Going Forward Into The Past

I find the title of this weeks blog kind of ironic as this post sort of marks the end of an era. This particular entry will mark the last blog with the title Maximum Power. Starting in January 2016, the name will have changed to Full Throttle. The format, contents, and mission of the blog will not change - only the title will. I'm changing it because I feel it's time for that change. There's no legal, moral, or copyright formalities to deal with. The blog will still be published every weekend, save for certain dates during the year. For example, the blog will not be published next weekend due to the Christmas holiday. We're still here - keep comin' back!

A boatload of cool vintage stuff came across the radar this week starting with this off-the-hook 1965 Corvette Sting Ray. Listed on eBay as a barn find as well as true survivor, the buying public and jury seem to split on those accounts. A survivor is generally considered original. This Vette is far from that - everything from the psychedelic, love it or hate it paint scheme to the circa 70's drag stance. In this case however, many original cues and options on the car are still

present; from the polished stainless steel ignition shield over the distributor, to the Protect-O-Plate that is still in the back of the original owners manual. Another big question about the vehicle is just who did the paint job? Does the vintage custom paint on this ’65 Corvette make it worth more or less than one that's been restored? If one recalls the recent auction of Janis Joplin’s 356 Porsche with a recreation of the psychedelic mural Dave Roberts once painted for Janis, selling for $1.7 million, a person could get pretty pumped. But most collectors feel that unless the paint and acetylene smoke graphics were laid down by a famous west coast cat like Von Dutch, the best thing for the next owner of this Vette to do is restore the car back to stock. This particular specimen has some fairly rare original options that the car came with when ordered new; like the N36 telescopic steering wheel, A31 power windows, and it's number-matching 365hp 327 engine.

This past week, December 17th to be exact, we celebrated the birthday of famed drag racing driver Ronnie Sox. For over 40 years, his list of accomplishments are staggering. Sox took home five NHRA championships, won more than 50 events in Pro Stock and Super Stock, and was absolutely dominant during Pro Stock’s "four-speed era". Starting at a young age in the 1950's where he began racing at a local airport in Burlington NC, he gained notoriety when he teamed up with Buddy Martin and joined with Chrysler in the 1960s. That would began the tour de force that would take Sox into the 1990s as a driver. Many fans remember him the the teams infamous red, white, and blue color-scheme machines, starting with the 1965 altered-wheelbase

Plymouth Belvedere, which was banned from NHRA competition. This didn’t hurt Sox & Martin, who pounded through AHRA match races in their “funny-looking car” and eventually secured the first 9-second pass in an all-motor door-slammer. Between the heavy factory support and Sox’s incredible consistency and speed on a four-speed manual, the Sox & Martin team saw a mass of success in the late-1960s. Along with “Dyno Don” Nicholson in his Ford, Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins in his Chevrolet, Ronnie Sox was one of the driving forces behind the creation of Pro Stock in 1970. Sox & Martin and their Mopars found a wealth of success again in the new heads-up format; short of losing to Grumpy at the 1970 Winternationals, Sox went undefeated in that first year. After another dominating year in 1971, the NHRA began to tweak the minimum weight requirements for the different models, so the Fords and Chevrolets were given a massive weight advantage over the Mopars, (upwards of 600-700 pounds) effectively barring Sox & Martin’s Mopars from the winner’s circle. Eventually, Chrysler had enough with the show and pulled the plug on the factory-backed drag-racing program.

This week, NASCAR also paid some special tribute to three of the pioneering women drivers of the sport. Step inside the Maximum Power time machine and we'll go way back to the late 40's. Sara Christian was the first female NASCAR driver in history. She was married to driver Frank Christian, and together they had two children. Christian’s car was named 711, after the ages of her two children at the time. Her first race took place on June 19, 1949 at Charlotte Speedway. She drove her husband’s car and came in 13th place out of 33. They were also the first married couple team to compete against each other. Christian also competed in the second Daytona Beach race on July 10, 1949 along with two other women, Ethel Mobley and Louise Smith. This marked the first race in NASCAR history having three women competing at the same time. Christian was named United States Driver Association Woman of the Year in 1949.

Ethel Mobley’s blood was practically infused with the racing gene, and it’s even been said that her father named her after the gasoline he put in his taxi. Mobley’s love for racing was born after attending many a moonshine races with her family on Sunday afternoons. When she did dive into the driving world, Mobley was tied with Louise Smith as the second female NASCAR driver. Mobley was part of the “Flying Flocks” - a name bestowed upon Ethel and her three siblings, Tim, Fonty and Bob. They were the first family of drivers in NASCAR history to have four siblings compete in the same race, the Daytona Beach Course on July 10, 1949. This race also marked the first time for a brother and sister combo to compete against one another.Tim finished second, while Ethel finished 11^th — beating both Fonty and Bob in her Cadillac. Ethel competed in over 100 races over the duration of her career, the most notable being a Florida race in which she competed against 57 men and finished in an admirable eighth place.

Tied with Ethel Mobley as the second female racer in NASCAR history, Georgia-born Louise Smith was fondly known as the “First Lady of Racing.” Smith’s racing career was initiated when she visited the Daytona Beach Road Course in 1949, simply to watch the race. Once there, she didn’t have it in her to remain a spectator. She entered the race using her family’s new Ford Coupe. Issued unlucky number 13, she unsuccessfully pleaded with every single race car driver to switch numbers with her. She tried to shake her superstitions, but later suffered the misfortune of crashing into a seven car pile-up during the race, thereby perpetuating the unlucky myth behind the number 13. Ironically she finished the race in 13th place. Smith’s career spanned from 1949 to 1956, where she brought home an impressive 38 wins. In 1999, she again made her mark on NASCAR history as the first woman to be inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

In spite of all this deja-vu that I checked out this week, I came across another throwback piece from my local library - a book called "The All-American Hot Rod". If you're looking for that last minute Christmas gift for the hot-rodder in your life that seems to have everything, you may want to consider this hard-cover book. It is a time trip with tons of vintage photos, (as well as modern full color photos), advertisements, pulp-fiction, and who knows how much vintage hilarity (that wasn't so 50-60 years ago in our anti-hot rod society) - never mind the fact it's a great read. If you have a chance, check it out. It's worth your time.


I wish all of you the happiest of holidays and a prosperous new year. See you in 2016!
Until next time, peace out.
Dave

You Can't Fix Stupid

In this day in age, I'll probably offend someone, somewhere with the title of this weeks blog. But an article came across my radar on Thursday - the autonomous vehicle and the exploding financial markets they are creating. Like it or not people, I believe these vehicles will be a reality. There's already regulations & legislation being written for them out in California. Autonomous vehicles are nothing new - GM has been experimenting with the idea since the mid-50's, but could never make it work. I don't care how many employees at Google (or any other manufacturer) work on this type of death trap, they will never be able to program this rig for every possible scenario it will face. First off - I would not want to get into even a mild fender-bender with the bubble made by Google. The windshield is made of flexible plastic that bends to the touch. The hood and bumper are made of soft foam. A 10 mph hit will total this vehicle.

Now picture getting rear ended at say 40mph - you'll be automated all over the freeway. But the big hurdle companies are running into (no pun intended) is what happens in a scenario where there's a "no-win situation". For example, a dog suddenly runs out into the street in front of the vehicle. Since you are not driving, the vehicle has to think for itself. It will stop (or slow down) so it won't hit the dog. But in doing so, what if there's a 10-wheel truck behind you that hasn't seen the dog and has no clue your autonomous self is stopping suddenly? If your vehicle slows or stops for the dog, you'll get rear ended and without a doubt be killed. Taking it a step further, what if the car could be programmed in this case to swerve either to the left or the right? Well, to the left is oncoming traffic and to the right is a sidewalk with pedestrians on it. What does the car do? Are you the one who gets ultimately sacrificed because you were so hell-bent on buying one of these smart cars of the future? Google and other manufacturers have yet to even come close to some hard-core answers for situations like this. But the government is giving these cars the go-ahead anyways. Why? There is a multi-billion dollar untapped market with these types of vehicles, and many of the electronics corporations who are getting into bed with Google have field offices located in California.Apparently in the golden state, money buys everything...

On a more positive front, I read another article where there was a little-noticed provision in a new federal highway bill. The provision will allow low-volume aftermarket car-builders to offer complete cars for the first time. What companies like Factory 5 and Super Performance are faced with currently is that while they are licensed to sell the rolling chassis and bodies of Cobras, 33 Fords, 57 Chevy's, or what-have-you, they can't sell them with engines and/or the drivetrain. If they sold them complete, ready to run, they would have to meet the same crash test ratings and emission standards of today's vehicles. That will all change under this provision. Low volume car builders can make up to 5,000 copies per year, but replica vehicles will not have to meet modern crash-test safety standards (and will eliminate such things as mandatory traction control, passenger sensing air bags, and numerous other items) that would cost tens of millions of dollars in engineering expense. The age of the bodies being manufactured was also lessened - anything 25 years or older.

Taking a squint (and pokes) at more government legislation, we'll finish this topic with two laws that are still technically on the books, but I hope are never enforced: In Waynesboro Virginia, it is illegal for a woman to drive a car up Main Street unless her husband is walking in front of her waving a red flag. The 2nd piece of insanity is in Pennsylvania; If any motorist driving along a country road at night comes across farming livestock (like horses and cows) that are on the road, they must stop every mile and send up a rocket signal, wait 10 minutes for the road to be cleared of livestock, and then continue. In addition, any motorist who sights a team of horses coming toward him must pull well off the road, cover his car with a blanket or canvas that blends with the countryside, and let the horses pass.In the event that a horse refuses to pass a car on the road, the owner must take his car apart and conceal the parts in the bushes.

Enough of government legislation - moving forward... or in this case backwards... or maybe we'll just leave it in the stupid gear. NASCAR has had plenty of stupid moments throughout its lifespan, but one of the worst "...can't fix that with a roll duct tape" moments came at Winston - Charlotte in 1989. That was the race where Darrell Waltrip had dominated the entire event. But just before the last lap white flag, coming out of turn four, Rusty Wallace literally crawled up Waltrip's bumper. In a move that today Wallace said was incredibly stupid, he blatantly ran into Waltrip hard enough to spin him out. The caution flag came out before either Waltrip or Wallace made it to the line to signal the start of the final lap, so NASCAR officials restarted the race with one lap to go. For some oddball reason, Wallace started up front, and Waltrip started in last place. As expected, Wallace won the race - but as he drove to victory lane, he was barraged with beer cans, boos, middle fingers and who knows what else. After Waltrip finished the race and interviewers shoved microphones in his face, he shared his infamous statement; "I hope Wallace chokes on that 200 grand."

On that note, we'll quit while we're behind...
Until next time, peace out.
Dave

Convential Thinking - And Making It Work For The Unconventional

At almost 80 years old, my Dad is still one of the most conventional people I know. And although this can be a double-edge sword, it can be a cool thing at the right time. Being the type of guy that my Dad is, his mindset sometimes took odd turns. Especially when it came to cars. Friends and relatives compare the two of us on occasion, and they have no idea how we can be of the same blood. We're total opposites. On the right is a digital copy of one of the 1st pictures he took of me in a car back in late 1963. I was sitting on my Mom's lap in a... way for it... a late 50's Willy's sliding door postal-carrier type Jeep. Some of the vehicles that followed were two VW's, and a Saab that was one of the ugliest vehicles on the planet. For comparison purposes, one of my first vehicles was a late 60's Mustang with a modified 302 V-8. The first picture my wife took of my first daughter and I with a car was back in the fall of 1986 with our green 1971 Charger R/T. See what I mean?

Where does the cool part of all this come in? I can remember when the first Volkswagen (a sea foam green Beetle) we had got into a minor front end accident (everyone was okay) and totaled the car. The late 60's was still a time where one car per household was more than enough, but now we needed a vehicle to buzz around in until the insurance claim was settled and my parents could purchase their next vehicle (it took a long then like it does now). My grandmother on my Dad's side came to the rescue. She owned two cars (which confused my Dad's conventional thinking); she drove her 1962 Pontiac Tempest with it's economical 4-banger and lent my Dad the beautiful 1961 Chevy Impala that her late husband purchased. She hung onto the car as something to remember him by. While we only drove it for a few weeks, and my Dad really didn't like the car - but I loved it. He didn't like the fact it was so big, that it was an automatic, and had a gas-guzzling V-8. Me, on the other hand, if I had been about 10 years older at the time, I would've begged my grandmother to let me buy the car. It was so cool looking, never mind it had the 348 cubic inch W-motor between its fenders. It was probably a good thing I never had the chance to own it as a late-teenager. I probably would've killed myself driving it...

Another cool example was back in 1968 when Mattel first released their original 16 car line-up. My parents knew by the time I was five that I was into hot rods & muscle cars. I already had lots of Matchbox cars, but they never really rolled that far or that fast. I guess my parents saw ads for these better, faster toy cars on TV. For Christmas 1968, they gave about six out of the original sixteen Hot Wheels. One of the gift-wrapped goodies was the Custom VW Bug. Of course, my Dad wanted to find one that closely resembled the color of the one we owned. The closest one turned out to be anti-freeze in color, one of the rarer colors I would find out years later. That theme carried over to Christmas 1969 when they gave the Classic '31 Ford Woody model. My Dad being conventional sought out the Woody model in brown. I mean, after all, wood is supposed to be brown - not red or blue or purple. The brown '31 Woody turned out to be the rarest of color variations. Go figure...

My Dad's conventional mind-set carried to numerous other aspects of his life. It was almost like trying to follow a flow chart. For example, he almost always took back roads instead of the more crowded supposedly faster main routes. His theory was he could get to where he was going using side streets and back roads faster because they were a lot less crowded. I never found out if that particular hypothesis was true, but I did get to see way more cool cars - ranging from being parked in people's driveways to ones rotting in fields - than I ever would along a busy highway. It also gave me a much better chance to pose the question of, "Can we stop and take a look at that car?" I can say about 40% of the time it worked. 

Looking back, I wished my Dad took me to car shows or the drag strip, but at least I had a cool aunt & uncle who did. We lived fairly close to Englishtown Raceway in New Jersey when I was growing up, and my aunt and uncle never had any children, so I fit the bill of surrogate gear-head child. Car shows were nowhere near as numerous, popular, or well-attended like they are today. The best someone could hope for was a cruise-in at a popular burger joint on a Friday or Saturday night. But drag racing (or NASCAR style racing) was a different kettle of fish. Drag racing was at it's zenith in the 60's and NASCAR was really starting to gain popularity (thanks mostly to television) by the 70's. Back then, spectators could wander around the pits and actually watch top drivers work on their vehicles. It was like everyone had a back-stage pass. What really made things cool, was that the drivers and mechanics seemed to have a soft spot for a young kid who was into hot rods, muscle cars as well as the sport of racing. While other kids traded baseball cards or were into football, I followed the likes of Sox & Martin, Dick Landy, Bill Jenkins, Bill Maverick, Don Nicholson, and more. But, conventional wisdom (and safety) took over & those days are long gone.

A final, unrelated note, just wanted to give readers a heads up that the blog will not be published the week of December 26th. We'll be taking a break for the holidays and preparing for the changes that will be taking place by January 1st.

Until next time, peace out.
Dave