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Anyone like racing?

it was very unsafe at that time, Jim Clark died in that car, not long after this film was made. and it took the drivers as a whole to say, "that's it!" we are not driving these death traps any more. it was the days of lets save weight so at times they would use a 1/4-20 bolt instead of a 5/16-13, Jim Clark was all by himself at top speed in that green and yellow Lotus when it just drifted off the track and into the tree's at 180+
 
This is one of my favorite magazine covers because it features a car from one of the slower gas classes. All the gas/coupe/sedans were classed on a weight/cubic inch ratio. For D/G it was 11 pounds where A/G was around 5. B and C fell somewhere in between and E /G on the tail end.
"Tobasco" was a state of the art D/G machine That ran a 283 out of Blairs Speed Shop in So Cal. Blairs was selling/installing tube front ends and this photo was a great ad.
I saw the car run once and the driver could really handle a 4 speed.

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Why the NHRA dropped the gassers I will never know. Many of these cars ended up bracket racing and my old ride was no exception. Here it is at Bakersfield Ca. Steve Reyes, who was a longtime photographer at Fremont Dragstrip, took the photo and sent it to Hot rod Magazine.

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I ran into Bob before he sold the car in the seventies. He had a fresh motor and had replaced the 57 Pontiac rearend with a 9in. Good man.
I saw him many years later at another meet. He had another car and his son was driving. I asked him if he had ever seen the gasser again..Nope

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Before they went to bracket racing the NHRA tried the M/P series ( Modified Production ) . The idea was a street car with minor mods had a place to go and they could only run a 7 in tire. Recap 7 in cheater slicks were cheap and could be had anywhere. Like everything else the MP cars became very specialized.
Fremont had grudge racing on Friday nights. It was heads up and no classes...lots of fun. I got a handle of sorts on reading the lights and totally abusing a 4 speed.

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Im headed up to the man cave to watch F1 race in Brazil. Fast cars, many races on city streets, and top to bottom lap times only separated by a couple of seconds.
 
I didn't do well as I found the street tires hard to deal with. Others did just fine.
The two quick cars were Olds 442 that belonged to the Sanderson brothers. Mike, the youngest of the two had a convertible, and although it was the heaviest it was the fastest of the two.
Fred Sanderson was the older brother and during this time was making headers in his garage. They both lived right down the street. I think Sanderson Headers is still around but it has been sometime since Fred sold the business.

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My hands about to get into the can on the NHRA Comp Eliminator car I crew on:
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Your average NHRA race day participants ( :

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The guy with the glasses sitting on the tailgate was the guy you went to if you needed a Qjet for your racecar. The guy in front of him had a business selling Camero parts and would help sponsor your car.The guy with the red beard is yours truely. The guy in front of the SS/IA went by the handle" Speed". I can't place the person on the right. The SS/I Camero belongs to my longtime buddy who will remain nameless here.
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