Drag Socks
Description: The 429 was NOT simply a 1 (or 2) cubic inch larger version of the blue oval 427 & 428 engines. It was a totally new engine from a different engine family. This design was a departure from the paradigm, utilizing thin-wall casting methods and a skirtless block to reduce weight. The Super Cobra Jet, rated at 375 HP, had a 4-bolt main block, a Holley 780 cfm 4BBL carburetor, and a larger mechanical camshaft. It was only available with a 3.91 or 4.30 rear axle ratio. In 1971, the CJ engine also used a 4-bolt main block. However, these engines were actually derated and produced power in the 440–460 HP range. This was done to deceive insurance companies (common practice in that era), so that buyers did not have to pay higher insurance rates.
Description: More American Graffiti is set over the course of four New Year's Eve holidays beginning in 1964 and tells four separate stories, one of which is that of John Milner, the head honcho of the racing scene in the first film, as his drag racing career advances. John's story follows him and the Milner Racing Team crew through a series of personal and professional ups and downs, culminating in a fatal finale. This Milner Racing Team design is a replica based on a screen used tee, ensuring it's accurate to those seen in the film.
Description: Weber Speed Equipment started out in 1945 as Weber Tool Company, making some of the first aluminum performance fly wheels. As the company continued to expand their speed parts catalog with cams, clutches, and heads, becoming increasingly popular with hot rodders and racers alike, they changed their name to Weber Speed Equipment. Aside from making high quality, extreme high-performance parts, one of their biggest claims to fame was their 'blow up proof' guarantee on their flywheels, something that was a big draw to those pushing higher horsepower and revs in the early days of drag racing.
Description: Conceived in 1959 by the Smokers Car Club of Bakersfield as sort of an East vs. West challenge, the March Meet (aka United States Fuel and Gas Championships) became much more than that. Held at Famoso Bakersfield Raceway, the event's reputation as the most fierce outlaw drag race brought competitors from coast to coast. Winning the event gave a drag racer immediate caché as the race was that tough to win in its heyday.
Description: Hurst Hemi Under Glass is the name given to a series of exhibition drag racing cars campaigned by Hurst Performance between 1965 and 1975. Each wheelstander was based on the current Plymouth Barracuda for the corresponding model year. The car was so named because the fuel injected Chrysler Hemi engine was placed under the Barracuda's exceptionally large rear window. The result of the rearward weight transfer was a "wheelie" down the length of the drag strip. The Hemi Under Glass was developed by Hurst Corporation to showcase their products in the A/FX class - precursor to funny cars. In 1965, George Hurst hired Wild Bill Shrewsberry of Mansfield, OH, an accomplished drag racer who had raced for both Mickey Thompson and Jack Crissman.
Description: Like many early drag strips, Deer Park began life as an airfield and as post-war America went crazy for drag racing, runways previously used by the military during the war effort were the perfect place to scratch that itch. After opening in 1953, it wasn’t very long before Deer Park Drag Strip was the straight line scene’s place to be in the Spokane, Washington area. The track’s history was interesting and varied, and like all drag strips, there were plenty of great and not-so-great things about the place over the years. As drivers started pushing the limits of the speeds the track could safely support, construction began on a more modern track facility, Spokane Raceway Park, ending the nearly 20-year run of Deer Park Drag Strip.
Description: Great Lakes Dragaway is a quarter mile dragstrip in the Town of Paris, Kenosha County, near Union Grove, Wisconsin. The drag strip opened in 1955, making it the 2nd oldest continuously operating drag strip in the country after Inyokern Airport closed. #1 is Redding Raceway in California, which opened in 1953. In the early days of the track, races were started by a flagman (before drag strip Christmas Trees) and cars sometimes raced four abreast.
Description: The B&M Hydro Stick became the only patented four-speed automatic racing transmission in history when it launched in 1961. Based on the popular Hydramatic line of transmissions, the B&M Hydro Stick allowed racers to manually shift their automatic transmissions. In a time when manuals ruled the track, B&M’s Hydro Stick changed the game by making it possible to keep an automatic transmission in low gear until the driver decided to upshift.
Description: Carlsbad Raceway was a motorsport facility located in Carlsbad, California that featured a ¼ mile drag strip and motocross track, which first opened in 1964. The track was popular with local street racers as it hosted Saturday afternoon grudge races where drivers could square off against their friends (and enemies) in a classic 'run what you brung' event. Motorsports activities were shut down in August 2004 and a business park was erected on the land once occupied by the raceway.
Description: Oswego Drag Raceway opened in Illinois in 1955 as one of the first purpose-built drag strips in the country. Most drag strips were built on abandoned runways, but Oswego was built from scratch by Dan and Wally Smith. The brothers had inherited the farmland it sat on from their parents. The Oswego Dragway became a go-to hangout for the youth in the greater Chicago area, but increasingly fierce competition made it much more than a hangout for diehard racers. The Oswego Drag Raceway operated until 1979 and the remnants of the drag strip can still be seen from Route 34, west of Oswego if you know where to look as you pass by.
