'Just got back from the Muncie Dragway Pure Stock Musclecar Race announced earlier. While the attendance (12 cars and teams showed up, including three Studebakers) was disappointing to promoter Steve "CJFordman", those who did appear had a great time...and Studebaker kicked some serious butt! [}
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First off, we must again marvel at Richard "R1" Poe. Richard is on a mission to prove you don't need big bucks for supercharging to have a fast Studebaker...and boy, talk about "mission accomplished!"
To wit: Prior to this event, Richard's best ET/Speed in his charcoal 1963 R1/4-speed Lark Custom two-door had been 14.27 and a little over 96 MPH. During practice Friday for the Muncie event, he whittled this down to 14.15 seconds [:0]...and in a separate run Friday, he posted a new highest-ever Terminal Speed of 98.34 MPH! [:0][][:0] (Yes, Virginia, this is with a legally-stock R1 engine.)
In fact, Richard's qualifying ET was so good it earned him the privilege([?]) of running a 1969 Road Runner 440/Six-Barrel/4-speed in the 2 out of 3 shootouts Saturday....with an R1, Virginia!
Richard tripped the red bulb getting away in Round One, losing it at the starting line. That was OK; he posted a slower time in Round One and would have lost without red-lighting.
But he came back...and with nobody red-lighting or making any obvious mistakes in the next two rounds, Richard Poe's R1 Lark beat the Six-Barrel 440 fair and square in two of the tightest races you could ever ask to see in Pure Stock Drag Racing, thus winning his shootout while giving up 151 cubic inches without the aid of a supercharger! Folks, we are talking about some serious R1 performance, here...and he says he isn't done yet!
I'm not sure Ted Harbit could better that accomplishment in The Stude Tomato, but he did equal it. The Tomato was not runnng as well as it has previously, Ted posting a best of 13.521 in the shootouts. He reported a little more wheel slip than he'd like, plus much of the running was into a headwind (not that it bothered Richard Poe, we might surmise!) Ted's qualifying time of 13.65 on Friday earned him the privilege of running another 440/Six-Barrel MoPar, Dave Watt's 1969 Road Runner with 4-speed.
Ted and The R2/4-speed Tomato won Round One against the 440 with a narrow winning margin of .0045 seconds! [:0] Whew! They came back for Round Two and Ted was slower out of the box (reaction time and 60-foot time) than Dave, losing in the first 60 feet even though he ultimately posted a faster ET: 13.641 for The Tomato, versus 13.645 for the Road Runner. So Dave won Round Two in the first 60 feet and Ted couldn't catch him.
Round Three was another nail-biter, but the tables were turned. Ted posted a .056 Reaction Time ...but Dave took twice that much time getting under way with a .112 Reaction Time. That put Ted out in front for Round Three...and although Dave posted a faster ET and Terminal Speed, he couldn't catch the fleeing Tomato within a quarter-mile. Ted won Round Three and, thus, won the 2-out-of-3 shootout against the 1969 Road Runner 440/Six-Barrel 4-speed. (Ted's winning margin in Round Three? An miniscule .0011 second![:0] Is that close enough?)
Last but not least was Chuck Kern, with son John, and Chuck's 1963 R2/Powershift Avanti. Chuck, Dave Watt (1969 Road Runner), and our own John Feistritzer (1957 Thunderbird) drove their cars to the event. (Note: This is a correction from the original statement regarding trailering.)
Chuck also set a new personal record for the car: 14.129 ET and 99.28 MPH during Friday's rehearsal. But on Saturday, Chuck encountered a high-speed misfire due to what he felt were failing electrics; the voltage regulator was acting up during the shootouts. [xx(]
Chuck's best performance during the shootouts was thu
][]First off, we must again marvel at Richard "R1" Poe. Richard is on a mission to prove you don't need big bucks for supercharging to have a fast Studebaker...and boy, talk about "mission accomplished!"
To wit: Prior to this event, Richard's best ET/Speed in his charcoal 1963 R1/4-speed Lark Custom two-door had been 14.27 and a little over 96 MPH. During practice Friday for the Muncie event, he whittled this down to 14.15 seconds [:0]...and in a separate run Friday, he posted a new highest-ever Terminal Speed of 98.34 MPH! [:0][
][:0] (Yes, Virginia, this is with a legally-stock R1 engine.)In fact, Richard's qualifying ET was so good it earned him the privilege([?]) of running a 1969 Road Runner 440/Six-Barrel/4-speed in the 2 out of 3 shootouts Saturday....with an R1, Virginia!
Richard tripped the red bulb getting away in Round One, losing it at the starting line. That was OK; he posted a slower time in Round One and would have lost without red-lighting.
But he came back...and with nobody red-lighting or making any obvious mistakes in the next two rounds, Richard Poe's R1 Lark beat the Six-Barrel 440 fair and square in two of the tightest races you could ever ask to see in Pure Stock Drag Racing, thus winning his shootout while giving up 151 cubic inches without the aid of a supercharger!
Folks, we are talking about some serious R1 performance, here...and he says he isn't done yet!I'm not sure Ted Harbit could better that accomplishment in The Stude Tomato, but he did equal it. The Tomato was not runnng as well as it has previously, Ted posting a best of 13.521 in the shootouts. He reported a little more wheel slip than he'd like, plus much of the running was into a headwind (not that it bothered Richard Poe, we might surmise!) Ted's qualifying time of 13.65 on Friday earned him the privilege of running another 440/Six-Barrel MoPar, Dave Watt's 1969 Road Runner with 4-speed.
Ted and The R2/4-speed Tomato won Round One against the 440 with a narrow winning margin of .0045 seconds! [:0] Whew! They came back for Round Two and Ted was slower out of the box (reaction time and 60-foot time) than Dave, losing in the first 60 feet even though he ultimately posted a faster ET: 13.641 for The Tomato, versus 13.645 for the Road Runner. So Dave won Round Two in the first 60 feet and Ted couldn't catch him.
Round Three was another nail-biter, but the tables were turned. Ted posted a .056 Reaction Time
...but Dave took twice that much time getting under way with a .112 Reaction Time. That put Ted out in front for Round Three...and although Dave posted a faster ET and Terminal Speed, he couldn't catch the fleeing Tomato within a quarter-mile. Ted won Round Three and, thus, won the 2-out-of-3 shootout against the 1969 Road Runner 440/Six-Barrel 4-speed. (Ted's winning margin in Round Three? An miniscule .0011 second![:0] Is that close enough?)Last but not least was Chuck Kern, with son John, and Chuck's 1963 R2/Powershift Avanti. Chuck, Dave Watt (1969 Road Runner), and our own John Feistritzer (1957 Thunderbird) drove their cars to the event. (Note: This is a correction from the original statement regarding trailering.)
Chuck also set a new personal record for the car: 14.129 ET and 99.28 MPH during Friday's rehearsal. But on Saturday, Chuck encountered a high-speed misfire due to what he felt were failing electrics; the voltage regulator was acting up during the shootouts. [xx(]
Chuck's best performance during the shootouts was thu
We've got to quit saying, 
)] Congrats to Richard and Ted, sorry to see Chuck had problems, rotten luck to go that fast on Friday and have mechanical gremlins on race day.
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