Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

Remember a few blog posts back we took a closer look at 1966 - supposedly when everything started going to hell in the non-performance conservatives eyes? Things were a-changing, and hot rodding, muscle cars, and racing were getting radical as well. However, I received an email last week from a regular reader named Tom. He mentioned that "...nobody just flipped a switch and bang - everything changed overnight. All this "going to hell" started happening a few years earlier. While it may or may not have been the official turning point, one has to admit that there were some impossible to miss signposts." Agreed!

The first place I looked for a smoking gun was a 1964 issue of National Dragster - and it was loaded with clues. For starters, Don Prudhomme was setting the drag racing world on its ear. Speed records, in all aspects of drag racing, were falling like the snow in last weeks blizzard in the Washington D.C. area. Prudhomme set yet another top speed record at Pamona with a then-blazing 202.24 mph. That may sound like yawn city today, but 50+ years ago, that was cooking.

If you need more proof, at that very same event, Jack Chrisman unleashed a series of absolute tire-smoking blasts in the now-famous Sachs & Son blown 1964 Mercury Comet. Experimenting with new injectors, Chrisman nailed a best time of 10.60 at almost 150 mph. And this was with tire spin for about 400 feet. Within a year, a landslide of A/FX cars would follow in its footsteps.


Is it me or are Gasser's getting a ton of ink lately? It seems almost every magazine is covering them to some degree - be it Hot Rod Deluxe, Street Rodder, or Maximum Drive. In no way am I complaining. I'm also digging the diversity. The history books show a majority of these vehicles were either Chevy's, mainly tri-fives, or Willy's coupes. While I dig these rides to no end, I still have a soft spot for the "dare to be different" rides. Like tri-five Fords, Chevelle's, Falcons, and Novas. One trend I'm also starting to see more of are street-driven hot rods with a Gasser appearance. While this isn't everyone's cup of tea, kudos go out to the owners who have the stones to make it work.

In my opinion, NASCAR was ahead of the curve in regards to what was happening in 1964. Thanks to Chrysler, NASCAR had absolutely no warning of the bomb the manufacturer would drop at Daytona; namely the 426 Race Hemi engine. While there is plenty of folklore in regards to how these now famous engines almost didn't make the Daytona 500 deadline (mostly due to block casting and cracking problems), it's all fact that Richard Petty and company blew the doors off the competition and Chrysler drivers finished first, second, and third. So dominant the engine would be, it would be banned from racing until Chrysler agreed to make it a regular production engine (de-tuned of course) in assembly line built vehicles.

In 1964, muscle car advertising was in its infancy, but Detroit was already fanning the flames. The interesting point here is while racing was going full-on ballistic, the marketing firms back on Madison Avenue had to tread lightly... everyone that is except the ad agencies working for Plymouth and Pontiac. Apparently, they didn't the memo. Case in point:
 - The 1964 Pontiac GTO; in its debut brochure, Pontiac had the balls to print that the dual exhaust wasn't exactly quiet, and that unless you ordered the manufacturers lazy 3.08 geared rear axle, gas mileage was nothing to write home about.
 - But the years most blatant award went to Plymouth and their advertising of their 426 Max Wedge engine. Advertisements depicted artwork and copy that was a street racers dream. Huge engines, politically incorrect language, and all the emphasis was on performance and speed.

I'm sure the people behind all these events couldn't have possibly predicted the ripple effects that would end up influencing drivers and enthusiasts for decades to come. They also had no way of knowing how much diversity would grow out of these early milestones. We'll leave you with this - if it weren't for these events of the past, do you honestly think we would have hot rodders building machinery like the one pictured on the left. An old 1970 Chevy C-10 pickup truck that simply goes by the name of "Farm Truck". Looks like an absolute beater, but has a nitrous fed 572 big block and runs mid-10's. How this rig holds together under such hard launches amazes me, but man do I want to build one just like it.

Until next time, peace out.
Dave

Three Sides To Every Story - Yours, Mine & The Truth

Controversy; noun. A disagreement, typically when public, prolonged and/or heated. Also see dispute, argument, war of words. We're not talking about the latest Trump and Palin media smash and grab headlines - but when it comes to controversy with muscle cars as well motor-sports, those two talking heads look like total amateurs when compared to some of the drama that has come down the pike over the past few decades. Besides - the vintage automotive and racing aspects are way more interesting. For example, wouldn't you rather read about the story behind the Dodge Charger that's pictured to the right or read about Republicans slamming each other?

Memories started flowing innocently enough with a humorous discussion at the automotive repair shop at where I work. Mainly, the brief, but idiotic, federal law dating back to 1974 and the seat belt starter interlock system. The what? For about 6 months, the feds mandated all new 1974 model year cars and light trucks sold in the US to be equipped with the maddening seat belt starter interlock system. The way this system worked in a nutshell was both driver and front passenger seat belts had to be fastened or said vehicle would not start. The law came about after a study was done by Ralph Nader and a few other political zealots that concluded a whopping 72% of all drivers and passengers did not wear a seat belt at all. Their logic was to force their findings down the buying public's throats and mandate the country's first semi-seat belt law. Unfortunately, the system was not very reliable and was prone to electrical malfunctions - never mind it was a total pain in the ass. By the Spring of 1974, politicians literally had their ears blow-torched off by the public and other government officials (where do you think fleet vehicles went). The law was quickly repealed and recalls went out with instructions on how to remove the system.

Stepping back a few years, when muscle cars were in their glory era, lying about an engine's horsepower level was rampant - on both ends of the spectrum. With bread and butter big blocks like Chevy's 396, Chrysler's 440, and Ford's 390, horsepower ratings were usually bumped in order to get enthusiasts excited about them. It was not uncommon to have a well-known super-car dealership like Royal Pontiac, Grand-Spaulding Dodge, or Tasca Ford, modify the big blocks that were prepped and then handed over to magazine writers and editors as press mules. Hey - the more positive ink the cars got, the better. So what if people cheated... a little.
However, when it came to top dogs like Chrysler's Max Wedge or Hemi engines, Pontiac's 421 Super Duty, as well as the Ford and GM 427 inch big blocks, the manufacturers down-played the actual power numbers. Some examples were so bogus and underrated, it was almost laughable. Other examples were more stealth - like the Chrysler 340 and the Buick 455 Stage 1 (pictured above right). In regards to the Buick, the Stage 1 was an iron fist in a velvet glove. Most people thought, "...it's a Buick. How fast can it really be? The engine is only rated at 360 horsepower." Guess again and try closer to at least 430 horsepower. Combine that with a stump-pulling 510 pound feet of torque and you had an old-man's car that could clean your clock to the tune of low 13 second quarter mile times in stock trim and low 12's with some very simple modifications.

NASCAR is also no stranger to pulling the wool over someone's eyes, but it's usually the drivers that push the envelope. Case in point - the 1974 Firecracker 400. On the second to last lap at Daytona, David Pearson knew he was a sitting duck. Richard Petty, who was right behind him, would simply ride the draft until the last possible moment, then slingshot passed him for the win. However, just before the white flag, Pearson drove down by the apron as if he had a blown engine, leaving Petty to inherit the lead. It appeared that the future seven-time Cup champion was going to take the checkered flag. But did Pearson really have engine trouble? Lies - all of it! It wasn't until the final turn when Petty realized that Pearson was right on his tail. Pearson's No. 21 car shot next to Petty off Turn 4 and then finally past the No. 43 car to take the checkered.
But the race wasn't over - another battle was taking place for third between Buddy Baker and Cale Yarborough. The pair fought for position, eventually crossing the finish line at the exact same time, prompting NASCAR to declare an official tie for third.

But one of the oddest stories and situations to ever come down the history line, was back in July of 1959 at a Bakersfield California meet, where Jack Chrisman had to race himself in the final. How did this happen? He found a technical loophole in the racing rule book and ran in two different dragster classes - AOD as well as A/D - and happened to win both. So, in the final heat, Chrisman chose to pull his Sidewinder digger out of the Top Eliminator final and handed the win to... himself. It was a first and I guarantee you also a last in drag racing.

Until next time, peace out.
Dave

Why Do We Screw Things Up? Because We're Human

I was reading an article this week about Tom Peters. "Who the heck is he?", you might be asking. Tom Peters is a GM executive who designed the 2005-13 C6 Corvette - one of the more beautiful vehicles of this millennium. He is also credited with the butt-ugly design of the Pontiac Aztek. In reality, however, Peters designed the original Aztek concept, which if you remember back to the late 90's, was a cool looking cross between an SUV and a station wagon. The concept is actually considered to be one of the first CUV designs that are so prominent today. So what happened? How did it go from cool concept to one of the ugliest cars produced in 40 years? People are human - other people got involved and screwed things up. First it went from a design team to a development team. The development team assigned the Aztek to the Chevy Venture mini-van platform. That meant the wider concept had to be narrowed so it would fit the chassis, which also resulted in an awkward high roof and beltline as well as a more slab-sided look. Then things really nose-dived when the developers went absolutely overboard with the "modern and innovative" crap. Everything from the modified front nose & hood design to an interior loaded with useless features. When the vehicle finally debut in 2001, consumers already hated it and went on to be a total flop.

The same type of concepts happen in the high performance and racing world - humans get involved and we screw things up. People think they know better, or some bit of unproven thought becomes gospel. Innovation gets put by the wayside and mediocrity sets in. And the folks who screw it up have a blind eye to it until it's too late or it's way after-the-fact. A classic example of this is the first death of the muscle car beginning in 1972. Enter the people who thought they knew better - the EPA. Before we go down this rabbit hole, I want to reiterate that I love modern technology when it comes to high performance. And yes, there's only so much air we can all breathe and I want farms, wildlife, and the forests to be around for generations to come. But unfortunately back in '72, the federal government was force fed a boat-load of fear along with statistics. Back then, the EPA howled about global cooling (not warming like they clamored 25 years later or climate change as it's known today) and we're all going to die; how the automobile of the consumer was the cause of almost all smog-related problems (not corporations and their factories) and we're all going to die; and the fact that there was only 20 years worth of oil left in Mother Earth (also not true) and we won't need cars anyways - and we'll all be dead. As a result, the feds gave the EPA a blank-check green light to force mandates down the automotive manufacturers throats in very short order which left them scrabbling year after year for quick fixes and make shift solutions instead of creative problem solving. That creativeness wouldn't kick in for at least 15 years.

The first targets were the fire-breathing big blocks like the 426 Hemi and 440 Six Pack, Ford's Cobra Jet motors, and any 450+ cube mill from GM. According to the automotive insurance industry, these engines and muscle cars in general were the root of all evil, so it was as good a place as any to start. Besides - now you've two huge organizations breathing down Detroit's neck. The problem was, vehicles optioned with these potent engines made up such a small percentage of the total amount of vehicles manufactured in a given year that it didn't make a difference. Since that idea didn't work, the solution was to kill all big block engines in passenger cars in general. When that didn't make a difference by 1974, enter the ever-revolving emissions changes. Everything from catalytic converters to lean-burn ignitions. We've come a long way in 40+ years. High performance is red hot and it will fly with all the safety and emissions mandates the feds can throw at it. Keep the faith, people - because we won't know how good we had it until it's all gone.

Drag racing experienced huge changes in the early 70's, but the feds had nothing to do with it. The NHRA has struggled at various times throughout it's lifetime with inner politics that is for the most part monetarily driven. When money gets involved, humans screw things up. Innovation goes out the window and doing what's popular becomes king. Case in point - when the Mopar faithful got screwed especially in Pro Stock racing. Don't get me wrong; I'm a huge fan of Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, "Dyno Don" Nicholson, Malcolm Durham, Shirley Shahan and many others from the GM, Ford, and AMC camps. We have to remember it was not the drivers or teams fault - it was the NHRA brass. In a nutshell, by the end of 1970, the NHRA grew tired of the dominance by Chrysler, their 426 Hemi engine and the skilled drivers who wheeled them. For 1971, enter the term "handicap" - in other words, extra weight was added to the vehicles that had the Hemi between their fenders in order to even things out. When that didn't work and Mopar teams kept winning, more changes came about for 1972. Remember back then, Pro Stock contained one key

ingredient - stock. In other words, if a driver wanted to compete with a certain automobile, the engine they ran had to be offered by the manufacturer in that particular model, either as standard or optional equipment. That went out the window for 1972 - at least for the Ford and Chevy camps. Ever see Chevy or Ford offer a small block V-8 in a Vega or Pinto from the factory? Neither have we, but that didn't matter to the NHRA. The smallest car the Mopar camps were allowed to run were Plymouth Dusters and Dodge Demons. Over the years, up to 1975, Chrysler and other teams tried every innovation they could to make their cars more competitive and to win. As soon as they did, more changes to the rules came down. Conspiracy? Hardly. The simple fact has been told over and over - the NHRA knew the majority of the fans in the stands by the early 70's were Chevy and Ford aficionados. The fans pay the admission, which pays the bills, and they want to see Chevy's and Ford's win. And that's what they got.

NASCAR experienced the same thing - by the end of 1970, Chevy fans grew tired of the Mopar / Ford battle (never mind GM still had it's own racing ban in effect since 1963), so NASCAR tipped the scales in their favor. It's the main reason why the Chrysler winged race cars disappeared along with the aero-nose Ford Torino's. Innovation and creativity took a back seat, the factory teams opted out of a no-win situation, and sponsorship money for the first time took over. It would take several years, but by the mid-70's, GM vehicles and drivers started winning the lions share of races. And NASCAR, as we know it, lost it soul.

It may sound like I'm picking on the Chevy or GM people (and the Ford folks a little) - when in fact I'm not. I can see the fans point of view. It's like watching your hometown sports team lose season after season not because of talent, but because of poor choices made by management or the higher-ups. I like to see hard work, creativity, and innovation win the battle - not a bunch of whining or the threat of money. Unfortunately, because it worked in the past, it has become common place in far too many aspects of our lives today.

Time to pause and prioritize, people. Until next time, peace out.
Dave

1966 - The Year It All Started Going To Hell

... Or that's what people were thinking 50 years ago. I'm not going to touch on the subjects of drugs, hippies, the Vietnam War, or the fact that the government couldn't do anything right. It seems not much has changed since then - we still have a war on drugs, the "younger" generation (and the crock of shit that truly is; every generation is dysfunctional to some extent), terrorism, and a government who still can't do anything right. Be that as it may, things seemed to be coming unhinged in the mid-60's and hot rods, muscle cars, and numerous aspects of motor-sports racing were no exception.

I was reading several articles over the past two weeks about how automotive manufacturers are selling more cars than they have in over 15 years, setting sales records across the board (except VW), and that they are trotting out "more new models and redesigns" than ever. Hold on - just back up second, Detroit. Let's set the time machine back to 1966. Back then, the public expected a fresh redesign every two years or so when it came to new cars. Check out these well known models that were completely redesigned for that year:
For GM: the Nova, Chevelle, Impala, Cutlass (442), Skylark (GS), and GTO.
For Chrysler: the Charger, Coronet, and Satellite
For Ford: the Fairlane, Galaxie, and Cyclone.
That's a lot of new sheet-metal. Never mind the introduction of the Chrysler 426 street Hemi.



Also by this time, there were well-established street racing venues like Woodward Ave. in Detroit, and the Cross Bay Blvd. or the Connecting Hwy in Queens New York. By well established I mean not only did the street racers & cops know the hang outs, but the rest of the public was starting to become familiar with them as well. Now we had muscle cars right off the showroom floors with 426 Hemis, 427 rat-motored Chevy's, and side-oiler 427's from Ford. The gloves were off and it was either nail the gas or get out of the way. Numerous uber-conservatives were starting various mind chatter like, "What are these manufacturers and people thinking?"

Street rods were getting more creative by the day with the help of Southern California designers "Big Daddy" Ed Roth, George Barris, and Dean Jefferies. We had the Bat-mobile, the Monkey-mobile, and who knows what else gracing living rooms across America via television. Other aspects like drag racing were also starting to have an influence on street rods in general. We started seeing more vehicles with bigger rear wheels and it seemed like every motor had a blower on it. So why was all this fundamental automotive goodness such a bad thing? It was on the street and many people still didn't understand the mind-set of the hot rodder. And people fear what they don't understand or don't want to comprehend because they've already made up their minds based on slim and unbiased notions.

In the NHRA, 1966 was a huge year for the funny car. If spectators thought 1965 was off the hook, they surely didn't see what was coming for 1966. What Chrysler started the year before, Mercury and "Dyno" Don Nicholson took to the next level times ten. The debut of the Eliminator I was essentially the first real step towards the modern funny car as we know it. The big difference between Nicholson's ride and all the other A/FX cars preceding it, was the Eliminator I was an all-fiberglass body on a separate tube chassis. The car, all dressed up, barely weighed 1800 pounds. There are very few pictures of the inaugural vehicle as the body flew off the chassis at speed on it's first blast down the track and was destroyed. Mercury quickly developed the Eliminator II with much improved aerodynamics. Within twelve months, the pioneering design of the Eliminator funny cars would literally open the flood gates to countless other drivers using the same design. By the end of 1966, traditional drag racing fans started to make noise about how the sport was expanding and diversifying too fast, too soon. It seemed the sport was getting away from it's original core mission and becoming, in some people's eyes, a circus side-show. It was all going to hell. (Above photo courtesy of Hot Rod).

NASCAR was embroiled with its second boycott in two years. Chrysler boycotted the racing circuit the year before when NASCAR refused to allow the 426 Hemi to run. Now in 1966 the organization banned Ford's 427 SOHC Cammer engine from competing - so Ford flipped them the bird for that one season. The reason for the banning was the same - the engines the manufacturers wanted to run were not in regular production line automobiles. Chrysler realized this the year before - it was either produce at least 500-1000 vehicles with a street version of the Hemi or let the incredibly winning engine die on the vine. History has shown that the latter didn't happen, as Chrysler produced almost 11,000 Hemi powered vehicles between 1966 and 1971. It's a crying shame Ford did not follow the same path. The 427 Cammer engine was pretty much regulated to drag racing use and died quietly within the next few years.

So despite what you might see on the news, or on Facebook, or read on the internet - it sounds like things today are going to hell in a hand-basket. Relax... they have been (so we've been told) for the past 50 years. A half a century from now, someone will look back and remind us all how tame things were in 2016.

Until next time, peace out.
Dave

The Dead Of Winter

Welcome to 2016 - and welcome to the new and improved Maximum Power; now known as Full Throttle! As mentioned in earlier blogs, the format, criteria, and style will remain the same. Only the title has changed.

Just after the holidays, our neck of the woods finally received it's first official taste of winter. With about 2-3 inches on the ground, it now seems official that nobody will brave to bring their hot rod, muscle car or street rod out into the elements for at least four months. But who says that hot rodding in general also has to hibernate as well and be limited to "working in the garage"? If you're anything like us, that's only one item on the winter to-do list.



First off, who says you can't drive a hot rod in the winter? Okay - I'll be the first to agree with you that I wouldn't be tooling around in the LS-6 Chevelle all winter, but there are plenty of substitutes that will at least somewhat fill the bill. Hot Rod magazine did an article almost two years ago about the top 10 winter beaters that can be easily modified for your need-for-speed, that you can buy for under $3000. The basic points of that article still ring true. There's a guy who lives locally that drives a black mid-90's Buick Roadmaster wagon - wood grain and all - all year long. It's his daily driver and parts hauler. It has a nicely modified V-8 and a nice set of American Racing wheels that make a reet statement. During this time of year, he swaps over to a beat set of Cragar S/S rims, but it's still cool looking. Plus with a killer set of snow tires, bags of sand in the back, and a rear overhang as long as a par 5 on the PGA tour, this thing is a tank in the snow.

Admittedly, car shows, hot rods, muscle cars, street rods, and drag racing become more scarce during the winter months, except if you live in Florida or southern California. While it's cool reading about the Winternationals, or a Good Guys event, it's even better if you can attend one. You can even bring your gal or family - like generations before us. Even if you take a 2-week vacation in the middle of February, there's something revitalizing about going from an environment where there's 3 feet of snow on the ground and 30 degree temperatures, to palm trees, sun, shorts, and hot rods...

But what if you can't make a trek that far? One of my favorite past times in the winter is cruising antique vehicle junkyards. You can take these types of adventures in two ways; with or without snow. A junkyard that should be on every hot rodders bucket list is Old Car City in White Georgia. It's even better in the winter. It's very rare that there's any snow on the ground, even in January, and all the trees are way past their foliage period, so there's more vintage iron to see. Plus there's no humidity or bugs. It's an ideal time to photograph these ghosts from the past.

The other side of the coin is to utilize Mother Nature's glory and photograph the same type of subject material in the snow. While it's harder to trek through the white stuff that's deeper than a foot, the winter makes for some beautiful and even haunting settings. Even if you're an amateur photographer, try it, experiment, and most of all, have fun. You may discover a part of yourself you never knew.

The bottom line here is, that even though the days are shorter, colder, and most of the country has experienced some snow, don't let it take you prisoner. Don't sit there every weekend watching TV, even if it's of motor-sports in nature. Work on that project that's in the garage, even if it's just a small part of it. Get out and explore your world via it's back roads and snap some cool pics of old Detroit iron that's been forgotten about in some field. Attend an indoor car show or a transportation museum near you - and bring your family. Enroll in an evening adult education class that teaches welding, basic mechanics, body work, or engine rebuilding. Stay engaged in the hobby. You'll thank yourself in the Spring... trust me.

Until next time, peace out.
Dave