80’s/90’s Stock and Super Stock pics

[oldskool]

"Looks like Welds and Cragar Super Tricks ruled that era in terms of wheels! Interesting to see."

Yeah, as I remember it, The Tricks were the 1st mass produced lightweight drag wheels, which were widely used by Stock/SS cars.

Just did a search & found this.

"...1970: New Super Trick Wheel is introduced..."

They were quite a bit more expensive than regular steel wheels & street legal "mag" type wheels. So, I had to stick with cheaper wheels. Bought my 1st pair of S/T front wheels in '78. Probably found a good deal on 'em, used. All the other wheels I ran that year were Cragar S/S wheels.

To save $$, I bought some Appliance brand wheels, which looked sorta similar to the S/S, from a distance, but were cheaper. On my 1st Stockers, I ran alum slot wheels on the front, & painted steel wheels on the rear. Yeah, my operation was low budget. But, the cars won quite a few area races, back then.

These pics are not of '80's-'90's cars, but show some of the different wheels that I & others used, back in the mid to late '70's & '80's. Some here may be interested - others not.

(1) I started in '73, with my '69 GTO. Had alum slots on the front & black painted steel wheels on the rear. At our local tracks, slicks were not legal. Had to be DOT legal street tires with stock type grooves. If there were any soft compound street tires, back then, I was not aware of them. But, M&H Racemaster did sell some hard rubber street legal tires. So, that's what I used.

(2) In '74, we were allowed to use a new M&H "cheater" tire. They were just like a soft compound slick, but had a couple of small grooves. These tires knocked a half sec off my ET, instantly. That season, I ran alum slot wheels front & rear.

(3) Here's a close up pic of how I remember those "cheater" tires lookin. Only used 'em in '74. They let us run 9" slicks in '75.

(4) For my girlfriend's E/SA '68 Bird, in '75, I used alum slot fronts, & black painted steel wheels with 9" slicks on the rear.

(5) For her bracket Bird, in '77, I used Appliance spoke wheels on the front & alum slots on the rear.

(6) In '78 I switched her car & mine over to all Cragar S/S wheels.

(7) Also in '78 I built another '69 GTO for another guy to drive. It used my 1st pair of Cragar Tricks, on the front.

(8] My wife's last bracket car was in '88. IIRC, it has Tricks in the rear. On the front, it had the American Racing brand version of a Trick. It was just a solid center alum wheel with no holes or slots. It had decorative rivets, so it would look similar to a Trick. Was much cheaper than a real Trick.The car had drum brakes. So, I bought 14" wheels, & the shortest tires I could find, locally.

(9) I think most competitive Stock/SS cars in the '80's had Tricks, all around, & probably ran Moroso brand front tires. This '72 GTO Super Stocker belonged to Sonny Ray. It was a nat record holder & won several national events, including the Cajuns Nats, in the '70's & '80's. My wife took this pic at the '78 Cajuns.

As for the Weld 8-hole wheels, I found this. Can't confirm.

"...weld drag lites came out in 1979 as a factory option on the fox mustang...There was also a change in design around the mid 80's. The first sets were thin in the center and the holes appeared closer together. Then the later sets had a thicker "hub" and the holes looked farther out..."

[SS BRP]

Originally Posted by oldskool

"Looks like Welds and Cragar Super Tricks ruled that era in terms of wheels! Interesting to see."

Yeah, as I remember it, The Tricks were the 1st mass produced lightweight drag wheels, which were widely used by Stock/SS cars.

Just did a search & found this.

"...1970: New Super Trick Wheel is introduced..."

They were quite a bit more expensive than regular steel wheels & street legal "mag" type wheels. So, I had to stick with cheaper wheels. Bought my 1st pair of S/T front wheels in '78. Probably found a good deal on 'em, used. All the other wheels I ran that year were Cragar S/S wheels.

To save $$, I bought some Appliance brand wheels, which looked sorta similar to the S/S, from a distance, but were cheaper. On my 1st Stockers, I ran alum slot wheels on the front, & painted steel wheels on the rear. Yeah, my operation was low budget. But, the cars won quite a few area races, back then.

These pics are not of '80's-'90's cars, but show some of the different wheels that I & others used, back in the mid to late '70's & '80's. Some here may be interested - others not.

(1) I started in '73, with my '69 GTO. Had alum slots on the front & black painted steel wheels on the rear. At our local tracks, slicks were not legal. Had to be DOT legal street tires with stock type grooves. If there were any soft compound street tires, back then, I was not aware of them. But, M&H Racemaster did sell some hard rubber street legal tires. So, that's what I used.

(2) In '74, we were allowed to use a new M&H "cheater" tire. They were just like a soft compound slick, but had a couple of small grooves. These tires knocked a half sec off my ET, instantly. That season, I ran alum slot wheels front & rear.

(3) Here's a close up pic of how I remember those "cheater" tires lookin. Only used 'em in '74. They let us run 9" slicks in '75.

(4) For my girlfriend's E/SA '68 Bird, in '75, I used alum slot fronts, & black painted steel wheels with 9" slicks on the rear.

(5) For her bracket Bird, in '77, I used Appliance spoke wheels on the front & alum slots on the rear.

(6) In '78 I switched her car & mine over to all Cragar S/S wheels.

(7) Also in '78 I built another '69 GTO for another guy to drive. It used my 1st pair of Cragar Tricks, on the front.

(8] My wife's last bracket car was in '88. IIRC, it has Tricks in the rear. On the front, it had the Appliance brand version of a Trick. It was just a solid center alum wheel with no holes or slots. It had decorative rivets, so it would look similar to a Trick. Was much cheaper than a real Trick.The car had drum brakes. So, I bought 14" wheels, & the shortest tires I could find, locally.

(9) I think most competitive Stock/SS cars in the '80's had Tricks, all around, & probably ran Moroso brand front tires. This '72 GTO Super Stocker belonged to Sonny Ray. It was a nat record holder & won several national events, including the Cajuns, in the '70's & '80's.

Just the resale value of those M&H tires alone today would be high. I was looking on Ebay earlier and saw some old 60’s Firestone drag slicks for almost $10,000!

Unbelievable pictures, thats really interesting. I hear some guys who raced Stock/Super Stock back in those days ran stock drum brakes, stock suspension, everything because there wasnt much around at the time.

If I had more money the first thing I’d buy a 1962 Dodge Polara! Id make it a period-correct Super Stock car. Those are what I remember my grandfather telling me about, then the 70’s came around and Hemis kicked everyones asses and got banned. My car that im building now is my dads old Ford Mustang from 1992.

I get inspired by the discontinued, old school stuff, hearing all the stories. I find a ton of old parts online and I buy them. Just last week I bought original Cragar Super Tricks, the guy I bought them off of said they came off of his 68 Camaro that he had in ‘72. He said they will break and bend if I drive them on the street though, apparently Super Tricks are notoriously weak, but light weight? I dont know, those are just the rumours I heard, dont want to take a chance at destroying original Cragars.

[oldskool]

"...apparently Super Tricks are notoriously weak, but light weight?..."


Cragar also made "Street Super Tricks"(SST). Those would have obviously been stronger & heavier.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/17471529745...sAAOSw-IlgShJc

IMO, those would not have been as good as the alum "fake" tricks I bought. Definitely not as light.

Those I bought for our '67 Bird were American Racing brand "Outlaw 1" wheels. They're still available.

https://www.jegs.com/p/American-Raci...32551/10002/-1

I'd posted that those wheels were Appliance brand. That was wrong. The wheels I bought in '77 were Appliance brand. But those showing on the front of the '67 Bird, in '88, were the American Racing Outlaw 1 wheels. I edited that post & made the correction.

[SS BRP]

Originally Posted by oldskool

"...apparently Super Tricks are notoriously weak, but light weight?..."


Cragar also made "Street Super Tricks"(SST). Those would have obviously been stronger & heavier.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/17471529745...sAAOSw-IlgShJc

IMO, those would not have been as good as the alum "fake" tricks I bought. Definitely not as light.

Those I bought for our '67 Bird were American Racing brand "Outlaw 1" wheels. They're still available.

https://www.jegs.com/p/American-Raci...32551/10002/-1

I'd posted that those wheels were Appliance brand. That was wrong. The wheels I bought in '77 were Appliance brand. But those showing on the front of the '67 Bird, in '88, were the American Racing Outlaw 1 wheels. I edited that post & made the correction.

I didnt know the Outlaw 1 wheels have been around for so long. What Id really like to find are Cragar’s old Weld Draglite knock-off wheel, theyre called Cragar Street Lite wheels. I think they stopped making them late 90’s or early 2000’s, im not sure. They arent even on Ebay, I think theres 1 but its too wide for my application. Never seen them in person, stuff like that.

Stuff thats crazy rare, you just never see anymore that brings people back to those memories is what I love buying for my car, its a very nostalgic time. Most I guess are lost to history, sitting on the side of Paradise Drag Strip, rotting away.

[oldskool]

"...Stuff thats crazy rare, you just never see anymore that brings people back to those memories is what I love buying for my car, its a very nostalgic time. Most I guess are lost to history, sitting on the side of Paradise Drag Strip, rotting away."

If you are really serious about buying some of the old stuff, I'd inquire in this thread, AND post ads here, in the classified section.

There are guys here that began racing back in the '50's, & have seen & lived thru it all. Most of 'em know LOTS of other long time racers. Some guys get rid of their old stuff. But, some keep stuff for a long time. Many probably have decent stuff they haven't even thought about, for years.

So, if you ask, you may be able to find exactly what you want. I think Nostalgia racing classes have been quite popular, for quite a while now. So, it may surprise you what you can find out there.

https://www.nmcadigital.com/dl/rules/nss.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1778047672226082/

[oldskool]

"...it's important to point out that Roy McKinney was the VERY first NHRA Super Stocker running in a GT class of Super Stock with a 400 cubic inch engine to run in the nines back in 1997. Roy deserves that mention..."


I've probably read that several times. But I suppose it just didn't register. I first heard of Mike & Roy McKinney, back when Mike won Stock at the '77 US Nats, in the same car that Truman Fields had won with, in '73.

And, I've had pics of the McKinney Pontiacs on my computer for several years. But, just a few minutes ago, I realized that I have a pic of that McKinney GT car that broke into the 9's, back in '97.

The 1st pic I have is from the 40th anniversary of the US Nats. From what I can find, that was in 1994 ? The car was running low 10's at that race.

The 2nd pic looks to be the same car, but with a different hood, maybe.

There have now been several 400 Pontiac powered GT cars run in the 9's. But, if that info is correct, the McKinney car was the 1st to do it. And they did it 3 years before Keri Angeles did it with a 400 powered reg SS class '69 Bird.

[oldskool]

Just started checkin YouTube for some US Nats videos.

Here's one I thought you might enjoy. It's only about 3 min long. It shows some SS qualifying from the 1983 US Nats.

Since I'm a Pontiac guy, I noticed a couple of Birds. I think the white one was driven by long time Pontiac racer Bob Michael. Couldn't ID the red one. Looked like a '74. So, it may be the H-O Racing Specialties record holder, later, when either Glen Tinsley or John Clegg owned it.

[oldskool]

2 more '74 Birds in this one. Can't ID either. Would love to see a qualifying list of that race. Anybody here have one or know where to find one ?

[oldskool]

John Clegg's '73 bird is in this one, when he was still running the SD455/stick combo. Also a white early '70's T/A I can't ID.

Most of the SS cars at that race were the popular Chevy models. But, there was a sprinklin of not so common cars. One I noticed in the 1st video I linked looked like a Comet rag top. Probably have not been too many of those run at Indy.

[oldskool]

Several Birds on this video. One looks to be the blue '68 Bird that belonged to Roy & Mike McKinney.

One was very interesting. It had Russ Abrams on the door. The front cap & trunk lid was a sort of red color. The rest was white. It looked to have a '74 nose, with a twin-scoop Formula hood. The reason it's interesting to me, is because Russ Abrams had & I think still has a '73 SD455 Bird. But, a '73 SD455 Formula came with a T/A shaker hood & scoop. So, I don't know what engine he was running in this car.