Story Submitted by John C. Hill or MoparMagic Jungle Jim vs. Joe Jacono, April 1972 Those of you who are drag race fans, especially from the 60's and 70's probably fondly remember certain races. Maybe you remember a national event, or a local "class racing" show, or the "Coca Cola Calvacade of Stars", or even a booked in Funny Car match race. For me, one of my most memorable experiences was a nostalgia funny car match race between "Jungle Jim" Lieberman and Joe Jacono and his "Brief Encounter". Now let me set the stage for you as to why this particular race was so memorable to me... My family lived in New Castle, Delaware and my brother and I loved cars and drag racing. Now lucky for us, our grandmother had a farm in Conowingo, Maryland and to get there, we had to travel down Theodore Road near Rising Sun, which is the road that Cecil County Dragway is on! We literally had to travel by the "Traction Capitol of the World" every weekend when we were growing up visiting our grandmother's farm. On a cold April day in...

Story Submitted by John C. Hill or MoparMagic Virtually everyone who has an interest in automobiles knows who Richard Petty is. "The King" is considered the very best NASCAR driver fomr the early era, about the early 60s through the late 70s. Richard went on to win hundreds of NASCAR races, and multiple NASCAR Championships until his retirement from active driving in the early 90s. But, did you know for a very brief period in the mid-60's, King Richard was a drag racer? It's true, and not only was he a drag racer, but Petty Enterprises created and built one of the earliest "F/X" cars, which could arguably be considered the first Hemi powered funny car. It's also quite possible that without this particular car, the Chrysler 426 Hemi as we know it may have been eliminated from production in early 1965, never to be produced again! If this doesn't peak your interest, nothing will! So read on about "43 jr" and find out how a Plymouth Barracuda with Richard Petty at the wheel, saved the 426 Hemi from extinction. "NASCAR, If you can't outrun 'em, outlaw 'em." On...

Speedseekers is new book by German born designer and photographer Alexandra Lier. Visiting Speedweek's salt for the first time, she was hooked. Suddenly a fascination with fast cars, hot rods and customs drove her from her design studio to garages shooting top mechanics and builders or she was off to races to get more pics of the cars she loves. That passion is captured in her first book, Speedseekers Organized into five main chapters, History, Garage, Speed, Landspeed, and Style & Sound. That first chapter about history might as well say "vintage drag racing" cause the included photos are a fantastic collection of legendary racers from Wild Willie Borsch to to Big Daddy Don Garlits to a fiery burnoutin his first rear engine dragster by the legendary "TV" Tommy Ivo. I spent over an hour studying the vintage pictures, then explained some of them to my sons: "This guy held on with only one hand!" I can't get enough of nostalgia drags and the people and cars that made it great (and still do in some cases). From there, I skimmed over the Garage chapter to check out Speed....

Over at the NHRA.com site, one of my favorites, I read that the NHRA Technical Services is making all Top Fuel cars run what they're calling the "Electrimotion Safety Shutoff Controller". This new rule will be in effect for the 2009 NHRA Drag Race season. The Electrimotion Safety Shutoff Controller was designed by Dave Leahy of Electrimotion of Delaware, Ohio. Electrimotion.com has a very detailed explanation of what the box does detailed on his website in Adobe pdf form. Download the info here: Drag Race Safety Device info. The basics are that the device will: Sense manifold burst panel failure Activates the fuel shutoff, Shuts off ignition, and Deploys parachutes Pretty cool, but am I the only one that's thinking, "Its about time!" I almost can't watch drag racing since the death of Eric Medlen. I never knew him, but he seemed like a nice guy and as part of the Force Racing team, I always routed for him. Then John Force got seriously hurt and next Scott Kalitta died. I don't know all the facts, but shortening the track wouldn't have saved Scott. Shutting off the fuel and...

After accomplishing a major record in Hot Rod Magazine's Drag Week 2007, ProRides (www.goprorides.com) is about to embark on a new level of performance never seen before. Not only did ProRides head to Drag Week with the intention of beating the old record (think mid-low 8 second 1/4 mile times!), but to finish the event, driving 1,000 miles while pulling a trailer. While the bets were being placed that the clean black Camaro wouldn't even finish the week, the car shook the hot rod and race world by posting a first pass E.T. of 7.64. Truly the pass heard 'round the world! Granted, the ProRides team was as surprised as anyone, and the venture served to underscore the positive results that come from combining great companies and partnerships with a thorough process. So many have asked "what is next?" After talking to Rob Kinnan of Hot Rod Magazine at this years Drag Week, the ProRides crew had the idea of building a 6-second ET capable car to drive the grueling 1,000 mile Drag Week course. Imagine.... a 6 second ET vehicle driving 200-300 miles per day while pulling a...

Written By: Bill Stinson, published with permission. Bill wrote this story in May of 2006, but it wasn't until 2007 when I first saw the Silver 1967 (not 68) Plymouth GTX known as the Silver Bullet. The undisputed "King of Woodward Ave" drew a crowd for days at the legengary Woodward Avenue cruise and stirred up quite a controversy when there were two of them! (that's another story about the Silver Bullet) Please enjoy this story from a man who was there and knew the owner of the Silver Bullet, Jimmy Addison. The Passing of a Legend I first met Jimmy Addison around 1961. The McKay family lived down the street from me, and of the five kids in that family, there were the twins, Gloria and Gerri (Geraldine). They were (and are) about four years older than me. One of them (Gloria) had a suitor who drove a cool ’60 Chevy convertible, black with a white top, red and white interior, packin’ a hopped-up 348 4-speed. That car was named “Restless”. Jimmy and his friend Ted White raced the car on the street and at the strip and...

Please enjoy your brief, but meaningful and entertaining, look "over the shoulder" of painter Tom Fritz as he makes what I think is my favorite piece of Hot Rod Art to date (and he's got alot to like!). Over My Shoulder... Making Hot Rod Art Written By Tom Fritz (Car and Motorcycle fine art) One of the side benefits of working at my art is that I’ve been blessed with the development of an extended family of very close friends, a rich variety of both men and women who support me in my self-inflicted torture. And as sit here in front of yet another blank canvas trying to figure out the combination of what I am and what the world needs, I’m reminded of all the conversations in which I’ve been asked, how hard is it to make my art, or how long it takes me to make it — in which they try to get a handle on how I put a painting together. "...lets face it – starving can become a nuisance. ." These questions invariably come up at shows and in order to portray the illusion...

This story is written by Paul Schram. I met Paul after he left a comment at one of my first (and most read) blogs at MyRideisMe.com: The Real "Silver Bullet" - 2007 Woodward Cruise. The comment said: "True, not true, fact, fiction, legend, Only Jimmy and maybe I know. I have heard many stories..." Being a curious (and somewhat desperate) blog writer, I contacted Paul. After all, talk is cheap. Needless to say, it wasn't just talk! Paul was there. He knew the people and was a big part of the scene. I'm fortunate that this is the first of maybe 4 posts Paul will contribute about his time and his memories from Woodward Ave. back in the late 60's. Here's his first post, a bit of an introduction: Imagine being 16 years old, in love with cars and anything to do with Drag racing. Imagine living just a couple miles away from Woodward Avenue in the suburbs of Detroit. Imagine that it is 1968, the explosion of muscle cars from the Big 3 are hitting the streets of Detroit. On top of all that imagine you work at...

The first-ever SEMA Pinewood Drag Race sponsored by Fellers and DUB Publishing, was held July 25 during the SEMA Installation Banquet and Gala Fundraiser in Irvine, Calif. The benefactors are kids! SEMA combined a fun way to get SEMA members doing something they love, racing, and at the same time, give back to some important charities. All proceeds from the first SEMA Pinewood Drag Race are to be generously donated to Childhelp, a charity home for abused and at-risk kids (click here to donate); and the Victory Junction Gang, a camp developed by NASCAR racer Kyle Petty for kids with health-care needs (click here to donate). As you know, Pinewood derby racing has long been a part, for me a critical part of the Cub Scouts. I remember building a car with my dad and racing against what seemed like a million cars... when I was just a kid. We had that car flying with, probably illegal, anti-seize compound used to lubricate my highly modified wheels. Through the first couple rounds, we did great. Then, when it really mattered, a volunteer, trying to help (I think) soaked my wheels...

If you want to have some funny on the net, type in Nostalgia Drag Racing. From wild fuel altereds to stockers banging 4 speeds to top fuel funny cars, I like it all! No delay boxes or throttle stops there, just honest drag racing. I can't get enough. So stumbling around, I found Army Armstrong of The Funny Factory. You ever wonder who builds the bodies for the growing wave of nostalgia racers? You found it. The Funny Factory's got a short but impressive list of funny car bodies and it sounds like they're growing. Here's what Army had to say about his business: We were mainly racers so I guess the funny factory was kind of an accident. We mainly wanted to race a 1969 Charger bodied F/C but settled for a 1972 Vega body. Nothing against Vega's, but we really wanted to be different so the search went on for a few more months with no luck. During the search, we heard a rumor of a Charger mold hiding in Chicago. With a few phone calls we were on a road trip to get the mold... Once...

Lead and some content for this story courtesy of Ford Media. Without a doubt, John Force Racing is the team I'm routing for on Sundays. 3 of the 4 Force teams are in the Top 10 with Ashley Force at #1! Ashley made history Sunday at the NHRA Funny Car race in Las Vegas, Nev when she drove her Castrol GTX Mustang to the final round and jumped up four spots in the standings to #1. She's the first woman to ever lead the Funny Car standings after an event. It was Ashley Force’s second appearance in an event final in as many weeks and the third appearance in her last six starts. She remains the only female driver ever to reach a Funny Car final. I hope this made John Force feel a little better after failing to qualify for the Vegas race. I wonder if John's thinking of gambling instead of racing. He ended his streak of qualifying at 393 in Vegas. That mark will never be broken. John, you're still my man! In case you didn't know, Ashely's ROLLING! She was the 2007 AOL Hottest Female...

This blog, "Mayhem on Main Street" Rampage Altered Wheelbase Dart Hits the Highway was written by Steve Magnante. He took the photos too! Rather than trying to run down every driver on the information superhighway, the guys from Moparmax.com, MaxChevy.com and Dragracingonline.com pulled over to share a story with MyRideisMe.com. All three online magazines are great... That is if you like wheels up racing action! Take a look and tell'm MyRideisMe.com sent ya! Now for some altered wheelbase fun! Begin Mayhem on Main Street When is a car buildup finished? To some the answer to that question is never as continual upgrades are expected for as long as they own the car. But for me, I m the type that pretty much has a vision of what I want the car to be, how I want it to run and what I want it to look like. So when it is finished, I m the first to know. But in the case of the altered wheelbase 63 Dart I ve been chipping away at here for the last year or so, I m breaking my own rules. I've performed...