Author Topic: What the heck is a fender skirt? (Read 9182 times)

Larry Ashcraft · « **Reply #25 on:** November 09, 2005, 05:54:17 PM »

Quote from: garrettwc

You got the first name right. That was "Big Daddy" Don Garlits. The father of drag racing.

I was afraid of that. They say the mind is the second thing that goes.

OK, here is one that has been bothering me all evening. Who was the guy who put the blown 427 into the 1964 Comet Caliente and pretty much started the whole FX class?

Edit: "Dandy Don" Nicholson.

OK, so the mind isn't completly gone yet.

280plus · « **Reply #26 on:** November 10, 2005, 01:30:48 AM »

yup. "Big Daddy" He was at the '76 Winter Nationals too. He got beat by a rookie John Force IIRC but don't quote me. I remember an article Big Daddy wrote where he was talking about the whole thing and he said that visibility forward was another big advantage. I recall he was talking about a conversation he had with a crew member about how he had spotted a bolt on the track while sitting on the line and he said he could even see that it was "fine thread". The cool part was we got into the pits so we got to get up close and personal with all those dragsters. Let me tell you those Funny Cars look a lot more beat up when you got close to them than they did on the track or in the "Hot Rod Magazine." Is HR Mag still around? I haven't seen one in years.

Probaly the most memorable part of the Winternationals was there was a mud bog off to the side of the track behind the bleacher and a bunch of guys had started running their 4 wheelers through it. Finally 2 of them managed to run head on into each other (at low speed) noone was hurt by the crash but this ended up in a MAJOR donnybrook right in the middle of the mud. Talk about entertainment! I think there were more spectators watching this than what was going on at the track. At another point some guy was taking his VW BUG through it and broke the front suspension. Yours truly dove into the mud and helped pull him out. It was FUN!!! Cheesy

Speaking of dumbwaiters, I recently did a job in an old hotel they were renovating and it had a 100 YO dumbwaiter that they were ripping out. It didn't really look all that "dumb" to me, it WAS pretty quiet though... rolleyes

Brian Williams · « **Reply #27 on:** November 10, 2005, 04:21:09 AM »

Quote

Was this a back to back operation or were there some years between the wood floor install and the carpet install?

it was the same job, finished the floors, finished the painting and trim stain, she wanted the carpet, within a week it was there.

I just stoked my stove this morning, it was wood pellets and it runs off a thremostat, but I stoked it.

garrettwc · « **Reply #28 on:** November 10, 2005, 05:30:39 AM »

OK Larry, name the only Nascar driver to ever compete in NHRA Nationals events, and why did he do it?

Larry Ashcraft · « **Reply #29 on:** November 10, 2005, 07:07:38 AM »

Got me there. I have no idea.

garrettwc · « **Reply #30 on:** November 10, 2005, 07:43:05 AM »

Richard Petty in a Barracuda in 1965.

The 64 Plymouth Fury with a Hemi was so dominant that Ford threw a hissy fit and threatened a boycott. So the cars were banned in Nascar for the 65 season. Chrysler responded by mandating that none of the factory teams, which included Petty would race in a Nascar event. Instead Chrysler went to NHRA with the Barracuda.

Larry Ashcraft · « **Reply #31 on:** November 10, 2005, 08:06:35 AM »

Cool, thanks. I was thinking it had to be Petty, but I didn't know any details.

Didn't Chrysler throw a similar hissy fit when Ford tried the same thing with the SOHC a couple years later?

Remember Connie Kalitta's Ford 427 SOHC powered rail?

garrettwc · « **Reply #32 on:** November 10, 2005, 10:20:59 AM »

Yeah, the factories were like that back then and actually had the clout to back it up. Not like now when it's mostly political posturing. Chevy had a couple of slick things going on too, but they kept it quiet and didn't complain about Dodge or Ford so the sanctioning bodies looked the other way.

Art Eatman · « **Reply #33 on:** November 10, 2005, 07:28:31 PM »

A lotta stuff changed in 1963. In january, then-US Attorney General bobby Kennedy stated that nay company with 50% or more of a market was by definition a monopoly. That scared the heck out of GM, since they had 53% of the US car market. GM was afraid of a breakup, say into Chevy and then the other four. Ford and Chrysler didn't want that, since they'd then have to fight both Chevy and GM.

The GM folks, knowing that winning races sells cars, quit racing. We pulled engines off dynos and sent them to the hammer. Same at Pontiac. A lot of our race stuff went out the back door, to folks like Mickey Thompson and a few others. (titanium blocks; tube frames for the Superlight Corvette, etc.

We sent four Chevys to Daytona, with only one spare engine each. FoMoCo had something like 25 Fords and Mrcurys there, with unlimited spares. We had Johnny Rutherford, Rex White, Junior Johnson and one other driver. The new "Mystery V8", the 427, blew the doors off everything else for the early sprint races. In the 500, I gotta blame Nascar mechanics for screwing things up in the race. JR spun and lost a lap, but ran with the leaders all day.

Y'know, that rat motor is still a helluva performer...

, Art

280plus · « **Reply #34 on:** November 11, 2005, 01:09:24 AM »

I had a cousin who owned a '63 Impala SS with the 327 4 bbl. I have never heard an engine scream like that one. I had a "71 351C 4 bbl that roared but the 327 screamed. He said "it has a lot of pep".

Remember THAT phrase?

Art Eatman · « **Reply #35 on:** November 11, 2005, 04:31:11 AM »

327? Oh, yeah. I built up one with the 098 Duntov cam, a Carter AFB (Awful bleeping Big) and 13:1 compression. Headers. Stuck it into an Austin-Healey. Called it the Mongoose, 'cause it ate Cobras. Zero to 75 mph in first gear at 7,500 rpm...And that was before the good Holleys and before slant-plug heads. I built four of those; three customer cars. I had a Borg-Warner T10 close-ration tranny; wish we'd had these 6-speeds, back then. But, then, the aerodynamics of a Healey at 160 probably weren't really all that good.

Art

280plus · « **Reply #36 on:** November 11, 2005, 06:56:46 AM »

Quote

Stuck it into an Austin-Healey.

I'm imagining we filled up at the airport?

I do remember a guy who dropped a 283 into his Toyota pick up. Fit rather nicely I must admit...

garrettwc · « **Reply #37 on:** November 11, 2005, 07:06:55 AM »

Art is my hero Cheesy

Horsepower argh, argh, argh!
How much welding did you have to do on the frame to keep from twisting it?

Quote

The GM folks, knowing that winning races sells cars, quit racing. We pulled engines off dynos and sent them to the hammer. Same at Pontiac. A lot of our race stuff went out the back door, to folks like Mickey Thompson and a few others.

IIRC mechanic Smokey Yunick figured into that Chevy mix somehow but I don't remember all the details.

Brian Williams · « **Reply #38 on:** November 11, 2005, 07:38:15 AM »

I had a 53 Willys flat fender CJ3A with a 283 Chevy 8 in it.... It had a 3 pseed and a T20 transfer case, IIRC, and a Warn anytime overdrive. With the 3 speed tranny, the 2 speed transfer case and the 2 speed Warn overdrive I had 12 forward gears and 4 reverse. It would run up in the high 120s on the highway... I could turn all four tires in 4WD or pop a wheelie in 2WD.

Dave Markowitz · « **Reply #39 on:** November 11, 2005, 10:00:35 AM »

Quote

ON A SMALLER SCALE, WALL-TO-WALL WAS ONCE A MAGICAL TERM IN OUR HOMES. IN THE '50s, EVERYONE COVERED HIS OR HER HARDWOOD FLOORS WITH, WOW, WALL-TO-WALL CARPETING! TODAY, EVERYONE REPLACES THEIR WALL-TO-WALL CARPETING WITH HARDWOOD FLOORS. GO FIGURE!

When I bought my 1958-vintage house in 2001, the hardwood floor in my living and dining rooms was completely covered in FOUR COATS of white enamel paint, plus a couple of the ugliest area rugs ever made. I threw out the rugs the night we took title to the house. It took me three weekends to strip the paint off the floor with chemicals and a sander, before polyurethaning it.

Gawd, the taste some people have.

mfree · « **Reply #40 on:** November 11, 2005, 11:41:41 AM »

">>HERE'S A WORD I MISS -"PERCOLATOR". THAT WAS JUST A FUN WORD TO SAY. AND WHAT WAS IT REPLACED WITH? "COFFEE MAKER". HOW
>>DULL. MR.COFFEE, I BLAME YOU FOR THIS."

The word wasn't replaced, the machine was. You can still get percolators if you look hard enough

And whoever made the NHRA comment.... 5000hp, you're still behin dthe times, they're theorizing that the fuelers are getting somewhere beterrn 6500 and 8000 now. 300+mph is an everyday thing

Art Eatman · « **Reply #41 on:** November 11, 2005, 03:07:54 PM »

Back in the 1960s, "High Text" gasoline was 104 octane. Didn't need avgas at 13:1. "Sunoco Blue".

Johnny Rutherford was driving as a rookie in the 1963 Daytona; car "owner" was Smokey Yunick.

The crankshafts on top Fuel dragsters (and I guess Force's funny car) have the crankshafts built with several degrees of twist. They straighten out under the load.

The engine installation in the Healey was fairly simple, really. I used Jaguar "doughnuts" on top of the Healey towers. A slight modification to the standard Chevy side mounts let it sit right down. I cut a Chevy rear tranny mount to fit the "X" in the Healey frame and welded it in. No biggie.

I put a much stiffer sway bar in the front, and added one leaf to each rear spring. I built a simple set of traction masters for the rear. I welded up the spiders in the differential to get rid of wheelspin. I took off the knock-off hubs and used Pontiac rims.

Without the swaybar, and on good-traction pavement, I could nail first gear and lift the left front wheel about six inches off the pavement.

Ran the 1/3 in the middle to high twelves; around 115 to 118 mph.

Great commuter car.

After I rolled it at our local hill climb, I got a '67 plain vanilla Camaro and put a 427 in it. Made a great tow car for my Formula Vee. Cheesy

The big chuckle in the pits a few years later was when I showed up with a Forumla A car, towed behind a VW Bus.

Always keep'em guessing.

Art

280plus · « **Reply #42 on:** November 13, 2005, 11:32:37 AM »

Quote

And whoever made the NHRA comment.... 5000hp, you're still behin dthe times, they're theorizing that the fuelers are getting somewhere beterrn 6500 and 8000 now. 300+mph is an everyday thing

That was me. You caused another recall too. At the '76 Winternationals there were a couple of jet engine powered dragsters for exhibition. Those were the only things that could exceed 300 MPH in those days. Now they're doing it with 8000 hp piston engines? WOW!

I AM behind the times Sad

Art Eatman · « **Reply #43 on:** November 13, 2005, 12:17:35 PM »

Jet powered dragsters? sure. Art Arfons. The "Green Monster". He ran at Detroit Dragway back in 1961 or 1962, and popped the chute before he shut off the fuel. Oops! He went a half-mile farther than planned.

They took the Green Monster to Daytona in 1962, trying for the $10,000 prize to the frist car to lap at (IIRC) 180. Something like that. Some English guy as driver. Again, IIRC, he lacked some 30 mph of doing it; "That hog won't handle." Duntov had Chevy's CERV I there; he didn't get over 150, either.

Art

280plus · « **Reply #44 on:** November 13, 2005, 04:25:33 PM »

yup, when shirley muldowney blew her new all aluminum engine it was after the chute popped and it burned up in the flames from the engine. She went a little farther than she should too. Off the end of the track and spinning 360s in the dirt with her rail. I remember "The Green Monster" but never saw it run.

Correction, it was the 1977 Winternationals. Don Garlits got beat by Jerry "The King" Ruth. I believe Ruth was a rookie that year. Not sure. No mention of the jet car though Sad

Art Eatman · « **Reply #45 on:** November 14, 2005, 04:28:50 AM »

Odd how culture is such a factor in car design. Americans are ga-ga over acceleration in a straight line. Speed through corners has never rally been seen as important. I see this every time I drive in curvy-road country. Just way too many "rolling road blocks" crawling along through a curve, and then Zoomies! on the straightaway. You can even see this with the Nascar guys in places like Watkins Glen or Sears Point...

Anyhow, most American designed cars are nose-heavy lead sleds, the very definition of Understeer.

Art

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Author Topic: What the heck is a fender skirt? (Read 9182 times)