I have always been fascinated
with the myriad of car configurations that would show up at the drag strips
back in the early days of the sport.I
just read a neat story on Wediditforlove.com, by “Badco” (it’s his email user
name).I don’t think I know him but it’s
a great story on Kenny Ellis and his three wheel dragsters.Kenny probably wouldn’t remember me but I
remember him well.He was in the Army
with my racing partner Hank Bender and I raced him a couple of times during his
three wheeled days – yes, three wheels!
This thing was something
else.It was a Scotty Fenn K 88 chassis,
cleverly modified to accept only one wheel in the front and was a great piece
of engineering.Much like our cars, it
started out with a flathead and then progressed to a small block Chevy, then a
blown Chevy, then a blown Chevy with a SIX! 71 blower (the first six on a
Chevy, I think), and Ellis’s own design (Note: see Ron’s Corner; “Blowers And
The Numbering System”).He built at
least a couple of these things and if I remember right, I think he ended up
with a blown Chrysler in one of them.
See, this is the thing about the
“early” days of drag racing; it really was “run what you brung”.It was crazy and creative, and it was insane
and innovative.Can you imagine driving
a TRICYCLE! With a blown, injected Chrysler?Ellis probably couldn’t even see the front wheel because that fire
breather sitting between his legs was in the way.Yeeeeee haaaa!!What a ride!
See pics below:
You never knew what was in store
at the drags.Jim Sanders, a fireman
friend of mine, had an Ariel Square Four motorcycle engine mounted in a
go-cart.He said he would like to meet
us at San Fernando
when we ran the car so he could show us how his cart ran.The starter, Harry Hibbler, let him race
another cart to the 600 foot mark (I think we just called it “half-track” back
then).This thing hauled the freight and
Jimmy had the other cart about 10 lengths at the finish.Unknown to us he had made a very small
parachute that he had packed in his jacket and attached to the cart when he got
in.He threw out the chute at the finish
line and it was a riot.The fans loved
it so much Harry let him run again later.Like I said, you never new, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 wheels or engines, Whizzer’s
(motor powered bicycles), scooters, mopeds, motorcycles, cars, trucks, horses,
(yes Mickey Thompson had quarter horses racing dragsters); you just never
knew.It was an era we’ll never see
again.We were there and it was great,
it was drag racin’ the way it used to be.
