Yellow Bullet Forums banner

old drag photos

175K views 534 replies 131 participants last post by  67novabill 
#1 ·
Someone mentioned I should post some of my dads pictures here. I guess I just spend too much time in trash or be trashed section. They dont get too excited over the idea over there. I will try a few every day for a week and see how it goes over here. These are by no means in any order, To explain, I had 2 dads growing up, both big gear heads and racers. Ive respectfully tributed my altered to them both from there 60's version cars named Sour Grapes, and Russell & Rice.










 
See less See more
6
#61 ·
It's interesting to me that some of those funny cars had Cragar S/Ss on the rears. People these days say 11s will crack a Cragar S/S, but I've never seen it happen. Anybody else?
 
#63 ·
Good stuff! Though my uncle and his brothers campaigned a small block Chevy gasser in the South during the 60's your photos take me back to that golden time in GA. Drag Racing is great today but can't compare if you were a part of the sport in the 60's & 70's.
Keep 'em coming...
 
#65 ·
(QUOTE) ( EPR 2X10 ))
Awesome pics man! Quick question, whats the story behind the name Sour Grapes?? Keep em coming!
Chris (QUOTE)

Chris, My dad, Denny Russell, Joe Leamen, Mac Mccord, Glen Stephenson, had just finished the willys. They T&T ran the car and later were at a resturaunt having dinner. Peering out the window at the car on the trailer in primer. They were trying all day to come up with a name. One of the guys was eating a hard candy called Sour Grapes, and flipping it around in his hand. He jokingly said, thats it, Sour Grapes. My dad liked the idea and the threw the candy into the stands on the return road back after every pass.
 
#69 ·
I like looking at all the people in the back ground, very interesting stuff everywhere.



My dads willys, pictured at left is Dave Anderson. He was a family friend, he was one of the best kid teasers I remember growing up. He later bought the willys from my dad for 6 grand, 392 hemi and all. I wish you could get the same deals today. My dad used the money to pay toward his 1st funny car.

He bought the Flying Dutchman 68/69 charger and ran it in 69-70 seasons. This has been debated before about the car, it has a 68 front end and a 69 back end, I guess thats maybe something you get when your getting some help from a manufacturer and the body idea is not yet set in stone. The other mystery is the dates that my dad had the car. His album I have specifically stated 1969 as the year he 1st ran it under its new name, Sour Grapes, he kept pretty good records.




This is how Dave painted the willys, carrying the same name.



Sorry maybe a repost, great picture though. This car was track champion at Bunkerhill 3 years straight. He ran in a couple different classes depending on fuel choice. The a lot of racers would wait at the tech sign in booth to see what class he was gonna run. then they would run in a different class to avoid the wrath.

 
#75 ·
Probably the wildest car made. This is th Flying Dutchman Charger 3. It was a concept car with the thought of competing with the corvette in mind. The car was very short lived. It was unstable at about the 200 mph mark. The car made limited appearances at a few tracks. Al Vanderwoude was the owner, my dad Tom Johannsen was the driver for Al at the time. Al and another driver also made a few passes in the car, so they could try and figure out how to tame the ill handleing car. It was never resolved and the body was removed and replaced with a Maverick body. Al was a fantastic chassis builder, he tried so many off the wall things, a dare to be different guy. Almost always had a big smile going on.

Al Vanderwoude













This is the body hanging from the rafters of Grand Spalding Dodge.

 
#306 ·
Probably the wildest car made. This is th Flying Dutchman Charger 3. It was a concept car with the thought of competing with the corvette in mind. The car was very short lived. It was unstable at about the 200 mph mark. The car made limited appearances at a few tracks. Al Vanderwoude was the owner, my dad Tom Johannsen was the driver for Al at the time. Al and another driver also made a few passes in the car, so they could try and figure out how to tame the ill handleing car. It was never resolved and the body was removed and replaced with a Maverick body. Al was a fantastic chassis builder, he tried so many off the wall things, a dare to be different guy. Almost always had a big smile going on.

Al Vanderwoude













This is the body hanging from the rafters of Grand Spalding Dodge.

Wow, a Charger III

Well known BB/FC funny car driver and tuner Fred Hagan Sr. along with his partner Richie O'hara also ran one of those in the UDRA injected nitro circuit.

One of those bodies stayed up in the rafters of GSD even after they closed up until Norm finally liquidated everything there a few years ago.
 
#78 ·
One of the best threads Ive read in a very long time. Its taken me some time to get to here, LoL. A big thank-you goes out to you for sharing the photos and stories behind them. I hope you keep posting, brings back alot of memories I can relate to with my father.
Thx!!:p
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top