Re: X-11 Yenkos
Rat-Pack,
Which car are you referring to as the "black car" in the above post? I am trying to piece together all of the Harrell or Harrell sponsored cars. I know the '64 Chevelle was black, and I am not sure if another car was between the Chevelle and "Retributution II". Does anyone out there have a comprehensive list of the Harrell cars, starting with his '62 409? I have so far counted 14 cars, not including cars like the Garfinkle driven or Gene Rains driven '67 stockers.
JoeC
You are right on regarding Bill Thomas, Hot Rod magazines '67 "TestCar" had a Thomas built big block as a demonstrator, beat Bill Jenkins first time out (maybe he redlighted his Chevy II out of fear), this was the fall of '66.
I went back to my archives after my above post, and found this in the December 9, 1966 DragWorld:
"The Nickey Camaro made it's debut at Lions Drag Strip and was as impressive as the Green Bay Packers' offense. The car displayed an awesome amount of raw horsepower with more to be tapped out of the powerful 427-cubic inch powereplant.
Bill Hielscher, of "Mr. Bardahl" fame and most recently honored as AHRA Driver of the Year, guided the almost all stock Camaro to a fine 11.37 and 126.40 mph. What's more is that the smooth shifting "Mr. Bardahl" thinks the car is a potential 10.50 and 130 mph car-of course that's with a good dose of Barhahl in the engine."
On the same page is an announcement:
"Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago will have Dick Harrell flying their colors on a funny Camaro, but they will also have Don Kriby's (Kirby?) blown 1967 Corvette funny car. The 427 cubic-inch car will be built at Nickey's western representative, Bill Thomas Race Cars."
The Nickey funnycar I have referred to above is all fiberglass, and was located in Anaheim, CA. Maybe Thomas farmed the work out to a local builder for Nickey, and built the drivetrain? I wonder were it ended up? I think Harrell left Nickey in the early spring of 1967, probably February-March, as the Pop HotRodding article in April shows Dick (sure looks like him) in the lead color shot of the article,with a Bill Thomas jacket on, but no name is mentioned. His last name is referred to in a small photo caption regarding traction bars in the article (an edit error if they were deleting his name). Maybe the folks at Nickey didn't want it known he left during the busy pre-season period. I think the lead time for mag articles back then was only 4-6 weeks. (interesting, the Red Nickey Camaro in this article sure looks alot like the Hot Rod "test car"????) Anyone care to comment? The Feb. '67 CarCraft article shows the Nickey facility with Dick named throughout the article.
Maybe this post has gotten off the beaten path, and a new one should be started? On the other hand, how many X-11 Harrell cars are known?
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