Forum: Racing From The Past (go)
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When I was in the service back in the 60's I used to go the formula and drag races near Sacramento, Cal at I believe it was the Sacramento Valley Raceway? Dick Smothers (laughin - for you younger people) is driving the white #9 car. In the left photo his is standing by his car wearing a silver helmet. This doesn't exactly fit the midwest circle racers but interesting.

There used to be a road racing track out by Keystone lake called War Bonnet race track and in the late 60s there were quite a few races ther and I remember that Dickie Smothers was interviewed on the TV about his racing career and coming to OK to race. There is a picture on this site of Pete York and Buddy Cagle racing their supers at this road track. In 67 or 68 there was a Trans Am race there and this was the Heyday of the Trans Am series. Mark Donahue in Roger Penske's Camaro won the race. The car was sponsored by the Sun Oil Co. which had a big refinery in Tulsa so Mark and Roger made all the TV stations for interviews. There were a lot of big name drivers here, Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney and several others. The penske team was very sharp, They got 21/22 gallons of gas in a 20 gallon tank and it was legal at the time. Can anybody out there guess how they did this?

Ray

I think I heard that they used very large fuel lines? Am I right?

I am sure they probably did run larger fuel lines but that is not the answer.

A outerliner around the 20 gallon tank.

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

Your thinking of the story about NASCAR and Smokey Yunick. NASCAR said his tank was illegal. He took the tank out for the inspectors and drove the car home to his shop in Daytona.

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

The Penske team found out that cooling the gas that it would contract and you could get well over 20 gallons in the 20 gallon tank. They would start chilling the gas the day before the race and their tank in the pits had a blanket around it that was filled with dry ice. I never heard how cold the gas was but I bet you could frost bite on your skin if you came into contact with it. They said that by the time the gas warmed up they had burned enough off that it would not go out the over fill. The SCCA baned this the next year.

Ray

It is the same way when you buy fuel in the summer time. They say you get less for what your paying for at the pump. It mounts to bigger losses in Diesel when your getting a hundred or so gallons.

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

I know that in the past my dad did hook up a can where the fuel was cooled with dry ice through a looping of fuel line coils. (16 driven by Dick Hendershot) It was done for performance purposes. Not sure if it worked as the can was removed later. Does cooling the fuel help performance???

Great question, I hope somebody out there knows the answer. The Penske Team was sharp and did not miss anything that would make them faster.

I went through some old magazines that i still have that my parents saved for and found a" Super Stock and Drag Illistrated" form January 1966 and it showed some drag cars with a tank with the fuel Line coiled in it that they put ice to cool that fuel. i tried to scan but the picture was faded,. That magazine had an article about the new Tulsa drag strip. It held the final NHRA World Championship Finals for the 1965 season. Maynard Rupp was the top fuel winner and Danny Ongais was the top qualifier at 7.65. i was 13 at the time. I never went to any drag races but anytime that i could get 50 cents ai would buy a car magazine.

My parents saved a lot of my stuff but we could never find my baseball cards.

Ray

This is the cover of the 1966 magazine. Ray