This winter is getting too long so I decided to reread this awesome thread. When I got to page 4, I noticed that knafel Pontiac out of Akron Ohio was running an Acadian. That must have confused the hell out of our neighbours to the south.

 

 

Warren

 

 

 I guess Ronnie didn't have AAA

Bergler and Prock were from Detroit.
Prock was the driver.

 

 

 

-- Edited by RWW on Tuesday 3rd of February 2015 09:31:51 PM

Great pics, and a BIG thanks for that 69 Nationals video, i was there that day that Santuci ? choked on his gum. Everyone was wondering what was going on, as although he'd made the run and shut the car off, (Couldn't breathe, )it kept going rolling into the catch net at the end. The safety team dislodged the gum, and as stated in the video, he was back running the dragster the next day! Amazing people!!!
To drive around Indy at night was an unforgettable experience,no one was sleeping, every motel parking lot was lit up with engines being rebuilt!! You were fortunate if you got 3 hours sleep as even the campground that was full also, had engines being fired up to test run after alterations, or repair of something at all hours of the night and morning!

Forgot to mention that during qualifying there was an Olds powered dragster, ( Can't remember it must have been on gas,) anyway 1/4 the way down right in front of us it blew the left bank head off , that went 16 ft in the air, made one bounce off the edge of the pavement again went airborne, and ended up crashing into the chain link fence. A photographer i remember him seeing this comming at him and running! Lol

The story behind this pic …………………...

 In Sept of 1977 I was thinking of the year ahead .  Then I got to thinking why not go see something that most guys just see in a magazine.  Then I thought why not take the car and have fun at the same time.  The best part of taking the car is you have a pit space near the stands, the entry fee was $40 for the driver and a crewman ($20 ea).  So I sent in an application and got in.

 It was quite a road trip for a guy that had never been west before.  While stoping for fuel at a small no name gas station the guy putting the fuel in asked where we were going to which I replied the Winter Nationals in Pomona, and says " It's been awhile since I was there "  then he asks where we were from and I told him.  He said he had raced at tracks in my part of the world back in 69 and 70.   I asked what he ran and he replied a Funny Car.  Then the light clicked on, I had saw his pic numerous times in Hot Rod Mag aswell as other publications.   The rest of the trip was uneventful and we hit our motel in Colton which was about 20 miles from Pomona .

 As tech was to start on thursday morning I went wednesday night around 8pm so that I wasn't in a hugh line up in the morning. What a night, all of the heavy hitters were there, lots of bench racing and stories. Tech started at 7am and then my nerves started to get to me. Teching my lane was the NHRA National Tech Director , Bill (The Farmer) Dismuke .   In the end the feared strict tech man as he was called in magazines was probably the most polite , soft spoken tech man I have ever met.  While he is looking over the car and checking it's classification the NHRA cameraman is clicking away.  Never did see any published pics so they must have been no good or just added to the event file.

 Our next move was to cross the street and into the Fair Grounds where I was met by one of the columnists from Hot Rod Magazine ,he had an event shirt on and was helping racers to the proper areas. I will have to look at some old hot rod mags and see his caricature over his writings as can't remember his name.  Super nice guy.

  We parked the car and went for a tour before heading to the lanes. Wow, had never saw so many big names in my life, I think as many or maybe more than Indy.   They ran 16 car fields in Top Fuel , Funny Car and Pro Stock.  There was 64 Top Fuel Cars , 56 Nitro Funny Cars and 48 Pro Stockers.  Then there seemed like a million Alcohol Dragsters and Alcohol Funny Cars.  Off to the lanes and made a couple of passes, the car was purring.  Then over to the Firestone Truck and picked up a new pair of slicks .

 The next day I mounted the new tires  The new tires didn't have the Drag 500 logo like they had in the past.  Back to the lanes and after a short wait we were called up and the pic above was snapped by NHRA on the launch, as I turn off the track at the end who was there but Car Craft Magazine doing a photo shoot of Dennis Ferarra's swoopy new Vega Funny Car bodied Econo Altered.  Thing's just kept getting better for a wide eyed Canadian.  I learned a lot while there talking and visiting with racers.

 Now it's Saturday and the first round is going to run at 3 pm so we had time for a couple of time shots, and the new tires had picked the car up some.  My reaction times were the best I ever had and felt great.

 3pm on Parker Ave,  first pair out,  I have to run an A/SA 64 Plymouth. After carefully staging the car and bringing up the Rs , I'm gone like gang busters except there was a red light on the bottom of the tree.  So this car was the first car off the line in eliminations at the 78 winters, also the first car to go home.   Back in the pits we decide it's time to run a little more and somehow I managed to find my way across LA and get to Orange County International Raceway.   

 OICR was probably the nicest track I was ever at, shade trees in the pits etc, and the Tower at night was something to see . There were some wild SoCal cars there on a Saturday night.  After 5 or 6 runs it was back to the motel an the end to a long day.

 Sunday Morning dawned and it had pored rain in the night, there was a cement water run off (like you see on TV in a Police chase with a little stream in it) and it was full to the top with fast flowing storm run off so I figured Pomona was a no go.   I left the race car at the motel and headed of to Disneyland for the day, as I was this close, why not.

 Well it's time to head home so I pointed the car east and almost made it out of California when the nice trooper said "Hi" .  We were only going 75 mph in a 55, hmm, as I had the car on a tow bar with tow hubs it seems California wanted licence plates for anything on their highways. After a little visit he got out his book and wrote out a correction citation that I had to take to the DMV at the next interchange and purchase a trip permit, costing $5.   He was a nice guy and neither of us talked about the speed limit.   Other than a some time in a motel because of freezing run the rest of the tour was uneventful .

 I saw the pic advertised in National Dragster for $2 about a month after the event, so I bought a couple. And I'm glad I did.

 Now you know "The rest of the story" behind the pic.

 

 

  All in all it was a great few days , the sights and sounds are still in my head.

 

 And never forget to clean the front bumper when you wash the car.

Week one.

Week two

 

 

-- Edited by RWW on Friday 6th of February 2015 08:01:34 PM

-- Edited by RWW on Saturday 7th of February 2015 04:22:30 PM

 

So who was the nitro racer at the garage??

I remember seeing him in pics back in 69, I didn't come right out and ask his name.  He told me it was a lot of fun but he lost money.  It's been a lot of years and I don't even think I could pic him out anymore.  You have to remember it was a 5 to 8 minute visit 37 years ago.

 

-- Edited by RWW on Friday 6th of February 2015 09:09:05 PM

Great story and great pictures. thanks!

 Belts for front tires. Neat, they wouldn't stay on buy they were neat.  I had a shop tour in 1986 when he was trying them.

 

 

Re: The pic with Pete Fedun , HUGE crowds!! Some more sweet memories! RWW your'e doing one fine job here, Love it!!

Wow,, Lol, that last pic is sure different, sure looks like concrete to dirt!! Wonder where that track was?

Love that 55 Witchcraft, some sweet 55's here, and Marv Ripes ,, changed auto trans racing forever! The GURU of powerglides.

sasquatch wrote:

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"Wow,, Lol, that last pic is sure different, sure looks like concrete to dirt!! Wonder where that track was?"

 If you look at that pic you can see where the water truck came back down the middle of the track after wetting down the dirt at the top end.   Love it.

 

 

1970 US Nationals (Indy)  ABC Wide World of Sports.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va7a4YW0FBA

Thanks Bob , great memory trip again. Going to miss this when you run out of pictures!! Lol

I often wonder what ever happened to all of these old race cars - they cant all have been scrapped or left to rot in a field somewhere over the years?
there were some very inventive cars back then - I think we have lost something over the years in the quest to be faster - now they are all cookie cutters with different make names on them - look at John Force - a paint job and his mustang is now a Camaro - same body - I just can not get excited over that kind of interchangability - not unlike Nascar a few years ago with the first gen cars

-- Edited by Seeker1056 on Thursday 12th of February 2015 09:28:12 AM

Wow, now that is the strangest rear end I have ever seen. Wonder if they got all the pinion angles correct 

 

Interesting to see a couple of front engine funny cars.  I don't think I was even aware they ever existed.  Thanks for all the pics.

 

sasquatch wrote:

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Who is the guy with Roland Leong, Dick Landy??

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  Paul Candies

 

1957 OK City NHRA nats