I'm surprised nobody mentioned Sandy Elliot and the eye catching Pinto, Maverick and Mustang they campaigned up here and stateside - so I guess I'm mentioning it now. Lol! Does anyone know if they ever ran any of those beasts on the street?
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"If I could get back all the money I've ever spent on cars...I'd spend it ALL on cars !!!
Sandy Elliots crew , Son John Elliot and the brains behind the engine tuning, Barry Poole where strictly into drag racing as far as i know.
Those cars were strong runners and won at the Nationals too, cool cars painted the same, and remember seeing Old Sandy's white Lincoln in the pits with them.
They eventually got into the Pro stock class, but faded away after Barry was badly injured in a snowmobile accident, ending a pretty good racing career.
Another car that ran B/FX?? i think was a yellow 65? falcon with the Hypo289 Package, built and tuned by our member here Dick Kirkpatrick. Don Havers drove the car, and think it was part of Fords Drag team at the time.
Of course we can't forget St Thomas's Doug Kennington who ran an olds powered A Coupe, and was the tech guy there for awhile.
Karbelts cars, including "Fast Eddie Brik" little Thames pannel, -Remember the cool looking "Lace" paint jobs? Still like them! Always thought they would make a comeback someday.
Another inpressive car there was a yellow 57 Chev 2dr post car from Norwood, no lettering, can't remember the class now, but that small block was a screamer!
Can't forget Bill Kydd, ans Wills Fargo, Harv Humphries, running injected flathead powered Model A coupe, and there was a guy, can't remember his name running a SBC Willys, called Wee Willy. He broke regularly, cuz he came off the line at about 7 grand, but would hall the mail when it stuck together.
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Ragtop,, i remember seeing that "Duecses Wild" Chevy 2, and the pic of the Blue willys coupe looks very much like a car ran by The Mcleod Bros, (It had that lettered on the doors then, ) They may have bought it ? They were Chrysler mechanics at the dealership in Woodstock at the time.
Another car was a flathead powered Henry "J" that belonged to the Norwich "Road Rebels" car club. Think it was called "High and Mighty" if i remember correctly.
Another from London was Gordie Overbaugh"s 57 chev that ran i think "C" modified production, one of the cleanest drag cars underneath i ever saw.
Herbie Rogers gas dragster also from London, And Atchinson's dragster also a London car.
One of the strangest sites i remember was two guys from? i think east of Toronto, ,, with a 63-64 black Plymouth 2 door, running the 413 Cross-Ram intake.
And up through two holes in the hood stuck two black stove pipe elbows, one on each carb.
One of the oddest "Ram Air" induction set ups i ever saw. Lol
Gentlemen, This is a excellent cruise down Memory Lane. Good recollections.
Duke Brown's Brother is Tony. Their Fiat Altered, Percy Also, had Karbelt lettered on it. But there is much more History to that car. Rick Proctor, of the greater Port Stanley area is the current custodian of it. I believe Cam Wadsworth of Horton Hot Rods, Milton, ran the same car as a street rod with SBC in the Ailsa Craig area for a few years in 1969-70 era.
There was a 61-63 Falcon from the Exeter area. i think it ran a 6 cyl. Maybe something like "Pepper Mill"? I only saw it run once, but saw it parked at a gas station for several years.
I was at St. Thomas about 1995, there was this old, Ford powered T altered with independent front suspension. I spoke with the fella. It was the Will's Fargo Altered, without lettering.
Ontario George Gray Willys,
That weird rat 33 Willys altered of Keith? Noakes, Terry Heffren owned Frank Hawley's 1960's FE Dragster and ran E.T. brackets at St. Thomas with it. My cousin, Wayne Morley, ran an FED that had a wide 5 bolt pattern ('35 Ford-ish) on the rear. It was yellow when he ran it E.T. at St Thomas. It was earlier 60's dragster.
A guy named Karl ran a black 33 Willys with the door tied shut had H&H auto wreckers on the side Ingersoll area.
I heard stories but only saw a photo of "Jack and the Green Stock" 66 Biscayne. (Woodstock?) Isn't that the car that was bought new, hauled or drove to Indy and won the Nats SHOWROOM STOCK? Those days are gone for sure.
Doug Kennington and Barry Cole ran a 426 Hemi powered T bucket at St.Thomas.
And When Car Craft Magazine created Econo Altered and Econo Funny, gas powered former Fuel cars there were a couple of those that used to run at St. Thomas. Can't remember who had them.
That's all for now,
the Kid
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In the words of Red Green "Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together".
Thanks kid, i had forgot about the "Peppermill" Falcon, that car is still being run somewhere.
"Jack Hyde owned that Jack and the Green Stalk , he was/is from Stratford, Pretty sure the car was bought new by him. It is still being run also, Stratford was a hotbed of race cars for a long time. Hishon Bros race family run out of there, Willys coupes, and the family is mostly all into racing. Think they run Grand Bend . They have been racing since the early 60's.
The 'Brown Brothers' Fiat and the 'Karbelt' Fiat were two differant cars. The Brown Bro. Fiat ran the front mounted blower motor that was purchaced from 'Miller /Gregory. from their Indy Nats. winning BB/A roadster. Don't forget Wayne 'Hub' Huber who preped 'Jack and the Green Stock' & the John Elliot A/SA 427 Comet and was instrumental in the success of the Sandy Elliot team.
I'm trying to remember other cars at St Thomas that I'd see from time to time ....Chilly Willy ( forget the driver ).....an A/Roadster by Doug Brinjax maybe ??? ....... very quick 67 or 68 super stock Camaro ( McCann ? ) ....I think Ma and Pa Harvey ran the track back then ...jeez , that's a long time ago !
Chilly Willy...Bert Straus I believe..........GWilly...I don't know how to post things from another site on here, but if you are interested, theres a couple of pictures of Plum Wild sitting rotting from way back on the TwoLane Blacktop site..under members messages...page 79 ...Hey BeanToad is how it starts...maybe somebody on here could get the pictures up in here.
"There was a 61-63 Falcon from the Exeter area. i think it ran a 6 cyl. Maybe something like "Pepper Mill"? I only saw it run once, but saw it parked at a gas station for several years."
Pepper Mill is a 60 Falcon....300 6 cylinder....Jim Lindsay has allways owned it since the early 70s....Won H/MP with it at the Indy Nationals (72 or 73, I believe).He used to have a machine shop in Georgetown back then, moved later to Guelph. Has a shop there, He recently restored the car and still runs it. I imagine he is about 70 now.
The 'Brown Brothers' Fiat and the 'Karbelt' Fiat were two differant cars. The Brown Bro. Fiat ran the front mounted blower motor that was purchaced from 'Miller /Gregory. from their Indy Nats. winning BB/A roadster.
i understand the karbelt fiat body is still around. owned by someone in toronto.
i noticed the performance engineering sticker on the rear quarter of the chilly willy gremlin. that would be the business of dave billes from the canadian tire billes family. daves son al used to race promod with a short stint with an alc funny car. i think al started dragging in a blue and white 74-77 camaro before moving up to much faster machines. al has his own business now building drag racing engines as health issues due to a couple of crashes ended his driving career. i think al runs his business out of the same building in barrie his dad still runs (or ran) performance engineering out of.
Chilly Willy...Bert Straus I believe..........GWilly...I don't know how to post things from another site on here, but if you are interested, theres a couple of pictures of Plum Wild sitting rotting from way back on the TwoLane Blacktop site..under members messages...page 79 ...Hey BeanToad is how it starts...maybe somebody on here could get the pictures up in here.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned Sandy Elliot and the eye catching Pinto, Maverick and Mustang they campaigned up here and stateside - so I guess I'm mentioning it now. Lol! Does anyone know if they ever ran any of those beasts on the street?
A guy her in Windsor has the Maverick and I think, the Pinto and drives them on the street quite often. He's always at Bothwell and some other shows.
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My wife wants me to see things from a woman's point of view, so now I spend a lot of time looking out the kitchen window
Remember "Westberg and Westfall's " 55 chev "Stormalong" ?
They then switched bodies and went with a sweet 327 Camero again lettered "Stormalong".
National record holders also at one time.
Quiz Time 1. Who was the first Canadian to win class at the U.S. nationals? What was the car ,what class and what year ? 2. Who was the first Canadian to win a 'Eliminator' title at a N.H.R.A. national event? What was the car,what class and what year? How many remember when you had to join a club to go to the Sunday drag races because of Ontario law i.e. St. Thomas Dragway Club ?
Bob,
I remember the St. Thomas Dragway club and I would think the the first to win at the Nationals would be Bill Kydd 1964and 66 in the Wills Fargo T bucket running aa/a. First Eliminator...Scott Wilson?
In the 'early days' Ontario laws were so restrictive on doing 'anything' on Sunday that to get around them you joined the 'St. Thomas Dragway Club' when paying you entry to race and it was considered a resticted club event. I still have one of mine dated 1962. I'm either getting too old or some of you guys are getting too senile to remember. No one has the answers to question 1 or 2 yet but some are close. I'll give it a little more time. 2 is not restricted to the U.S.Nats.
One More: There was a smaller lighter GM built car running an injected small block that previously had come out of the USA, bought by an ontario guy , but driven by a different guy with a french sounding last name.
The name on the car was associated with "Oceanshipping".
Who was the owner, what kind of car, and who was the driver?
(This car ran Grand Bend often and easily pulled the front wheels cleaning the tires.)
I hope my answers are correct [and if they aren't I will be happy to be corrected] 1. the first Canadian to win class at the U.S. Nats was Glen'Wiener' Gregory from London in the Miller & Gregory BB/A Pack Rat1 roadster. He did it again in 1967 in their BB/A Pack Rat2 Fiat. 2. The first Canadian to win Eliminator at a NHRA national event was Barrie Poole from Chatham. He won Super Stock Eliminator at the 1970 Winternationals with a 1969 Mustang in SS/H [that one I thought someone would get]
Are you sure it was a fuel dragster, I thought it was a gas dragster. 1964 or 65 right?
Dick. You could be right about it being gas. I am sure Bob started with gas and then switched to fuel. He sure got into the corn that day and the Corn Picker name stuck.
There is absolutly no doubt that in the mid sixties Scott Wilson from London dominated Canadian Top Fuel racing. His front engine cars ran a early Chrysler hemi, then a Ford S.O.H.C. and he then ran a Ramchargers late model hemi. There were a few other Top fuel cars in Ontario that also ran well but Wilson was the first Canadian to run over 200 m.p.h. at the U.S. nats. and the very first fuel car ever to run 235 m.p.h. At the time however there was controversy who ran the very first 200 M.P.H. on Canadian soil.Most people believe Wilson did it based on dominating performance but a fuel car from Blenheim, Ont who were tight with Garlits claimed to be the first. Can anyone name the team and the car. If you can I'll stop these silly quiz's.