Oldest surviving dragster, and it was the first to 140mph, Art Chrisman's "the 25 car"

This was racing on the lakes 80 years ago. Sheesh.
Photos from http://www.blogger-index.com/feed424779.html

Generally acknowledged as the oldest surviving hot rod in existence, this historic vehicle dates back to the Muroc dry lakes competition of the 1930s. It has had just about every engine under the hood, from a Model T four-banger to an injected Chrysler Hemi.

After the car's wheelbase was stretched from its original dry lakes configuration, Art Chrisman used it to record the first quarter-mile clocking in excess of 140 mph, in Santa Ana, Calif., in 1953, and it made the first run down the track in Great Bend, Kan., during the ribbon cutting for the inaugural NHRA Nationals in 1955.

Chrisman had retired the car from competition in 1957, when he constructed his Hustler dragster, but painstakingly restored it to its original running condition.

Info from http://www.nhra.net/museum/features/feature36.html

May 14 2011 at El Mirage, dry lakes racing from start to finish in a glance

the start line is under the flag in the top center of this above photo, and the truck being pushed into position is right of center in the below photo

click on the above to see the crowded starting line in full size, and in all that mess is just one starting official that lets just one vehicle begin their pass

the above yellow panel delivery is in a"Best of" photo from last year or the year before, when I caught it on the sidelines, but never caught it running the course






Gene Winfield was on the lake again this day.





Cool little belly tanker, and I saw someone driving it about through the sidelines









First time I've ever caught a parachute popping with my camera


these two photos remind me that I was told a cars aerodynamics can be critqued by experienced pros by looking at the dust cloud it rooster tails


















quite something to bring this mobile bar to use as a tow rig






here is the gallery from last year http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/06/scandanavian-street-rod-bellytanker-was.html




















the above racecar, is on the trailer that the below photo shows is being raised about 8-12 inches to get the car off the trailer without it high centering. The guy at the bottom of the ramp is moving 4 inch blocks under the rear tires to help keep it from high centering. My guess is that ramp extenders would be a better idea.