383man
Well-Known Member
My racing history that is. It cold and slow so I thought I would tell you all about my first hotrod I got and raced. It was in 1974 when I bought a 66 Dart with a 235 hp 273 and a 4-speed. The eng was blown and I built another 273 I got and put it in the car and drove it on the street until 1977 when I built a 340 and put it in and went bracket racing with it. Here is some info on the 340 I built for it.
It was not really alot as I used stock pistons and rods but of course recon the rods and had the stock crank polished. I milled the heads .030 guessing if the 1970 340 I used was really 10.5 stock I was hoping for 11.0 comp but realize it was most likely about 10.1 comp. I used a Crower cam that was .510 & .500 lift with 300 and 284 advertised duration as they did not give @ .050 duration back in the 70's when I bought and I think it was 74 degrees of overlap as they also did not give LSA back then. The heads were stock 1970 340 heads I ported myself and I used 273 stock rockers that I put locknuts on. Ran the Holley Strip dominator intake with a 750 DP and I still remember buying that brand new 750 DP for $78 dollars in 1977 ! It was a stock 4-speed and an 8-3/4 with 4.56's and 28.5 x 9 Firestone slicks. I took out the back seat and pass seat and put carpet over it. Other then that no weight was taken out and the hood was steel which my friend put the six pack scoop on for me. It ran nice for the day and what it was and I had alot of fun bracket racing it for 4 years and even won money in it as even back then 90% of the bracket cars were auto's. But even at only low 12's and high 11's it broke a few things like a few U-joints and twisted the first driveshaft and broke two rears along with twisting the stock axles and even broke 2 stock 833 four speeds. But I launched it hard as the go pedal went to the floor when I let the clutch out. Back then I had some play money and better health to afford to fix it when I broke it. It seems a balljoint let go in the traps in April 1982 at 112 mph and rolled 6 times. I got a chopper ride to shock trauma and some broken bones and internal bleeding. But the safety seat belts kept me in the car or I may not be here today. I am not real tall and I kept the belt a tad loose so I could put my weight in the shifter when I power shifted it and because of that my stomach hit the stock steering wheel and caused internal bleeding and I slid down some and broke my ankle at the crushing firewall as I still have pins in my ankle today.
I bracket raced it from the summer of 1977 until April 10th 1982 when I took my last ride in it. Funny thing is when they took me out of the car after rolling it 6 times they said I was talking asking for my wife. But I dont remember anything other then walking around in the staging lanes waiting to race and then 12 hrs later waking up in the hospital. I dont remember any of the 12 hrs in between the crash and waking up. But I also dont remember being in any pain until after I woke up ! Ron
Here is a before pic of the car.
And after the crash pic. I was very lucky the safety belts kept me in the car !
This pic was taken 2 weeks before my crash.
One last pic as this was before I saved the cash to but the Crager Super Trick wheels for the back. I used a Hurst Super Shifter with the T handle and man I could really bang the gears fast with that shifter. Ron
It was not really alot as I used stock pistons and rods but of course recon the rods and had the stock crank polished. I milled the heads .030 guessing if the 1970 340 I used was really 10.5 stock I was hoping for 11.0 comp but realize it was most likely about 10.1 comp. I used a Crower cam that was .510 & .500 lift with 300 and 284 advertised duration as they did not give @ .050 duration back in the 70's when I bought and I think it was 74 degrees of overlap as they also did not give LSA back then. The heads were stock 1970 340 heads I ported myself and I used 273 stock rockers that I put locknuts on. Ran the Holley Strip dominator intake with a 750 DP and I still remember buying that brand new 750 DP for $78 dollars in 1977 ! It was a stock 4-speed and an 8-3/4 with 4.56's and 28.5 x 9 Firestone slicks. I took out the back seat and pass seat and put carpet over it. Other then that no weight was taken out and the hood was steel which my friend put the six pack scoop on for me. It ran nice for the day and what it was and I had alot of fun bracket racing it for 4 years and even won money in it as even back then 90% of the bracket cars were auto's. But even at only low 12's and high 11's it broke a few things like a few U-joints and twisted the first driveshaft and broke two rears along with twisting the stock axles and even broke 2 stock 833 four speeds. But I launched it hard as the go pedal went to the floor when I let the clutch out. Back then I had some play money and better health to afford to fix it when I broke it. It seems a balljoint let go in the traps in April 1982 at 112 mph and rolled 6 times. I got a chopper ride to shock trauma and some broken bones and internal bleeding. But the safety seat belts kept me in the car or I may not be here today. I am not real tall and I kept the belt a tad loose so I could put my weight in the shifter when I power shifted it and because of that my stomach hit the stock steering wheel and caused internal bleeding and I slid down some and broke my ankle at the crushing firewall as I still have pins in my ankle today.
I bracket raced it from the summer of 1977 until April 10th 1982 when I took my last ride in it. Funny thing is when they took me out of the car after rolling it 6 times they said I was talking asking for my wife. But I dont remember anything other then walking around in the staging lanes waiting to race and then 12 hrs later waking up in the hospital. I dont remember any of the 12 hrs in between the crash and waking up. But I also dont remember being in any pain until after I woke up ! Ron
Here is a before pic of the car.
And after the crash pic. I was very lucky the safety belts kept me in the car !
This pic was taken 2 weeks before my crash.
One last pic as this was before I saved the cash to but the Crager Super Trick wheels for the back. I used a Hurst Super Shifter with the T handle and man I could really bang the gears fast with that shifter. Ron
