Congrats Terry Pearson

[racer4919]

Way to go Terry, it just goes to show you , if you aren't there you sure can't win the thing. Congrats again. Wayne Winfield

[bill dedman]

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!

[JRyan]

Terry,

I'm sorry your congratulatory thread has deteriorated into a history lesson, but you were part of it.

Bill,

Yes I remember most of that. In fact, if I remember correctly, the Hall's ran the NEITA track in the 60's. Their son-in-law and daughter were in Ft. Hood TX while I was there and I spent most of my spare time at their house. Lot's of pictures of the track and the Willy's pickup that they ran.

You're right. That '67 GTO was way ahead of it's time for ET. They held the record a couple of times and are referred to in a special Pontiac publication from way back (Don Kennedy - ??)

The "Tension" team showed up at Thunder Valley on a regular basis. Someone recently had a bunch of old photos from Thunder Valley in the '70's and there was a great picture showing the dizzying affect of the TENSION graphics. Even in the picture it was noticable. Great times and NO MONEY. It was still fun though.

Jerry

[bill dedman]

Jerry,

I was at Ft. Hood in '62. They had an impromptu drag strip at "The Railhead," that stretch of asphalt beside the railroad tracks where they unloaded tanks and A.P.C's off the flat-cars. They had a flagman at the starting line and a guy with a stopwatch at the finish line. He used some hi-powered binoculars and watched the starter, and clicked his stopwatch to start it when he saw the flag go up, and clicked it off when they went by the finish-line, where he was. Not exactly Chrondek, but it gave the guys something to argue about... LOL!

They ran every Sunday, if I remember correctly... There was a guy there who had a '39 Willys sedan with a GMC-Blown nailhead Buick with a hydro who held the record.... low 13's, I believe. Nothing official.

Were they doing that when you were there?

I just remembered the name of the guy with the "Limefire" GTO... "Greg Murnane." Not that it matters, now...

Loved Terry Pearson's "Skunk" car... Too bad that naming cars has fallen by the wayside...

Monster Mash, The Budget Breaker, Mr. 5-and 50, Grumpy's Toy, Color Me Gone, The Strip Blazer...

Those were the days...

Thanks for listening.

[BananaMan]

Good job Terry......we were thrilled you won....see ya in Atlanta

Bob & Buggs

[JEFF ESSMANN]

wow what a history lesson you guys know how to bring back memories i used to hitch hike 14 miles just to watch every sunday the car names were the greatest, the led sled,the coaster wagon,nemisis,instant energy, orange crate, those were the days, bob hall was my auto teck instructor at hawkeye teck in 74 a freind bought his willys and turned it into a street rod and last i new it was still crusing around iowa. it was deffinatly a great time

[JRyan]

Bill,

I tried to get the Ft. Hood strip going again when I was there in '68 & '69. I couldn't get the job done so we raced the '50 Olds at Temple Academy Dragway (really neat place). However right after I left, an officer with a lot more pull than a Spec 5, managed to get the job done. I can't remember his name, but he had a '55 Chev 4-door sponsored by the Army.

Speaking of naming cars. Ron Roddel was telling me awhile back that someone was trying to come up with a name for their car, and decided that the name "Bodacious" would fit his car perfectly. Ron said, Nope, that's already been taken. That was the name of my '50 Olds that Ron drove for me in 1968 while I was becoming acquainted with the military.

Jeff,

Neat to know that you knew Bob Hall. His daughter always wished there was something else to talk about besides Drag Racing. But she made a birthday cake for me down in Ft. Hood in the shape of a dragstrip. Two cars on it, one black (the '50 Olds), and a white one (another buddies car), and she had me getting beat by the white car. Had to laugh about that, as the Olds won 17 of the 19 races I ran down there (broke in the finals of the other two).

Bob, Buggs, Hi.

Jerry

[hadtobethere]

I also say a ' Big Congrats' to Terry on his win.......my God all of you old farts from South Dakota, I remember most of the names, good times, ..............gotta go got a doctors appointment, the wheel chair service just showed up....oh **** forgot to put on pants, oh well.......

[bill dedman]

Jerry,
I'm sorry I never got to see your Olds run, as I was a big fan of those cars, having had a '49 '88', a '51 '88-A' (looked like a '50) and a '54 Super '88'. None were anything other than street cars, though; couldn't afford to blueprint them. Low 17's were par for the course for all of 'em.... about 80-mph...

As you know, Ft. Hood was roughly halfway between Dallas and Houston; Tyler was even closer, with Caddo Mills about as far as Green Valley. There was a guy in my outfit who had a '57 Plymouth with a 354 '56 Hemi "300-B" motor under the hood, hooked to a Cad-LaSalle 3-speed stick, with a 3.08 gear in the back; GREAT hi-way car!!!. Every weekend, four of us would pile into that Mopar and head for ONE of those drag strips... they were all in easy driving distance; who cared how much gas those dual quads under the hood drank; it was 31 cents a gallon for the "good stuff" ('Esso Golden Extra'... 101 octane!)

Saw a LOT of TEXAS drag racing while I was in the army... LOL!

Bill

[OLD INJUN]

Hey Al were they AC or Champion plugs ?