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dino.
bossguy
Hi Storm King, Jack Karl here. I wanted to introduce myself at Dover fest but the weather just wouldn’t cooperate and I had to leave. One of my best customers is Alan from Alans imports in Highland Falls. I asked if he ever heard of the Smertic Bros and he paused and said, That sounds familiar as hell”. I said Storm King Racing and he said, Thats it!, Boy you’re going back a few years”. He grew up in Cornwall and his shop is an old car dealership next to the post office in Highland Falls.
The Black Arrow story is so interesting that I think if you could find the correct writer it could be turned into a book/ movie along the lines of “Eddie and the Cruisers”. With the whole is Eddie really dead? Is the Black Arrow really crushed thing going on! Give the whole conspiracy crowd something to feed on LOL
storm-king
Good Lord, I don’t think they need anything else to feed on with that story!
Good to hear from all you local guys!
We need to coordinate better so we can visit next time Bill or I get up there. I was in Highland Falls last summer, trying to visit the West Point Museum, and taking the Infiniti GX I was renting for a spirited drive over Storm King mountain. Went 218 down, 9W back; nice cars. Bill and I had diner one night at the Black Forrest German resturant, not far from Mountainville while we were up for the reunion.
dinoBlacK Forest German Restaurant Question ! IS THAT THE PLACE so near Track ,they complained of the noise ? heard there was a “german” eatery that you could almost see the track from and they complained ?
storm-king
No, this place is way down on the other side of Cornwall. Not holdin’ a grudge, are ya?
dinoNo …got that info from a local and thought they’de be “FUN” to contact and get some Poop on “the Old Days”…what was the name of one near Dover ??? I never went west of the entrance
storm-king-2
More history – May have covered this. Doc bought the clone with a street hemi in it that came from Harolds.Don’t know if this was the engine out of the red coronet or a spare they had. When I got it , it had several bent valves because whoever assembled the engine had the pistons in backwards. Doc kept the clone for a couple of years, then sold it to my partner from the pro stock duster. My partner Richie Walsh bought out my half of the motor from the duster, & put it in the clone. So the original aluminum heads from the BA wound up back on the clone. I was living in Tenn. at the time but I think he also put the 4 spd out of the duster in there. I also think that when he sold it, he passed it off as being the “Black Arrow”. The motor inthe duster had been built by Pete Tritak ( Tritak & Morgan ). It was one stout bullet. We ran WCS Div I Pro Stock, & the Div I Pro Stock circuit in 72 & 73. We failed to qualify 3 times, twice with tranny problems, once when I peeled open the oil pan on the return road. Our best showing was at Atco where I took runner-up to Al Joniec’s Pinto. This was my first 4 spd car, what a blast!
Bill
jackmanStorm King , what were your 1/4 times with the 4 speed? Which was better and faster 4 speed or auto? Curious I never owned an auto but they don’t seem as tough as a 4 speed or as affordable…
storm-king-2
Jackman – In the S/S cars the torqflite was the way to go for a mopar, until they came ut with the crash box. That was after the rules changed to allow slicks on the S/S cars. They (automatics) were still competitive the first year of Pro Stock. After that the 4 spds had the advantage of being able to leave at a higher rpm, and didn’t give up top end to convertor slippage. Then came the planetary’s, Lenco & B&J. Most of the teams went to them, we couldn’t afford it. We had $800 in an aluminum 4 spd, the Lenco’s were around $2600. We whittled the times down from 10.0 the begining of 73 to a best of 9.42 – 144.00 bythe end of the year. The top cars were breaking into the 8’s by then. We almost always made the program, but were just first round fodder for the fast guys. Always like to think I made them work for it cause they usually had to catch me. Fun times.
Bill
storm-king-2
Jackman – Look at what today’s SSAH Hemi Cuda’s & Darts are running with Automatics. Very few of those guys are running sticks. Whats the record now ? 8.50 , 150.0 something? Think they’re pretty stout, not cheap, but stout.
Bill
billy-casey
I think Charlie Wescott set the record this past Dutch classic at Maple Grove 8.36 … not sure … Billy
storm-king-2
Hi Guys,
Haven’t been on here for awhile, back on the road again. I was re-reading about the old barn in Vails Gate. After my old partner Richie bought the clone back from Doc, he used to drive it from the barn down to the car wash, & gas station. Mind you, there was no way to hook up the mufflers to the headers on that car. With somewhere north of 13-1 compression, that thing had quite a bark, not to mention the 12 inch slicks. He had several visits by the local police, but they only looked over the car, & asked him questions about it. Never any tickets, or don’t do this again. They were different times.
It was good to see everyone that came to the reunion. There is something special about racers & I believe pilots. They might age on the outside, but there always seems to be a youthful spark inside. Til next time.
Bill
extreme
Hey Bill, any chance of you showing up at Island dragway in october?
dinoYeah ! Bill & Gary -How ’bout It ?…Bring something to run …bring to project A/FXjust to show ..keep it on the trailer …what the heck ! other unfinished invited …show the folks !
storm-king
I’m thinking about it. The Dart would barely be a roller if we come at all. But if I can get the rest of the carbon parts done for it, the new tubs done, and get some sealer on it, I may just load it up and head that way.
I got an Ianola story for Jackman and Extreme. One of you may have been there that day…Either of you know Kevin Quigley? He’s now town supervisor in Cornwall. Anyway, he was there one day when my dad dropped something off to the Ianola’s. He was driving my Mom’s ’67 GTX (seen in many of the pics). Now, anyone who remembers my Dad knows that the trunk of that car contained an entire master mechanics tool set, from ignition wrenches up to and including 3/4 inch drive socket sets. The car had custom leaf springs, I think it had ten leafs on one side, eleven on the other. It was stout! Anyway, the one Ianloa who had the Dart was braggin to my Dad that it ran in the 12’s, or maybe even the 11’s, which was pure B.S. As it happens, Ianola’s were headed to Newburgh as my Dad was leaving. They didn’t know it but he was headed to Newburgh also. So they pull out on 9W and punch it, expecting to pull away from the school librarian’s car with all the tools in the trunk. Dad punched it, and had to keep backing out of it or risk ramming the back of the Dart. He told them later, “that thing wouldn’t run in the 12’s if you dropped it off a cliff. It really hurt the kid’s feelings! That’s my Dad!
That GTX would outrun just about any car in town, yet no one really took notice off it because it wasn’t all tarted up with decals like a Pontiac Judge (an overhyped turd if there ever was one).
If there was a street legal car in town that’d outrun it, it would have been either our max wedge or our Hemi GTX. As look back on those days, I really didn’t appreciate what we had.
paul-ceasrine
Gary,
What the hell was your POP hauling around in Cornwall, with those monster leaf-springs.
Iron-Ore from the Storm King Mountain.
Me thinks, there is a Dodge Power Wagon 6-wheel dump truck in somewhere in Southern Orange missing it’s rear drive suspension assembly.
That GTX must have been pretty stiff on the bones, for anyone brave enough to ride in the
back seat.
No doubt after your POP blew away any Chevy’s on 9W, he could have easlily pulled over and waited for them on the side of the road, and then offer them a free tune-up, with his trunk of goodues. S-K Tools I hope.
A lovely Pontiac GTO story to follow.
Love those 67′ Hi-Po Heads, closed-chamber, good for an additional 1.1 compression.
Paul
