Dick, Briggs Cunningham did power some of his racers with
Chrysler Firepowers, and Sydney Allard did actually build his own dragster
chassis and slip an early hemi ( forgot if it was a 331 or a 354 ) in it !
I think this Allard rail might have been Britian' s very FIRST dragster ......
These automotive greats recognized that those big ChiZlers = POWER !!!
Bruce, remembering push starting my buddy' s AA / Altered in
the early 60s ...... it was Otie Smith' s old Akron, Ohio based A Roadster
...... 429.5 " from a 392 block / 6-71 blower / Hilborn 4 port injectors
and about 750 hp on gas . The sound was terrific but watching it roast
the tires in high gear was even better ! We ran it at a number of strips
in the Northeast and it usually turned 9.3s or .4s at 150 to 155 .......
Always a big favorite to grab Middle Eliminator honors ......
My friend Steve Harwood later moved up to Top Alcohol Dragster and
finally quit when his Donovan motor was becoming a bottom of the
list qualifier ...... this was at Englishtown, NJ in ' 85 or 86 . He was
discouraged because he felt the class was becoming a millionaire' s
club, and he sold the car and trailer and spares . He has an engine
rebuilding shop in Northglenn, Colorado, now, where he still plays with
blown and unblown hemi / wedge Mopar street toys and his blown
Chev small block Austin Healey ...... Keith would love to go for a spin
in this little jewel ! I' m running on too long here .......
seems to be an old age thing ......
Bruce
PS : I managed to drag Steve to Bonneville in ' 97 or 98, and he loved the
variety and backyard ingenuity on the cars, but he hasn' t started
building a salt runner ....... YET !
|