Pro Stock. The good old days

[Rat Bastid]

I remember reading that the alleged nitrous system was in the oil pan or the oil pan rail or something like that . I also think i read that the engine was based on the low deck and B1 Heads .

Yeah, at the end it had the B1 head that they called the Pro Stock Option.

Every once in a great while you might see a set pop up.

I forget what shop was responsible for the PSO head. I’m sure they still have the programming to do the heads.

The problem is you have to start with a raw casting with no bolt hole, no spark plug holes, no chambers…nothing.

Now that I think about it you may have to start with the canted valve B1 casting to do the PSO option.

 

[Icetech]

More appropriately, "Pussy Stock".

I haven't seen prostock in 20 years or so, i assume it's like nascar where everything looks and runs the same now?

 

[RustyRatRod]

I doubt anyone doesn't cheat (cept maybe johnson way back.. his stuff was just a great design plus massive support) The cheaters make a sport interesting. like all the stuff smokey did.

I don't think Bob Glidden cheated. In fact, that was the man reason he backed out if I remember, because most everybody else was.

I think Butch Leal was another that did it right.

 

[Icetech]

I don't think Bob Glidden cheated. In fact, that was the man reason he backed out if I remember, because most everybody else was.

I think Butch Leal was another that did it right.

I loved bob as a kid.. read some articles with pics of him cutting up and brazing his heads in his garage a few years ago.. the guy was brilliant

 

[RustyRatRod]

I loved bob as a kid.. read some articles with pics of him cutting up and brazing his heads in his garage a few years ago.. the guy was brilliant

Yes he was and he was just the nicest guy and best sportsman. I loved when he raced the Pinto and Arrow both. If the Pinto didn't get you, the Arrow did. lol

 

[Icetech]

Yes he was and he was just the nicest guy and best sportsman. I loved when he raced the Pinto and Arrow both. If the Pinto didn't get you, the Arrow did. lol

I still kinda want a arrow... the pinto was very cool but the arrows somehow seem more insane

 

[Rat Bastid]

I doubt anyone doesn't cheat (cept maybe johnson way back.. his stuff was just a great design plus massive support) The cheaters make a sport interesting. like all the stuff smokey did.

WJ never cheated. Neither did Glidden. I forget which one of Glidden‘s kids that told him most guys were cheating but it was near the end of his career and he was qualifying at the bottom of the show.

So the kid hooked up the nitrous and hid it like some were and he went out and qualified close to the top of the field.

Bob made him take it off right after that but the car passed tech after that run.

I think there were a scant few not cheating. WJ, KJ and Glidden are 3 come to mind.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I still kinda want a arrow... the pinto was very cool but the arrows somehow seem more insane

I know, right? Who in their right mind wouldda ever thought a big block wouldda fit in one? I don't remember what Glidden ran, I think it was a small block, but there were several who ran big motors in them.

 

[pittsburghracer]

I won’t put a name to this but one of the guys you guys worship was heavily involved in some very shady chemistry. Research it.

Before they started the spec fuel for pro stock teams were using a F1 type fuel. Most of the top teams were running this and you could tell which ones when they started the cars. It was some very hazardous stuff. Had to be mixed and couldn't come in contact with skin. Very dangerous to be inhaled. NHRA had to do something about this so they came up with the spec fuel.

 

[Icetech]

I know, right? Who in their right mind wouldda ever thought a big block wouldda fit in one? I don't remember what Glidden ran, I think it was a small block, but there were several who ran big motors in them.

Yeah.. one comes up for sale now and then all setup for racing.. they are soo tiny..

"so it was shocking that he came to the 1979 Winternationals with a Plymouth Arrow powered by a smallblock
Mopar engine. Most trackside observers predicted it would take Glidden at least six months to sort out the new combination, but Glidden secretly had been
working on the project during the last half of 1978 and was in midseason form in Pomona, where he not only won the event but tied the national record with a low
.t. of the meet 8.49 and set top speed at 159.57 mph. Said Glidden, “We’d had a lot of success on the track with our Ford
program in 1978, but I wasn’t getting any financial support from [Ford]. Plymouth approached me during the middle of the year and offered some
money if I would switch to one of their cars.”

 

[RustyRatRod]

Yeah.. one comes up for sale now and then all setup for racing.. they are soo tiny..

"so it was shocking that he came to the 1979 Winternationals with a Plymouth Arrow powered by a smallblock
Mopar engine. Most trackside observers predicted it would take Glidden at least six months to sort out the new combination, but Glidden secretly had been
working on the project during the last half of 1978 and was in midseason form in Pomona, where he not only won the event but tied the national record with a low
.t. of the meet 8.49 and set top speed at 159.57 mph. Said Glidden, “We’d had a lot of success on the track with our Ford
program in 1978, but I wasn’t getting any financial support from [Ford]. Plymouth approached me during the middle of the year and offered some
money if I would switch to one of their cars.”

Yup, I thought I remembered a small block in that car. I was just a kid back then. But I remember a short time when they carried both cars in the trailer, too. I've seen that with my own one good eye. lol

 

[Icetech]

Yup, I thought I remembered a small block in that car. I was just a kid back then. But I remember a short time when they carried both cars in the trailer, too. I've seen that with my own one good eye. lol

Yeah, did a quick search and can't find anything bout the motor he ran in the arrow other than being a smallblock

 

[Rat Bastid]

I won’t put a name to this but one of the guys you guys worship was heavily involved in some very shady chemistry. Research it.

Before they started the spec fuel for pro stock teams were using a F1 type fuel. Most of the top teams were running this and you could tell which ones when they started the cars. It was some very hazardous stuff. Had to be mixed and couldn't come in contact with skin. Very dangerous to be inhaled. NHRA had to do something about this so they came up with the spec fuel.

I’ll say it. He’s a two time cheater and NHRA blew it off because they didn’t want to lose the sponsorship money.

JEGS.

They we’re having their own fuel blended (I have a better than 90% chance of knowing who was doing the blending but when I asked him about if he skated around on the answer…) and it was some nasty ****.

Then he got caught cheating at Seattle with the ******* worthless button shifter they all whined and cried about.

What you had (and still have and it’s worse now) was a bunch of guys (and gals) who can’t do anything but drive and they were bitching about the PS cars we “so fast” that no human could shift one quick enough.

So the morons in the glass castle in Glendora capitulated to the clowns and allowed a button to be installed installed on the top of the shifter handle. Then the gear box was air shifted. All you had to do was tap the button with a finger.

What a crock of horsehit that was.

Anyway, Jeggie was making a pass down the track at Seattle and the ESPN crew was setting up the down track cameras and whatnot. On the video (looking up the track from the finish line back towards the starting line) you could clearly hear the transmission shift and you could CLEARLY see Jeggie had both hands on the wheel the whole pass!!!

And all the guys like myself who called, wrote letter and emailed NHRA about how stupid the whole concept of not being able to shift a PS car was were vindicated that weekend.

We all KNEW they would use that system to let the ignition or some other system shift the car.

Two time cheater he is and he didn’t get a ban like Alderman did, who wasn’t a dope dealer.

NHRA is a sorry joke.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Yeah, did a quick search and can't find anything bout the motor he ran in the arrow other than being a smallblock

I can promise you one thing. It was W2'd all to hell and back. LOL

 

[Icetech]

I can promise you one thing. It was W2'd all to hell and back. LOL

Heres a shot of him lashing valves, can't see much though

 

[Rat Bastid]

Yeah, did a quick search and can't find anything bout the motor he ran in the arrow other than being a smallblock

They were 330ish inches with fully ported and welded W2 heads. It had a Holley Pro Dominator on it it.

They we’re cutting the lifter valley out of the block and putting it back in to correct the lifter bank angles. I don’t know for sure if Glidden did that work himself but I suspect he did. Paul Gentilozzi was a guy that did a lot of lifter bank angle corrects for other racers.

Also, I’m not sure if he moved the lifter bank angle all the way to 48 degrees or somewhere between 59 and 48. But they were definitely changing it.

They had 4 speed Lenco’s and the weight breaks changed so often many times the ink wasn’t even dry on the paper before they changed it again.

 

[Icetech]

They were 330ish inches with fully ported and welded W2 heads. It had a Holley Pro Dominator on it it.

They we’re cutting the lifter valley out of the block and putting it back in to correct the lifter bank angles. I don’t know for sure if Glidden did that work himself but I suspect he did. Paul Gentilozzi was a guy that did a lot of lifter bank angle corrects for other racers.

Also, I’m not sure if he moved the lifter bank angle all the way to 48 degrees or somewhere between 59 and 48. But they were definitely changing it.

They had 4 speed Lenco’s and the weight breaks changed so often many times the ink wasn’t even dry on the paper before they changed it again.

K.. i had never heard of moving a lifter valley.. that is just insane to me..

 

[Rat Bastid]

K.. i had never heard of moving a lifter valley.. that is just insane to me..

If you ever tried to run a small block MoPar to the RPM they were running you’d know why they did it.

IMO, if you have all your **** together you can reliably run 8500. After that it’s a crap shoot. Past 9k is just death on the lifters and everything else.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Heres a shot of him lashing valves, can't see much though

Back when drivers did it all. Tons of shots of Dick Landy workin on his own cars through the years. Those were real men.

 

[Icetech]

If you ever tried to run a small block MoPar to the RPM they were running you’d know why they did it.

IMO, if you have all your **** together you can reliably run 8500. After that it’s a crap shoot. Past 9k is just death on the lifters and everything else.

I get it, but being a mere mortal i would never have even thought bout moving a lifter bank... just amazing stuff.. and that's why some guys are legends

 

[pittsburghracer]

I didn’t see the right guy named yet. Lol

 

[BVoelzke]

WJ never cheated. Neither did Glidden. I forget which one of Glidden‘s kids that told him most guys were cheating but it was near the end of his career and he was qualifying at the bottom of the show.

So the kid hooked up the nitrous and hid it like some were and he went out and qualified close to the top of the field.

Bob made him take it off right after that but the car passed tech after that run.

I think there were a scant few not cheating. WJ, KJ and Glidden are 3 come to mind.

Plate hanging in my trailer.. back when Mopar used to sponsor the Summernationals at Englishtown my friend had a connection with Mopar and we used to have passes to the Mopar Hospitality tent from him I remember meeting Darrel there he was a nice genuine guy.... back in 2014 my friend an I got to run the national meet at Englishtown as part of an Index racing exhibition , before one of our time shots Pro stock was running right in front of us and somebody broke resulting in a little down time .. Allen Johnson was right in front of us .. his father Roy came up to us and started asking questions about my Dart .. I thought it was so cool !!! What a nice guy he was !... Pro Stock now reminds me of the old Nascar IROC series all the same cars just with different paint jobs.. except for Alan of course I root for him I have known him a long time , he actually did some rear housing work for me years ago and my friend crews for him on occasion , ironically that friends father is my long time Mopar mentor/ trans builder he used to work for Frank Iaconio years ago and a former employee of the machine shop that did my current motor just went to work for Frank a few weeks ago. Scott was originally from here in North Jersey I never met him but do remember him driving a Comp car for a local racer before moving to Pro Stock .

 

[Rat Bastid]

Plate hanging in my trailer.. back when Mopar used to sponsor the Summernationals at Englishtown my friend had a connection with Mopar and we used to have passes to the Mopar Hospitality tent from him I remember meeting Darrel there he was a nice genuine guy.... back in 2014 my friend an I got to run the national meet at Englishtown as part of an Index racing exhibition , before one of our time shots Pro stock was running right in front of us and somebody broke resulting in a little down time .. Allen Johnson was right in front of us .. his father Roy came up to us and started asking questions about my Dart .. I thought it was so cool !!! What a nice guy he was !... Pro Stock now reminds me of the old Nascar IROC series all the same cars just with different paint jobs.. except for Alan of course I root for him I have known him a long time , he actually did some rear housing work for me years ago and my friend crews for him on occasion , ironically that friends father and my long time Mopar mentor/ trans builder used to work for Frank Iaconio years ago and a former employee of the machine shop that did my current motor just went to work for Frank a few weeks ago. Scott was originally from here in North Jersey I never met him but do remember him driving a Comp car for a local racer before moving to Pro Stock .
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Roy and Allen Johnson are two of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

IMO Chrysler did them dirty at least twice. I don’t know that they think that but what happened and the details I was privy to says they were done dirty.

 

[Rat Bastid]

I didn’t see the right guy named yet. Lol

Hmmm, the only guy I know that was cheating with fuel was Jeg.

And the Seattle deal is settled fact.

So that’s quite interesting.

Was the fuel cheating you are talking about before or after spec fuel? And to narrow that up a bit if it was after the spec fuel rule was it when VP had the contract or was it after Sunoco got the contract?

I know the change from VP to Sunoco was a big change and a bit of a setback for all the teams but like everything else Hemi, the Hemi got hurt harder by Sunoco fuel.

IIRC, the Sunoco had a slower burn rate than VP and since the Hemi had to run more RPM than the wedge it really knocked the hell out of power on the Hemi.

 

[pittsburghracer]

Hmmm, the only guy I know that was cheating with fuel was Jeg.

And the Seattle deal is settled fact.

So that’s quite interesting.

Was the fuel cheating you are talking about before or after spec fuel? And to narrow that up a bit if it was after the spec fuel rule was it when VP had the contract or was it after Sunoco got the contract?

I know the change from VP to Sunoco was a big change and a bit of a setback for all the teams but like everything else Hemi, the Hemi got hurt harder by Sunoco fuel.

IIRC, the Sunoco had a slower burn rate than VP and since the Hemi had to run more RPM than the wedge it really knocked the hell out of power on the Hemi.

I tried to dig up some info on this on Google but I guess they aren’t old enough to know Pro Stock was ran back in the 1970’s and 1980’s.