There is an interesting article on bangshift.com, about the rear engined car that was built in 1969, by Woody Gilmore & Pat Foster. This is the car that crashed at Lions in Dec 1969. The photos have never been published before & show some interesting stuff. I'm sorry I don't know how to post it here on Nitromater, but it is a good read. Garlits knew about this car before he built his version of the "back motor car". I never saw the Woody car, but did see Garlits debut his car at Lions in 1971.
Woody Gilmore - Pat Foster (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Cliff
- Start date
Flashing back a bit earlier, Garlits was also very familiar with the rear engined Israeli Rocket Top Gas dragster, campaigned by the multi-cultural team of Cohen, Shapiro, Sonnenblik, and O'Brien. Based in Miami, it was a serious competitor (and winner) in Division 2 in the early and mid 1960's. No handling issues, first running a supercharged Olds, then a Chrysler B. Very light car, too. It also happens to be in Garlits' museum. Regards, ChaseThanks for posting the story, Jay.
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Chase, I remember the Golden Gator you ran. It was turbocharged & supercharged. How did that combo work out? You ran Pro Comp, right, in AA/DA? Just curious. I thought at the time, why both a turbo & a blower, but now you can buy a car with this combo (Mercedes, I think). I'm guessing the blower was for bottom end & turbo for top end??
Thanks Cliff, we campaigned three different Golden Gators from 1972 through 1982. Started out in BB/D (no Pro Comp yet) on gas, then AA/D in early Pro Comp (no alcohol classes yet), AA/DA(T) in later Pro Comp, then Top Alcohol Dragster after the split. Engine was a 464" Milodon 426 type hemi, iron heads (blew the top of the intake ports out of the aluminum heads under the spring seats), 6.71 supercharger, Schwitzer turbos. Ran 30 pounds of boost on gas, and up to 70 on alky. The supercharger would build boost on the line (clutch //Lenco), once there was load, the turbos drove the blower. Rarely turned it more than 7800 RPM. Best times were 6.60 at 206.42. Won the Division 2 Championship in 1977, runner-up two other times. Went three rounds at Indy in 1975 and 1976, but no national event wins. Won a number of divisional, national open, and regional events in NHRA, IHRA, and PRO, mostly in the Southeast. Got banned from Pro Comp in 1974 by NHRA for having "too much potential" after a first round loss at the Gators. Ran a few open Top Fuel events that year, but still burned methanol. "Allowed" to race again starting in 1975 with a #/cu.in. penalty, (which increased as time went on). No data recorders then, or a lot of stuff taken for granted now. The last car is now in Garlits' museum, just as it was when we won our final Divisional race at Bradenton in 1982. Thanks for remembering, and hope I haven't bored anyone. Chase
I agree with that. Did you see the front end on that car? It kinda reminded me of T/F cars in the 80's, but that was radical for 1969. Too bad that car didn't work. I think the Kaiser Bros out of Denver had rear engined cars then, & they went straight, just didn't win any big meets, so people kinda ignored them. When The Old Man started running a back motor car, boy did that change things!
Chase, thank you so much for the info. I loved Pro Comp & I still like Top Alky (both classes) today. I used to go to Lions on Sat night, & they would have AA/FA, Top Gas Dragster, and JR/Fuel dragsters all with their own eliminator. I loved watching those cars run. They were going maybe mid 7's at right about 200. OCIR had a class called Combo Elim, and they would run those 3 classes together, usually 16 car field, and the show would be T/F, F/C and Combo Elim. I wonder if NHRA didn't get the idea for Pro Comp from the Combo Elim races. One of my memories was watching Don Enriquez in the Adams & Enriquez A/FD run the first 6 second run for injected nitro, during a Combo race at OCIR. I never got to see you run, but I sure knew your car. It was really unique. I don't remember anyone else with that combo. I was thinking about Adams & Enriquez, who ran a twin turbo car (front engine, 392 Chrysler) for a short time. They had a problem with turbo lag, so gave up on it. too bad, cuz turbos have so much potential. Look at Pro Mod. Anyhoo, thanks again!
DrRocket
Nitro Member
For those of you who've never seen the car, here's a link to a story with pictures.
The Golden Gator Dragster
Check out the plumbing on that bad boy!
The Golden Gator Dragster
Check out the plumbing on that bad boy!
ScojoDak
Nitro Member
If that's the same car I saw run at Irwindale way back, that car had us (rescue crew) biting our nails. It was slow of the line, but start blazing the tires mid track. Driver kept it straight. Thanks for the link.
