Pictures from Thompson

[Tom Kochtanek]

Here are some of the pics I took at Thompson Drag Raceway over the weekend. I'll try to lay them out in some sort of a sequence and add a bit of text so you can imagine what it was like .

First pic is of the Phantom 409 and some of the cars pitted at the RH side of the pit lane we pretty much dominated.

Next up is a shot of both side of the pits with Wooly Bully on the hard surface. That's Hank Gabbbert of 1963 Z-11 fame walking just ahead of the red '62.

Third is a shot of the LH side of the pits, with Barry Taylor's car, Jim Kwi's 1957 with the M/T crossram, followed by three very fine 1962 Belair two door sedan from Quik9er and our friends from the North . I think that might be BJ Burnout's sweet 1961 Impala 348 tripower four speed car just in front of them.

Enjoy!
TomK

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Second round of pics

The next pair of pics are some of the show cars we had up there. In the first one you can spot Tommy Nolen's passion for perfection in his 1961 SS 409 car, next to Robert's sweet 1961 Convertible, adjacent to Hank's 1963 Z-11 car. These three cars had the visitors gawking for hours as they strolled by. Hard to get pics there was soooo much foot traffic!

Second up is a closer shot of the pair of 61's. Maybe if my wife sees these, she'll think twice about our upcoming 30th Anniversary and let me acquire one just like these .

Enjoy!
TomK

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Round 3

Third set of pictures combines some racing and some additional shots of the pits. I did take more pics on the track side of things, but they weren't all that great, and I'm sure others have better and will be sharing soon.

First up is Fatride in his clean 1960 Impala heading down the track alone. No one could keep up with him, so he ran singly. Ray brought his brother along with him this time, and the three of us spent Saturday evening crusing for babes in his brother's sweet flathead Ford pickup. I rode in the bed and told folks it was a hot tub in disguise .

Next is another shot of cars in the pits facing the track. There were so many vehicles coming and going that it was tough to get them all at once.

Third is a shot of 409-powered rides on the RH side of our pit area. Note Tony and Bonnie Salins' 409 motivated dragster .

Fourth is a shot of the LH side showing Tom Monroe's new 1962 race Impala in the center, flanked by others.

Enjoy!
TomK

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Round 4

Next up are some shots in the pits of some very fast cars and some very nicely restored 409 cars.

First is a pair of Black Belair bubbletops owned by Rusty Symmes. He brought one to show and one to race. These bad boys combine fast with beauty. The show car is a Z-11 powered lightweight with aluminum components, super rare stuff. I first met Rusty briefly at the 2004 KC event, and enjoyed the chance to hear some of his stories from 1962 when he first ordered a new Chevy from the local dealer . I now understand his passion for perfection and for the 1962 Belair Sport Coupe. I share that enthusiasm, although haven't taken it to the levels he has attained (one can always plan and dream...). You just have to see these cars to believe them. The next day I spotted Rusty out in the lanes with a photographer and story editor from Super Chevy, doing a feature on his '62. Can't wait to see that edition!

Second are the trio from Ontario Canada who came down with their triplet 1962 Belair two door sedans. Lead by Quik9er (Kevin McCaully if I got that spelled correctly), these car sat side by side a just reeked of cool. The Black over Red one was spectacularly detailed with all the correct 409/409 parts under the hood. The Twilight Blue two tone car sported a BBC engine, and fit right in. Quick9er's Belair had the best number for a dial in at 14.09, and he nailed it several runs in a row, going deep into the Shootout Competition on Saturday. We had some great conversations about one piece bumpers (note they all sported them!) and several other details that had Fatride's heads spinning for a bit. These guys know their stuff!

Third shot is of Rusty's pair of Bubbletops adjacent to Russ Campbell's racer. These guys go crazy fast, in the high 8's. I think Russ' car did 8.80 more than a few times. This car is for sale, and it is the real deal. If I had it laying around (the dollars), she'd be in my collection for sure .

Fourth picture is Rusty's '62 getting set up for the Super Chevy spread on Sunday morning. Load that baby up and bring it to Columbia, Missouri!!!

Enjoy!
TomK

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Round 5

Here we see some more of the fine cars on the RH side. Tony and Bonnie Salins came up from Oklahoma with their nostalgia dragster, and the Wooly Bully team put down some great runs. I think that's Shan's '62 next to their setup.

Third picture is from down at the end of the pits on the LH side.

Enjoy!
TomK

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Round 5

Some additional pics of show cars. First up is Hank Gabbert's spectacular restoration of an original Z-11 car. Hank and I have talked more than a few times about what it takes to locate and assemble one of these projects, and the effort is most commendable .

Second one really caught my eye, as I like original patina and unrestored cars as well. This young fella came up from nearby Painesville, Ohio with his unrestored 1961 Biscayne. She was an original 348 tripower build, and he purchased the car when he was just 16 and in high school. All his buddies gave him grief about his "rusty car" but little did they know that this came originally from the factory as a 350 horse 348 tripower build with the four speed, radio and heater delete. Verified by none other than Verne Frantz himself after viewing the tag on the cowl and inspecting the vehicle first hand. How rare is that? She currently sports a "replacement" 1958 tripower engine and Rick is looking to assemble the correct 1961 engine, albeit not the original engine. One can tell it was raced in the past (gee, do you think they ordered heater delete in a Flint, MI car because they were Eskimos?) and he also would like to find out more about that history.

An interesting side note was that I had purchased a 1960 HA standard bore 348 block from this fella about a year ago, and had him deliver it to my Mom's house in nearby Cleveland. I had no idea he was the owner. I stood there talking to the guy for about an hour, and when he noted my "Missouri" sweater he commented that he had sold a block to a guy from Missouri, but he delivered it locally to a suburb in Cleveland (my Mom's house). It struck me right then and there that this was the guy I bought the block from! The block still sits in my Mom's garage in nearby Parma, Ohio, and I just saw it for the first time on Friday morning, then I meet the guy who sold and delivered it the next day, just by chance. Talk about small worlds...

Enjoy!
TomK

 

[DonSSDD]

Thanks Tom, great pics and story to go with them. If this became an annual event, I think the track would be seeing a lot of spectators they had never seen before.

Don

 

[DIV1RACER-2]

I had these pictures sent to me today by one of the photographers shooting pics at Thompson. To say the bite was good would be an understatement!!!!!!! :eek:
The pics didn't post ???/

 

[jim_ss409]

I wish I'd have taken more pictures.
Here's Winston posing with the Wully Bully mascots...

 

[jim_ss409]

Check out this video of Dave Mills 409 powered Chevy II racing a Falcon at Thompson...

 

[jim_ss409]

There's a few nice photos on this Yelowjacket thread...
http://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142109

 

[CDNpontiac409guy]

OH YEAH !!!!
Thanks Jim ( the Phantom )... that car is INSANE !bangbang

Denny, I can't see that photo

 

[jim_ss409]

Here's another U Tube link with a couple of 409 races...

 

[chevytaylor]

Thanks guys bang bang bang

Must have been an awesome event.

 

[petepedlar]

more pictures

I have over 200 pictures and haven't really had a chance to look at them yet...... here's some of the better ones.

Dave

PS.... the cool dude even goes down the track like that............ sorry guys I put the same one on twice. I'll post more tomorrow.

 

[DIV1RACER-2]

Aubrey & others ,

The picture i was trying to post is the 2nd & 3rd ones in Daves pics. The shot was lower and closer but Daves gets the point i was trying to make !

What a starting line !

The weather could not have been better / unusual for this area !!!

I had a wonderful time meeting new friends , seeing old friends , BSing , seeing other's cars & just being in the crowd of great people on this site .

Thanks to Fatride & all the others that contributed in some way & to Bob for creating this site . They put together a memory for all of us!!

If you did not make it this year ......... Better start plans now for the next time.


I had my new motor in the car & what a suprise . Best time was a 10.26 @ 130.44

I think some others also had there personal bests .

 

[JimKwiatkowski]

Aubrey & others ,

The picture i was trying to post is the 2nd & 3rd ones in Daves pics. The shot was lower and closer but Daves gets the point i was trying to make !

What a starting line !

The weather could not have been better / unusual for this area !!!

I had a wonderful time meeting new friends , seeing old friends , BSing , seeing other's cars & just being in the crowd of great people on this site .

Thanks to Fatride & all the others that contributed in some way & to Bob for creating this site . They put together a memory for all of us!!

If you did not make it this year ......... Better start plans now for the next time.


I had my new motor in the car & what a suprise . Best time was a 10.26 @ 130.44

I think some others also had there personal bests .

Denny, e-mail the photo to me, and I'll post the photo for you.

 

[petepedlar]

more pic's

Is there something wrong with the picture re-sizer on the site??? I can't load pictures, I keep getting a fatal error message unless I make them smaller first.

Dave

 

[yellow wagon]

you guys can load your photos on a hosting site like Imageshack....it will just basically give a spot to get them online to post here for instance. Not an album though or anything like that. Easy to use. Can also resize as well

 

[petepedlar]

here we go

I resized some......