Bill Thomas Race Car's Retribution II getting air

[Supergas990]

Not sure this fits with this topic, but the comment about Bruce Larsen raised a memory of mine.

Around 1989 (or so???) I was looking for a racecar, and answered an ad in the Madison paper about a 1966 Chevelle drag car. Went to look at it (located just northeast of Hwy 30 off Fair Oaks Ave) and it was awfully rough, but complete and even came with a torn down 427. Guy wanted $2,200, but I didn't have the coin and couldn't sell the parents on it.

Car had the notched windshield and firewall much like a picture of Bruce Larsen's 1966 USA-1 I found years later in an old Hot Rod magazine. It was definately a vintage piece, but I had no idea about what the car might be...

Several years later, I went back looking for the car to get another peak, both it and the owner were long gone.

Does anyone know if this car has ever been found or what happened to it?

Blair

[resto4u]

Blair, was this car on mayfair ave?

[Supergas990]

Roger,

I checked on mapquest and you have the correct street. It was on (like the corner of burke and mayfair). After I saw the magazine photos years later there was a striking resemblance.

The guy was probably in his early 30's with a young child. Car was packed into a small garage and he showed be the boxes of engine parts.

Blair

[budnate]

Bumped a great thread back up......guys wondering if anyone has real good hi res pic of Retribution II doing the big wheelie next to McEwen....I had one and cant find it anywhere.

Thnx Bud,

[markjohnson]

Bud, there's a couple of still photos of that particular race between Harrell's Retribution II Chevy II and McEwen's rear-engined Hemi Cuda on the Lion's Drag Strip Documentary. Please don't hold me to it, but I wanna say that that particular run was also captured live-action but I couldn't find it exactly when I watched the DVD earlier. That wheelie by Dick Harrell was one of the most famous wheelies of all time! Bud, I know you're a big fan of the early-60's drag racing (like me!) and if you don't have this 3-disc set of the Lions Drag Strip Documentary, you're really missing out on something special. It's great! Kinda pricey, but trust me......it's well worth it and to the younger generation like myself that grew up in the Midwest, I feel very fortunate that someone like Don Gillepie put this thing together for future generations to enjoy. Heck, even people that aren't into drag racing that I know thought this was a great video and sat through the whole thing enjoying it. Here's a link: http://www.lionsvideo.com/index4.html

[markjohnson]

Hope these help a bit.

[markjohnson]

'nother