Forum: Racing From The Past (go)
Moderators: Racing From The Past

Luther, did you notice Luther Brewers racecars is number 2 in views.

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

Warren,...I did not notice it was 2nd but that it does get a lot of hits. That probably is because it was so long ago ! Racing changed a lot over the next decade from my time. I thought it was changing fast from 50s through the 60s. Cross bar rear was just coming in my area in the mid 60s, 4 bar in last half of the 60s & front springs disappeared in the 70s. Stock frames disappeared in early 60s. The first wing I was aware of was Roy Robbins ran & won the 61 Knoxville Nationals. They were not popular until late 60s & early 70s.

Thanks Warren for all you do for the sport & it is a pleasure to a part of the discussion. I sometimes feel my comments & cars are a part of ancient history !...Luther

I'm pretty sure there are those that take notes when you comment. I bet the Ackerman advice you gave me was copied down quite a bit.

Brian,...I made a comment about the All Star-Jayhawk Championship race at Topeka in Aug 1973. My comment was the trophy dash was cars #55, #92, #29 & #99 and I would give my right arm for a picture of the 4 cars lined up for the dash. I built cars #55 & # 92.

I'm in trouble. I got an email through this site from the track photographer's son saying he had all of the negatives his dad Virgil Powell (of Powell's Photography) had accumulated. He is in the Topeka area !. ...Luther

There is not anything Ancient about what you know.You could teach alot of these guy today a thing or to. One thing when you build a part for a race car you understand it. Alot of guys today buy things and dont know why,, and it hurts them more than it helps,,,because they dont keep track of all the little things that got them there..Like you told me keeping track of all of little things makes a big difference.And it does.

I would love to have somwone like you stick there head in my car when i pulled in the pits. If its a Race car from the 60s or 70s or todays factory built cars you would be fast today because you would find a way to make it faster just like you did back then.You dont forget anything, most guys forget more than they ever learn.

They all still got 4 wheels and have to get around the turns.Them turns still win races. Tim

Win as if you are use to it.And lose as if you enjoyed 
it for a change.Its hard to get to the top and alot 
harder to stay there.

Luther, your early cars had carbs, did you run them on gas or alcohol? In then early 80's when NCRA changed over to alcohol from gas and still ran carbs, all of us had a heck of time. We did not have any carbs that were made to run on alcohol and had to have our jets drilled out. There were a lot of burned pistons until we figured out what to do.

Ray

Ray, The first car (Flathead Ford) had a 4 bbl Holly to start the season & later changed to 3 Stromburg 97s. Car #2 had a 4 bbl Holly, & car #3 had�6 Stromburg 97s. Car #4 . The cars 1, 2, & 3 ran gasoline. All after that had Hilburn Injectors & ran acohol in them.

Al Weiland ran 2 Stromburg 48s with alcohol in 62 & 63. They ran good except when there was a red flag. When the car stopped & shut the engine off, the carbs would frost up. The car would take a couple of laps to get up to speed. He brought a heavy horse blanket to the track & would cover the engine like wrapping a baby to keep the warm air around the carbs. It worked.

Stromburg 97s carbs were Ford car carbs & the Stromburg 48 was for Ford trucks. The were marked with a small round spot on the carb throat with the 48 or 97 molded on that spot. The 48 was larger but hardr to find.........Luther...(more ancient stuff ! )

Luther, I enjoy all of your informattion. When I was about 13 or 14 a mechanic that lived down the street from me had '34 Ford sedan with a '48 Merc flathead with three deuces on it,and the best sounding exhaust that I ever remember on a street car. I would wax it for rides. I lovd that car and it was not mine, sadly he got a divorce and moved away.

Ray

Luther, Is there any difference between a Ford and Merc flathead? It seems that a lot of the hotrods had Merc flatheads in them.

Ray

Ray

Not to butt in, or steal Luther's thunder, but Merc was the hot rod in the Ford Family. They were always the power leader back in the day which they got mostly with displacement. At one time, Ford flatheads were 221 ci and Merc was 239. And, Merc might have had a little higher compression than Ford, but not much as compression and breathing are fighting each other in a side valve(flathead) motor. Then Ford went to 239 also, so Merc went to 255. They did this with a 4" crank, which became the holy grail for flatheads. The blocks were basically the same. If you go to some of the flathead racing sights you will see charts giving the displacement for particular bore and stroke combos, but the ultimate, at least for drag racing was the "3/8x3/8" which I think got them to 304. This was 3/8 overbore, which you could do to a stock flathead block, but walls were getting thin, and a 3/8 stroke. I think they got this by using v8 60 rods, which had a smaller rod journal, and offset grinding the 4" Merc crank. Barney Narvarro did alot of work with flatheads, as did Vic Edelbrock sr. Narvarro is said to have turned his flatheads to 7000 at Bonneville, and they would live.

Luther is probably in route to KC. Luther said this a while back. "We will be in KC area 4/27 through 5/13 so likely won't be on the message board during that time."

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

Thanks rustyrail, I always wonder way all the hotrods had Mercury engines.

Ray

RR,

Just catching up on my reading and see Barney Navavaro's name, did you know him? I remember meeting him when I was just young kid maybe 5-6 yrs old. He was also known for running the 6cyl. Rambler motors at Indy.

RR,... Glad you answered because I didn't know. You did not steal any thunder, just tell it like it is. If I answer something incorrectly, please correct me. I am in the KC area, at a family member's house in Lee's Summit, MO. I'll be back on after the 13th........Luther

Bob Williams drove this car for Jack Cunningham most of the 68 season and all of the 69 season before Cunningham sold the car to Gary Hanna of Topeka. Bob won 46 features in 69 and I don't know how many in 68. Bob missed 4 weeks during the 69 season after his Brother Ken was killed at the Topeka track. A picture of the car )#14) on page 56 of Bob Mays "High Plains Thunder"....Luther

Luther,

If you decide to build another car, what direction are going to go?

Brian,....Probably Backwards !!...Luther

Brian, I would replicate the T Coupe since I could not find car nos 5, 6, or 8 which are the last three that I built for myself & campaigned. After I sold car #8, I wanted to scale way back because of my daughters growing up and I had been in the Postmasters job since Jan 67, I did not want to jepordize that. It was more important to me than racing. I helped Roy Hibbard during the 70 season. That was not as much pleasure as owning the car.

At that point I was very much interested in running a Champ Dirt Car in USAC. They only ran 8 to 10 shows a season then. And most of them were on Holiday week-ends; perfect for me. Greg Weld was driving Grant King's champ car (MoPar Engine) & set fast time in 6 of the races that year However, the car to beat was the "Johnny Lightning" car Al Unser drove.

I went to the USAC champ dirt races at the Sedalia in Oct that year. I looked over Grant Kings car, Vicory cars & of course the Johnny Lightning car & others. During the 100 mile race, Jerry Weld & I watched the race from the top of the announcers stand & we discussed my desire at length. He offerred any help he could.

I felt if had a chassis like Grant King built for the miles and I could build a 350 cu in (USAC allowed the larger engine for champ cars). I had the best performance in indurance with a 327 cu in that Chet Wilson had prepared the assembly for. I had blown 2 new 327 Corvette engines in 65 and took all of the good parts to him about Thanksgiving 1965. That engine was my primary engine in the T Coupe & ran it nearly all the time in 66 & 67 and until I sold the car to Jack Cunningham. That engine went with the car. It won a lot of races. Anyway, I would have bought a new 350 Corvette engine & had Chet Wilson to clearence & balance the assembly.

About 2 weeks after that USAC race, Jerry Weld was killed in a pedestrain hit & run accident. I became the replacement promoter at the Topeka Fairgrounds for the next 4 seasons. That changed my plans.

When I see Paul Martens Grant King Chap Car now, which is among my very top favorite cars today. It makes me hesitate to think how things might have been for me in racing during the the decade of the 70s....

Luther

Hi Luther,

I can still remember pushing you in with your old green Ford pickup to get no 97 High Plains Thunder started in Drexel, MO. I also remember seeing you hauling the car up to Lyle Race track just up from Drexel with that same truck just taking you sweet time. I traveled a many of miles to watch you race and enjoyed every race from Topeka Kanasa to the Knockville Iowa and yes even to Alanta Georgia.

Do you remember,

Gary Deal

Gary, What a suprise. I remember you well. I live in Daytona & have since April 2002. Have our house for sale & will move back to the Heartland when we sell. The track in Georgia was at Warren Robbins south of Macon. We went on tp Tampa for the Feb IMCA races there.

My email is; [email protected] Write sometime, Luther