Drag Racing Online - New Jersey Newsl

THREE TIMES IS A CHARM

When I worked at CAR CRAFT Magazine in the late '60s/early '70s, a lot of funny and bizarre things happened. One involved a new Hemi Barracuda that Plymouth sold to CAR CRAFT for a reported $1, in exchange for CAR CRAFT running a three month, three-article, tech buildup series in the magazine. Then the car was to be given away by Petersen Publishing as part of a subscription promotion. The car started stock, then was blueprinted, and eventually brought to, what (?), SS/DA condition before being raffled off.

Getting manufacturers and aftermarket parts people to kick with free parts was never a problem as it was great "FREE" advertising for them. However the situation at the magazines was that there was never any budget to pay mechanics, painters, etc. for their time to work on project cars. But if you promised them "ink," usually somebody could be hornswaggled into working on the car. Many car magazine writers don't know which end of a wrench to hold, so finding a guy or shop to flog the project in exchange for us "making them famous" was the standard drill. A well-meaning, enthusiastic guy from the San Fernando valley, whose name shall be withheld because I don't mean to cast any disparagement his direction, stepped up, and the project was off and running.

So one weekday my staff tells me the project 'Cuda is out at Irwindale Raceway during the week for some drag strip testing, and did I want to come out to the track to make a pass or two in the car.

I'm about as good a driver as I am a mechanic (I don't even know what a wrench looks like) but I jumped at the chance. So I pull up to the line with staff member "Freewheeling" Fred Gregory riding shotgun. I make a pass, but when I go through the traps and let off the throttle, to my surprise the throttle remains stuck wide open!

I reach down and rotate the ignition key one click back, which shuts off the engine but does NOT lock the steering column. I know if I turn it two clicks, it will do just that. I get back to the pits and tell the "crew" what happened and tell them "This thing needs a stronger throttle return spring."

Several months later our new Publisher Sal Fish walks into his new office on his first day of work, a Monday. He's on the job bright an early at 8 AM, ready to tackle his new job with gusto. The phone rings, and it's Chrysler Corporation calling to inquire about the accident that Cuda was involved in. What accident?

Apparently the guy who was working on the car decided to take it out in front of his shop to give it a test burnout in the parking lot. His shop is in one of those industrial parks with bay after bay of small business owners. Three or four businesses up from his shop is, you guessed it, a Ferrari tune-up shop. So he does a healthy burnout, the throttle locks wide open, and he clicks off the key TWO clicks, locking the steering wheel. The car then proceeds to do what could best be described as a three ball combination in pool, except it involves three parked Ferraris rather than billiard balls! It was $40,000 worth of insurance litigation.

A year or so later I've given up the Editor's chair at CAR CRAFT and moved across the hall to become the Editor of HOT ROD. I'm back at the Indy NHRA National Drags, at one of those then-famous HURST PERFORMANCE cocktail parties with the big shrimp and free cocktails, and a guy walks up to me and introduces himself. Apparently he's the guy who won CAR CRAFT Hemi 'Cuda in the subscription contest.

I ask him how the car is doing and he says, "Well, I took it to the drag strip to make a pass down the track, and when I went through the traps the throttle stuck wide open. The car ran off the end of the strip, and got rolled up into a large ball of metal."

I responded, "Yes, I remember the car!

If you want to talk to Terry Cook about hot rods, custom cars, or anything else e-mail to leadeast@aol.com