Ok, Thanks Dick, surprised that Crosses prefect has survived after ????45 years?

Wally, Ross pased away about 1 year ago now, he was living i think in Lambeth. And yes he did work at truck engineering for some time, then ended up as a Snap On rep, then left after a disagreement, (which he won in court,) then had a Mac tool truck.
The "Little Yacky" car i had a ride in one night about 1:00 in the morning, through Hickson where Joe had his little Sunoco station.
He wanted to give it a test run after changing the pill in the injectors so we carefully tried to idle it through town, then turned around and wound it through the gears comming back in, quite a racket at that time of the morning, (i'm sure waking everyone up,) then quickly went straight to the garage, Slipped it back inside, shut the door and lights off!! Lol
If i remember right it ran 5:38 gears, and had the first set of "Wrinkle Walls" i had seen in the area.
Joe could shift the 4 speed pretty good, but Ross drove it as he weighed considerably less than Joe at that time, and wasn't afraid to "Let it Go".
(I remember Joe telling Ross to quit shifting it so early, (shifting at 7500, Joe said, "let it WIND, Shift at 8200!! Lol

Glad I found this thread. Most of us have memories that influenced us . I grew up in west end TO in the 60s during the hight of the gasser erra. There were lots of mid 50s Fords and Chevs around but one car that really left an impression on me was a flat black nose hi 39 Ford coupe owned by Larry Salter .I always thought that that was the coolest car in the hood,so much so that I built a tribute 39 a few yrs ago (avatar) of that 39 that I saw so many years ago. So Mr Salter, if you read this,contact me-your car awaits your inspection!

Wally, Joe Cross finally got a girlfriend, Susan?? and they got married and had one little boy. Joe packed it in then and they moved to Mission BC, i think Joe pased away around 40ish years of age ,something to do with cancer in his leg??
I heard since that his son, who would be in his 40's now is running a drag car at the Mission Dragway.

 Most of my memories are of many drag racers from back in the sixties that have already been mentioned here, but one that hasn't been mentioned stands out the most for me. Of coarse I am talking about my Father, Charlie Haviland. Dad lived for drag racing back in the 50's 60's and very early 70's. I remember him spending countless hours building and working on his AA/Altered 23-T. If he wasn't doing his daily routine on the dairy farm, he was wrenching on the altered making it quicker and faster every year eventually setting a National Record. Besides the usual engine machine work required, Dad would design and fabricate the majority of the parts and pieces on his cars,  due mostly to local availabilty and a very limited budget. He took a night school course so he could use the machines and fabricate a 6-71 blower intake for the Cad engine

His greatest success was in a Supercharged Altered Roadster. One being a magnesium framed T-altered called "Maggie", the magnesium frame would later be banned from use in competition. After Maggie came the Canadian flag themed car, which had no name shown on the car, but simply the Canadian flag proudly displayed on both sides of the car to remind everyone at the American tracks where he proudly resided from. And then finally the "Charlie Horse" that is still alive and well today, but no longer in competition. He competed at all Ontario tracks, some more than others, and often ran at Niagara Airport Strip. Also Detroit, Sagina, Mi. and several others. He made the long trek to the Nationals at Indianapolis, Indiana and Pomona, California several times as well, enjoying a win or two along the way.

Maggie at the 1963 Indy Nationals - Cad powered.

 

Canadian Themed AA/Altered at the 66 or 67 Indy Nationals - Hemi Powered!

 

And "The Charlie Horse" AA/Altered as it is today. We restored it for Dragway Park's (Cayuga) 50'th anniversary back in 2004 (wow! 10 years ago already) 

 

Dad continued to build engines for several drag cars and even a quarter mile, flat bottom drag boat and a blown Hemi pulling tractor after retiring from drag racing in 71.

 

I am finally able to somewhat follow in his foot steps by running a 23-T A/Altered of my own this year. Its something I have been dreaming of  and working for for decades! Thanks for all the great knowledge and memories Dad.

 

 

Winternationals-Pomona, California

 

 

Great memories for you and your family Scott, BUT great memories for a lot of us who were also part of the early drag racing scene around London. I remember seeing your Dad and his AA Altered cars running at St. Thomas, Grand Bend and at Indianapolis in the 60's. He was fun to watch and a great ambassador for Canadian drag racing.
It is great to see "The Charlie Horse" car restored.
Best of luck with your car this summer.

John Willoughby -- (Willoughby, Hope & Lang - G/Gas Anglia)

poncho62 wrote:

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Very cool Scot....Is your dad still alive?

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 Harry,

  Happy New Year and thanks for asking about Dad. Yes he is. Not quit as spry as he was a few years back but still gets around pretty good.

That's a great story ...thanks . I spectated at the '67 Nats and , though I rack my old feeble brain , can't remember the roadster .

T

Always been a fan of Charlie's .....love the story of Charlie, Canadian farmer from Wilsonville Ontario that show's up at the 1968 Winternationals out on the west coast.....unloads the "Charlie Horse"...fuels her up and runs 2 tenths quicker then any one in his class......the Americans were rubbing their heads that day and asking themselves, who is this guy and where in hell is Wilsonville.....lol.....in the end he sets a new NHRA record and wins the class. Hollywood can't write that story any better......say hi to Charlie for me Scott......it was also a great honour to have his birthday at our shop this past year.

-- Edited by Fast Elvis on Wednesday 1st of January 2014 10:29:00 PM

Here is a link to some old ST Thomas shots.

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=d7e1c68f223a5f9b&id=D7E1C68F223A5F9B!472&path=/Emailing%201510784^_10152121002321690^_2008362490^_n^J%201525433^_10152120692876690^_1309188937^_n^J%201528754^_10152120800926690^_542243569^_n^J%201554441^_10152121003711690^_2117162188^_n^J%201557717^_10152120845651690^_887858002^_n^J%201560768^_10152120989771690^_303184483^_n^J/1525433^_10152120692876690^_1309188937^_n.jpg&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&sff=1&authkey=!ADx_y7AgGfFANLU#cid=D7E1C68F223A5F9B&id=D7E1C68F223A5F9B!470&authkey=!ADx_y7AgGfFANLU

in highschool my grade 9 electrical teacher was a 60/70s drag racer. Raced against Garlits and were good friends.
For the life of me...can not remember his name....
I been to Garlits museum 3x. Twice he was there and spent time. 2nd trip,he took us in back shop and was showing me a hotrod he just built for his wife. Was laying on shop floor as he was explaining the diff and it hit me...Im laying on my back next to on Garlits...He spent a great deal of time telling me how much he loved racing at Sparta.
When John Force came in the 90s I saw him run and was fortunate enough to meet him and hang out not at the track. One of his crew was from Wallaceburg...think his name was Kevin
I also worked with a mechanic who was the nephew of Frank Hawley.
Ontario is rich in racing history....i have enjoyed reading this thread

Hey John,
First Thanks so much for the pics from St. Thomas. That is the first pic I have seen of Freddy Arnold's Arnie's Army car in a very long time. The motor that came out of the car has been under my bench all these years. A poor man's 302 …327 , 283 crank, z28 pistons. Fred would redline that thing at 8700RPM all day long.
Thanks John once again

-- Edited by Rochie on Friday 10th of January 2014 09:43:56 AM

GhostPost wrote:

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in highschool my grade 9 electrical teacher was a 60/70s drag racer. Raced against Garlits and were good friends.
For the life of me...can not remember his name....
 

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 You must be just a young punk kid then, cuz I was racing back then, and I don't look that old. LOL  

I hung around Peterborough in the late sixties to early '70s.  I had the '66 396 Beaumont for six months before the original owner begged me to buy it back.  I than had the '68 Ram Air 400 Firebird which was done up at London Motor Products, London, Ontario for about 15 months before buying the COPO Chevelle.  I think I must be one of the most fortunate guys from the musclecar era to have been able to enjoy so many of these cars. 

  Does anyone know a G. Little from Little Britain.  He has restored his old 1936 Ford stock car that he raced back in the day at Pinecrest and other tracks.  He still has the old triangle CTC sign on the trunk lid.  Now, there is one interesting guy if you ever have the chance to visit him.  He has flat head Ford engines on stands with multiple carb intakes and one supercharged flat head Ford engine.  He has a regular museum of old signs, bicycles, intake manifolds, tractors, gas pumps, you name it.

Front shot 

-- Edited by Dyno dan on Wednesday 29th of January 2014 01:03:23 PM

I just bought Doug kenningtons old A/Gas Willys... It's pretty tough but it's the car.. Spoke to him the other night. I told him I have his old sedan Willys & am going to restore it. He was pretty quiet.  He said he was looking for that car for quite some time. There was few  guys who knew about the car & thought it was Wee Willys. It wasn't .... I had John Mc Dougal come down to look at the shell. There were no battle scars that he could relate to. It turns out to be the Towers Cleaners car of Doug Kennington, pale yellow paint still on the cowl. Over that was blue from the kurshner Brothers.  That's what's left of it anyway..... Any info out there or pics of back in the day would be a great start to resurrect... Thankyou...

Dyno dan..I remember the Kennington/towers Cleaners Willys well.Good luck on the restoration.

I read Doug Kenningtons Bio, he was inducted into the CMHF~ Canadian Motor sports Hall Of Fame in 2003 for "Drag Racing" This is what I read...A life-long citizen of Sparta, Robert (Bob) Harvey was a man who was always concerned about his community. A young employee of the nearby St. Thomas dry cleaning business made frequent stops in Sparta. As bundles of clothes were being picked up, the Harveys frequently invited the driver in for supper. The young fellow was an active hot rodder named Doug Kennington. During one of these mealtime discussions, Kennington took the opportunity to explain his concerns over the state of racing in the community. As the Harveys listened, Kennington told them that local hot rodders needed a drag strip set up in that area of the province to provide a safe and professional place to race their cars. After a visit to Detroit Dragway, Bob Harvey announced that he would build his own drag strip on an unused parcel of land in Sparta. St. Thomas Dragway opened in the spring of 1962 and quickly became a landmark drag racing facility in Canada. It became the first drag strip outside the United States to be sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association. In 1963, the track was given a coveted regional meet to host. This again was another first for the NHRA, being the first major regional meet outside the U.S. St. Thomas went on to host drag meets that attracted some of the finest racers on the continent. After her husband died, Helen Harvey chose to keep the track open for racers of all classes. Helen was one of the most unique women in motorsports. In 1962, at a time when women didn’t get involved with automobile racing, she was as important a member of the building process of St. Thomas Dragway as anyone. In fact, from the opening day in the spring of 1962 until the day she sold the track to John Fletcher in 1989, she was at every single event ever held at the racing facility.Bob andHelen Harvey created a legacy when they built St. Thomas Dragway and their mark on drag racing in Canada will never diminish.

                                         Oh, , Bob T and Sasquach, thankyou very much for your interest on the Towers Sedan...  Bert Straus, St Thomas, 1969.  9 Grand, dumping the clutch.....

-- Edited by Dyno dan on Wednesday 29th of January 2014 07:36:00 PM

-- Edited by Dyno dan on Wednesday 29th of January 2014 07:37:46 PM

I never heard anything about a shifter like that in the chilly willys. He ran Hurst super shifter with reverse lock out. But I wouldn't put it past him & Brad Francis. Brad was a mastermind. He now works with roush racing in North Carolina. I got to meet him at Bert's induction in 2003.
Tell you a little story...back with the Astra Pontiac that they ran, Brad designed a fifth gear in the pro stock car. It was secret then... They were running down the track & people in the crowd were counting the gears & then a fifth gear was heard & that was it. Game over.... Busted!!! Bert laughed when he told me... To answer your question... I think there was a shifter called "Burber ratchet" that did that. Larry Dobbs dragster that I had had one....

I knew Brad Francis very well, he and I went to all the races in 1961 in my SS chev impala. He was a ball, especially when we were going through tech. I remember one time at Detroit when a tech guy put a wheel wrench on one of my wheel lugs and Brad jumped all over him saying hey, what the hell are you doing, we torqued all those nuts on and you leave them alone. He was always hanging around Doug Duncan's speed shop on Balloil Ave in Toronto where Doug was building his latest stock car space frame for Hogan. Brad spotted the 3=2 barrel manifold with carbs that Doug had taken off his 389 Pontiac and went over, took one off and said to me, we should try these on your 348. Doug said the venturis were nearly 1/4 inch bigger than the ones on your chevy and you are welcome to try them. We put them on and went to Deseronto, that was the first time I got into the 13's We went to Detroit and got caught with the wrong carbs and that was the end of that. I have not seen Brad since 1965

Doug Kennington definately deserves to be in the hall of fame.

Never knew Doug Duncan had built a funny car! Always thought he was just into stock car racing.
I read when he died after a fall off a crane, that all he owned was his tools, and a room full of trophies and awards.
The guy only lived for racing period!

Dick, my understanding Re: The crane , was he was up on the boom working on part of it, slipped and fell to his death on the concrete floor.
Re: dying poor: This was attributed to his obcession to speed, spending everything he ever made on chassis design,etc.
This was written by Nate Salter from Munk Cranes.

Let's not forget the old top fuel pilots from ontario
Lloyd Noxell, Don Swanson, Scott Wilson, Rinni bros, Gary Rainthorpe, Kenny Ball,
Adare, Chase, McGregor, Frank Hawley, Fred Farndon, Bob Atchison, Herb Rogers,
I'm sure there are more but that's a list I can remember
Any photos of these guys post em!