[benesesso]

More photos of the car will have to wait-I have to get a new SCSI card for my computer-the slide scanner only works w/SCSI.

I had always thought the car had a Hardy chassis, but I see an earlier post here that said it had a Fletcher. I've never heard of Fletcher, so maybe someone can check out my photos and let me know.

Right after we *finally* got the car back together with different colors and a few other minor changes, and against my strong advice to just run it on alky for a while to get used to it, my partners decided to haul it out to NY National Speedway for our first runs. Because I didn't have the most money invested I was supposed to get my passes after the no.1 guy (another guy named Dick). He was a pretty cool guy, but none of us had any real experience with anything over ~500 HP. NY National didn't care about any fuel/NHRA licenses-just see if the crowd likes it.

Our first run found us paired with "Broadway" Freddy DeName, but our throttle wouldn't return all the way to idle so we couldn't stage the car. I did manage to get my eyes full of burned nitro fumes, and it doesn't feel good at all!

The next week at some NHRA strip in NJ we just did a burnout while being watched by some fuel-license holder (forget who) and blew the big Olds rear. The driveshaft slammed up and smacked the seat hard, giving my partner a sore rear for a while-I couldn't understand why he didn't climb out of the car for a while after we towed it away.<g>

After that we managed a few license-passes, but the iron heads were cracking around the big valves and forcing water out some of the sand-core/freeze plugs in the block. On the last run we made the water was getting bad, and dumping right in front of the right slick. The car ran arrow-straight w/o the water problem, but it was jumping sideways as the slick spun. Dick was on and off the throttle, with the car snapping around every time until the water was gone. It was something to watch, because it would snap right back where it belonged every time he lifted his foot. After about 4 of these cycles it was halfway down the strip, still in the low TH400 first gear, and Dick was so mad he forgot to shift. He went thru the lights at 110 MPH as it backfired thru the blower and sent the belt into the air. I later calculated the revs at something like 11,000 (4.11 gears), and all of the big Howards alum. rods were stretched a little. That was the end for us.

Here's a photo of the Beebe and Mulligan car before Mulligan was killed when the clutch exploded-the Nationals when Garlits shut off at the tree knowing what John was going thru.