Early drag racers from 1957 when they were trying to do the job with finesse instead of just bigger fuel and air pumps. Nitro methane had just been introduced about 5 years before and racers were trying to come to terms with the stuff. Both these machines pictured were set up for pump gas, not sure about the Merlin.
Above; Masters Dragliner, streamlined body with Chevrolet V8 power.
Below; Bill Hofer's Ole Smoke II, streamlined aluminum body with Chevrolet inline 6.
Bottom; Art Arfon and his Rolls Royce Merlin-powered machine. To get some idea of speeds, he had reached 157.89 mph. This was before he happened upon the idea of using a GE J-79 Jet engine instead.
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| Motor Life magazine, April, 1958 |
3 comments:
Interesting... Two mid-engined dragsters, yet we've been led to believe that Don Garlits came up with the idea.
rdguy
Arfons must have had the very devil of a time hooking up. Look at those skinny, treaded truck tires!
Bill Hofer lived in Ft Worth, TX. Hofer flew in WW2 in a B-17 bomber called "Ole Smoke", hence the name of the dragster.
The engine in Ole Smoke II featured Spalding cam, McGurk pistons, Harker manifold, Holley carbs, and reworked GMC rocker arms, and ran on 20% nitro. The chassis was a '32 Ford, and the body was bright red in colour.
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