Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

sox, strickler, vanke, jenkins, mcandless, dyno don,

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

had to post some of this great footage,

landy footage at ontario 71' supernat's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g0BsgTRXiw part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxtxJ...eature=related part 2

york US30 some dave strickler action,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydvcA_O-TNg

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Allen Peters, 4 speed without a jerico and World Champ.

Casey Miles
248H Stock?

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

He is good even after his nights of partying I miss that man.He will tell you Kevin Helms is the best..

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Garley Daniels, Coleman Roddy,Don Bowles,Mike Cannon,Cotton Perry,and.........the Grump and the infamous P&G shifter

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

I raced with as lot of all the original S/S and Pro STOCK drivers, lost a lot too.But the best of them then was Ronnei hands down. Many were realy good with the old 4 speed trans but he was the master.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Kevin Helms.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

wally booth

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

My pick would be Dwight Sutherland.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Can't argue with 3 consecutive World Championships!!!!

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

First one coming to my mind was the Bennett & Sirianni SS/I Camaro shifted by Ronnie. Another is Ken "Mr. 555" Montgomery in his Mopars. Ken Freeman's SS/C AMX was fun to watch also. I can even add Rich Oakes who is still out the shifting his car. I'll even throw in my Uncle Jim who liked to row his Z/28, then the Opel GT and a few years with the S-10 and has been threatening to put a stick back in it.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Good call there Jared. Al's car was fast and he could drive. Any idea what the status of him and his car is now? Calvert is a given. I do find it odd that my name hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet.. LOL! I always could shift but almost anyone can look good with a Jerico or G-Force. I believe the original question was intended to be for pre aftermarket transmissions. Most of the top names of that era have been mentioned.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

I think the original question was what was the best 4-speed CAR, so I'll say one of the 1968 SS/B Sox & Martin Barracudas (I understand there were a couple of them, so hard to pick THE ONE). I saw Jack Mullin's Poncho wagon at a Division 2 race in Bradenton circa 1975. That was a fun car to watch. It broke the driveline in the final that night. I agree that the winner should be one with the OEM transmissions and not the newer design transmissions. I understand McCandless and Carlton were very good "rowers" as well. Many of the early PS cars should be included at the top of the list. $.02.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Clutchman ;-)

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Seriously now,, Joe DeLorenzo , seen here @ about 3:15 in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wUngQG3jAI


Joey said you have to stand up in the seat and rock back and forth between the clutch and shifter...You had to know him to appreciate that comment..

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Don't forget Dickie "Silly Bear" Ogles or Joe Moore no fancy trans. and using a pedal.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Having raced only 4-speeds my entire life and associating with many, many excellent stick drivers, my top three are S.E. Buchanan (coolest under pressure), Kevin Helms, and Herb McCandless. Ronnie Sox is the most well-known and publicized.

I have known or observed 90+% of the drivers mentioned in this thread and they should all be applauded for jobs well done. I also want to acknowledge several that I have appreciated over the years not yet mentioned:

1. Dennis Oliver
2. Steve Ficacci
3. Kenny Schindler
4. John Calvert
5. Kent Hanley

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Ray Paquet
Paul Adams

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Jim Hughes

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

I wish I'd seen JImmy Bridges rowing through the gears with his 283 powered Super Stockers...who knows, the planet's still turning.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

My first trip to a dragstrip was in 1962, so I was fortunate enough to see all of the great Super Stock and A/FX drivers which led to the creation of Pro Stock in 1970. My vote goes to Ronnie Sox with "Dyno" Don Nicholson second. Ronnie Sox was so good that when the Lenco transmission was introduced to Pro Stock in the 70s, his car slowed down. Most cars went quicker; his was he only one that slowed; that's a true story and that's how good Ronnie was with a 4 speed.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Jenkins himself called Strickler the best.
Ronnie Sox had quite the reputation.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Don't ever forget Lee Sheppards Maverick with the Chevy

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Brad Zaskowski

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

X2 on the Jerico and G-Force transmissions.

My brother had a 71 Chevelle back in the mid 70's with a small block. Low 12 sec street car. Pretty fast in it's day. I spent most Saturday mornings taking those Muncie transmissions out of the car because they were broke. If we were lucky, it would make it through Saturday night. Big brother was hard on parts.There wasn't a part in a trans he didn't break. Broke the shifter off the tailhousing several times. Then he would shift gears by pushing and pulling the rods by hand to get home.

He finally lost his license (surprise) and I became chauffeur. I was good enough or lucky enough to never have broken a trans in that car, but I do remember how hard I had to pull that shifter to get it into gear and how important it was to get it completely in gear while still holding the gas petal to the floor. H-pattern shifter at that. 3200# pressure plate.

If you miss a shift with a G-Force, you have something broke or out of adjustment.

------------------------------------------------------------

Andy Stone 1102 A/S 1112 SS/C

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

I believe you would have to divide the selection up between drivers of modified stock trannys and drivers of race manual trannys. Completely different animal . Ronnie Sox was an artist at shifting a manual trans.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

If we're talking 3 speeds, Terry Hardy was one of the best.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

I would have to agree that modern racing transmissions have kinda made comparisons hard, but in my opinion Kevin Helms and 3 world championships is probably the most impressive stick shift accomplishment.


Jeff

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

I believe this says it all!

There are no absolutes in life, but the claim that Ronnie Sox was the greatest four-speed driver that ever lived comes pretty close. The longtime racing partner of Buddy Martin was the winningest Pro Stock driver (with nine victories in 23 events) during the short-lived four-speed era (1970-72), and he also claimed six additional Super Stock victories from 1967 to 1969. His skills as a four-speed driver in match races, ranging from his lumbering full-sized Chevys in the early 1960s to his injected, nitro-burning Barracuda Funny Car in 1966, are also part of drag racing lore.

But perhaps the best measuring stick for Sox's shifting talents came in 1973, the year that everybody switched to the clutchless Lenco transmissions. Many teams cited the reduced breakage as the primary reason for the move, but just about every driver went quicker with a Lenco, some picking up as much as a tenth of a second. Sox, by contrast, was the only driver whose car slowed down with a Lenco, losing a very measurable .04-second.

The science of power shifting, which is the act of changing gears with a manual transmission with the engine at wide-open throttle, is a lost art in today's world of air-shifted two-speed Powerglides. Power shifting requires the hand-foot coordination of a tap-dancing juggler because the timing of the hard yank of the shift lever must be carefully synchronized with the minimal application of the clutch pedal to prevent the over-revving of the engine. During the 1960s and early 1970s, there were a number of excellent four-speed drivers on the scene, including Don Nicholson, Butch Leal, Herb McClandless, Arlen Vanke, Bill Jenkins, and many others, but none could boast that they were better than Sox

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

I grew up watching many of those mentioned in this thread, and to be sure they were in a class by themselves, but I'm a little biased and before the Doug Nash 4+1's and the G-Forces, there was nothing like listening to the sound of a 351C in front of a top loader being shifted at 8,000(+) rpm and never missing a beat, only changing pitch with the ratios. You would swear that thing was an automatic!

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Ronnie Sox and Dave Strickler, joe, you're on drugs. vote for charlie braxton!

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

if sox did slow down going to a lenco, im sure it was not the lencos fault.more of a setup deal.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

I have to give an honorable mention to Bob Broadbent, many time winner and Division 1 All Star Representative.

One of my Pittsburgh Heroes who still races a 4 speed (with the clutch on every shift) also who I never want to race is John Kunsak.

I have watched Ed Matsko shift his Camaro (with the clutch on every shift) for many years.

Also Mr. Security Rich Feldman always a 4 speed driver who gets down the track every time with a BIG HEAVY 283 Chevy.

Other Pittsburgh non defector heroes include Jim Evanuik, Jim Henderson, and Bill Davis.

Carl Jr.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

It still goes back to the guys who could shift before aftermarket transmissions. I still clutch every gear but this is a 5 year old video which was my first season with a Jerico. Not blowing my own horn here but as stated... the Jerico makes it look easy. Getting the clutch and suspension to work together is the hard part.

http://www.streetfire.net/video/spee...ico_171985.htm

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Early days Ronnie Sox,Curent era Ed Bednaz

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

I was helping Fadely when he was running the Pinto in C/A in 73 & 74 he put Lenco in just before US Nat 1974 slowed down, We took both setups to Nat and ran back to back same day Lenco was 4 to 5 hundreds slower. When all the Clutch packs were engaged ( 4th gear) the turn over torque was hudge you could measure it with a torque wrench on output shaft.

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Gotta agree with Mr. Taylor, I never got the chance to see many of the guys mentioned but "The Good Ol Charlie Brown" wagon was an eye catcher and not who you wanted to see in the other lane! Due to the high RPM and exact same routine every pass I always could tell when Mike was cleaning the tires and staging without ever seeing the car. The 3600lb.wagon would have been the best advertisment for driveline parts money could buy lol! I started going to the IHRA races in 1981 and Mike had been running the car long before then and still does now. Mike is a great guy and his acomplishments tell the story. Don Jackson

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Hey......and let's not forget good buddy Lee Walter Siler!

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Ronnie Sox was to banging gears what Jimi Hendrix was to guitar playing; in fact, both of them were doing their thing during the same time period. Yes, there are/were other great 4-speed drivers but there was only one Ronnie (and Jimi).

The first time I saw Ronnie race was at the 1973 Summernationals; unfortunately by then most of the Pro Stockers had Lencos in them.

Check out The Boss in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ODur5EP0Ho

M68

P.S. Don't forget that Ronnie could cut a mean light too!

Re: Best 4-Speed SS Of All Time?
 

Mr. Hoover said it right.