 mph. Following a long string of successful competition cars, including two prior AA/FD’s, the new rig is based on a ’65 Plymouth engine of stock measure, using an Engle 440-5 cam and M/T pistons on Delta boxed rods. An Enderle “bug catcher” sits atop the 6-71 Gimmy blower, Delta driven, which has been pinned and clearanced to withstand the strain of producing 20 pounds boost by a severe overdrive. Schiefer provided the flywheel, clutch and magneto…

Mt. Clemens, Michigan…

Burbank, California…

Santa Barbara, California…

Houston Drag Raceway, situated just outside Houston, Texas, sixth largest city in the United States, is a quarter-mile facility quite the same as dozens more in this country. But there is one significant difference in the operation. It is a drag strip at which spectators are treated — almost every weekend — to something a little different in programming; perhaps a special Stock meet, or maybe a race between two “hot dogs.” Virtually all of the programs are new, or at least unusual, quite in contrast to run-of-the-mill “specials.” Such was the case recently when the Raceway played host to a final showdown race billed as one to decide 1964’s “king of the quarter.” The match pitted Don Garlits, driving his Dodge-equipped “Swamp Rat,” against Bobby Langley, in his Chrysler…

“The excitement of hydroplane racing looms as high as the plumes of spray that trail the zooming boats in the Allied Artists release ‘Racing Fever.’ “The motion picture was photographed in Eastman color with the action and pit sequences actually filmed in Miami during the Gold Coast Marathon from Miami to Palm Beach, and the Orange Bowl Regatta at the new Miami Marine Stadium. Speed lovers will have a rare opportunity to see the most powerful boats in the world skim the water at speeds as high as 170 mph. “The flying-saucer-shaped boats, the thunder of their powerful engines and the dare-devil men who pilot them to victory from the background highlight one of the first feature films on boat racing, set appropriately in the midst of the tropical paradise…

As strange as it may seem, I’m going? to suggest you eyeball one of our competitors this month. As you may have noticed, I don’t normally become so benevolent, even when it is a companion magazine, but the boys in Car Craft have been burning the midnight oil like a double-A fueler for the last couple of months in preparation for their all new and bigger copy of the February issue which will set the pace for them, and possibly others, in months to come with 24 more pages and four of those in full color. So genuinely enthused are the boys across the hall that they’ve got the whole plant in a tizzie — secretive, too, not telling a soul what’s between the covers. I did manage to pry…

In the recent past, the suffixes G.T. and G.T.O. have been applied to such a variety of American vehicles with such ROAD frequency that they have virtually lost impact as generally descriptive terms, if they ever had any in the first place outside of Europe. The whole business originated from the Italian Gran Turismo Omologato, implying usually a two or 2-plus-2 seat-arranged car capable of comfortable high speed touring or, more prosaically, fast driving. Except for one conspicuous exception to the rule, these qualifications were usually synonymous with the over-ten-grand-price bracket. In short, as far as American iron went, the addition of bucket seats, floor shift and several strategically spotted emblems doesn’t or has never constituted a true G.T. machine. Considering this, it was a pleasant experience on a crosscountry…

Who’s for Chevy?” The crammed bleachers, twice as high as the usual high school grandstand, erupt with cheers to the announcer’s question. “Who’s for the big Dodge from California?” The stands across the track answer back unequivocally. The combined din grows in pitch as the Z-ll powered Chevelle comes to the starting line. The driver climbs out and begins to sweep his lane clear ahead of the car. A crewman races up the freshly swept area, sprinkling dancing rosin out of a perforated Hawaiian Punch can on the track’s surface. The driver jumps back into his car and fires up. During this same time the Dodge’s driver and crew have been performing an identical ritual while the announcer keeps the crowd’s enthusiasm at fever pitch. Ro-o-o-ar! The Chevelle charges out…

Laguna Beach, California Ready to stamp out the competition, the S&H premium dragster would fill several books with construction details, just as it has filled several record books. The 1450-pounder has hit a high 196.06 mph in a low 7.94 seconds under the handling of Jeep Hampshire. Builder of the ’57 Chrysler engine was Larry Stellings, other half of the S&H team, who works as a balancer for C-T Automotive. Forgedtrue pistons are .030 over for 398 cubes, pushing M/T aluminum rods. Herbert’s #70 roller cam with Schiefer lifters works Donovan pushrods and 2-inch valves against dual Herbert springs. Running only 6:1 compression on the nitro/alky blend is reasonable with big boost from a 30% overdriven 6-71 with Cragar belt drive on an Edelbrock manifold. Atop the GM supercharger is…

Santee, California…

Linthicum, Maryland…

Hawaii, our newest state, can not only boast of fine climate and some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, it can rightfully lay claim to one of the most unusual exhibit halls and best drag strips in the country. Honolulu’s new Civic Auditorium, completed last spring, was the scene of a two-day car show December 4 and 5, attended by more than 10,000 car enthusiasts. The drag strip, at Hawaiian Raceway Park, some 40 minutes away from Honolulu on the opposite side of Pearl Harbor, hosted another 10,000 enthusiasts on Sunday, December 6, for the first annual Hawaiian State Championships. Both the car show and the drags were promotions by Hawaii’s foremost automotive enthusiast, Jimmy Pflueger, and Jimmie imported several well-known mainland cars and personalities for the car…

SHOW SCHEDULES LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA International Custom Car & NatT Motorcycle Show, April 29 — May 2, Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Tridents Car Club, P.O. Box 337, Maywood, California. OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA 17th annual Grand National Roadster Show, Exposition Building, February 12-22. For information: A1 Slonaker, Roadster Show, 918 Fallon St., Oakland, California. SAN DIEGO. CALIFORNIA 12th annual Rod and Custom Show, City Concourse Building, February 26-March 7. For information: Custom Show Headquarters, George Barris, 10811 Riverside Dr., North Hollywood, California. HARTFORD. CONNECTICUT Anniversary Autorama, Connecticut State Armory, February 24-28. For information: Autorama, 428 Clark Lane, Orange, Conn. Phone 795-3089. INDIANAPOLIS. INDIANA 6th annual ‘500’ Motorama, Indiana State Fair Grounds, February 19-21. For information: Indy Idlers, 19717 East Nine Mile Road, St. Clair Shores, Michigan. KANSAS CITY. KANSAS Cam Twisters…

I hope you feel mechanically inclined this month, for we have a couple of highly specialized items that may be just the ticket for your particular application. For example: if you are one of the rugged individuals who prefers to ride his trail bike right up to the foot of the trail rather than truck it there, the Go Power Corporation has, in effect, a two-speed rear end that can be fitted to any of the popular trail bikes to provide both highway gearing and trail gearing at the discretion of the rider. Basically the setup is comprised of a midway two-speed sprocket arrangement that bolts to the rear fork, plus dual sprockets attached to the rear wheel, and two extra chains. Power from the gearbox, instead of going direct…

by Art Bagnall? In many respects, racing fans of the mid-thirties were luckiest of all, for although the object of their affection sometimes lacked sophistication, it was never short of variety. Big in those days, from Gilmore Stadium in California to the old Nutley Velodrome in New Jersey, were the mighty roaring midgets which, because of their high power-to-weight ratio, short wheelbase, and relatively low’ speeds, were capable of putting on some of the wildest shows in motor sports history. Those were the days when no two midgets were built alike, and the variety of engines and sounds kept excitement at a high pitch from track to track, with races scheduled as often as twice a week or more. Many of the cars of that era were backyard jobs, resulting…

Evergreen Park, Illinois…

Vancouver, Washington…

Stranger… when yuh say it rides like a truck … smile. Yuh might just be talkin’ about the haulin’-est critter east of the Pecos. Or west for that matter. It all came about when a coupla the top guns in the Factory Experimentáis, Dick Branster and Roger Lindamood, decided they needed a truck to carry all the trophies they were winnin’ with their world-beatin’ Color Me Gone” Dodge FX’er. They rounded up a 90-inch wheelbase Dodge A-l00 compact pickup for the chore, but bein’ a couple of mavericks, they soon kicked the traces on that stock jazz and dropped a 425-horse Dodge 426 cubic inch Hemi-Charger engine under the yoke. Wal, to make a long story short, that cayuse went. so well she whipped her stablemate, Color Me Gone,” every…

There was a time when drag racing was a big sport made up of thousands of participants throughout the country, each of whom looked to the next weekend’s activities at the local dig yard for some stab-it-and-steer-it action. Nobody really knew “who was who” during a single season, until the time came to pull to the Nationals and drag racing’s “showdown.” Here the champs were titled, after grueling competition between the nation’s best. The National Champs were, and still are, top guns in the drag racing world, but not until National Hod Rod Association came along with the annual World Points Championship were the sport’s most consistent champions decided. To determine the overall champions of drag racing it took a season-long contest in which anyone, in any class, could participate.…

In 1957 Buddy Sampson drove the Sampson-Dillon-Mudersbach A/Dragster to Top Eliminator honors at the National Championship Drag Races in Oklahoma City. The Phoenix, Arizona, chauffeur won the coveted prize when he covered the quarter-mile distance in 10.42 seconds, hitting a top end speed of 141.50 mph. Last Labor Day weekend Don Garlits won the big prize for 1964 with a sizzling 7.67-198.22 blast. The change in just eight short years has been terrific. In fact, class winners in A/GS, AA/MSp, AA/A, BB/A, A/A and C/D at Indianapolis all surpassed Sampson’s 1957 winning dragster performance. And just as the records in drag racing have continued to improve, so has the overall picture. In spite of the fact that NHRA had to suspend several strips’ sanction due to laxity in safety rules…

HOT ROD MART Requirements: 25 word limit per ad, not including name and address. We reserve right to edit copy or refuse ads. While not responsible for accuracy of description, we will reject misleading statements. No ads from commercial firms. Only one car may be listed in any one ad; this limitation not to apply to parts or equipment, however. $5 per ad must accompany each insertion. When photo is included, the rate will be increased to $8 per each insertion. Due to normal publication schedule, allow at least two months from time ad is received until it is printed. SELL — Balanced 394 in. Buick ported, polished ’63 heads, Hilborn, Vertex, Weiand, 12 ½ JE’s, 305 Isky, extras. $550 complete, $350 less injection. No trades. David Jones, 7803 N.…