Re: The First Match Racers …64-65

Forums Forums DINO’S PHOTO PICK OF THE WEEK The First Match Racers …64-65 Re: The First Match Racers …64-65

#30905
dino
Keymaster

      Couldn’t find a decent ‘period’ photo of Healy But did find this little piece of Tasca history …with qoute by Bod Tasca,Good stuff . AND will be back at it posting new Photos for this topic soon.

      Said Tasca, “Everybody was running Chevrolets back then, and there was this hotshot kid named Bill Lawton who always hung around our dealership and bragged about how his Chevy could beat our Fords. One day, I told him that he had just won his last race in a Chevy, and to prove my point, I had my top mechanics, John Healey and Dean Gregson, specially prepare one of our new 406-cid ‘62 Galaxies. The fastest Bill’s Chevy had ever run was a 13.66, and John shocked him with a 13.33 [in the Ford]. All of a sudden, Bill’s attitude about Fords began to change, and he asked me if he could drive our car. His first run was a 12.96, which didn’t surprise me because I knew he was a natural driver. After that, Bill came onboard with us to race Fords until his retirement in 1971.”

      One of Tasca’s first innovations was campaigning a ‘62 Fairlane with a 406-cid engine for A/FX competition. The car, called the Challenger, was built by Andy Hotten’s Detroit Steel and Tubing firm and required many modifications to shoehorn the large engine into the midsize engine compartment. A second version, Zimmy I, was built in 1963 with a 427-cid high-riser engine, and Lawton drove it to a new A/FX national record of 12.21 later that season.

      Ford was so impressed with the package that it authorized Detroit Steel and Tubing to construct 100 427-cid Fairlanes for NHRA Super Stock competition in 1964, and Lawton drove his ‘64 Zimmy II entry to new S/S national records of 11.69 and 122.22 at the Division 1 race at Maryland’s Cecil County Dragway.

      The Tasca Ford Zimmy III, an A/FX ‘65 Mustang equipped with Ford’s new single overhead cam (SOHC) 427-cid engine, was the most potent of the series, and Lawton drove it to wins at that year’s NHRA Winternationals, NASCAR Nationals, and inaugural Super Stock Nationals.