Then vs Now - What Happened?

[Ed Wright]

Your right Bill, you had to actually be fast enough to outrun the other car. I don't remember for sure which guy won which, but the Nationals were at Great bend KS (1956?), the next year they were at OKC, I think 1956 was the year Jack Zink won with his 1956 2X4 bl Pontiac, '57 or '58 Jerry Weiderman with his 1957 283" FI Chevy. Zink went on to win the Indy 500 and several locat circle track championships, Jerry got Tulsa's only 1961 409". 1962 anybody could buy one, not so in 1961. Guess you had to know somebody. Red Biscayne 2 dr sedan. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

Todd, I would post Pete's picture, but I don't know how. I'm old. I think that was the car David & Buddy borrowed the engine from. Those are all good guys. I still miss Buddy and Lee. They were all helpful even though I was doing all my own work. Too poor to buy engines. Did have a set of Lee's heads on my last car, 292" C/SM '69 Camaro. David and Bruce Allen have been very helpful to me with advice and catching up with the new stuff that has come along since I quit in 1979. Ditto Allen Patterson. Probably should have stayed quit. Not sure which is going to cause me stop this time, the economy or arthritis. Both have slowed me down a lot.

[X-TECH MAN]

Man you guys are taking me back. I just spent over an hour BS'ing about the old days with my boss instead of working..lol. Yeah Im old but went back to work for awhile. I love these old stories. Reminds me of watching "The Old Reliable" running at Aquasco speedway in 62 or 63 with a DIRT shutdown area. 118 MPH and the dirt would fly.

[bill dedman]

Ed, it wouldn't do for us to get together; we'd have to do some SERIOUS bench racing!!!

I don't know about 1956, but John Zink won the Top Stock honors at Oklahoma City in 1957 with his '57 Pontiac Chieftan 2-door sedan, sporting three two barrels on a 317HP, solid-lifter 347" motor. Ran 94mph through the mufflers on street tires with the air cleaner on... lol! That was flyin' back then!

I've always wondered why a supercharged '57 Ford didn't win that; they were WAY fast.... so fast, that NASCAR banned them, along with the '57 F.I. Chevys. A properly-prepped Torqueflite '57 Dodge D-500 would have been fast, too; it had the '56 Chrysler 354-cubic inch, "300B" motor with 2 4bbls... rated up to 355 HP in '56 with the optional (10:1) high compression pistons.

Lots of stuff goin' on back then that I didn't find out about 'til later.

[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

Ed, it wouldn't do for us to get together; we'd have to do some SERIOUS bench racing!!!

I don't know about 1956, but John Zink won the Top Stock honors at Oklahoma City in 1957 with his '57 Pontiac Chieftan 2-door sedan, sporting three two barrels on a 317HP, solid-lifter 347" motor. Ran 94mph through the mufflers on street tires with the air cleaner on... lol! That was flyin' back then!

I've always wondered why a supercharged '57 Ford didn't win that; they were WAY fast.... so fast, that NASCAR banned them, along with the '57 F.I. Chevys. A properly-prepped Torqueflite '57 Dodge D-500 would have been fast, too; it had the '56 Chrysler 354-cubic inch, "300B" motor with 2 4bbls... rated up to 355 HP in '56 with the optional (10:1) high compression pistons.

Lots of stuff goin' on back then that I didn't find out about 'til later.

I had a '55 Dodge Hemi in a '48 Plymouth my senior year of high school. Thought it was fast until I bought my first V8 Chevy, 1956 4bl manual trans. Got it to go 15.0s, thought it was bad-fast. 4.56 gears and Atlas Butyl tires did wonders for it.

Hmm, I was told the Pontiac had 2 4bls, too young then to have seen it. Still in Jr High (called Middle School now) I did know Jerry, but not until he got the 409". 1961 model, the year I graduated, and started racing at the track. He is retired as a fishing guide in Texas last I heard. Jack Zink, I'm not sure he is still alive. Used to have a museum at the Zink Ranch, not too far from my house. Had an Indy wining car there (Offy power), and another Indy car with a sbc he played with on his own asphalt oval track at his ranch. Bennie Osborn, Top Fuel World Finals winner, when they were held here at Tulsa (1967 or 1968?) lives a couple miles from my house also. Still see him a lot. Bob Creitz (Creitz & Geer, Creitz & fill in the blank over the years, Top Fuel) is still around. Bob was by here (my shop) a few weeks ago. Everybody is getting old. Bob is over 70, Bennie just turned 70. I'm the kid, and I just turned 65. It sucks, too.