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Mickey Thompson
Michael Lee "Mickey" Thompson (December 7, 1928March 16, 1988) was an American auto racing builder and promoter. A hot rodder since his youth, Thompson increasingly pursued land speed records in his late 20s and early 30s."The Hottest Hot Rodder in the World." ''Popular Science'', December 1959, pp. 95-98/218. He achieved international fame in 1960, when he became the first American to break the 400-mph barrier, driving his ''Challenger 1'' to a one-way top speed of 406.60 mph at the and surpassing [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Crosthwaite
John Crosthwaite (9 October 1925 – 5 September 2010) was an English race car designer and engineer, active in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Crosthwaite worked with Cooper Cars, Colin Chapman at Team Lotus and Mickey Thompson as well as drivers Graham Hill, Dan Gurney and Jackie Stewart. He designed and built cars for Formula Junior and the 1962 and 1963 Indianapolis 500. A chassis specialist, he worked at Formula 1 team BRM and later drew up chassis for the Intermeccanica Italia, the Bond Bug and the Reliant Scimitar GTE road cars. Early life John Crosthwaite was born at Thornaby Hall, Thornaby-on-Tees, Yorkshire on 9 October 1925. He was godson to Harold Macmillan, a family friend and local MP. He had three older sisters and a younger brother. His father, Cedric, was in the Royal Flying Corps in World War I and raced cars and motorcycles. Crosthwaite had a fascination with cars, motorbikes and aeroplanes from an early age. At 14 years of age he was helping t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panorama City Special (dragster)
The ''Panorama City Special'' is a pioneering streamliner dragster. Believed to be the first "slingshot" dragster, the ''Panorama City Special'' (designed by hot rodder Mickey Thompson) had a full body, including skirted rear wheels, and a cockpit windshield wrapping around and over the driver. The steel front wheels were covered by lakester-style wheel discs (Moon discs). The car debuted in 1955, at the first NHRA U.S. Nationals at Great Bend, Kansas. The wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ... was only . In its initial outing, it proved much slower than the competition, hitting only , when others were reaching almost . Later in 1955, however, it became the first single-engined fueller to exceed , recording a speed of .Taylor, p. 31. Notes Sources ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duane Carter
Duane Carter (May 5, 1913 – March 7, 1993) was an American racecar driver. He raced midget cars, sprint cars, and IndyCars.Biography at the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame Carter was born in , and he died in . His son raced in Indy cars, along with |
Al Miller (racing Driver, Born 1921)
Al Miller (November 23, 1921 – July 28, 1978) was an American race car driver. Born Albert Krulac in Detroit, Michigan, Miller died in Mount Clemens, Michigan. He drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1962, 1963, 1965–1967 and 1970 seasons, with 31 career starts, including the Indianapolis 500 races in 1963 (in a John Crosthwaite designed car) and 1965 to 1967. He finished in the top ten 5 times, with his best finish in 4th position in the 1965 Indianapolis 500 The 49th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Monday, May 31, 1965. The five-year-old "British Invasion" finally broke through as Jim Clark and Colin Chapman triumphed in dominatin .... Indianapolis 500 Mile Race USAC Yearbook 1965. Floyd Clymer He was not related to Al Miller, who raced at Indianapolis in the 1930s and 1940s. Indianapolis 500 results References 1921 births 1978 deaths Indianapolis 500 drive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1963 Indianapolis 500
The 47th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Thursday, May 30, 1963. Rufus Parnell Jones, also known as " Parnelli," took his only Indy 500 win. This win was controversial because his car (nicknamed "Calhoun") spewing oil from a cracked overflow tank for many laps, which allegedly caused at least one driver to spin and crash. USAC officials put off black-flagging Jones after car owner J. C. Agajanian ran down pit lane and convinced them that the oil leak was below the level of a known crack and would not leak any further. Lotus owner Colin Chapman, whose English-built, rear-engined Lotus-Ford finished second in the hands of Scotsman Jim Clark, accused USAC officials of being biased in favor of the American driver and car. The non-black flagging of Jones remains controversial. Many, including Chapman and writer Brock Yates, believed that officials would have black flagged Jones if an American driver and car had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Gurney
Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner who reached racing's highest levels starting in 1958. Gurney won races in the Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, and Trans-Am Series. Gurney is the first of three drivers to have won races in sports cars (1958), Formula One (1962), NASCAR (1963), and Indy cars (1967), the other two being Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya. In 1967, after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans together with A. J. Foyt, Gurney spontaneously sprayed champagne while celebrating on the podium, which thereafter became a custom at many motorsports events. As owner of All American Racers, he was the first to put a simple right-angle extension on the upper trailing edge of the rear wing. This device, called a Gurney flap, increases downforce and, if well designed, imposes only a relatively small increase in aerodynamic drag. At the 1968 German Grand Prix, he became the fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Challenger I (car)
The FV4030/4 Challenger 1 is a British main battle tank (MBT) used by the British Army from 1983 to 2001, when it was superseded by the Challenger 2. It is also currently used by the Royal Jordanian Army as its main battle tank, after heavy modifications. The variants for the Jordanian military were to be upgraded using the unmanned Falcon turret. History The Challenger design by the former Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment (MVEE) near Chobham in Surrey originated in an Iranian order for an improved version of the Chieftain line of tanks in service around the world. These were the Chieftain Mk5(P)- FV4030/1, FV4030/2 Shir (Lion) 1 and 4030/3 Shir 2. With the fall of the Shah of Iran and the collapse of the UK MBT-80 project, the British Army became the customer and the tank was further developed by MVEE to meet Western European requirements. For a short time the tank was named "Cheviot" (the name of a hill range) before becoming "Challenger", a name reused fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thompson-Voight Dragster
The Thompson-Voight dragster is a twin-engined streamliner dragster.Taylor, Thom. "Mickey Thompson, Fritz Voight dragster", in "Beauty Beyond the Twilight Zone", p. 31. Mickey Thompson collaborated with Fritz Voight in building the dragster, which had a fully enclosed body (except the steel front wheels), including a closed canopy. It was powered by a pair of Chrysler hemis, one facing forward to drive the rear wheels, the other facing backward to drive the front ones. Wearing number 555, the car debuted in 1958 at Bonneville, after "an impromptu stop", where it achieved on its very first run. The next week, the car turned in a best speed of , but broke a connecting rod, leaving Thompson unable to back up his speed to make it official. While a reasonable success in land speed racing, the car proved too slow for drag racing, never able to top high-9 second passes or (even with its body removed), when contemporary slingshot A slingshot is a small hand-powered project ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilmington, California
Wilmington is a neighborhood in the Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, covering . Featuring a heavy concentration of industry and the third-largest oil field in the continental United States, this neighborhood has a high percentage of Latino and foreign-born residents. Nearly 20 percent of Wilmington’s total land area is taken up by oil refineries — roughly 3.5 times more area than is dedicated to open and accessible green spaces. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wilmington had one of the highest death rates in all of Los Angeles County, exacerbated by elevated levels of industrial pollution. It is the site of Banning High School, and ten other primary and secondary schools. Wilmington has six parks. Wilmington dates its history back to a 1784 Spanish land grant. It became a separate city in 1863, and it joined the city of Los Angeles in 1909. Places of interest include the headquarters U.S. Army for Southern California and the Drum Barracks built to protect the nasc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lions Drag Strip
Lions Drag Strip was an American raceway in the Wilmington district of Los Angeles, California, adjacent to Long Beach that existed from 1955 to 1972. The track was named after its sponsors Lions Clubs International and featured many races that were sanctioned by the American Hot Rod Association (AHRA). As the area surrounding the track increased in population, complaints regarding noise were made to government officials. Subsequently, efforts were made to deny the operators of track continued use of the facility. The track was opened with a 30 days' notice clause that could be enforced at any time, and on November 2, 1972, that notice was given. After the last races took place on December 2, 1972, the track was torn down through the efforts of the Los Angeles Harbor Department to make space for overseas shipping cargo containers which exists to this day at 223rd Street & Alameda Street in Wilmington, CA. The track location remained abandoned for over 10 years until it was develo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hot Rod
Hot rods are typically American cars that might be old, classic, or modern and that have been rebuilt or modified with large engines optimised for speed and acceleration. One definition is: "a car that's been stripped down, souped up and made to go much faster." However, there is no definition of the term that is universally accepted and the term is attached to a wide range of vehicles. Most often they are individually designed and constructed using components from many makes of old or new cars, and are most prevalent in the United States and Canada. Many are intended for exhibition rather than for racing or everyday driving. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. For example, some say that the term "hot" refers to the vehicle's being stolen. Other origin stories include replacing the engine's camshaft or "rod" with a higher performance version. According to the Hot Rod Industry Alliance (HRIA) the term changes in meaning over the years, but "hot rodding has less to do w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Garlits
Donald Glenn Garlits (born January 14, 1932, Tampa, Florida) is an American race car driver and automotive engineer. Considered the father of drag racing, he is known as "Big Daddy" to drag racing fans around the world. A pioneer in the field of drag racing, he perfected the rear-engine Top Fuel dragster, an innovation motivated by the loss of part of his foot in a dragster accident. This design was notably safer since it put most of the fuel processing and rotating parts of the dragster behind the driver. The driver was placed in front of nearly all the mechanical components, thus protecting him and allowing him to activate a variety of safety equipment in the event of catastrophic mechanical failure or a fire. Garlits was an early promoter of the full-body, fire-resistant Nomex driving suit, complete with socks, gloves, and balaclava. Garlits was the first drag racer to officially surpass the 170, 180, 200, 240, 250, and 270 mile-per-hour marks in the quarter mile; he was al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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