I wanted to tell the list about another tow vehicle of interest.
My old boss Bob Harris had a late 70's to 80's ( dont remember the year) GMC
front wheel drive motorhome . You might remeber them. They were olds 455
powered and had basically a olds toronodo front end under them. He bought it
from a guy used and it happened to be an empty one . When he used to run his
Monza in prostock he simply built very stable ramps and rolled the car in
the motorhome . This was of course after he had built ( read "cut") a door
in the back large enough to fit the car in . When he ran the Firebird he
simply had to take a small section out one of the bulkheads to let the nose
fit . It was so cleanly done that if you ever saw it you would NEVER know
there was a car in there. Let alone a car that would qualify at EVERY event
whether NHRA or IHRA that we would unload the car for. Finished in the top
10 in IHRA one year.
The motor home had a door in the side and a place to sit ( I would always
find myself sitting there at least ) and with me sitting there and the car
still loaded in the motorhome people at the track would always say,"How the
heck did you get that car in there ? " or "Why do you have a Weld Wheel on
your head?"
It was genius,economical, innovative, and I still am trying do things only
half as well as that guy.
Happy New Year Everyone
George in DC
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-land-speed@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-land-speed@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of William McIntyre
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2000 1:21 AM
To: land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: Tow vehicles
Greetings to the list
In the early 60's,Don Garlits towed his fuel dragster on an open
trailer using a Surburban.He had built a plywood shelf from the rear
seat to the rear doors (5-6 ft).The shelf had some mattress pads and
blankets.His kids were about 7-8 at the time and could read,play
games,and sack out on this shelf.Under the shelf was a vertical space
of 14-15 inches where Don could stash tools,fuel cans,a spare 6-71
etc.He had a luggage rack on top that could handle 4 M&H tires.
Don toured the U.S.with this rig and he was the baddest of the bad in
top fuel.I remember seeing him and thinking "how nice that he has his
family with him".
Here in the Phoenix area,Carl Grimes raced a Fiat bodied altered coupe
(Buick powered as I recall).Carl had obtained a used,mid-sized school
bus as a tow vehicle.He made a set of doors at the rear of the bus and
with a set of ramps he could roll the Fiat up into the bus and head
out.
I have to relate an anecdote about towing to and from races.
One of our local racers in the early 60's,Dale Grantham,was returning
from S.California in the wee hours of Sunday nite.Dale and his crew
were between Indio and Blythe at 2:00 AM.It took almost full throttle
to maintain 55-60 MPH.The wind often blows quite strongly at nite in
the desert and they thought that they had encountered a very strong
head wind.A motorist pulled along side and with much honking of horns
and gesturing rearward finally got the racers to look out the rear
window.The pin had come out of the drag chute on Dale's top fuel
machine.They were dragging a 16 foot ring slot parachute thru the nite
air!!!
People who don't (or did not) race lead boring lives!!!!!
Bill McIntyre
--
Bill McIntyre
IAC 3269
acromac@worldnet.att.net
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