Agreed. Also even though the pics of Linda are public domain, maybe a good idea to just post the classy ones instead of the ones that generated the comments?

There's a big difference between viewing and thinking, and viewing and saying. I understand the overtones of all the comments - defensive and admiration. So let's just say that Linda Vaughn is one of the best ambassadors of racing past and present, and get back to the theme of the thread.

 

Well said !

 

X2



Craig Couris

 

Awesome Olds pics guys! Keep them coming!

 

I got a pic of ol Linda and I taken with my 442 a couple of years ago----everything in it looks OLD.....but we had a lot of fun talking about when our cars were new and we were young. There will never be another.

What we need now is pics of all the Olds cars that are racing on a regular basis now that have Olds power. I live in NC and only know of 2. And since the man from MD has posted so much where is that bumper dragging Olds 88 of Danny Latimores? Lots of good pics here.....

 

This one was last raced at the OCA Nationals, plan to race it at Eagle Field and PBO Fall Fest.

 

How is that thing handling now? Seems you have caught my B-Body corner curse.

 

Some Can-Am pics
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WCS
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IndyCAr
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AeroTech
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Mine
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I think this was an IMSA KellyGirl car
banditglen.jpg

 

 

 

PETE KOST SMOTHERS BROTHERS TEAM

 

Here ya goooooooooo

A better picture

Taken at Orlando Dragway (now Orlando Speed World) winter of 1973 bracket racing.


DSCN1101.jpg

 

Another one taken at Bradenton, Fla., summer of 1974, final round in Stock/Super Stock Comb. which I won by a "whisker".

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This is one of the ex-Smothers Bros. factory cars built that I bought in Lansing, MI in 1971. It was missing all of the race driveline when I bought it. Dale Smith who was the engineer in charge of Olds racing, ran the VIN and it came back as one of the factory race cars built as part of the Smothers Bros. deal. Over the winter of 1972-73 after I got all of the necessary Ram Rod parts out of Olds engineering did I build it back to a full out E/S drag car.

 

Great pictures! Thanks for uploading.

 

Spyder mags?

 

Great Can Am pics. These Can Am pictures are hard to find.

 

Yes, Motor Wheel was one of my major sponsors. I had to use those Heavy and I mean heavy Spyders till they got through testing/certifing the very light weight Flys.

BTW: The Motor Wheels Flys were the highest weight rated front wheel on the market at the time. You will notice that a lot of big car wagons had to run Keystones, steel Cargars, or Fentons. The front alumn. Cragars were only rated to 3,800 # s. Even the Spyder lug nuts and washers were heavy! When I got the Flys it shaved 34 # s off the front and 44 # s off the rear. The front Flys were rated to 4,200 # s.

 

Love the spyder's!!

 

DALE SMITH WITH PAUL MAYO

 

I am just curious about the olds in Nascar,did they still run olds mills or had they gone to chevy yet ?

 

Hey Dave Bunch---Dave Siltman here
Do you still have that racecar???
Is that the car that had the '69 front end?
Did you race it as a '68 or '69?
And finally, in '72-'73 was it in N.H.R.A. or one of the other sanctioning bodies?
O.K. one more, did you run a W-31 350 in E/S?
Very cool car and I wondered what ever happened to it. I remember seeing a "supposed" Smothers Brothers race car for sale some years ago in Hemmings. I called the first day my magazine arrived and the car had already been sold. The reason I ask about the classes in '72-'73 is because I know N.H.R.A. drastically changed the rules in the Stock Eliminator classes and my car, the "Anderson Olds" '69 W-31 was, at that time, pulled from Anderson's race program (their race program ended due to that rules change) and was sold.

 

Dave Siltman:

No, due to Dale Smith statement " if you do not buy a 78' model I have been told Olds can no longer sponsor a 10 year old car". The local dealer did not want to sponsor me anymore even if I could afford a new 78 at cost and I was raising my two daughters by myself! So I sold the car to a local speed shop in Daytona Beach.

No, 68' all the way front and rear.

As a 68' as it was lighter and due to front end having less frontial area was faster than a 69' and still ran E/S class.

Ran AHRA, IHRA, and NHRA

yes, as a 68' F-85 ram rod (W-31), 4 speed (ex-Smothers Bros. car) I found the car on a used car lot in Lansing at Drystra Ford. Drive line was missing (had a Ch**y 283 and 3 speed trans), but what caught my eye was the "hand cut holes at the front of the inner fender plates". I am thinking WTF. Took the VIN to Dale Smith and asked him to run the VIN. About a week went by and he called me to come by his office ASAP. The IBM print out had all kinds of codes. He then dropped the bomb shell and told me "where did you find this car"?. I told him and he said "go buy this thing today". The Ford dealer was whole selling the car and I got it for $437! I set 15 national records with that car, plus I won several national events and points meets, had it for 6 years, and won a pile of $$$$. I even paid off two mortgages! Gezzzzzzzs I miss that car!!!















v





















Correct NHRA put it to the stock class cars with the rule changes for 1973. Due to very low car counts at National events in Super Stock, NHRA forced the stockers to either quit racing, adapt to the new rules (no headers, must have stock manifolds, stock exhaust system to the rear bumper, no drag slicks, etc) or spend the $$$ and move up to Super Stock. Many did, I choose not to as I had just spent a lot of money building the car in late 72'. Did not know about the rule change until I got my 73' rule book in the mail. I was pi**ed to say the least. Never forgave NHRA for that. I ended up running more AHRA/IHRA races due to that, however I had to run NHRA races due to the new contracts I had with Motor Wheel, M and H tire, Speed Pro Rings, the local Olds dealer, and a local speed shop. Of course the "new 74' NHRA Rule Book" went back to the pre 73' (72') stock rules. Good old NHRA!



















































nhr

 

Very cool history right there davebw31 I love the history more than the pics

 

I always heard the NASCAR Cutlasses of this era ran Chevy motors. The white car with BRP on the side is a drag car of Pete Kost I think. That is probably the only Olds powered car in that post.I see Lattimore on the front fender. There was a Danny Lattimore that raced Olds. Olds mostly pulled the plug on NASCAR engines in 1959 with the photo finish of LEE PETTY against a Thunderbird. Nice to see all those 76 Cutlasses on the track though! They were chosen for their aerodynamic design of the time. Ive seen an AIR LIFT 69 Cutlass stock car that ran Olds power thanks to Dale Smith. IMG_0923.jpg

 

 

This car was driven by either Peter or Sal Biondo. The BRP stands for Biondo Racing Products. I think virtually all if not all of the Cutlass bodied NASCAR racers used the 350 "corporate" Chevy motor.

 

OK. I think the one the late Pete Kost raced may have been red Cutlass S of this generation now that I think about it. I got confused about that.

 

Hey, I started out confused and it got worse from there. I still may be wrong about the driver. Donald Sabin, who worked for BRP raced a white Cutlass and did very well with it. This might be that car.
Vistacruiser67, I enjoy all your photos. Thanks for posting them.

 

And Danny Lattimore is still building Olds engines in Mechanicsville, Va. I am surprised that some of these experts from the MD and VA areas haven't posted some of his cars......

 

Danny builds terrific motors. He does all Craig Couris' stuff, along with plenty of others, and Craig's cars fly.

 

Al Segar's white 72 Supreme convertible was actually a 71 SX with a dark body color converted to a 72 Supreme. They (Dik Griffin and AL were looking for a Cutlass convertible and saw the 71 SX drive by. It was owned by the wife of an Olds dealership in the Minneapolis area and she didn't want to part with it very badly but eventually a deal was struck and they had their Cutlass convertible. Al later sold the car as a street car with all 72 changes intact and a 350 in place of the 455.

 

Lattimore had a full size Olds race car for awhile and a Brown 70-72 Cutlass type Conv which was later owned by someone in Annapolis and later by Bill Bricker I think who also lived in that area.

 

I had a factory built 70' 442 W30 that every year after 70' Dale Smith sent me 71 ', then 72' grilles, tailight lens , etc to continue racing the same 70' to win points for the 71/72 manufactueres champonship points which Olds did two years in a row, when no other manufactuer ever did till then! I would place the NHRA weight sticker on the LH side of the windshield to cover the view of the VIN! lol

Thanks for posting those rare pictres of Al Seger and the Go Shop!

 

Yes, I had a 76 Firethorn red 455 Vista Cruiser that I ordered new from a local Olds dealer, Andrus Olds, in January of 1976. In 1981 I stripped off all the woodgrain and painted it entirely black. Later that Spring Jack McCormack asked me to join his fleet of race cars' I raced it from 76 through July 1982. I had taken delivery of a 1981 Cutlass from Olds on December 24th, 1981 to race and throughout the winter and early spring my friend, Bob Haughton, and I converted a 81 Cutlass Supreme Broughham 350 diesel into a race car. Bob drove the new 307 Cutlass most of the time as we worked on making it competitive and I was usuallly in the wagon until our racing contact at Olds tactfully suggested that the whole reason they had given me the car was to have me race it. The last race that I ever drove the wagon in was the 82 MileHigh Nationals. I had converted the 81 car into a 1983 Hurst Olds over the winter of 1982/83 and didn't drive the wagon at all in 1983. Bob drove it that year and in the winter of 83/84 I sold it to Danny Ashley.
The Vista Cruiser was Very good to me:
1977: Winner 77 Pop Rod Championship
1978 Won Martin NHRA points meet., R/U at 1978 Pop Rod Championship, won U.S.
Nationals.
1979 won Division 3 Stock Championship
1980 Won Martin NHRA points meet, R/U MileHigh Nationals.
1981 won NHRA Southern Nationals.
1982 Won season track championship ( a new T&E enclosed trailer)
Along the way it won numerous local Stock and ET Bracket races.

 

Dave -- Is this the SB car you ended up with?

 

vistacruiser67:

71-71 model years were basically nothing but cosmetic sheet metal changes.

71 it was major changes: bumpers, core support, grilles, headlight housings and bezels, frt. bumper center plastic shield, park and tailights, and hood with painted fender and hood trim extensions.

72 was tailight lenses and paint the headlight bezels black.

SOOooooooooooo still was using the 70' car through 72'. Sold the car in late 72 to finance the 68' ram rod race car build.

Chesrown 67 OAI:

No, probaly not. Dale Smith never told me who orignally the car was assigned too that I bought from the Lansing Ford dealership(never though to ask). Back then things like that were not vey important "like this day and age".

 

 

My 77 Street and Strip Car

 

Anybody out there know where the Lattimore convertible is that supposedly went to Annapolis? Not many Olds race cars to start with, much less a convertible, and Annapolis isn't too far from me. I do know Jack Robinson ended up with a Garey-Chesrown car and in one of the recent pics is in the far lane against Al Seger's "Cooper's Speed Shop" conv. Funny how many of those cars had "Jack Troxell" on the side. Jack was a WIZARD with that stuff and knew how to make 'em run---he also (I'm told from a pretty good source) helped Oldsmobile write the tech. pamphlet and bulletins on performance and racing "TRICKS".

 

Back in 1976/77 Jack Troxell built the last two short blocks for the 68 ram rod I was running in E/S. Prior to that I was having Wabiel build my short blocks and what a piece of crap. Not one of his short blocks lasted more than 75 runs before breaking a rod or piston. Jack offered to cut me a deal on price if I shipped him the blown up Wabiel short block, plus another good block with necessary parts. So I palatized the blown up Wabiel short block and a second block Olds sent to me and shipped them to him. I was sposored by Racing Head Service so only needed the short block machined and assembled. Why did he want the Waibiel block? So he could see "Wabiels secrets". Jack said there wasn't any, as it was just a "basic run of the mill rebuilt short block".

3rd ''break-in" run, shifting at 5800, I ran right on the record! 4th run, still short shifting at only 6200, I went 2 tenths under. 5th run shifting at 6800 I went 4 tenths under!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Final pass leaving the line at 6800 and shifting at 7000 I went 5 tenths under the record and broke in to the high elevens for the first time ever, at 11:89. Jack Troxell (The Flying Plummer) Rocks.