Dis is My Ride!!!

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Waggin, I didn't know you would post that one - SWEET! Your Mom is cool and so is your pop. That was a slice of life. Thanks.
Pat
PS: I was afraid you would you were going to post that modified picture making fun of my modest beer belly! If you get tempted remember...payback is a *****!
 
Hey, Ram, good stuff about your first race. It is interesting that you subconsciously wanted a new focus on life and it turned out to be racing (you considered various types of bike racing before deciding on drag racing). Did you ever run into the "snakeskin cowboys" again down the road?

Pat, I also just read the article about Jake. What an unsung hero in the racing world. It seems he had a natural ability to "feel" what an engine needed to run better. How simple - changing spark plug heat range instead of re-jetting. It must have worked because S&M were at the top of the heap for years. NHRA really turned me off drag racing in the '70s when they factored the Hemis out of Pro Stock. Same as NASCAR (still working hard to lose me...I think the COT was the last straw).
 
To burntorange70, 74Dart318, swedefish, fishbreath and the rest of you, thanks for the kind words. I loved ramcharger's story. He told it like we were all sitting in a room together as friends. I hope more of you will tell of your experiences, even if you have to down a 6-pack to get into the mood!
Racing is all about the personalities as much as the cars. We have held guys like Ronnie Sox as "gods" but Ronnie never saw himself like that. Jake knew he was good but never bragged or put anyone down. His way of dealing with success at the races was smiling and saying, "everything went as it should, according to plan and we didn't break or crash. Now let's get ready for the next one." Buddy was the manager and the very backbone of the Sox & Martin operation. There would never have been a S&M operation at all without him. He was the consumated business man. He did all the phone calls and the race schedules which, alone, were enough to do. Buddy also managed the shop where they worked on the team cars and built hemi cars for customers. Buddy ordered all the parts and maintained inventory. He managed the money to keep the business healthy and to minimize taxes and he managed the payroll. He was the laison with Chrysler in the R&D and all that went with the Mopar sponsorship. Each member of that team was an expert in their area and they didn't fight with each other. Buddy had more worries always than Ronnie or Jake or Dave Christie.
I never really got to know Buddy. Yeah, he kind of treated me like a cold turd in a swimming pool that day but I never held it against him. He just didn't like the idea of Ronnie going out and driving other peoples cars when they were there to win a race and take home some serious money. They made LOTS of money match racing - it really was their bread and butter.
I had a little excursion into motorcycles too. My S/G Corvette was being built at a place in St. Petersburg, FL called Competition Products. It was owned by Danny Childs, a mechanical genius. He had a smart and talented young man working for him named Mike Moench. A guy named Dick Wade was having a similar S/G Vette built and he was the General Manager of Terminal Van Lines. The owner of Terminal was a man named Mike Gray and he took an interest in what we were doing. He got the drag racing bug but he wanted something very different....he wanted to build the world's fastest TF motorcycle based on a Kawasaki engine. Mike had found a fearless guy to ride it named Bo O'Brochta. I got to do some work building the fuel bike. It was really a trick piece of engineering. Danny machined the one-off billet gear case as well as all the gear. He turned the cylinder head around and mounted the blower and Hilborn injector facing the front. The zoomies exited out the back under the seat. Danny also made the adapter hub that mounted an automotive Centerline wheel and the huge slick. I owned an ad agency at the time and several related businesses and I handled the national advertising for Terminal Van Lines. Mike hired me to put a sponsorship package together and I did. I was also commissioned to put together engineering drawing using transparent film positives in a series of overlays.The first showed the bare chassis and wheels, the next overlay put in the engine and drivetrain. Another overlay added more details, etc. When the last overlay was down, it pictured the entire bike. The rest is history! That Terminal Van Lines TF Kawasaki held the national record and won everything in site. It made TF motorcycle racing what it is today and gave impetus to teams like Vance & Hines and others to make it the category it is today. This motorcycle is in the Don Garlits museum today. As soon as you leave the gift shop and enter the museum area, it is at the immediate left in a real nice display.
Mike Gray was a golfing buddy with Evel Knevel. At the end of the day when we could leave work, we would would all head to Danny's shop and check out the progress on our toys. Sometimes Mike would come in with Evel and we would BS and drink Michelobs well into the night. Evel was really a great guy and fun to be around. He was just one of the guys, very down to earth. For a guy that had no right to be alive or even walking, he got around really well too. I was too busy with my business interests to go to many of the big races with the guys. I went to Sunshine and Bradenton for the testing runs and the Gatornationals. When my Corvette was finished, all my focus was on that. The only other event I had with motorcycles was on my brother John's 1000 Kawasaki. When he hit that throttle and wheelie, I almost slid off the back of it - I held on with fingers in his belt loops and he had no idea that I was hanging out there like a flag! Never armour all a back seat on a motorcycle!!!!
Pat
 
That is awesome. Your stories on here and a lot of stuff is all better than any car magazine. That is so cool that you have had such a life full of all these legends and big events in automotive history. I am definitely jealous. My dad has told me stories of his buddies and him building cars and having fun back in the day. Wish i could have grown up back then.
Thank you for sharing, you are a good story teller
-Charlie
 
Fishbreath, do you mean the carbs I got from Richard Petty?
Pat
 
NHRA lost me too. Although I raced until the mid 80s, I had no use for NHRA, Wally Parks, etc. Starter Buster Couch was a jerk everytime I saw him. I don't even go the Gatornationals anymore unless I'm with Garlits. It's not just what they did to the Pro Stock Hemis, it is also the high pricing of tickets! The big payouts are to T/F, Funny Car, Pro Stock and P/S Motorcycle and everyone else sucks hind tit. I don't even care to watch the Pro Stocks these days because even the Mopars are running engines you CAN'T buy! The only thing that would bring me to the fence at the starting line now is to watch the Super Stocks. Now there is a show!...especially with the Mopars!
NASCAR is the same way. I never go to a race unless I get free tickets from my AC Delco connections. I won't pay the rediculous price!
Pat
 
Demon416, get all up on that keyboard and tell us about your racing at Union Grove!! Please, you gotta do it! And more from ramcharger. mshred and burntorange70, I'll bet you have some good stories too.
Pat
 
Thanks, 74dart318. Can you let us know what your Dad told you?
Pat
 
Pat, these are the carb photos. I had posted them on a separate thread when you sent them to me to post.

PICT0058.jpg


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PICT0062.jpg


PICT0063.jpg


PICT0064.jpg
 
One of the first things that caught my eye about the carb is a mechanically linked secondary without an accelerator pump.
 
PFogel said:
Demon416, get all up on that keyboard and tell us about your racing at Union Grove!! Please, you gotta do it! And more from ramcharger. mshred and burntorange70, I'll bet you have some good stories too.
Pat
Click to expand...
Well Pat, I have fond memories of Union Grove. All the big names ran there. Bob Glidden, “Grumpy” Jenkins, Don “The Snake” Prudome, “Big Daddy” Don Garlets, and the list goes on. I’ve truly enjoyed watching all the legends run there. Now I’m not famous and I didn’t race at the Grove a whole lot, because most of my racing took place at Wisconsin International Raceway. (Formally known as KK.) It was closer to home and we didn’t have to tow bar the cars as far. I usually went racing with a good buddy who ran Fords. (I know!!...) That way we could pool our resources.
My first experience at Union Grove was when I had my 1955 Olds with a ’57 J2 engine and B&M automatic transmission. I had removed the three deuces and replaced them with one four barrel. That made tuning easier. On that car I never ran headers or for that matter slicks. The headers were expensive so dumps were the order of the day. As were the slicks expensive so I ran a set of wide Prowlers out back. The car weighed in at 4060 lbs.. I don’t remember the class I ran in, but it was modified or something like that because of the open dumps.
I still remember the first time I pulled up to the line. I thought, how strange, I’m going up hill. At Union Grove the staging lanes are lower than the track. So you go up an incline before you’re at track level. Anyway, I lined up against a guy in a Ford Fairlane. The lights came down and we were off. I won by about a half car length. Et.13.98. Back in the day, that was fast for a street car. Although, something wasn’t right with the car, because about ½ track it started vibrating really bad. So when I got back to my pit, I started checking everything I could think of. Finally discovered that when I put the drive shaft back on after towing, I forgot to tighten a bolt on the yoke. Another bolt was bent, so I was done for the day. I was happy with my first ever pass at Union Grove. I thought, not bad for a 4000 pound tank. I ran that Olds a few more times at the Grove, but without much success. Street racing that car in my home town was much more successful. lol Something I do not condone today.
I ran two other cars on occasion at Union Grove. A 1964 Plymouth Fury 383, typewriter drive, basically stock. It ran in the 14.50’s. Also ran a 1969 Dodge Dart 340 4 speed, modified, which ran low to mid 12’s. My other Mopars were just drivers. A 1964 Plymouth Valiant, slant 6, automatic and a 1968 Plymouth GTX 440 automatic. Keeping it alive today with my ’72 Demon at WIR.
Another time at the Grove when I was running my modified ’69 Dart, I broke a wrench and needed to find one to borrow. My buddy didn’t have one, so I asked a number of racers including “Grumpy” Jenkins. I found out that day why they called him that. lol Anyway, I was talking to my buddy and a voice behind me said, “I have a wrench you can use, just remember to bring it back when you’re done.” It was “Big Daddy” Don Garlets himself. Of course I used the wrench and returned it when I had finished with it. Over time I found him to always be helpful with answers to questions. I believe he got where he is today because of his helpful nature. I’m sure he doesn’t remember me, but I will never forget his helping hand.
So Pat, I hope I didn’t bore you to death with my story. I admittedly am not much of a storyteller.
Jim
 
Hey Pat, I dont have really any stories to tell since my car wont be done for a while...but i grew up around mopars...my dad just finished his 69 dart this year, and that was my favourite ride in a car ever...As a kid i was always at the strip, helping my dad with the car, and just plain dying to turn 16 so i could drive and one day buy my own car...after going for a ride in my dad's dart i know i have not made a mistake in my choice in cars lol...ive been in other fast cars, but dang ill never forget the first ride we took...its got a 440 with a 509 lift purpleshaft, m1 intake, 850 holley carb, minitubbed, caged with an 8-3/4 with 4.88s, suregrip and 727 with 3500stall...nothing too serious...in third gear just cruising ill never forget my dad planting it- the front end rises up so quick, the car flies and the motor just screams baby! the feeling was better than anything and i cant wait to be in control of my own beast like that...my dad hasnt even matted it from first off of a light because i think he doesnt want to risk losing control or his license lol...but it sure has power and just screams authority when we go for drives- everyone looks either giving thumbs up or angry looks because its soo loud! lol another fun time i had in a car was last summer in my cousins new c6 corvette...it has a full header back exhaust (bullet mufflers) and he goes cruising with these other corvette friends of his...so we head out at around 10 at nite to a timmie's pretty far from home to meet up with about 9 other guys (one guy has a c5 with a small block 427 full track car- got invited to a ferrarie track day meet, beat them all, and had the ferrari drivers enraged asking who invited this guy lol) anyways, after we met up we spend a good two hours just blasting around country backroads at full blast, targa roof open, Ozzy cranked through the speakers....it was fun! lol we ended up very far from home at another tim horton's and no exageration when i got out of the car i was a little queezy from all the turning and g's...that was fun too! At the end of this summer im sure i'll have alot more stories...meeting a bunch of guys my age with cars now, and it should be a great season full of action for us all
 
Thanks for sharing guys
This is all great reading, keep ´em coming.
 
That is pretty cool, Demon! I ran into Big Daddy while attending one of his MoPar Car Shows in November some years ago. I was checking out a restored yellow Challenger under a tent when Big walked up and began asking about the car. He was really impressed with the detail of the resto work. It was at that point when my dad snapped a shot of Big, the car owner, and me checking things out. From what I learned that day, Don Garlits is a true "car guy". He seems to appreciate the cars and car guys.
 
My dad's stories are full of non-mopar cars too. But he always said him, his brother's, and their friend's always had respect for the mopars due to all the crazy innovations and the hemis. One of his buddies had an old mercury comet (i believe). That kid's dad owned a ford dealership and the kid picked the car out new. Then he got to use the shop their to build it up the way he wanted and he also got to pick out any parts for the car he wanted. What a luckey damn kid (can you tell i am jealous?) Anyway he fixed this thing up and it was fast. He said it was a 10 second street car. They would drive that thing around town and it could pull wheelies in first and second. Maybe i will convince him to get on here and write some of the stories down. They would be a lot more detailed and more interesting im sure.
He also said that through that friend that they had the chance to drive on of ford's best creations, the ford pinto. It came into the dealership and they took it to the strip. My dad said it was the only car he has ever actually "raced" down the track hahaha. I cannot remember the time though.
Wish i could have been there for that though.
-Charlie
 
sory not an old timer but ill write u about my racing experiance and why i got away from cars and drag racing


i have always been into racing mostly drag racing and F1 (i know the complete opposite of each other right) so when i turned 15 i bought a 1964 dart gt with the intention of building a monster.... towed it home and started adding up prices and never really did anything with her it just sat BUT i had a 1998 ford ranger 4.0l 5 speed at the same time that was my daily driver so it started getting little things here and there got a 2 1/2 inch exhaust and a k/n filter then i got a great deal on some HD ford cams (bearly bigger than my stockers but i was young and had money) so i raced it around town and earned a lot of respect out on the streets until i got challenged at the track by some kid with a mid 90s civic..... so i got up to the albuquerque international dragway and ran balls out my first run was a ...... .575 reaction time and a screaming 16.4(doh) i looked like an idiot up there cause even the imports were running low 14s.i went home with my tail between my legs and decided to get some revenge...... the next check i ordered my little secret weapon a vortech supercharger and a set of headers.it was the longest three weeks waiting for those two to come in.so about a month after the first run i went up for my second run i was stoked i thought i was hot crap and being 16 i some how thought a supercharged 6 banger was going to be untouchable.so i waited paitiently in the staging lanes for the guy i was matched against who was drivng a "92ish s-10" when he pulled up next to me i knew it was going to be a great race cause it was a syclone (turbocharged 4.3l) we got to the line and both brought up our revs i was dead on the light nothing else existed in my reality when it hit that last yellow i dropped the clutch and picked up a .045 reaction time and was gone i rowed throught the gears as fsat as i could and got a 14.8 i was stoked and what made it even better was looking in my rear view mirror and seeing that little black monster BEHIND ME i wasnted to cry i was so happy.....

un fortunatly that would be that trucks first and last pass as i wanted to get what i thought would be a perfect drag car and there we enter car no 2

1987 pontiac fiero 2.8l 5 speed mid engine
i know i should have been shot but i was looking at it from a pure technical stand point v6 5 speed mid engine and it had a light wieght space frame
i opened up the exhaust and got a chip for the injection system got some sticky tires(dont remember the brand) and took it out and was horribly dissapointed by a 15.5(for some reason i thought this thing would run 15 flat stock) so i added a 100 shot of juice and the times dropped down to 15.0 but it wasnt enough for me i wanted it to be faster than the truck that was the point right so i upped the nitrous to 150hp and that was the end of that i rolled through the traps at 15.2 with a blown motor after 3rd gear :( so it sat in my parents yard and i rode the bus for weeks :( i had a buddy of mine dustin over and we were drinking some budwieser we stole from my uncle when dusting was looking at the motor in my fiero and called me over and told me to grab a tape measure so i walked over and he grabs the tape and starts frantickly measuring.....after a couple of minutes of measuring he looks at me with a smile and say "dude... a 350 will fit"....

so the search was on i wanted a 350 but nto just any 350 i wanted a LT1..i searched every where and had about 2000 bucks to spend on the whole conversionso i ordered the mounts and bigger radiator right off the bat and couldnt find a f'ing motor for about 1 month,while i was getting a headlight for my uncles truck at the local u pull dustin runs up to and grabs all our tools and takes off.i was like what the hell dude when i found him until i realised what he was doing he found a police inerceptor LT1 with 65000 miles on it.......we got the motor wiring harness and ECM for 900 bucks cash.i had it installed in the car the same weekend and running the fallowing weekend the only thing that sucked was the custom headers i had to have built for clearance issues were $600 me and dusty headed up to the strip and kept real quiet about what was in the trunk.the first run i made in it she ran a 13.7 it was one of the fastest car i have ever owned and i raced it for about 1 year the only car that i feared in town was a 1972 chevy vega with a 383 stroker that was running 12s.i wish i still had the car but dustin financed a 2002 mercedes E-class and had it stolen from his house the next day so i lent him the fiero and it was WAY to much car for him he put it into a ditch at 45miles an hour sideways and totaled it. he thought he was going to die when i got ther and all i did was looked at the car and asked him if he was ok.never really cared that he wrecked i would rather have a dead car than a dead friend.

which leads me th the last car i built for drag
1978 pontiac firebird 350 chevy 4 speed muncie posi
this car was the bad boy of rock and roll it had a 350 4 bolt main camel back heads that were masaged dual 600cfm race carbs HUGE cam (would bearly start in the morning) equal length headers to a full 3" exhaust high compression pistons (11.5) she made 480hp to the ground.the best thing in the world was it had no muffler just pipes to the back so when a little honda or other rice was reving and playing around i would give it 2 pump of the gas and hit the starter and with the msd box i almost always started on the first turn and those first couple of pops would be VICIOUS scare the hell out of everyone close it was great i had about 10k into it easly and took it up to the strip and ran my mouth more than the car when i finally got to run her she layed down a 12.9 best for the night it was beautiful but i had lost most of its drivability and needed a new vehicle to get to and from work(the whole 5-7mpg helped this decision also)

enter why i stoped racing cars
1970 honda cb750
1025cc big bore kit .450 lift cam full hooker race header,4 40mm mikuni flat slide carbs,high compression (12.5),ported head,balance rotating assembly,EBC clutches back cut trans gears(helped in shifting without the clutch)and tons of little things total invested 5k with buying the bike it got 24 mpg daily and here is the fun part it ran 10.4 and had the front up most of the way it the only thing i have ever been kicked off the track on :toothy10: i traded this one in for my current project

2003 triumph speed triple
full daytona internals(135hp) power comander, bigger throttle bodies, slip on exhaust and again lots of little stuff when she was running in her prime i got a 9.8 on this monster scared the **** out of me i thought i was going to come off the bike. i was the fastest street legal vehicle in town till about 6 months ago now there is a busa running 9.3
so i have a mega squirt,and a custom steped tube header and a 2 stage nitrous system, along with a set of 12.5-1 comp pistons all waiting to go in this summer,i am shooting for 8 second passes and still be streetable
that is all im writing im am tired so enjoy and good night
travis(olddart)
 
Jim, aka demon416, your story was great! Don't you wish you still had that Olds and the 3-deuces on it? I'm glad Big Daddy was good to you. I've seen a lot of times when he was racing that he didn't give anyone a moment. Of course, these were times when he was frantically working on the car. The Grump? Yeah, that's how he got his name. I only saw him jovial twice; once when he beat Ronnie Sox in a match race and the other time was the US Nationals at Indy when Hurst girl, Linda Vaughn, hugged him and his face got smothered in her boobs!
Pat
 
mshred, you are one cool young dude. Glad you're a thread friend!
Pat
 
Yes, fishbreath, Don Garlits lives and breaths cars and all types too. He is a totally dedicated Mopar man. People recognize him everywhere we go. On the road, we always eat at the Cracker Barrel restaurants and it never fails people come up for autographs. I don't think he has ever met a stranger. His wife Pat is a wonderful lady and just as sweet as she can be. Don and Pat are just as much in love today as they were when their journey first began.
Pat
Thanks for posting the pictures of one of the Petty carbs. These carbs didn't use a secondary pump because they were center squirters like the old 4224 660 carbs we used to run on tunnel rams. The guy that got the carbs from me hasn't delivered the rest of my stuff in the deal. He isn't out to cheat me, I know. I'm just going to let him off the hook and take one of the carbs back.
 
Thanks for the input, 74dart318! I remember those hot 427 Comets of the mid 60s.
Pat
 
Hotmopr, you have eyes like an eagle! In the thread, I forgot to mention the boosters. They are "truck" boosters Petty used to pick up bottom end. That carb and the other one were actually used on the 43 Jr drag car. I still want a picture of your cuda. If you have a favorite, email it to me, [email protected], and I'll have snapfish do something with it. I have a space on my office wall dedicated to it.
Pat
 
Really cool story, oldart! I helped do a small block Fiero once too. It destroyed drivetrain parts. You have more guts than me to ride a 10-sec scooter. I about killed myself on bicycles!!! I'll bet ramcharger likes your story too! Thanks for sharing!
Pat
 
PFogel said:
Jim, aka demon416, your story was great! Don't you wish you still had that Olds and the 3-deuces on it? I'm glad Big Daddy was good to you. I've seen a lot of times when he was racing that he didn't give anyone a moment. Of course, these were times when he was frantically working on the car. The Grump? Yeah, that's how he got his name. I only saw him jovial twice; once when he beat Ronnie Sox in a match race and the other time was the US Nationals at Indy when Hurst girl, Linda Vaughn, hugged him and his face got smothered in her boobs!
Pat
Click to expand...
Pat: I do still wish I had that J2 engine with the three deuces. I read somewhere there are only about 100 or so known to exist with that combination.
Also, When I raced the Olds at Union Grove it was a simpler time. There were no big car haulers or big sponsors, at least not like today. Racers were hands on guys with not much money, but loved to race. Back then, even Big Daddy and others like him weren't famous yet. That's probably why most would talk with and help other racers like myself. Drag racing is the only sport I know where if you break your car, your competitors will help you with parts to get you going again. Even if you end up lined up next to them in a race. Drag racing is a great sport!


Here's a really blurry photo of my modified '69 Dart back in the day. Ran it at both WIR and Union Grove. I still run into guys I raced back then. And even today they are still pi$$ed that their big block Fords and Chevys got beat by that small block Dart. I enjoyed every minute of it! lol

340Dart.jpg
 
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