Dick Harrell drag car (new thread)

[davenkc]

Ken.
That is doable. That being said I am trying to contact a fellow who dates back to 1961or62 with Dick who can answer a lot of questions about the early years will let you know if this happens.
Dave

If anyone is intrested I can tell you some about how this 64 Chevelle was built and who some of the people in the picture are.

I am not sure who you are trying to get in touch with, but I went to some races with Dick in the early 60's and lived and worked with him in late 63.
If you think I might be of some help let me know.

Howdy
I think you will know who I am when you ask Val. I do not know of a black 63 that Dick had. There was a Bill Allen very prominent in his life, but he was not a Chevrolet dealer.

This picture was taken at the 1963 AHRA Winters near Phoenix. There is an intresting story about the black wall tire and the booboo on the bottom of the fender. This was an extremely fast Z-11

[68TopStock]

Parts131,

Welcome to the board, looks like you are having trouble posting pics, they need to be resized. Is there someone willing to do this for Parts131?

[JoeC]

Welcome to the site Parts131. Were you a pit crew member with Dick Harrell?
Ken, I think Parts131 is replying to pictures that you and I posted.
here is the pic with his reply.
I would like to hear more about these cars.
The 64 Chevelle had to be one of the first Chevelles to hit the drag strip and it had a 427 (W motor not a porcupine) From the Z-11 race car?




Parts131 - This picture was taken at the 1963 AHRA Winters near Phoenix. There is an interesting story about the black wall tire and the booboo on the bottom of the fender. This was an extremely fast Z-11





Parts131 - If anyone is interested I can tell you some about how this 64 Chevelle was built and who some of the people in the picture are.

I am interested!

Howdy
I did not try and post pictures, but was responding to the pics posted of the 63 Z11 & 64 Chevelle.
I first met DH in the 50's when he worked for my dad. In the early 60's I went to a lot of races with him and worked for him in 63. The Z11 pic was taken at the 63 AHRA winters.
There have been some stories written that this White car was towed to this race on a chain. NOT TRUE!!! The black wall tire is on this car (as memory serves) becaue of a blow out while being towed with a tow bar, behind a 63 Impalla SS that was his street car. The blow out caused the fender to get bent a little out of shape. DH liked his cars to look good and was embarassed by the black wall tire. But the car still Won the race.
The 64 car was bought as a V8 4 speed and I drove it to work for a couple of weeks to make sure it ran ok as the drive train was sold and DH wanted every thing to be ok.
The Fender, doors, Trunk Lid and bumpers were sent to some fiberglass co in the SE part of the country to be used as molds for replacement, light weight parts. Most of the rest of the work was done in a small 1 1/2 car garage in a "secret" location in Carlsbad, NM. (too many curious people) The 3 people in pic are DH of course and I think Bryan Teal (63 owner at that time) and in the back ground is Ray Brooks with crew cut. Ray did all the welding as well as fabrication for this and other cars. This pic was in the AHRA Tach magazine after the Jan or Feb races in 64.
The engine started out as a 430HP Z-11 engine built from parts that DH had access to due to his relationship with the right people at GM.

[JoeC]

Parts131, thanks for posting the "inside info" on DH. From what I read, things got tight for the Chevy guys in early 1963 when Chevy announced they will support the ban on factory racing. The Z-11 and 427 Mystery engine were squeezed out before the ban but then Chevy went underground with racing support. Do you remember any contact with Vinnce Piggins who was Chevy engineer that was helping the racers?
Even Grumpy Jenkins ran the new Hemi in 64 but DH stayed with Chevy and ran the Z-11 Chevelle against the Hemi and T bolts. Do you know what year the picture below was taken?
When did DH began using the Nova bodies?

Dick had several contacts at Chevrolet, but I do not remember the names. The way we got Z-11 parts after the ban was on a special order form that had to have his name, address, dealer ship name, and serial number of Z-11 car. He had to sign orders. We could order one, or one set of anything that was avaliable. Ie one set of heads, one cam and lifters. Once those were recieved, then we could order more. I worked at the local Chevy dealer and one of my "jobs" was to keep on top of the thing DH needed. He would tell me at night what to order and the next day I would order. Remember, no UPS, no e-mails. It took time to get these items, so reorder was very important.
I think the pic you posted was taken in 65. I think this is the first Chevy II he had. The Chevelle, along with its twin had been sold, his to some guy in Pa. and the other one went to some people in the south. I believe there were 2 Novas of this body style, then the 66 Red car he built and Bill Thomas Race Cars.
He had the opportunity to race a T-Bolt, but his heart was not in it. Chevy was his love.