DEBS…Moe Deluge & Ralph Ridgeway

[dinoKeymaster]

..Moe Deluge ran this…He started at Dover with a Anglia with a big 301 on the doors-mid 60’s … then the chevelle was last one he ran,I remember. He was last seen at the Danbury Reunion in 2008 I believe…Fill us in Guys.

[smokey-dragctParticipant]

Hi
I tried to send you an article and picture from the early 60’s about big Mo but the site said file too big. I will send to Dino to upload, The last time i seen Mo was in August at the 18th reunion in danbury,As far as i know he is doing ok.
Smokey

[dinoKeymaster]

Here ya go …From the New addition to the ODF Gallery…A Bill Cullin shot

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[nickj]

Here’s Mo’s Camaro, 1970..

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[nickj]

Johnny Gentile also ran out of Deb’s. Here’s his D/Stocker, also 1970-

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[dinoKeymaster]

Great shots Nick And welcome aboard…Got any more …Always looking for 70’s shots.

[nickj]

I do have some more, found them while cleaning my garage yesterday. I have one from the same bunch of Storm King, can you use it?

[bossguy]

Wasn’t Debs the originator of the “Ridge Runner Ram” father of the tunnel ram? They used a early Chev EFI with a 4 bbl on top I believe?

[dinoKeymaster]

Tunnel Ram -Ralph Ridgeway…Tons of info about all this at http://www.classracer.com search his name. He did say THIS there last Feb:
“I can not believe how much new interest about my racing days has been generated this past year including people wanting to build a replica of my 55 Chev, my induction into the New England Hot Rod Hall of Fame, a local TV interview and newspaper article and an ESPN radio interview. Anyone wanting more information can contact me at: rridgeway8014@charter.net. I will be happy to share information. Attached are a couple of photos from my collection. I am presently working on scanning several slides to digital so I create a DVD that can be mailed out.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://classracer.com/classforum/showthread.php?t=23727&highlight=Ralph+Ridgeway

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[patinaParticipant]

quote bossguy:

Wasn’t Debs the originator of the “Ridge Runner Ram” father of the tunnel ram? They used a early Chev EFI with a 4 bbl on top I believe?

Jack you have been hanging around new cars too much its “mechanical fuel injection” not EFI and of course it was Ralph Ridgeway, and I believe two 4bbls on top of their home made plenum.

Pat

[bossguy]

OK ya got me on that one Pat. Do you know how the guys with supercharged 312 Fords used to “cheat”. I do!
I couldn’t find a “search” box on the site Dino linked to but H.A.M.B. has a lot of info. A couple of guys from Texas disrespected him. It’s like insulting the Grump!

[dinoKeymaster]

It was a Plenum and base from an early Fuel Injection…Later marketed as RidgeRunner Ram. He also opened a chain of Ridgerunner speed shops.Boss…can’t use Search at Classracer,unless you’re logged in.. .why I put the direct link. Photo from Ralpf himself.

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[dinoKeymaster]

Found this

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[dinoKeymaster]

Heres THE ENTIRE BIO BY RALPH himself…Carl Debian is last listed as running Deb’s Dyneo In Florida.

Ralph Ridgeway, racing biography
I purchased my 1st. 55 Chevy in 1959. This was primarily a street driven car but at the urging of Dave Riley, my roommate at Northeastern University, I began to drag race the car in C/Gas & D/Gas from 1960 to 1962.
I bought a 1958 Corvette in 1963. This was also a street/strip car that I ran undefeated in C/MSP in 1963.
In 1964, I purchased another partially built 55 Chevy and made it into a race-only car that I ran in NHRA C/MP and D/MP from 1964 to 1968.
I won C/MP class at the 1965 Nationals in Indianapolis.
In 1966, with this car, I won 27 out of 28 races for class and won Street Eliminator 15 times. Also I set an NHRA record at Sanford, ME.
For 1967, I ran undefeated in class, won Street Eliminator 5 times, and won 12 Bucks or Cups Eliminators. I also won my class at the Spring Nationals @ Bristol, TN, The Nationals @ Indianapolis, and the AHRA Nationals in Long Island. I set 17 AHRA records including 10 at New England Dragway on July 1, 1967. I had low ET and top Speed for class at both Bristol and Indianapolis.
In 1968 I only ran locally (New England Dragway, Lebanon Valley and CT. Dragway) and some of the northeast record meets with my biggest win of the year at the fall Suffolk, VA meet.
I won my class at 33 different tracks in the US and Canada and broke the ET and Speed records for my class at: New England Dragway, Lebanon Valley, Connecticut Dragway, New York National, Napierville Canada, Bristol Dragway and Indianapolis Raceway Park.
My best times with this car were 11.66 ET at 118.8 MPH.
I sold the car to Les Davidson of Montreal, Canada at the end of 1968.
In 1969 and 1970, I campaigned a 1969 Camaro from Norwood Chevrolet of Warwick, R.I. in Super Stock, E/Gas and D/MP. I set an AHRA record at New England Dragway on 8/2/70 (11.46 ET) in E/HR class.
My last car was a 1970 1/2 Camaro sponsored by Beacon Chevrolet of Lynn, MA. The best this 3375# car ran with a 306 cu. in. engine was 10.9 at 125 MPH.
I set an IHRA F1 FMS class record for 1/8th mile with an ET of 7.60 at St. Eugene Dragway, Quebec, Canada on 8/7/71.
All of my cars were sponsored by Deb’s Automotive of Springfield, MA and Miller’s Machine Shop of Haverhill, MA. I also received product sponsorship from Crane Cams and Schiefer Clutch
Ridgeway Biography follow-up

RIDGERUNNER RAM MANIFOLD
In 1965, I started to experiment with some of the cross-ram intake manifolds that started appearing on the market. These manifolds increased mid-range power but did not produce the top end (above 7500 RPM) power that the conventional in-line dual quad manifolds produced. This analysis was based on chassis dynamometer testing at Deb’s Automotive and actual drag strip testing of my 55 Chevy.
We (Carl Debien and I) determined that the cross-ram runners were to long for effective high RPM horsepower. We started looking at what else was available to come up with a shorter ram length. We settled on a Chevrolet fuel injection manifold to which we modified the runner lengths and the inside of the plenum chamber to suit the use of carburetors above the plenum. The original FI unit only had air introduced into the plenum, not an air/fuel mixture. We then machined a suitable top plate to mount the AFB carburetors I was using at the time. The car was instantly .1- .2 seconds & 2 MPH quicker.
Shortly afterwards I switched to Holley carbs. In order to make jet changes to the in-line Holleys, we had to take one of the carbs off the manifold to remove the float bowls. To eliminate this issue, we turned the carbs sideways to make removal of the float bowls for jet changes easier. We also made a different top plate for the manifold to run a single 4 bbl carb. With the ability to switch top plates without removing the whole intake manifold, I was able to set several AHRA records in one day by quickly switching from a 2-4bbl carb set up to a single 4bbl carb.
In 1968, after winning the 1965 Nationals and the 1967 Spring Nationals and Nationals plus the 1967 AHRA Nationals and setting 17 AHRA records, we decided to manufacture and sell our own high-rise in-line intake manifold- The Ridge Runner Ram.
Car Craft Magazine came to New England Dragway shortly after we started production for a mid-week test demonstration of my car with the new production manifold. (See Car Craft, November 1968).
We produced several hundred small block manifolds and about 100 big block manifolds during the next few years.

RIDGEWAY RACING ASSOCIATES ROCKER STUD SUPPORT
In 1972, after breaking a rocker stud, I purchased a Jomar Stud Girdle. I found this stud girdle difficult to work with and also that when tightening the U-bolts that held the adjusting nuts, the valve lash changed.
I started Ridgeway Racing Associates in 1973 along with John Yediniak, owner of Crystal Tool in Rockville, CT to manufacture some of the speed equipment products that I experimented with.
In late 1973, I came up with my own rocker stud support design that allowed valve adjustments without the use of U-bolts, etc. I received a Patent (US Patent # 3,870,024) for my design on January 21, 1974. The Stud Support was our first marketed product under the Ridgeway Racing Associates name. (See Chevy Action Magazine, May 1974). We sold several thousand of these Stud Supports for Chevy, Ford, and Pontiac etc. The Rocker Stud Support along with several other pieces of racing speed equipment are still being manufactured and sold by Ridgeway Racing Associates.

Ridgeway Racing
114 Brooklyn Street
Vernon Rockville, CT 06066

[dinoKeymaster]

Deb’s Automotive Engineering Incorporated
(561) 265-4644
1801 W Atlantic Ave, Delray Beach, FL 33444

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