Team "Check Mate"

[stage1scott]

great pictures-thanks for the memories again guys!

[bill dedman]

Thanks for the great pics from Mr. Rice. Just 2 questions:
1. How much ballast does it take to put a mouse motor Vega into "D" Gas??? How small must that motor have been???

and,

2. What kind of induction system is on that Vega???

Thanks for any info...

[Mark Yacavone]

Kinda makes me feel nostalgic for Vegas .Never thought that would happen. Nice ironhead Sportster, too

[Mike Keener]

Bill...The Vega ran D/G (8.5#) with motors from 287-292 cu in so the car weighed between 2440-2482 including the driver. This was a very light (entire body acid dipped) car built by SRD and had about 300 pounds of ballast in it (a lot of it mounted forward) when we ran it. The tunnel ram was an Edelbrock TR-1Y with 660 cfm center squirter carbs that were converted to dual feed float bowls. Our engines in that day made about 2.1 HP per cu in which was pretty stout back then.

Mark...Good eye on the Sportster! I not sure if Merc still has it or not....

The partial photo of the 5,000 sq ft shop was shot by Carol Arons and we were fortunate to have shared it with Wally Booth during his AMC days. Immediately to the right of the Camaro in the back of the shop is where the dyno room was which was quite rare for drag race teams to have in those days, but AMC paid for it so...hey never look a gift horse in the mouth! Hard to believe there were only 8-10 National events in those days and of coarse we ran them all.

The Vega was a really great race car and remains my favorite Team Checkmate car to this day although I'm having fun getting used to my GT/A Cavalier. It was the second SRD car built for Carmen Rotunda and modified by Mike Fons from a Jenkins designed 3 link with under the bumper wheelie bars to a more more modern style ladder bar system with current Pro Stock type wheelie bars used in the 75-76 era.

The car ran some high 9.20's and low 30's on good tracks in decent air at 145-146 mph. It was a really fun car to drive with the Chrysler 4 speed trans and a real H pattern shifter. In 77 we put a 5 speed Nash in it with an inline shifter which may have been a tad quicker but I'm not so sure. These were the days when the Modifieds left the starting line at 9,500 RPM and were shifted right about 9200. What a rush to drive!

If anyone has any other questions about any of the Detroit Gang or the Pro Stock/ Modified/Comp days of yesteryear...feel free to ask. If I can't answer them I can usually tap another racers memory bank that can and pass it along!

Thanks to all that viewed my pass down memory lane and especially to Bob Rice for putting this together. I promised to send Bob more photos from the old days so now I just have to find them all. OK Merc...I guess I'm coming over for Christmas to look through your collection. This guy has everything stashed away for sure and stuff I probably didn't even know he had!

MK

[Bob Rice]

Arnold,
I think those wheel openings were Wally Booth inspired.
Bob Rice

Bill,
The thanks go to Mike for allowing me to scan his pictures and post them.
Bob Rice

Mark,
I?ve always had a soft spot for the Vegas. The one picture that seems to elude me though is a nice color shot of Jack Trost?s ?Vegabond?.
Bob Rice

[castle5]

my brother and i have a 68 camaro that we have drag raced since the late 80,s. mostly bracket racing with jerico. we used to go over to the checkmate car pit area. to investigate how they set up there stockers because we new from watching these guys they were no beginners like us. my brother used to say these guys have put some serious thought into everything and it looked as tho they built most rear suspension pieces in there own shop. thanks for the pics of your past. i had no idea you guys ran all those classes. no wonder we were and still are impressed .....thats keener and mercure

[Gary Smith]

Mike,

I was obsessed with Modified as a kid and was devastated when NHRA dropped the category (so much for dreaming I guess). Always wanted to be part of what you, Merc, Surles, Kopp, McDonald, Cannon, Hutchens, and a host of others did back then. IMO you and Merc were to Modified like John Force is to F/C.

Anyway I was lucky enough to see Merc debut the (I believe) '62 Vette in '79 running either B/MP or C/MP at Pomona. I remember going to OCIR on the Saturday before the Winters with dad and seeing the Vette with the motor out and Paul up to his elbows in grease and oil (and his dobermann tied to the trailer!!) I was amazed how fast he put it back together and see it run. Tom Turner/Ronnie Wong Vette and Coonce/Clark Vega were there testing as well. What a real treat that was!!!

Would love to see photos of the Vette again, if possible.

[Bob Rice]

Gary,
Here?s a link to a picture of the Corvette taken at Suffolk.
Bob Rice

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/View...070&p=66535190

[Ed Carpenter]

Mike I was born in michigan and lived there until 1982. My dad raced for about thirty years at mostly the old tri-city raceway,central michigan(mid-michigan now I think) and Ubly. One of my best memories was at central one year(I don't remember exactly) you guys were there with the 68 checkmate camaro. I think you ran D/MP. That small block was SINGIN' on the starting line. There was a A/MP 69 camaro there a you guys were outrunning it with a D car. Awesome. My old man said he thought your engines were built by diamond engineering back then. He wasn't sure. Oh yea you guys went to the final that dayonly the LEAVE the ring and pinion at the starting line.Great stuff.

Ed Carpenter

66 Chevy II

4244 SS/I

[Mike Keener]

If someone had told me this thread would have over 3,000 hits and growing I would have said they were crazy! I had no idea there was this much flavor still left for the good old days of Modified Eliminator, but who am I to argue with the success of possibly one of the greatest venues ever created in drag racing? Thanks again to all that are following this thread and I’m only too happy to keep answering everyone’s questions with great pleasure!

Thumbprint-Sorry I missed your question about Mike Fons’ current status. Mike is indeed alive and well and living in Northern MI these days. We haven’t been in touch for a while now, but I think it’s about time for us to catch up. Wally Booth, Dick Arons, Gordie Foust, and Dave Kanners are also doing very well. I speak with Dick quite a bit and try to keep in touch with Wally and Dave too. Gordie was in Detroit recently to take part in the unveiling of the hugely popular “Berger Chevrolet 69 Camaro Super Stock car that was recently restored. A great article about the restoration of the car, its history, and color photos is now on the stands in Camaro Magazine.

76 Racer-Keep us posted on what you learn from Bob about the Notch Back Vega!

Mloboda-I’m with you on seeing these types of cars do it all over again and you’re right I probably would really enjoy it more than anything I’ve done over the past many years. If it ever got started I have some good idea for rules. I think in order for it to be successful it would probably have to be heads up competition since there is already handicap/dial in versions of stick shift only stuff available now.

Don Whitmore-Most of our testing in the very early days was done at Milan which everyone knows still exists. Then about 1977-78 we switched our test sessions to Central MI Dragway aka; Mid MI Motorplex. We did run frequently at Detroit Dragway, Motor City, and Tri City in Saginaw, but that was mainly in the days (67-70) when I raced with Richard Maskin and Dave Kanners. We also used to run a bit a Ubley, Lapeer, and even crossed the border to go to Windsor Dragway every month or so during the season. Obviosly those tracks that are now closed were all pretty crude compared to todays conditions, but I wouldn't trade any of those memories. Actually I take that back about Tri City. Merc and I ran quite a bit there until they lost their Div 3 points meet somewhere around 77.

Gary-Right now the Cavalier is all White. It will have to earn it’s blue hood, etc by being a fastball. So far so good though as the car has run some low 9.30’s at 144mph in over 3,100 feet of air.

Ed-The 68 Camaro was also a favorite of mine and I had a good day with it in 74 when I won the Pop Hod Rod Race at Martin with it in D/MP. That car was sold to Frank Boyas who came all the way from Edmonton Alberta Canada to buy it in 1975. Frank raced that very same Camaro for a few years and was in the field when I won at Seattle in 76.

MK

PS Merc has some more Camaro, etc., etc., photos on the way to Bob. I'm sure he will post them as soon as he has time.