Al, and Jerry; thanks for all the good info on the Sioux Falls cars. I remember most of them. I was the tech guy at Des Moines Dragway from '65 until it closed, in '68, and had a Stock Eliminator car that I raced (H/SA hydro-equipped 220 hp '57 Chevy sedan delivery), along with my partner, Harry Sparks, who is still running a Div. V Stocker out of Des Moines, today. A mid-'80s Malibu wagon.
As you can imagine, drag racing was pretty much "my life" at that time, so
I made it up to Marion many times in the '60s and '70s, and always had a good time there. Another fun drag strip back then was the very busy "North East Iowa Timing Association (N.E.I.T.A.) strip at Cedar Falls/Waterloo. I remember points races there that were so well-atttended that they seemd like "mini-nationals." That was Jerry Stealy's home strip; MORE fast Pontiacs...
Speaking of fast Pontiacs, there was an NHRA national record-holding, single 4bbl, 400 GTO C Stock stick car from Minneapolis called "LIMEFIRE" (guess what color it was...) that used to come down to N.E.I.T.A and terrorize the locals, running 12.60's... Wonder if Arnie and that car ever squared off??? I believe it was a '67 model. Gorgeous car...
Al, thanks for the corrections on my classification error; I should have known that Hemi car of Larry's was an "A", not a "B."
Did either of you ever see the "TENSION" team car ('57 Chevy 2 door HT) run? It was white, with the word "TENSION" in big red letters on the door, with wavy horizontal lines that appeared to be vibrating from the stress... (tension).
The driver's name was Fred Anderson, and the car was out of Omaha. These guys were F-A-S-T.... and way ahead of their time. They all wore white, tailored overalls, with the "TENSION" logo on the back, and ran it like a truly professional operation.
They came over to our track (Des Moines) and ran some 13.30s in D/S, which was really fast for the time.
I just thought they might have showed up at Thunder Valley, sometime... They raced a lot. It was a 270hp. 4=speed car. Classic Junior Stocker....
Thanks again for all the good info;;; I apolgize for the errors.... Most of that stuff was, as you say, 35 years ago and more... and, frankly, I've slept since then!
