Mr. 4 Speed

[GrabberOrange69]

I'm watching episode 2) 53+ min.'s of Mr. 4 speed now
great video better than the 1st

I plan on watching/listening to episodes 3) & 4) after that
saved the page to my favorites too

Yep, I’ve watched 1 and 2 also, watching #3 tonight. Good story...even better with a cold beer in my hand.

 

[Budnicks]

I liked the part about when Herb ran
the 1st Firestone 14x32 tires, picked up a tenth 1st attempt
& him cutting/lathe the front torsion bars down to the size of his finger
so the car would move forward
after he did a test 50 (not 60' back then)
without the torsion bars
it ran it's best ever 50' time ever to that point
it went forward not up at launch, no (less) wasted momentum

Next race he had set the class record of 8.55 @ 151
class std. was like 8.90 at the time (73 IIRC)

I had forgot Sox & Martin org. team
who Herb drove/worked for, had closed their doors in 1974

they spent 300 days a year on the road
didn't see the wife & kids very often

just seemed like it was way after that

 

[F4R/T]

We need a section in the forum for past legends where we could add clips and photos to keep the legend alive... IMO
Akron Arnold Vanke is one that comes to mind and I’m sure there are many more. I just thought it maybe cool to have a spot for them...

 

[Budnicks]

We need a section in the forum for past legends where we could add clips and photos to keep the legend alive... IMO
Akron Arnold Vanke is one that comes to mind and I’m sure there are many more. I just thought it maybe cool to have a spot for them...

propose it to Joey...

 

[Mike McCandless]

Thank you guys, this was a labor of love, over 2+ years of work. Never imagined it would be as popular as it has been! As far as the names, Ronnie ran "The Boss" on his car forever. As mentioned, Dad was using the Mr 4 Speed name in 65 and continued it on from there. Who is the best 4 speed driver of all time? Dad will tell you if you ask him. It was likely Dyno Don. Don had the worst equipment, with no real backing from Ford. If he had resources behind him, Dad is convinced he would have been the best driver of the day.

It's just bench race talk as all of these guys provided fans with entertainment, that's what matters. Once again, thank you all for watching, it means a lot!

 

[moparedtn]

Thank you guys, this was a labor of love, over 2+ years of work. Never imagined it would be as popular as it has been! As far as the names, Ronnie ran "The Boss" on his car forever. As mentioned, Dad was using the Mr 4 Speed name in 65 and continued it on from there. Who is the best 4 speed driver of all time? Dad will tell you if you ask him. It was likely Dyno Don. Don had the worst equipment, with no real backing from Ford. If he had resources behind him, Dad is convinced he would have been the best driver of the day.

It's just bench race talk as all of these guys provided fans with entertainment, that's what matters. Once again, thank you all for watching, it means a lot!

Hey, thanks for checking in here Mike. Much appreciate that AND all your efforts on everything on behalf
of your father!

 

[F4R/T]

Mike, your dad is a legend! Thanks for visiting too! Now to propose the idea of Legends section ... Joey where are you bud? We need to put a special place for photos and stories to help keep the past fresh and available for the generations after us.. At the rate the drag strips are getting torn down we aren’t far behind...

 

[Cranky]

True stick guys respect each other and also like to race each other! I laugh watching the ones that can't make their standard transmission sound like an automatic. It ain't that dang hard with the right parts stuck together!

 

[66Satellite47]

I admired the guys that could shift. I got my 1st drag car,'65 Coronet 426 Street Wedge, 2 broken 4 spd's 1 good one and a broken 8 3/4. Knew I couldn't shift the 4 spd consistently, so in went the 727. I stuck with the 727's for bracket racing consistency. The pro's with good parts & experience sure could shift the manuals though.

 

[moparedtn]

True stick guys respect each other and also like to race each other! I laugh watching the ones that can't make their standard transmission sound like an automatic. It ain't that dang hard with the right parts stuck together!

All it takes is cubic dollars.

 

[Mike McCandless]

Dad will tell you the difference back then was volume. They raced Wednesday thru Sunday most weeks. If you come into a track that has guys racing once a month, it’s just not fair. The sheer volume of practice they had from so much racing and testing, made the difference.

 

[Cranky]

All it takes is cubic dollars.

If you know how to hunt down the parts, you can actually (or could) find nice stuff for 1/2 the price of new. It's harder to do nowadays imo but a lot of years ago I did just that. Lots of used but good stuff could be had for even cheaper. Used to buy race car projects that might have made a couple of passes because something wasn't right or they ran out of money from buying everything new for retail and that was the cheapest way to get stuff. Sell off the stuff that ya don't need or want and keep the stuff that's wanted. That took some work but wasn't afraid of that. Bought a 70 Challenger T/A that someone built a drag car out of and well....got my money back and then some on just the body after striping it down. Another car was a 70 Hemi road runner!! Yeah, most of us did some dumb stuff early on lol. Swap meets can yield some nice finds too.

 

[padam]

Just finished watching episode 4.
Outstanding series from beginning to end.

 

[Runcharger]

Great series for sure, I could watch 8 parts no problem. Must be a huge undertaking to produce. I remember buying a set of new Hemi pistons from Herb for something like $15 each back when he cleaned DC out of a few semi trailers of parts.

 

[Dave6T4]

We need a section in the forum for past legends where we could add clips and photos to keep the legend alive... IMO
Akron Arnold Vanke is one that comes to mind and I’m sure there are many more. I just thought it maybe cool to have a spot for them...

Dandy Dick Landy comes to my mind. I talked to him one year at Carlisle, and said that I drove my 1967 R/T down from near St. Thomas, Ontario. He recalled racing at nearby Sparta Dragway in the '60s and '70's and how the local owners of the strip, the Harvey's, would invite him and crew to have supper with them. He struck me as a real nice guy, and certainly a legend.

 

[moparedtn]

If you know how to hunt down the parts, you can actually (or could) find nice stuff for 1/2 the price of new. It's harder to do nowadays imo but a lot of years ago I did just that. Lots of used but good stuff could be had for even cheaper. Used to buy race car projects that might have made a couple of passes because something wasn't right or they ran out of money from buying everything new for retail and that was the cheapest way to get stuff. Sell off the stuff that ya don't need or want and keep the stuff that's wanted. That took some work but wasn't afraid of that. Bought a 70 Challenger T/A that someone built a drag car out of and well....got my money back and then some on just the body after striping it down. Another car was a 70 Hemi road runner!! Yeah, most of us did some dumb stuff early on lol. Swap meets can yield some nice finds too.

That's pretty much how I've done Fred - nickel and dime, sell off this, barter that.
Heck, I got a fresh rebuilt 18 spline for half price because I kept an eye on FB marketplace a couple weeks
and got real lucky (dude was in a bind) - and the beauty of it was I was able to talk to the shop that
rebuilt the unit, who remembered it well and I believe was honest with their description of it.

 

[66Satellite47]

In the mid '70's we had a couple guys around here building bad *** manuals. Jerry Hemmingston (Jerico) with the Ford parts and George Fluery with the GM Super T10. They were making some good stuff. I still knew I couldn't shift so I stuck with the 727's.

 

[DeltaV]