CLASS RACER FORUM - Blast's from the Past

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Blast's from the Past

A friend of mine lent me a few NED 'Annuals' from years ago....found some familiar names and their cars. Ewing Bros, Matyas, Ciccarone, Alessi, Woods, LeBrun, Matyas and LeBrun again bookending Joe Santangelo Sr.

Re: Blast's from the Past

Jack Matyas' number is on the unpainted Ventura in the top middle row, but could it be the same car that Al Vanis later raced at Englishtown?

Re: Blast's from the Past

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Schwartz (Post 328698)

Jack Matyas' number is on the unpainted Ventura in the top middle row, but could it be the same car that Al Vanis later raced at Englishtown?

No it isn't.

Re: Blast's from the Past

Yes, they are the one and the same car. No, it is not the car that Al Vanis owned.

Re: Blast's from the Past

A few shots of the 'Tons A Fun' Pontiac station wagon...where is this car today.

http://classracer.com/classforum/att...9&d=1338236383

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/fo...ons_o_fun1.jpg

Re: Blast's from the Past

Different nose in the second "Tons of Fun" picture.

Re: Blast's from the Past

same car, different noses.also ran with ram air heads, then d-port heads after nhra factored the ram airs. he claims he made equal power with the d-ports.

Re: Blast's from the Past

Does anyone here know what ever became of the Nova called 'Hole Shot'...
is it still around or not.

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g.../RoweKDS70.jpg

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/8611/scan0111h.jpg

Re: Blast's from the Past

I'm enjoying this .... Thank You.

Re: Blast's from the Past

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hemi Moose (Post 329541)

Never noticed that before, did he have two cars or did he just swap the front ends...notice the fender louvers.

http://image.highperformancepontiac....Front_View.jpg

http://image.highperformancepontiac...._Rear_View.jpg

http://image.highperformancepontiac...._Side_View.jpg

http://image.highperformancepontiac....Front_View.jpg

Gary Wood
Gansevoort, New York

By the time that Gary Wood had reached prominence in NHRA national competition, he had already been racing in local competition nearly 20 years. In the late 1950s, he ran Chevys, but went to Pontiac while in the military. Stationed in Colorado, Gary ran his first Pontiac race car, a 1956 Catalina with a 316 cubic-inch V8 and 3-speed on the column. He competed at Continental Divide Raceway and even set a national record with it in the summer of 1963. "I don't remember what the time was, but they told me I set a national record," Gary recalled. The officials had me pull in for a teardown and everything checked out. The record stood."

From there, Wood ran a 1961 Catalina, a car he loved but could not get to run consistently, as the "Slim Jim" Roto Hydramatic would not make a decent shift into second.

After the '61, Gary moved on to GTOs, first a '65 and later a '67, both of which were raced in local competition. Next was a long line of 1968 400 Firebirds that he ran in E/Stock and quickly sold. "I actually ran about a dozen different '68 400 Firebirds in E/Stock," Gary recalled. "I would build one and then someone would come and buy it out from me. I had a lot of fun building them."

Wood moved on to a 1968 Firebird, which was updated with a Ram Air IV engine. He then raced a 1971 Firebird Formula with a 455 HO engine, later updating it to SD-455 specs. Running in D/SA, he won the Division 1 points race at Maple Grove in '75 and also the NHRA Summernationals at Englishtown with the Bird. Gary would sometimes run two cars at national events and as many as six cars at local events. The driving duties were divided between him, his then-wife Charlene and employees of his service station in Gansevoort, New York near Albany.

It was Tons A Fun, the red 1972 T-41-nosed LeMans wagon, that really put Gary on the map. Actually, there were two wagons that Wood campaigned during the mid-'70s, often with Charlene behind the wheel. They were both 455-powered, first as 455 HOs and later as 325-horse D-port 455s.

"With the refactoring that was taking place at the time, we found that we could get almost identical horsepower levels with the D-port as the HOs," Gary explained. "We were working with Chase Knight at Crane Cams and he hit on the idea to use a 428 Cobra Jet cam profile on the Pontiac blank. I never let that secret out until just now! It really woke up the engine and it worked well with either head. We eventually stayed with the D-ports and the cars fell into J/SA with that combination. We also worked with Frank Lupo of Fairbanks Transmissions (presently of Dynamic Transmissions). Frank kept making different converters 'til we got it perfect. They both really bent over backwards to help me out."

Success soon followed. Gary picked up a class win at the 1974 Summernationals with the wagon and never failed to impress the fans with its out of shape wheel stands, which would sometimes pull the left front wheel more than two feet off the ground. Gary and Charlene were on fire in 1976, taking class wins at the Summernationals at Englishtown, the Sportsnationals in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park and their only international win, at the NHRA Grand National in Quebec. Interestingly, the couple faced each other in the finals at the Cayuga, Ontario Divisional points meet in both 1975 and 1976. Charlene took both wins, with Gary as runner-up.

Gary was also one to play the weight breaks with the wagon body style. He later added a third seat, putting it into K/SA. The big bus still ran 12.50s. That's still five tenths under today's index. Wood added, "The extra weight hardly slowed this car."

The last car Gary ran was a 1972 GTO that he ran in F/SA until the early 1980s. At the time, he had sold his business and was working for another company, so he wasn't as flexible with his free time as before. Add to that the ever-increasing cost of racing and Gary decided to call it quits.

This doesn't mean that Gary is finished with Pontiacs--not by a long shot. Right now he is building a 1969 Firebird that will soon be powered by a modified 455. He is also looking at teaming up with his son Brian to campaign a race car. "My son has an '87 Formula with a 350 TPI and I think it would make a very competitive NHRA stocker." Old habits truly die hard!

Read more: http://www.highperformancepontiac.com/features/0212hpp_pontiac_history/#ixzz267qZihCb

Re: Blast's from the Past

This ones just plain cool in my books...

http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...94275902_n.jpg

Re: Blast's from the Past

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hemi Moose (Post 349913)

Did team Jenkins have more than one 70 1/2 Camaro? My Grumpy's Toys book is on loan right now, so I can't research it, but I seem to recall the '70 1/2 car having the extended RS front end on it as opposed to the standard nose on the car in the photo. Could it be a different "Toy"?

Re: Blast's from the Past

Danny, good eyes I never picked up on that...maybe they updated to the split front bumper when the 70 1/2 models came out...so what was this car then, just a regular Camaro, or maybe a body in white?

Re: Blast's from the Past

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hemi Moose (Post 349942)

Danny, good eyes I never picked up on that...maybe they updated to the split front bumper when the 70 1/2 models came out...so what was this car then, just a regular Camaro, or maybe a body in white?

Deffinately not a pro stock motor under the hood,,, looks like an air cleaner too. Nothing seen on the windows,,, maybe a display car, yet there are traction bars and slicks,, could've been a superstocker, but I don't remember them running one after the Pro Stock wars started. Someone probably knows on here what was going on.
Danny Durham

Re: Blast's from the Past

Has short deck spoiler.
Obvious different nose.
And the lettering is MUCH smaller.
Maybe a dealer display car?
Maybe a promotion car of sorts?

For comparison:

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...zKa499IF_0umrw

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...6cozVDwDAdW29Q
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...itled-2299.jpg

Re: Blast's from the Past

Looks like Dave Strickler also had a second generation Camaro as well...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...1/strcklr1.jpg

Another shot of Grumpys Camaro with the full front bumper...an early version perhaps.

http://www.camaros.net/forums/attach...0&d=1230846337

Re: Blast's from the Past

Same Camaro. Looks like an L-88 type scoop on it?

A new mystery "toy".

Re: Blast's from the Past

Jenkins' standard front end Camaro was a display car and it had a rare L88 hood made of steel from GM. The hood was some type of prototype. Jenkins sold the hood a few years ago but I don't really know what happened to the car.

Re: Blast's from the Past

A few more Blasts From The Past...how about some old shots of Woodro Josey Camaro's.

http://i47.tinypic.com/6jikb7.jpg

http://i46.tinypic.com/20ts11z.jpg

Re: Blast's from the Past

[QUOTE=Hemi Moose;349648]Here's one of the 'Trick Tank' '62 Dodge station wagon...

http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...14159814_n.jpg

The Tritak & Morgan '63 Plymouth wagon...

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...83406328_n.jpg

Jack Troxell's '62 Plymouth wagon...

http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...64795483_n.jpg

'63 Dodge Drag'n Wag'n...

http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...58298506_n.jpg
My Dad did the bodywork & painted Jack Troxells 62. He later bought it from him and raced it many years in Pro ET. All the time using the push buttons on the dash (Automatic) If you wanna see more click on th link.
http://s510.photobucket.com/user/Rip...ow/Pops%20Cars

Re: Blast's from the Past

[QUOTE=Hemi Moose;328862]Is this the same car or not...it has the same number.

http://classracer.com/classforum/att...6&d=1338236383

http://classracer.com/classforum/att...1&d=1338236383
This was taken at the Ag Hall ,The Allentown Fairgrounds Custom Car show back in the day.

Re: Blast's from the Past

[quote=Rippy;390533]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hemi Moose (Post 349648)

Here's one of the 'Trick Tank' '62 Dodge station wagon...

http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...14159814_n.jpg

The Tritak & Morgan '63 Plymouth wagon...

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...83406328_n.jpg

Jack Troxell's '62 Plymouth wagon...

http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...64795483_n.jpg

'63 Dodge Drag'n Wag'n...

http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...58298506_n.jpg
My Dad did the bodywork & painted Jack Troxells 62. He later bought it from him and raced it many years in Pro ET. All the time using the push buttons on the dash (Automatic) If you wanna see more click on th link.
http://s510.photobucket.com/user/Rip...ow/Pops%20Cars

http://classracer.com/classforum/att...8&d=1373693511