Slingshot Dragsters

A bunch of slingshot dragsters

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Slingshot
• Dragsters
• Old
• School
• Drag
• Race
• NHRA
• IHRA
• nostalgia

[MrGotsquashed]

The music doesn't fit at all, but those are some cool pix!!

[nothinrunslikeadeer2]

@MrGotsquashed I had to use audioswap the origional song was removed

[ero1946]

Nice pictures music sounds like shit

[Tarten46]

Drag racing has techd itself into the grave. People were entertained back in the day by all the smoke and loose insanity. The stands were full and so were the pits. Modern venues look like a ghost town by comparison. The general public dosent care about a clean pass and the latest :0001, they want thrills! Safety shmafety, as a driver i have more fun loose and on the verge of disaster than glued to the ground and uneventfull. 

[MrRonnieG]

At 0:07 is "The Mongoose," Tom McKuen.  What's interesting about this brief appearance by the Goose (circa; 1964 or 1965) are the air filters in his firesuit face mask. McKuen, I believe, was the first to have Joe Simpson (Mr. Safety Equipment) sew air filters into the mask. Prior to that, firesuit masks had a small nose vent to breath out of but any drag racing fan knows how difficult that can be, with zoomie headers blowing nitro. An idea by my favorite driver, The Mongoose, that caught on!

[MrRonnieG]

At 1:17 was Ed Pink's own top fuel car that he campaigned in 1967. Pink was one of the three "kings" of engine building in the later 60's. He joined Keith Black and Dave Zeuschel as the biggest names, turning wrenches, during that magical era of drag racing.

[MrRonnieG]

At 0:27 you have a 1,710 cubic inch V-12 Allison aircraft engine. They were monsters, and were tried more than once, without a great deal of success.

[MrRonnieG]

Wow! At 1:07 is the Chris "The Greek" Karamesines. In March '63 I made my very first trip to Lions Drag Strip in Wilmington, California (I grew up in SoCal) and The Greek was making an appearance with this very car! It was a year before "zoomie" headers even appeared! On that cold & windy March 1963 day, Karamesines ran a best of 8:20 @ 193.00 MPH but it was all this 16 year old needed to know that drag racing was for him! I lived @ SoCal dragstrips until drafted (Vietnam) in 1969.

[MrRonnieG]

I lived at Lions in the 60's, making my 1st trip there in March 1963 (age 16). At 0:08 is my all-time favorite 60's driver & car: Tom "Mongoose" McKuen burning the hides at the wheel of Lou Baney's "Yeakel Plymouth Special" top fuel dragster, campaigned out of Downey, California. By November 1964 this car, with the "Goose" in the seat, held all the top speed records at Lions with the most memorable being a 214.00 MPH blast that seemed like 514 MPH at the time! SO much fun!

[505197]

My first big meet was the 69 Nationals, the year I graduated high school. I'd wait every month for Car Craft and Hot Rod, and read about all the big names. So in 69 I drove up to Indy for the biggest show in drag racing, the Nationals. The sound of it still brings chills to me, The Nationals, it biggest baddest meet of them all. Everyone who is anyone wants to win that race, and they're all there. Hard to believeit's been that long, I'm a stock car guy, but I still hit THE NATIONALS by GOD.

[jaded16340]

@gypsyjoes the tires were "re-treads" worn out tires with new tread added to them. The tires just didn't hook, they didn't make soft sticky tires that hook up like they do now. But the other and a very big reason was because it was before the invention of the slipper clutch. They mostly used regular stickshift transmissions with regular old clutches. Slippers used sliding clutch plates that would engage one after the other down track. Ed Mculla was involved in that and led to much better times.

[MrGotsquashed]

@nothinrunslikeadeer2 I guess to utube, music wasn't made to be enjoyed. :(