Nhra Man Gets Help to Walk Again

Altered COUPE/SEDANS & Contest COUPE/SEDANS

Gone forever, one of the nastiest drag racing classes of all fourth dimension, the Altered Coupes/Sedans & Competition Coupes/Sedans. The baddest of the bad, including the nitro called-for Double A Fuel Altereds, rounded off to AA/FA. Folks referred to the AA role as "Awful Awful".

I recall there has ever been some confusion most the Altered classes. In the Stock Classes, the cars had to be basically stock production vehicles. Although highly modified, the cars still needed to rely on mill produced and available engines, transmissions, chassis, etc. In the Gasser and Sports Machine Classes, the vehicles themselves were basically production vehicles with highly modified engines. In the Street Roadster Classes, the vehicles were for all practical purposes, Gassers without roofs. And of course, the Dragster Classes were, well, dragsters. For pretty much everything else, they would typically fit only in the Contradistinct, Competition or Modified Classes. It was not uncommon to come across a Gasser or a Match Race F/Ten blazon car running in one of the Altered classes. It's besides important to remember that Altereds came in both open and airtight configurations. For this section, we are going to concentrate on the closed (coupes, sedans, etc.) configurations. The open up configurations are shown in the Roadster department.

The term "anything goes" applies to these classes like no other in drag racing, and whether they were running gasoline or nitromethane, they were a sight to see.

A spiffy looking Competition Coupe, or in this instance, a pick-up truck. I bet that the battery is in the selection-upwardly box in the back. As far as how the driver gets in and out of the cab, in that location must be a trap door in the top of the cab, doesn't look like the doors take much room to open...

I can usually tell if a photo is a true vintage photo or not. If I see people sitting in the shade under an Ez-Upwards, it's not very vintage. Not the case with this photograph. This has to be in the 1950's. Earlier the appearance of the picayune Fiat coupes that ultimately became the defacto standard for the Altered classes, the majority of Altereds (both coupes and roadsters) were the early Ford vehicles. On the left we have a Model-T bodied five-window coupe (1927?), with a radically chopped top. On the correct is a Model-A (or 1932) Ford 5-window coupe with the stock, non chopped peak, both racing in the B/Altered class...

A street driven Altered sedan? Jack Chrisman's notorious Model-A sedan. Originally powered by a nitromethane fueled Flathead engine, information technology was later converted to Chrysler Hemi power. I'grand just guessing, but this looks like the photo was taken at Pomona Drag Strip...

Gabby Bleeker, from Chicago, and his AA/FA Bantam bodied Contradistinct. Power come from a blown Oldsmobile engine on nitro...

A little maintenance in the pits. Charles McCandless, from Santa Ana, ran this wicked-looking Bantam bodied race car in the Competition Coupe form, seen here at a NHRA National Outcome in 1958. Well known hot rodder, Doug Hartelt, owned the Chrysler engine, with a Potvin crank-driven supercharger… (Photo by Glenn Ward)

A 1934 five-window Ford Coupe, with only the perfect chopped tiptop. Just stting there, it looks nasty. Having nice big shade trees at your local elevate strip tin can exist a blessing in the summer time...

Harry Duncan's super swell chopped and channeled Ford coupe (1932 I think). Race cars like this were kind of considered from the "cross-over era", meaning that they were originally built for dry lake and salt flat racing, and then transitioned into drag cars...

A D/Altered coupe running at a NHRA National Upshot. I'm non sure if the rear end should have been narrowed, or if the fenders needed to be wider, 1 or the other...

A 1929 Model-A 2-door sedan with a back seat driver...

The long forgotten Competition Coupe/Sedan Class. Basically a Dragster with an enclosed Sedan trunk. The body may be from an early on Chevy, but that'southward simply a approximate. This photo does not expect like information technology was taken at whatever drag strip that I know of. Looks like an airport landing strip to me. In some places in the state, aerodrome landing strips made for a perfect drag strip when existent tracks were in short supply. Information technology was not unusual for the drag races to exist paused, until a aeroplane landed or took off...

Before there was a Fuel Altered Class, race cars like this '34 Ford Coupe ran in the A/Fuel form. This photo was taken at Pomona Drag Strip...

A Fiat coupe with an original all steel body, and sharp as a tack. If it had a hood, we could say that nether the hood, the ability comes from a large Oldsmobile engine with multiple carbs. Or, we could say that the power comes from a big Olds engine with multiple carbs. This Contradistinct was run by Jack Doyle, a member of the Hi-Winders Car Club...

A very rare photo of Sheldon Schmidt's blown Chrysler powered '34 Ford BB/Fuel Contradistinct smoking the hides at Lions Elevate Strip. This neat car had an interesting history. Short. The second time out at Pomona, the throttle hung wide open and it went off the end of the rails and destroyed itself...

A nasty '34 Ford Altered. The Masters Drag coupe, run by Kirby and Moseley. Dig the cut-a-style front fenders...

Trying to place the bodies on some of these Altereds or Contest Coupes is non always easy. A friend told me information technology'due south an Italian Vespa body. On this Comp Coupe, most all I know about this automobile is that it's painted bright red. In fact, at that place's a lot of things painted bright read on this race machine...

Of all the bodies used in the Altered Coupe/Sedans and the Competition Coupe/Sedans classes, I'm guessing that the little Italian Fiat Topolino was by far the most popular...

From the Los Angeles Harbor area, San Pedro, another super neat '34 Ford Coupe...

There is only something nearly an Altered coupe. A stock Model-A body, orange tinted plexi-glass windows, and an injected Chevy engine. Perfect...

Calling this car an "Contradistinct" is putting it mildly. I'm not sure what this auto was when it was new, peradventure a '36 Ford, I don't know...

A stock body, fenderless 3-window coupe, probably a 1933-1934 Ford. What caught my attenion was the rear brake calorie-free and license plate. Mayhap the possessor drove in on the street, too...

This car goes back aways. Belmont "Beach Ball" Sanchez'due south Runted bodied Contest Coupe. Sanchez was a legendary early hot rodder in SoCal, raced his cars on the Dry Lakes, Bonneville and at the drag strips. This car may have run at all three at ane time or the other. Sanchez became famous when he set records at the Salt Flats, being the commencement to use a 1953 Studebaker, with it'south swoopy (and areodynamic) body lines. Photo past Norm Gruden, and posted online by David Sorenson...

According to my friend David Sorenson, this Fiat Coupe is endemic and driven by Johnny Burrell from Birmingham, Alabama. He ran in A/Competition Coupe using a Chrysler engine with a McCulloch supercharger. Note that the wheelbase has beenstretched for better handling, and the front tires accept whitewalls on both the inside and the outside of the tires. You don't see that every mean solar day...

A Contest Coupe powered past an injected Chrysler Hemi. What'south left of the original Bantam coupe is tacked on the the dorsum of this race auto. What caught my middle on this photo was the Cadillac ambulance behind the the race auto. "Back in the 24-hour interval", former Caddy ambulances were sought after by drag racers, they made slap-up tow vehicles. they had a powerful engine and a LOT of room in the back for spare parts, and room to lay out your sleeping bag if you were going to hang out in the pits overnight...

An interesting photo of a overnice injected Chevy powered Fiat Contradistinct. Information technology gives you a perspective of really how small the trunk was, compared to the guy in the driver's seat. There are iii important things to remember if yous ever have a chance to drive one of these things. (1) Short wheelbase cars are notoriously poor treatment cars, and if you leave of shape near the top end, you could easily tangle with one of those onetime fashioned guard rails, or if there were no guard rails, a light pole or a tree or a tree stump, or the guy in the other lane. And (two), if y'all hit something hard enough to put a dent in the steel body, there was a good risk that it would put a dent in you. And (3), if the motorcar had a plastic body (equally in a fiberglass replica, like the photo to a higher place), it would most likely put more than than only a dent in you...

A v-window Model-A coupe with a carburetor equipped Chevy engine. There is an sometime aphorism that states that chrome plating does nothing to increase your tiptop speed or lower your ET. In fact, spending money on "cosmetics" instead of purchasing more speed equipment or lighter weight parts can practise simply the opposite. This photograph was taken at the old Niagara Airport Elevate Strip, in New York, effectually 1961. Mike Williams of Sandy Claw, CT filled me in on the '29 Model-A airtight cab pick-up in the background. A fully street legal hot rod, owned by Stan "Pete" Faruga from Eden, NY, running in B/Gas that 24-hour interval, powered past a 301-inch Chevy...

As far every bit the "who", the "what" and the "where". I can merely accost the "what". It is a Model-T, 2-door sedan, with an radically chopped superlative. The rear window looks like it's nearly the size of the slot in a mail box, and right below that is his Car Club Plaque...

The Competition Coupe that thought it was a dragster. And why not, this nitro called-for coupe usually ran in the Dragster class, and whipped many of them in route to the finish line. The owner/commuter of this fauna was "Flaming" Frank Pedregon, a "never lift" driver if in that location ever was one. Why "Flaming"? Frank would smoke the tires all the mode downwardly the track, and many times they got so hot they burst into flames, as they did in this photograph...

If this nasty looking coupe looks familiar, it should be. It was congenital and raced by Jim "Jazzy" Nelson and at one fourth dimension, was a threat not but equally an Altered, but likewise racing in the Top Eliminator class. Jazzy eventually sold the car to Pecker and Jack Stecker, and I believe that Jack Ewell was also involved in the program. The Stecker Brothers raced with a flathead engine (shown in the photo) and as well a supercharged 271 cubic inch Dodge "Carmine Ram" hemi. Based on this photo, the dragster in the other lane is going to take to play grab up if they want to move up to the next round... ( I stole this photo off of my friend Manuel Maldonado's Facebook page)

A couple of cars leaving the starting line at Santa Ana Drag Strip in the early 1950's. Although this was before NHRA created the Altered class, there is no question that these 2 race cars have been "altered". It looks like the "locked" rear end on the car on the correct became "united nations-locked", as in broke, and as to the sedan with the flame job on the left, I have no inkling most the "letter box" size windshield...

Elevate racing in the early days was non just about the cars, information technology was about the unabridged experience. Starters today press a button with their pollex. In the 1950's, starters needed to have athletic ability...

"The Tank". A 1929 Model-A 2-door sedan, with a chopped peak and a supercharged engine, probably a small cake Chevy...

Another example of an "Altered" congenital prior to the Altered Course being created. AF refers to a "A Fuel" coupe. Light weight textile for race cars had not been developed notwithstanding, which is why holes were drilled in the stock frame. The holes in the back of the fenders was for aerodynamics. Air trapped within the fenders created aerodynamic elevate, and so the holes gave the air an area to escape. Later in the evolution of the class, racers realized that the best way to go along air from collecting inside the fenders, was to remove the fenders...

A 1935 Ford Coupe, powered past a fuel burning Dodge V8 engine. Technically, it's not correct to call this machine an Altered, equally the Form Name had not been invented yet (early 1950's). Information technology'south an A/Fuel coupe, and owned past Russ Palmer...

Harry Duncan'due south '34 Ford 3-window coupe pulling up to the starting line at Colton Elevate Strip. If it looks a niggling like a Dry Lakes or a Bonneville car, it probably is. Alter the gears in the rear stop for one/iv mile work, add together some drag slicks, and information technology becomes a drag machine...

Powers & Riley's well proportioned A/Contradistinct Coupe. The body is (was) a Crosley...

A couple of Contradistinct Coupes, in every pregnant of the term. And the starter in his "flagman stance"...

With the poularity of the small Italian Fiat coupe body, some racers thought nigh using the small High german VW "bug" body. On newspaper, it seemed like a good body to use in edifice an Altered elevate auto. But as the speeds of these cars started going up and up, the rounded top on the VW caused the cars to became ill treatment. The air menstruum over the roof acted like the air flowing over the top of an airplane wing, causing the motorcar to "wing" (or lifting the rear of the car off the rail surface). Today, we telephone call that "aerodynamic lift". This racer mitigated that problem by drilling hundreds of holes on the rear sloping area of the roof line...

The little Crosley 2-door sedan looks smashing equally an Altered. I think information technology's the large blown engine and the larger wheels and tires that give information technology that "expect". I say larger wheels and tires considering the original wheels and tires that came with this automobile were not much larger than the wheels and tires on the little cherry-red "Radio Flyer" wagon I used to pull around the neighborhood when I was 6-years one-time...

There is no dubiety in my listen that this neat truck is an Altered. It says so, right there on the door. At that place is no dubiousness in my heed that it could probably run in the i of the Gasser classes too. Might even be legal for the street with a unlike frazzle system. That'south the beauty of the Altered classes, near anything could compete in one of the Altered classes. Now, nigh the engine in this neat footling truck. Information technology looks similar it'south a pocket-size block Chevy, with a Latham Axial Menses Supercharger. I bet that almost of you have never heard of that brand, but they were actually pretty popular in the 1950's (do your ain Google search)...

This ultra sanitary 1934 Ford Coupe, owned by Jerry Dilbeck, has been "contradistinct and modified"...

This 1934 Ford Coupe, owned by Neb Coburn, has been DRASTICALLY "contradistinct and modified". Y'all pay your money and yous make your choices...

What a not bad scene, a cloud covered heaven, the footing still clammy from an early on shower, and guys standing effectually BSing with each other in the pits considering there was nothing else going on. The 1929 Model-A Sedan is nice to look at too. In fact, it's real nice to look at...

An interesting Fiat Contradistinct Coupe. Information technology looks like it still has the original steel trunk but that tube frame was not original equipment. They used square tubing on this one, and get a load of the drastically lightened front axle. It was owned by Peter Lodge and built by Peter and his brother in law, Alan Smail. It was the first supercharged 392 Chrysler Hemi to run in new Zealand, and held the New Zealand speed and ET record in the early days. The short Fiat wheelbase made it a handful to race. Information technology's a legendary car in New Zealand, and has been restored and appears from fourth dimension to time, only they have yet to find someone brave enough to stand on the throttle very hard... (Thanks to Steve Gibbs for passing forth a annotation from Garth Hogan, a well known drag racer from New Zealand)

They must have called the Competition Coupes to the lanes. The silver motorcar on the right was owned by Jerry Menu. He ran an motorcar repair store in El Cerrito, CA...

The Contradistinct Coupe/Sedan catagory. This would be the "sedan", as good of an example is there has e'er been in my opinion. Every office of this car says "race car", fifty-fifty if it features a padded peak ordinarily seen on show cars...

This photograph tells it all, the fans at Lions continuing upward, many with their fingers in their ears, as a couple of supercharged Fiat bodied Altered Coupes pull up to the line...

If someone always decided to take a clean canvas of paper, and pattern the "perfect" body for the Altered Coupe/Sedan class, I can assure you lot that it would well-nigh probable expect exactly similar a Fiat Coupe...

Holy Moly Capt. Curiosity. Some times the neatest looking Altereds were Alterdes that didn't look like Altereds. The very keen holes punched in the tin were non drilled to reduce the automobile's weight, they were drilled to allow air to escape from under the fenders and inside the car equally it goes downwards the track. The car is a very make clean Willys four-door sedan, all steel, with the driver sitting in the dorsum seat, and with tail lights and a license plate. I'm guessing information technology has a 283-inch Chevy installed in there somewhere. This is probably a "social club car", in which all the members of this hot rod order (the Outlaws, from Santa Ana, in Orange County, CA) chipped in...

A 1934 Ford Coupe with a chopped superlative, and a 301-inch minor cake Chevy to make it go...

As a kid in High School, I used to work for Henry J. Kaiser at his estate upwards at Lake Tahoe, during summer vacations. I think that Henry (I never called him Henry when I worked for him, it was always Mr. Kaiser or Sir.) would have liked watching his Henry J.'due south elevate racing in the Gasser Classes. Merely whether he would have loved this radically modified Henry J. Altered, I'g not so certain...

The piddling Crosley Station Wagon, e'er a good option for an Altered Coupe/Sedan course race car. No problem getting the driver's seat to the rear of the machine and still leaving room for a big engine. This ane is powered past an Oldsmobile engine...

Wow, this is going back to the 1950's. This chopped top coupe was sponsored past ane of the best known speed shops in the country, Champion Speed Shop out of the San Francisco Bay surface area. Notation the employ of dual rear tires, to gain a traction advantage...

A 1934 Ford coupe running in the C/Altered form making a laissez passer at Pomona. But wait, where's the commuter? If this car had come with a back seat from the factory (which it didn't), that'due south where the commuter (Jerry Dilbeck) is seated. Everything in this automobile has been moved toward the rear, the engine, the driver, and of form, the steering arrangement. Note that the location of the steering link interferes with opening the driver's door, but at that place'due south always the door on the passenger side...

I should know this Competition Coupe, but the proper noun escapes me. I think information technology may be the Lakewood Car Parts "Missfire" but I can't be certain. If any of y'all "senior citizens" out there can assistance me on this i, please jump in...

This is like a Norman Rockwell painting (in black and white) for a senior citizen like myself. What I wouldn't give to be able to get dorsum in time and wander effectually in a dirt pit and look at cars similar the ones in this photograph. This looks like it was a pretty large outcome, based on the crowd in the stands in the background...

A nasty looking Chrysler powered 5-window coupe. Annotation how the body has been "channeled" (lowered) over the frame. Also annotation how the doors have been modified then that the lesser of the doors are fifty-fifty with the new location of the flooring boards. These kinds of modifications used to be called "Hot Rodding"...

One of the all-time things nigh having this website are all the photos and stories that people transport me. I received this photo the other mean solar day from Al Bino, at to the lowest degree, that's the name he used in his email. I'chiliad going to let Al tell the story:

"In the 1960's, my father, brother and I ran this 1931 Model-A Ford coupe. It ran as A/A, B/A, and equally a B/Comp. Initially, it was powered by a Packard 5-eight engine with four carbs. My father fabricated the intake manifold, I retrieve from a Nash driveshaft. It looked like a Crower U-Fab manifold. Bruce Crower ground the camshaft. The best I always ran with the Packard engine was 12.10 at 115.53 MPH. After a serious clutch explosion, my old man pulled the Packard engine and installed a 354 cubic inch Chrysler. Nosotros shredded transmission,s, tires and axles. With my father driving and the Chrysler engine installed, the auto managed a smokey xi.85 at 121 MPH. Great times."

There'southward a lot going on in this photograph. In the middle is "The Duke", a five-window Ford coupe running in the C/Altered class and on the left, a maroon colored sprint car turned dragster, and the guy on the right working on what appears to be a blue hemi powered dragster. On the farthermost left, and out of view in this photo, is nigh likely a large breasted lady in a halter top, which is why all the guys in this photo are looking in that direction. If the black '56 Chevy in the background was brand new on the mean solar day this photo was taken, information technology would have been 62 years ago...

The Walker Brothers (Jim and Pecker) and their 1929 chopped Model-A sedan. Power comes from a 296-inch Flathead. This was a pretty hot Altered at the time. Despite the hub caps, you can be sure that this was no street automobile... (Cheers to David Sorenson for the info.)

Gene Adams' "Lil Red Rocket" Competiton Coupe. Yeah, I tin see that the all steel Fiat is blue, just the sponsors logo was a blood-red rocket. This car put driver Leonard Harris on the map. Power came from Gene's supercharged Oldsmobile engine. This auto was a very strong runner and it led to Gene and Leonard teaming upwardly (forth with the sponsor, Albertson Olds) on a dragster, with the aforementioned engine that was in the coupe. And that led to Leonard Harris winning the NHRA Nationals in 1960 and so winning 18 acme eliminator races at Lions Elevate Strip (with 12 of those events in a row)...

A neat thing about the Altered classes is that it didn't matter much every bit to what kind of body you had on your car. This B/Contradistinct is definitely non a "me as well" kind of a car. Race cars with Nash Metropolitan bodies were few and far betwixt on the drag strips...

The term "channeling" means that the body did not actually sit down on the frame like it did when it came from the factory, it was lowered over the frame and then reattached to the frame. It gave the vehicle a "lowered" look, like what you see on this 1934 Ford Coupe. Power is provided by an FE Ford engine, which could take been anything from 332 cubic inches up to 427 cubic inches from the factory. This racer saved some coin on light weight trunk parts, past just removing the stock parts and not replacing them with anything...

This perfectly proportioned Model-A sedan looks real hateful, with it's night pigment and chrome wheels. Plenty of leg room in the back for the driver, too...

A Competition Coupe of the kickoff magnitude. Looks similar this racer used an early on Ford selection-upward truck torso, although there's non much left of it. Detect the size of the parachute pack on this auto. Before companies started turning out 'chutes particularly designed for drag cars, racers used old surplus military stuff from Army-Navy stores...

I posted this photo not because at that place was anything particular exceptional about this make clean Fiat Altered, simply because of the size of the "drag strip". Okay, it'due south not a drag strip, information technology'south an aircraft landing strip, somewhere in the eye of nowhere. Yous might be surprised at how many landing strips and / or aircraft taxi strips were used equally drag strips on the weekends in the early on days (equally in Santa Ana Drag Strip, a small airport in Orangish Canton, which eventually became John Wayne Airport). Very few bodily drag strips were built from scratch in the 1950's or even into the early 1960's. Fortunately, people that managed smaller airports around the nation allowed local organizations the apply of their facilities (usually for money or a piece of the activity of course). There were very rarely any place for the spectators to sit, usually had to be satisfied squatting in the weeds, like these guys did...

Some other Sunday at "the Pond", San Fernando Raceway. Magic Mufller's blown hemi Fiat Contradistinct storms off the line on another quarter mile run. If it was not a perfect run at this track, the commuter would have his hands full. On his left were hay bales stacked upwards up against a chain link fence. If you lot went off to the left, and later on yous went through the hay bales and the debate, there was a 30-foot driblet into a flood control channel.

On the correct, at least you didn't accept any fright about the guard rails. There weren't any. All you would practice is to crash into the cars on the return road. And if past adventure you lot could keep the car on the track, there was the shut-off area full of boulders and a very low highway bridge...

Zip too exotic about this Chrysler powered Competition coupe. The intake manifold was what was chosen a "U-Fab". It consisted of a couple of flanges that bolted to the cylinder heads and some pre-cutting tubing, and required the racer to weld it together himself. They would accept either six carbs (as shown on this car) or viii carbs, racers choice. Looks like this team had matching uniforms (or sweaters)...

Other than possibly the cylinder heads on the flathead Ford engine, in that location is not a single aftermarket light weight office on this Fiat Coupe. The reason, of class, was that light weight race car components did not exist at the fourth dimension. Steel parts was the gild of the day, although this racer did what he could to cut into the excess weight. The frame is drilled, as is the front axle, tie rods and even the forepart frame cantankerous member. If you have ever used a hole saw to cut holes in a piece of steel, you know how long it must take taken this racer to accomplish his job...

I beloved this car, I'm a sucker for plenty of chrome plated parts. The question is, is this a coupe or a roadster? Flathead Ford ability nether the hood (the simply light weight trunk office from what I tin can tell) on this Model T body. An "Altered" in every sense of the word...

A nice piddling Chevy Ii coupe, running in the C/Altered class. Judging past the sign on the torso lid (Auto in Tow), this babe was most likely towed to and from the track with a tow-bar. So, hither's a question; how many of you out there accept always endemic an Altered? I'k going to bet that non many answered in the affirmative. The truth is that if you e'er owned a hopped-up motorcar, of whatever kind, coupe, sedan or a roadster, you once owned an Altered. The reason I say this is that almost anything that was NOT a dragster, was eligible to compete in the Altered class. I have seen Super Stockers, Gassers, street roadsters, just your everyday car that you drive to work or to school, running in the Altered classes at your local drag strip on any given Sunday. Anyone that thinks that to be an Altered yous needed to have a Fiat Coupe or a '32 Ford sedan with a chopped pinnacle and a blown Chrysler under the hood is seriously mistaken. The Altered classes were the "catch-all" classes at the drag strip, anything goes.

Expect at the Chevy 2 in the photograph, a simple car with a 283-inch V8 nether the hood and a set of drag slicks. Thousands of guys dorsum in the '60's had cars like this. So, permit me ask once more; take you always endemic an Altered? And your answer could have been,"Yes, merely I never chose to enter information technology in an Altered Class at the drag strip"...

One affair that never changes, an open wheel Altered 1929 Model-A sedan always looks mean...

Boogie Scott, out of New Orleans, LA, and his Altered Coupe. Supercharged Olds for power. Note the chain drive blower, eventually fabricated illegal for safety reasons past the NHRA...

There are Competition Coupes and then there are perfectly proportioned Competition coupes, like this Fiat bodied car. I'g guessing that the engine is a Cadillac. Many times when you cannot come across the valve covers, the headers requite it away. The Caddy cylinder heads had a siamesed frazzle port for the #2 and #3 cylinders on each side, which is why there are only three header pipes on each side. The center ii cylinders shared a single exhaust port...

What was once a 1934 Ford 5-window coupe looks right at abode as an Altered. I'yard pretty sure this is an all steel trunk, including the doors...

I actually can't be sure what or which body is used on this Altered, other than it was once a 2-door sedan and not a coupe. A finally detailed specimen, that's for certain...

The Competition coupe "Aggravation", out of Detroit, Michigan. I'm going to accept a wild guess that their bike standing problems have been eliminated...

From the files of "what you see is what you get", this no frills, diddled Chevy, Fiat bodied AA/Contradistinct...

This drastically modified Crosley coupe was running in the A/Fuel class, a category that predated the Altered Class. The auto was built and driven by Archie Ary, of Colton, California, who was one of the founders, forth with Charlie Scott, of Colton Drag Strip (1954 - 1963). He called the car, "Archie'southward Flying Saucer", which explains the film on the door. Power came from a carbureted Chrysler engine. Ary went on to race in Tiptop Fuel... (Thank you to David Sorenson for the information)

This 1937 Ford coupe, with GMC power on fuel, looks like information technology could have been at home on the dry lakes around SoCal or the drag strip. Visalia is located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mount range and is the Gateway to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and is in Tulare Canton, California. Beautiful country up there...

An A/Fuel Coupe, probably a 1940 Ford. If I had to define this Altered with a unmarried word, information technology would be "polish"...

I'one thousand non certain if someone races this motorcar (a Fiat maybe?) or wears it. Appears to be powered by a Chevy V-8. One of the benefits of having a tiny race motorcar is that in that location may be no need for a trailer. Four guys could probably pick it up and put information technology in the bed of a pick-up truck...

Opening and closing factory doors on this Altered Model-A Coupe, just the way I like 'em. I'grand guessing that this is an all steel car. 327 Small Block Chevy under the hood...

"Bad News", Roberts-Zartman-Cookery'due south Bantam Competition Coupe, out of Pennsylvania...

This Comp Coupe belonged to Jack Costella. The body was originally a Crosley sedan, I have no idea where the forepart nose section came from. Ability was most likely a flathead...

Bill Coburn's hard charging Modified Coupe. Blown Chrysler for power, and a Fiat body to keep the commuter out of the cold...

A '34 Ford 3-window coupe with what appears to exist a stock frame and a supercharged fuel burning Chrysler engine. In the very early days of elevate racing, the term "door cars" did non exist equally it does today. There were basically ii types of drag vehicles "back in the solar day". Cars with doors (roadsters, coupes or sedans) and dragsters...

Anyone onetime plenty to remember watching full fendered Fuel Altereds (with running boards) racing has to be on Medicare today. This immaculate chopped '34 Ford Coupe was powered by an injected Chrysler Hemi. When information technology came to hubcaps, nearly tracks required the total size snap-on hubcaps be removed, just ordinarily permitted the "baby moon" way (and beauty rings) to remain on the car during the runs...

Really, I have no idea if this Studebaker Hawk ever ran as an Altered, but if it always ran at a National Outcome, NHRA would take well-nigh likely put information technology into ane of the Altered Classes...

Just like in the dragster classes, innovation was the name of the game in the Contradistinct classes, too. This Crosley body Altered featured a cross-mounted 324-inch Oldsmobile engine. Dissimilar the dragster guys running sidewinder mounted engines, this car used a gear bulldoze rather that the more typical chain bulldoze. The motorcar competed in the 1956 NHRA Nationals in Kansas City, and was owned by Bert Kessler and Dean Gammill out of Mattoon, IL.

The 1937 Fords were never the most pop model to use for a hot rod back in the day, only who among united states would non just dearest to own this C/Contradistinct coupe? A couple of things I notice from this photograph. First, the coupe is sponsored by a body shop in Stamford, CT and so it's probably condom to assume that this is an East Declension motorcar. And second, information technology was probably late in the season at this drag race, everyone is wearing wintertime coats...

Definitely a Contest Coupe. Supercharged Chrysler engine with half-dozen carbs on top of the blower. Note the ultra stout frame rails...

A Crosley station Wagon. Y'all can usually be assured that any car sponsored by a body store has dainty paint and is paring free. Powered by an Oldsmobile engine...

The quintessential Fiat Topolino storms out of the pigsty at Irwindale Raceway. Mondello's AA/FA used a supercharged large block Chevy for ability...

A couple of Altereds having at it. It'due south interesting to note that what nosotros have here are 2 cars in the same class, and they await quite unlike from each other. There is a term that we can use that best describes drag racing during the Glory Years from professional drag racing today. The term is DIVERSITY. I looked it up in the dictionary, it means "diverseness". That'due south what is missing today, in my opinion, in professional elevate racing. Every car in a specific pro course today looks exactly like every other car in that specific class. Like peas in a pod...

Anyone recognize the body (or what'due south left of information technology)? A Model-T coupe of course, with some "modifications". A diddled Buick nailhead powers this Contest Coupe...

An interesting Competition Coupe. Looks similar an Olds engine with a crank driven blower for power. Hopefully, the fuel tank is not actually held in place by what looks similar bungee cords. Also an interesting location for the shock absorbers. There is some speculation that the driver has a very narrow head going up to a signal at the top...

A couple of Altereds, off and running. At kickoff glance, the sedan in the far lane looks like it might be a Gasser, just note how far back the commuter is located. And if y'all look farther, at that place is a lot of daylight showing through the front wheel wells, meaning that the engine has been moved rear ward, along with the driver...

Fuel Altereds with fenders. Why not, cars came from the mill with fenders? And I'm partial to cars with fenders. In the early days, alot of Altereds were stripped down Gassers with "pop" in the tank. These two were very well known in SoCal and very heavily modified. The '35 Ford Coupe on the left (23 Jr.) was a order machine, owned by the Drifters Car Club. And on the right, the '34 Ford 2-door sedan was owned by the Hylton Brothers.

Starters had to exist agile in the early days, fifty-fifty acrobatic. Today, like everything else in life, all they demand to do is to press a push...

Olin Davis and his "Piffling Crimson Riding Hoodlum" Altered sedan. I believe that Olin was from Texas...

Pete Millar, the famed creator of "Drag Cartoons" and his supercharged Fiat Topolino Competiton Coupe at the Winternationals at Pomona.

Powered by a 354 inch Chrysler hemi (naturally aspirated). The torso is perfectly proportioned for my taste. The thing that stands out for me is that the machine has neat rear fenders...

From the "you don't see this everyday" files, a 1960-ish Plymouth Valiant Contradistinct sedan...

Yet some other Crossley Station Wagon. These English cars were small, calorie-free weight and cheap. This Altered has an extended front finish and wheelbase, to give it more than stability going down the track...

I posted this photograph for 2 reasons. Start to remind you that there were such things as 4-door Fuel Altereds, and second to remind you that there was a time "back in the day" when you could fill up up a 16-gallon gasoline tank with high test for $iv.16...

A nicely detailed '35-'36 Ford 5-window fuel coupe. This photograph has to be from the 1950's...

The team of Loukas & Preising out of Cleveland, Ohio boils the hides with their fuel burning Competition Coupe...

A very nice little v-window coupe, probably once a street hot rod for someone. It's been channeled to get it to sit lower. Dual elliptical front springs assistance to get a lower stance in this instance. Note the front frame area has been lightened using the "drill bit method".

How many remember a time when winning a plastic trophy made your racing weekend a success? Today, many racers aren't satisfied unless they get some greenbacks even after losing in the first round...

The holes in the back panel of this sedan were not designed to make the auto lighter. When your race auto has no window glass (or Plexiglass), and when the rear window is nigh the size of the letter slot at the post office, you demand some way to let the air that enters the automobile to exit out. The hole saw tin be your friend...

A couple of Altered Coupes, just the mode I like them; steel bodies, steel wheels, and a bare minimum of chrome plating. The auto in the near lane is equipped with headlights and a windshield wiper. After the race, perchance he can but drive the car home...

I'k not sure which rail this is, or what kind of a car this is (or was), just I do call back that the "Motor Monarchs" out of Ventura California were a well respected motorcar club in SoCal...

As we gaze at this photo, there are at least three conclusions to be drawn. First, the roadster left early. Second, the Crossley wagon was late off the line, or finally, the roadster was the quicker car...

Were it non for the Contradistinct classes, how many dragster fans would take known what an early Fiat looked like? This one is smoking off the line at San Fernando Raceway. Of all the drag strips in the greater L.A. surface area (Pomona, Fontana, San Gabriel, Irwindale, OCIR, etc.) , my two favorites were Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, and San Fernando Raceway in "the Valley". I lived for the weekends and information technology was Lions on Saturday and San Fernando on Sunday. Lions was wild where as San Fernando (called "the Swimming" for some reason) was very laid back. You could sit in the bleachers or park forth side the track and watch the races from your car. Running a hot machine at "the Swimming" took some balls, information technology was not a walk in the park. If you went off the rails on your left, you went through some hay bails, a chain-link fence, and dropped about 30-feet into a drainage canal. If you went off the track on your right, you collection through some gravel (and if you were sideways, probably dug in a flipped a few times) and then crashed beyond the return road. And if you lost your brakes and parachute, you collection under the span at the end and nigh certainly totaled the motorcar. God I loved the '60'southward in SoCal...

A rather foreign pairing, perhaps some kind of Eliminator Category. At any rate, a Chevy II match racer (a four-door sedan) gets an early lead on a Competition coupe...

There is no way (in my opinion) that anyone can look at an all steel Contradistinct coupe with full fenders and doors, and not intermission into a huge grin...

How many of our "senior citizens" can remember back to when every piddling city in the country had an aerodrome located on the "outskirts" of town. And how the operators of these pocket-sized airports could make a footling money on the weekends by renting out a taxi-way to a local drag race promoter? The outset elevate strip in the nation to concur regularly scheduled events, Santa Ana Drag Strip, started that way. But times alter, and pretty soon the "outskirts" of town sort of disappeared along with the drag strips and in many cases, the little airports disappeared too.

None of that was on the minds of these two racers, with their eyes glued on the starter. A couple of fenderless 5-window coupes that looked like they could have spent time on the streets, or possibly still did...

Henry Harrison's "Crazy Equus caballus" AA/FA Fiat, running at Bakersfield in 1966...

The rumor has always been that Adolph had Ferdinand design and build the VW for "the people". True or non, I doubt that either of those 2 ever thought it would somewhen atomic number 82 to this...

This is Jack Ditmar's and Herb Moller'south "Lil Screamer Two" B-Altered 1934 Ford iii-window coupe. This Contradistinct entered the scene in 1963, several years before the flip-top comets of Jack Chrisman and Don Nicholson appeared. To say that this race machine was ahead of it's time is an understatement. And it more than held it's ain in NHRA competition for many years. The workmanship was beyond flawless and information technology ran like Jack the comport...

Aloha! The question is, did this coupe race in u.s.a. and not in Hawaii, or did information technology race in Hawaii and not in u.s.?

Wow! There's not a unmarried body panel on this 1940 Willys option-up truck that has not be modified in some fashion. Fifty-fifty so, it all seems to blend together in a absurd manner. I think that if George Barris were to have always built an Altered, it would have looked like this 1...

I have heard some people say this was the best thing yous could do with a Nash Metropolitan. I don't know, the cars didn't sell that well but maybe they were ahead of their time. Anyway, it was "different", and in the 1960'south, there was cypher incorrect with that. An Olds engine with Algon injection...

Not alot of chrome on this Contest Coupe. In fact, in that location is aught shiny on this machine. Only, both the chassis and the trunk are painted, which is more we can say about many early on (1950'due south) elevate cars. The vast majority of early on drag cars were non "professionally" built, they were constructed in someones garage or back m. There was a term used in those days, information technology was called "Hot Rodding"...

A Model-A v-window coupe with a chopped pinnacle, a flathead Ford engine and a suicide front end end. Life was good...

It was not unusual to see VW bodies show upwards in the Altered class in the 'sixty'southward. Information technology was too non unusual to hear the drivers of these cars complain about the way the cars handled in the lights. The rounded top caused plenty of areodynamic lift at the acme end, making them a existent scattering for the drivers...

Saugus Drag Strip. Opened in 1951, and closed in 1957...

If it weren't for the altered wheelbase, this Chevy might have been a Gasser...

In the early days of drag racing, the easiest mode to plow a street car or a Gasser into an Altered was to remove the fenders. And so someone discovered the Fiat Topolino...

An all steel Fiat Topolino body, a passenger motorcar frame, a Ford banjo style rear cease and a Ford flathead engine. Jim "Jazzy" Nelson took out many a dragster with this little coupe...

Merry Christmas. It could accept been worse, it could accept been a caretaker starter instead of the infernal 'Tree...

A chopped '32 Ford 3-window coupe. Even Henry would have canonical of how this car looked...

A chopped and channeled '34 Ford three-window...

A couple of Altereds coming at you lot. Nonetheless, these racers probably never heard of an Contradistinct Class in drag racing. In fact, for all we know, these ii cars might have been street driven hot rods. What makes this photograph so unusual is that information technology was taken at what many folks believe to be the very outset organized elevate race held in the U.S. The year was 1948 and the identify is nearly Santa Barbara, CA, at an unused and blocked off road at the Goleta Airport. Afterward the end of WWII, racing in SoCal was either on the street or at one of the several dry out lakes in the area. Drag racing had not been invented yet, until this come across. This is Footing Nada for the world of drag racing...

If the top on this auto had been chopped whatever more, it would have been a roadster...

A dorsum seat driver. Approved for Altered drivers, but not for mother-in-laws...

I love this Competition Coupe/Sedan. In California, it'southward against the police force to pass a schoolhouse omnibus when their red lights are flashing. Pregnant that if he was racing at Lions or San Fernando (or whatever of the other 25+ drag strips in the country), he could turn on his red low-cal merely as soon as he left the line, and win every race. This auto also gives new meaning to the term, "short bus"...

Don't panic, they did this on purpose. Until NHRA constitute out virtually information technology. They felt it was likewise dangerous (which it was, of course). Plain they never felt it was dangerous to stick a fuel tank on the front of a race car where information technology would rupture and spill it's flammable fluid on top of a reddish-hot motor at even the slightest touch with something...

An un-chopped top and a heavily channeled trunk, it looks perfect on this A-Bone...

When I was in high schoolhouse, I worked for the industrialist, Henry J. Kaiser, at his dwelling house in Lake Tahoe. He was a race oriented guy, he endemic and raced speedboats and unlimited hydroplanes. I'm just not certain he would have canonical of this Altered ("he cut holes in my car"). He was a nice man. On his son Edgar's birthday ane yr, he GAVE him the Denver Broncos as a gift. He bought the team for his son...

A Crosley Station Carriage...

Perhaps this is a dual purpose car, a B/Altered sometimes, or a Match Race Madness automobile sometimes...

Making some racket at Lions Drag Strip...

Another Crosley, a sedan this time...

Anyone that thinks that the special factory built 1965 Contrivance and Plymouth altered wheelbase sedans was a new thought, is sadly mistaken. Jazzy was there x years before that. So in reality, Jim "Jazzy" Nelson invented the Funny Car"...

This was non a plastic body...

Fred Wentworth's Bantam bodied Comp Coupe...

I've always loved this nasty truck. It was from up in the San Francisco Bay surface area and they would booty information technology downward to Lions. The fans loved this truck as well. It was loud and it was fast...

The Contradistinct and Competition Coupe-Sedan rules called for a body from a production auto. This was a production automobile, a Messerschmitt...

The VW Bug was pretty aerodynamic at 65 mph. Above that yous're on your own...

He could have probably saved some time and endeavor if he just left the hood off in the outset identify...

The original rules for the Competition Coupe/Sedans required in general, a "production body, may be modified". This body has been modified...

The torso is from a mid 1930'southward Chevy. The entire car is very neatly done...

This week it could race as an Altered, next calendar week it could run as a Modified Sports Automobile. The beauty of the Altered form is that almost any machine (with the exception of a dragster or a Comp. Coupe/Sedan) could run as an Altered. A Super Stocker with elevate slicks wider than vii-inches could run as a Gasser or as an Altered. It was truly a catch-all course...

Is it a Coupe/Sedan or is it a Roadster? Maybe it's a Roupe...

There was a theory practiced past quondam elevate racers. If you lot weren't sure virtually a part, throw it up in the air. If it came downwardly, it was as well heavy, so you needed to drill holes in information technology to make it lighter. Now it was light, but it was also weak. Nobody wants a weak part on a race auto so you are at present permitted to throw it away and non apply it. Probably didn't need information technology anyway...

"Wild Willie" out on the Super Rat. This is serious time. These are nitro burning dragster engines in short wheelbase cars. Widow makers...

I believe this is well know author Don Montgomery'southward nitro burning '32...

Race cars with door handles and door hinges meant only one thing back in the day, "metal". Now, do you see that bluish and yellow 5-gallon can? Do y'all see what it says on the label? How much of what's in that blue and yellow can is mixed with the stuff in the grey tin (hint: alky), that volition determine either how fast you lot are going to go or how much of the engine is salvageable after it goes "nail"...

Flaming Frank Pedregon at "the Beach". Every fourth dimension Frank left the starting line, it was hammer down for 1/iv mile, he never lifted...

Okay, I guess if y'all consider a stage motorcoach to be a "production vehicle", he's legal to run...

There was a time at Pomona when any car from whatsoever course could pit anywhere. Information technology was more fun to pit your Super Stocker side by side to a dragster or a Competition Coupe. Not the blower concatenation and sprocket on the crankshaft on this Coupe, and the odds and ends from his garage fastened to the front axle for anchor...

This might be the old Saugus Drag Strip...

Like I said before, Curt wheelbase. Also annotation the 4-inch water piping nether the button bar in the back, most likely total of atomic number 82...

This guys married woman came upwards with the motorcar name...

Cars like this much modified '34 Ford, and the '36 Ford a few photos in a higher place (57 Jr.) began their racing careers on the dry lakes around SoCal. Then their owners discovered drag slicks...

How many of y'all senior citizens remember far plenty back to when we used to whorl the sleaves upwardly on our brusque sleave button front shirts? Like the homo said, "Growing old is not for sissies."...

I wonder if he can read the oil pressure approximate on the dashboard from back there?

A 1935 Ford Fuel Coupe. Owned and congenital by Archie Ary of Colton, CA, one of the founders of the Colton Elevate Strip (opened '54, airtight '63)...

Not many racers today seem to be interested in trophies, they only desire to know how much round money they get when they lose in the outset round...

Allison aircraft engine for power. This is not really an Altered but I had to put it somewhere. I don't recall that NHRA permitted aircraft engines in whatsoever of the Altered or Competition Coup classes...

The Albertson Olds "lil Cherry Rocket" Fiat Altered. Engine by Gen Adams and driven by Leonard Harris, which led up to him driving the Scrima-Adams dragster a twelvemonth later. Leonard was equally smashing behind the wheel of this Altered as he was well-nigh to be behind the bicycle of the dragster...

An interesting style to build a Competition Coupe, carve up a Corvette...

Al Vandewoude's altered wheelbase Plymouth, the "Flying Dutchman"...

This has to be an airdrome track or taxi way...

Based on the weather condition, no racing today. Bummer...

A Reath Automotive sponsored '36 Ford Altered at Pomona. Joe Reath was the racers friend, helped out many, many racers with sponsorship, either with money or parts...

Taking a suspension from the Modified Sports Car form...

The typical antics of an Contradistinct, e'er giving the driver something to recall about...

With the doors on this coupe permanently closed, the roof hatch was invented...

The "Bad Habit" was 1 very nasty Topolino...

An American Bantam coupe, originally manufactured past Austin...

This ultra germ-free Ford 5-window coupe could also qualify as a show automobile. The '32 is office of the Travel-On Racing Team, out of Los Angeles. Power comes from a 540 cubic inch Lincoln...

This Ford Model-T bodied Altered was sponsored by a salvage chiliad. Salve yards were the Summt Racing and Jeg's of their time...

Nope, nobody stole the engine. It was just moved back to where the driver used to sit down, after he was moved to the back seat...

Earlier Ike Iacono built his GMC powered dragster, he ran his fuel burning straight-half dozen engine in this '34 Ford coupe...

An injected small block Ford engine powers this coupe...

Viii in a row on cylinders (most likely a Buick engine), six carbs, and chrome by Aladdin Plating. He could too utilize an auto paint shop and sign painter for sponsors...

But your everyday "get to the market and pick upwards a quart of milk" sedan...

A Ford 427 SOHC engine for ability...

Fun to look at merely we all know this is non an Altered...

Peterson & Beaver, twin Chevy coupe. I would exist surprised if this motorcar did non run in the Dragster grade...

The body on this Competition coupe has me stumped, merely I've been told that it's most likely a 1957-ish Vespa 400, a French automobile not much bigger than a pocket-sized suitcase...

I'm guessing that the torso was originally a 1937 Chevy sedan, but I'm willing to be wrong...

Looks like no expense was spared on this show car quality sedan. Fifty-fifty the roof is partially upholstered...

That's non a mirror on the firewall, it'south got 2 Chevy engines for power. This is another motorcar that probably would not be permitted to run in the Contradistinct grade...

Based on the headers merely in front of the rear tires, I'm thinking this is a rear-engine car with the driver upwards front...

A 5-window coupe, but something other than a Ford body. Back in the day and before the internet and iPhones ruined our lives, a sponsor only needed his name and the city on the motorcar, and people constitute him...

A 1939 Chevy coupe...

Ike's 302-inch injected Jimmy put many V-eight'south to shame in it'south day...

The Hampton & Dye twin Chevy powered Modified Coupe. Note that i engine, the one on the left in this photo, is facing backwards...

Over the years, tubular frames and roll-over front suspension eliminated the stock frames and leafage-springs in the front...

I'm pretty sure this is Saugus Elevate Strip...

Sparks & Bonney Automotive. I used to pedal my Schwinn over to their shop on Melrose Ave. many times every bit a child, just to spotter them put another Ford flathead engine together...

The "Iron Mistress"...

2 hot cars that raced confronting each other frequently. The red '36 Ford, part of the "Millwinders" automobile club and the white '35 Ford of the "Drifters" car lodge, both out of Redondo Beach, CA, both cars running fuel flatheads...

Don Montgomery's fuel coupe...

Before there was ever "Flip pinnacle" Comets, there was a flip tiptop Crosley...

Before the Ramchargers became identified with the factory Dodge teams in Super Stock racing, they raced this Plymouth bodied Contradistinct...

Ramey & Ewen'due south 1934 Ford sedan. An extremely sanitary race motorcar originally built in the 1950'due south for Dry Lakes and Bonneville contest. Power comes from a supercharged Hemi Chrysler on nitromethane. It was eventually converted to a elevate auto with the improver of motorcycle wheels in the front end and drag slips in the back. It was destroyed in an accident at Fontana Drag Strip when it crashed into a phone pole on the fire-up road... (Information thanks to David Sorenson)

This does not await good...

The guys that congenital this super clean Altered must have been very patient. Look at the number of tiny holes someone drilled in the front beam...

Hardly recognizable today, this is Pomona Raceway in the beginning, it opened in 1951 (I was 12 years old at the fourth dimension)...

Some other non-Ford bodied Altered, from the same early '30'due south catamenia...

How does the driver get into the car? The hole where his head sticks out looks to pocket-sized to go the residual of his body in or out. And find the coupe with the Chickenpox in the background...

Earlier there was calorie-free weight fiberglass or carbon-fiber body parts, there was the pigsty saw...

Ditto...

Despite the fact that the track (which was most likely an airport facility) had no guard rails, the spectators look like they are out of harms way (in the next canton)...