As many of you know, I am in the process of relocating my family from
Madison, Alabama to Pahrump, Nevada. I have rented a house in Pahrump and
have moved all my "stuff" out of storage and into the garage. Well, the
"stuff" I brought on the first trip included zero furniture. So I went
searching for a cheap matress, springs, frame, kitchen table, etc. Stumbled
onto a salvage yard which takes stuf from hotels and motels and recycles
them. After loading the junk the old man who is running the front area,
started asking me about my truck. I was telling him that I bought it
primarily to tow my race car when I get it out here. We started talking about
Bonneville. He said that in 1959 he was heading west and stopped with his
chopped and sectioned '49 chevy with a 270 jimmy in it. They were running at
B'ville at the time so he and his wife pulled out onto the salt and parked
next to a wing tank lakester with a jimmy in it. He said the man had made his
qualifying run and was successful but had broke the motor in the process. He
askd this gentleman what kinda motor he had in in '49 chevy and it was the
right one. The old man offered the use of his motor. He said that crew pulled
the engine from his car, put it in the lakester, ran the second leg and
established a record. Then they put the motor back into the '49 chevy and he
went onhis way to So Cal. He said that he was in eEurope in the early 50's
and had the chance to drive an Austin Healy on some track in France where for
a few francs, you could make several laps. Apparently the track was banked.
He drove the Healy hard but wasa fem mph short of some kinda record. A
knowledgeable racer stopped by and told him to rejet the carbs. He even
loaned them the jets and then did the work. More francs were exchanged at the
track and he drove the car to a +20 mph over the record. He said the AH
people contacted him and wanted to know what he had done to make the car that
fast. Said he didn't tell them. Said he got a ride around the LeMans track
with Stirling Moss in a Aston MArtin. Said Moss scaired (sp) the crapout of
him. Hard charging, sliding the car into the corners and driving by the seat
of his pants.
Neat old guy, didn;t actually get his name, but I will. He seemed to think
the old lakester was number 7, but he would look. Said somewhere he has a
letter from the owner/driver experessing his thanks. Who could that have been
in 1959?
mayf
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