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Super Stock: Drag Racing the Family Sedan
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Super Stock takes a look at what was, in the 1960s, the most
popular class of drag racing - factory Super Stock. It traces the
evolution of the cars, the engines, the rules, the personalities, and
many of the teams, from its beginnings in the mid-1950s through to
the 1960s and the era of the Super Stock 409s, Ramchargers, 421
Pontiacs, 406 and 427 Fords.
This was a time when Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors competed
on a weekly basis, at local drag strips throughout the country, and
the saying “...win on Sunday, sell on Monday...” had real
significance in the marketplace. This is also the period that saw
emergence of the term “musclecar” and the production of a whole
class of American automobiles – which are now the most sought
after by collectors, restorers, and performance enthusiasts.
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Click below to view sample
pages from each chapter.
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Chap. 1 - 1955-60 Racing
Chap. 2 - 1961 Drag Racing
Chap. 3 - 1962 Drag Racing
Chap. 4 - 1963 Drag Racing
Chap. 5 - 1964 Drag Racing
Chap. 6 - 1965 Drag Racing
Chap. 7 - 1966-68 Racing
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Included in this book are first person accounts of what drag racing
was really like in the early 1960s. How the manufacturers controlled
the competition and even the results of the races, and how the
sanctioning bodies attempted to control the manufacturers, who in
turn simply sidestepped the rules. Appendices include all of the
major event winners and the rules defining the classes as well as
information detailing the engines and chassis’ competing in Top
Stock categories. Also includes detailed coverage of the American
musclecar era, coverage of the famous drivers and teams of the
period and vintage photos and accounts of the early days of
American drag racing.
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Softbound
Item: CT495
Price: $27.95
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Click here to buy now!
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"It's the best, best, best, single work I've ever encountered on a
subject so dear to my heart." -- Steve Magnante, Hot Rod Magazine,
May 2002
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This is a great book and something no racing enthusiast should be without.
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1955–1960 — The Beginning
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In the early 1950s, most Americans were enjoying “the good life.” It was truly the “Happy Days” era.
Just like the television show, girls dressed in pony tails and poodle skirts while guys wore white
socks and dress shirts. Hoodlums wore jeans, T-shirts, and leather jackets. The average household
income was slightly over $6,000.00/year. Dwight D. Eisenhower became president in 1952 on a
campaign to end the fighting in Korea. He was popular with the people and was re-elected in 1956.
Rock and Roll was in its infancy, and popular hangouts were local drive-in restaurants, eating in
Dad’s car of course. There were literally no drugs and violent crime was rare. People left their
houses and cars unlocked without fear. The most common task of a small city police officer was
making sure no kids stayed out too late at night.
It was June, 1950 when the first known drag strip came to life. It was established at Orange County
Airport, near Santa Ana, California. Initially, the strip didn’t even have any class breakdowns. It was
simply “run what you brung” every Sunday; and run them they did — coupes, roadster, pipe rails
called dragsters, and stockers.
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About a year later, the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) was founded. It took three years
before the first racing classes were established by this new organization. The classes included the
all-out cars or ‘HOT’ classes for dragsters, competition coupes and roadsters, and other home-built
vehicles. The other classes were the Open Gas Coupe and Sedan classes, for modified engines
installed in stock bodied cars and stockers — lots of stockers.
There were flathead V-8 Fords of all eras. Chevy cars and trucks were powered by an overhead-
valve inline 6 cylinder engine. In 1951, Chrysler had the hemispherical head V-8 of 331 cubic
inches (a far cry from the monster motors that it would evolve into). Pontiacs had flathead inline 6s
and 8s, Buicks had overhead valve straight 8s, while Oldsmobile and Cadillac both had V-8s with
overhead valves.
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Another early ‘50s car with V-8 power
was the Cadillac. Garrott’s Pure Oil
sponsored this ‘51 Caddy for M/S class
at Magnolia Drag Strip in 1965. The
Caddy was turning ETs in the high 17-
second bracket, but was never
competitive on a national level. (Bruce
Baker)
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The hottest stockers were usually the Fords, at least until the overhead V-8s came out. Light in
weight, the flathead Ford V-8 put out plenty of horsepower compared with the inline 6- and 8-
cylinder engines of the competition. Also, Ford had many options to make a stocker go quicker,
such as lower rear end ratios and overdrive transmissions.
By 1954, the horsepower race had already started to heat up. Ford introduced the 239 cubic inch
overhead valve V-8. Chevrolet countered with multiple carburetors and introduction of the Corvette,
which was also powered by the inline 6. Even Hudson had a multiple carb, high-performance engine
that was available at the dealer — the same engine that was winning at oval tracks throughout the
South. The race for super stock had begun. It was Olds, with first the 303ci, then 324ci overhead
valve V-8, and up to 165 horsepower, that was the hottest stocker at the drag strip.
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In 1955, Rock and Roll made its debut with the big noise coming from a movie soundtrack,
Blackboard Jungle, which featured Bill Haley singing “Rock Around the Clock.” Later in the year, a
young truck driver shook up the music world with his wild gyrating antics and music: Elvis Presley. In
just a few months he would be crowned the King of Rock and Roll, although other performers such
as Little Richard and Chuck Berry would dispute that.
It was this year that NHRA finally had enough organization and recognition throughout the nation to
begin holding regional drag championships. The manufacturers fueled the fire in the stock classes
by developing high horsepower combinations for family cars available at any dealership in the
nation. The NHRA Stocker rules were simple: No modifications other than with factory available
equipment. Both standard shift and automatics ran in the same class. The exhaust system must be
complete in every way, with the spent gases routed through a complete exhaust system. Tires one
size larger than stock were permitted, but the tread had to be at least 1/8” in depth.
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Ford sought to unseat the Chevrolet Corvette as the nation’s only sports car, by introducing the
Ford Thunderbird in 1955. The T-Bird was powered by a high-performance 272ci V-8 that offered
198 horsepower with a single four-barrel carb. However, most of the T-Bird engine options were
now available in any of the regular Ford car line, with either a 3-speed standard transmission,
commonly called a 3-speed stick, or with the Ford-O-Matic automatic transmission.
Chevrolet introduced the first of the legendary small-block V-8 series of engines — a 265 cubic
inch, overhead valve V-8 that offered up to 195 horsepower with a four-barrel carb, dual exhausts,
and a solid lifter camshaft that would rev over 6000 rpms. All the 265ci engines were available in
any body style, including the ‘55 Corvette, and could be ordered with either the 3-speed stick, with
or without overdrive, and a 2-speed Powerglide automatic transmission.
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Certainly one of the more famous early
Chevy stockers was the Monster Mash
‘55 campaigned by first, Bill Spanakas,
then John Marteney. Built and
prepared by Jenkins Competition, the
car was a terror not only in I/Stock
class, but also for Little Stock
Eliminator wherever it raced, turning
times in the high 14s. Spanakas held
the National Record for I/S speed at
94.63 mph in 1965. (Author’s
Collection)
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Pontiac also came out with an overhead valve V-8 in 1955, the 287ci V-8 that was rated at 180
horsepower with a single two-barrel carb as the only carburetor setup available. However, besides
using the standard General Motors 3-speed stick as in the Chevrolets, the bigger Pontiac had a
decided advantage with automatic classes in having the 4-speed Hydra-Matic, the same
transmission used by Oldsmobile. Oldsmobile increased the cubic inches of its standard V-8 from
303ci to 324ci, with 202 horsepower available to remain the hot stocker through 1955.
The Chrysler camp had multiple entries in the stocker field, headed by the big Chrysler 300. The
300 owned the NASCAR circuit using a 331ci hemi-head engine rated at 300 horsepower. For drag
racing, Dodge offered a 270ci Red Ram hemi-head V-8 in a lighter weight sedan, which was rated
at 193 horsepower. Plymouth offered a 259ci V-8 rated at 177 horsepower, but it didn’t have hemi
heads.
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Early Oldsmobiles were competitive well into the
1960s. Sam Shinabery’s Marble Muncher ‘52
Oldsmobile, sponsored by Chesrown Olds in
Columbus, Ohio, was the winner in N/S at the ‘67
Springnationals. (Author’s Collection)
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This 1954 Oldsmobile of Wayne and Mark
Dorey competed in M/Stock at York US 30
Dragway. The ‘54 Oldsmobile engine, with
303 cubic inches and 165 horsepower, was
virtually the same car that Arnie Beswick
drove to victory at the 1955 and 1956 NHRA
Nationals. (Lee Menszak)
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By the late Summer of 1955, NHRA had the classes and competition to conduct the first National
Drag Championship. It was held at Great Bend, Kansas over the Labor Day weekend in September
1955. There were twelve divisions in the hot categories, each one broken down by cubic-inches-to-
weight ratio into four hot classes.
In Stock Division, there were just four classes, A, B, C, and D Stock; broken down by factory
advertised horsepower-to-weight ratio. The big Chrysler entries headed the top class — A Stock.
B Stock was filled with the lighter weight Olds sedans and the Chevys and Fords with the new high
horsepower V-8s. C Stock had the heavyweights such as Hudson and Cadillac, or the lower
horsepower, heavier Pontiac and Olds convertibles and station wagons. D Stock was the home of
the flathead Fords and straight 6- and 8-cylinder Chevys and Pontiacs.
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When the first NHRA Nationals was over, the fastest stocker was a ‘54 Olds sedan tuned and driven
by a farmer from Morrison, Illinois. His was a name that would by synonymous with Pontiac super
stock drag cars for decades to come: Arnie “The Farmer” Beswick. Beswick’s ‘54 Olds turned a
speed of exactly 80 mph to win B Stock. Ken Peck’s ‘53 Ford flathead won D Stock with a speed of
67.41 mph. No elapsed time was recorded for stockers.
It’s interesting to note that at this time, there was so little media interest in stocker classes that no
NHRA National Records were kept. In fact, Hot Rod Magazine coverage of the Nationals listed all
the class winners except Stock classes. When listing the various official rules and classes, Hot Rod
also listed every class except Stock. This lack of official interest in Stock classes would remain until
1960, even though the stockers would be the most prevalent class at every drag strip on every
Sunday.
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1956
In 1956, the horsepower race heated up greatly, but the results were the same. Ford upped the
cubic inches of the Thunderbird V-8 from 272ci to first 292ci, then to 312ci, and added a two four-
barrel carburetor option that resulted in a whopping 260 horsepower. Chevy countered with a
hotter solid lifter camshaft, high compression heads with bigger valves, and a two four-barrel
carburetor intake. The top of the line combination pulled 245 horsepower out of the little 265ci V-8.
The Chrysler camp offered two new sport sedans — the Dodge D-500 and the Plymouth Fury. The
Dodge had a 315ci hemi-head Red Ram V-8 that offered up to 260 horsepower. The Plymouth
Fury pulled 240 horsepower out of the bigger 303ci standard overhead valve V-8. Pontiac offered a
variety of carburetor and high-performance options in 1956, including a 285 horsepower, two four-
barrel equipped 316ci V-8. Olds opened up the 303ci engine to 324ci which gave up to 240
horsepower.
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Typical racing action in the lower
classes, this was a match between a
‘56 Pontiac street stocker and the
professionally set up Sunday-only
stocker. The ‘56 Pontiac had one of
the 216 horsepower, four barrel, 316
cubic-inch V-8s, with a Hydra-Matic
transmission. It probably had exhaust
cutouts and soft rubber tires. (Jack
Bleil)
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The Stock rules and classes remained virtually the same at NHRA strips — A Stock through D
Stock. Even though the Stock classes continued bringing in the most entrants, thus generating
the most revenue per division, the major associations and the print media continued to be
indifferent. While the major publications like Hot Rod and Motor Trend covered the big events,
they again completely ignored the Stock classes. National Records were still not kept for Stock
classes. The 1956 NHRA Nationals were again held at Great Bend, Kansas. The ‘54 Olds sedan
of Arnie “The Farmer” Beswick was the repeat top stocker at the meet.
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Next
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This has been a sample page from
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Super Stock: Drag Racing the Family Sedan
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Super Stock takes a look at what was, in the 1960s, the most
popular class of drag racing - factory Super Stock. It traces the
evolution of the cars, the engines, the rules, the personalities, and
many of the teams, from its beginnings in the mid-1950s through to
the 1960s and the era of the Super Stock 409s, Ramchargers, 421
Pontiacs, 406 and 427 Fords.
This was a time when Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors competed
on a weekly basis, at local drag strips throughout the country, and
the saying “...win on Sunday, sell on Monday...” had real
significance in the marketplace. This is also the period that saw
emergence of the term “musclecar” and the production of a whole
class of American automobiles – which are now the most sought
after by collectors, restorers, and performance enthusiasts.
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Click below to view sample
pages from each chapter.
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Chap. 1 - 1955-60 Racing
Chap. 2 - 1961 Drag Racing
Chap. 3 - 1962 Drag Racing
Chap. 4 - 1963 Drag Racing
Chap. 5 - 1964 Drag Racing
Chap. 6 - 1965 Drag Racing
Chap. 7 - 1966-68 Racing
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Included in this book are first person accounts of what drag racing
was really like in the early 1960s. How the manufacturers controlled
the competition and even the results of the races, and how the
sanctioning bodies attempted to control the manufacturers, who in
turn simply sidestepped the rules. Appendices include all of the
major event winners and the rules defining the classes as well as
information detailing the engines and chassis’ competing in Top
Stock categories. Also includes detailed coverage of the American
musclecar era, coverage of the famous drivers and teams of the
period and vintage photos and accounts of the early days of
American drag racing.
|
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|
Softbound
Item: CT495
Price: $27.95
|
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|
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Click here to buy now!
|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"It's the best, best, best, single work I've ever encountered on a
subject so dear to my heart." -- Steve Magnante, Hot Rod Magazine,
May 2002
|
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This is a great book and something no racing enthusiast should be without.
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