[With apologies to Mary Ann Harbit; this topic references automotive inspiration.]
The new, July 2009 Hot Rod unknowingly contains "Seed of The Chicken Hawk."
There's an excellent decade-of-the-60s article assembled by Bill McQuire, entitled "When Stock was Hot: Hot Rod looks back on the Golden Age of Junior Stock." This is a great article with many old 1960s black & whites; worth the price of the magazine by itself. Of course, those of us in Studebaker-land know the most dominant drag racer and car in the lower stock classes: Ted Harbit & The Chicken Hawk.
On Page 78 is a starting-line photo of an early K/S elimination race at the 1961 NHRA National Drags at Indianapolis Raceway Park. A four-cylinder Tempest sedan and a Corvair station wagon are being launched (well, OK, to the extent that you can "launch" a 4-cylinder Tempest or a Corvair station wagon). The caption says,
"Compacts were big news in 1961. Believe it or not, fans at the Nationals in Indy screamed their lungs out as four-cylinder Tempests and air-cooled Corvairs battled their way to 18-second times. With their rearward weight bias, Corvairs did well on the lousy tires then available. However, Bill Senft's '50 Oldsmobile V-8 won the K/Stock class trophy that year."
Not disclosed in the caption, unfortunately, is the 1961 K/S runner-up who lost to Bill's Olds. That would be the 1951 Commander convertible Teacher's Pet, piloted by our own Ted Harbit.
Runner-up status was Ted's Inspiration to find a 1951 Commander about 300 pounds lighter, still able to run in K/S, for the 1962 Nationals. Within the month of September 1961, after that Labor Day runner-up finish, Ted's wallet was $30 lighter and The Chicken Hawk had been extracted from a field to begin life as the most famous racing Studebaker of all time.
Of course, Team Harbit & Chicken Hawk showed up for the 1962 Nationals a year later and went home as The Big Kahuna...a feat that would be repeated in 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969, to close out the decade being discussed in this article.
So when you read Page 78 of the July 2009 Hot Rod, you already know "the rest of the story."
BP
The new, July 2009 Hot Rod unknowingly contains "Seed of The Chicken Hawk."
There's an excellent decade-of-the-60s article assembled by Bill McQuire, entitled "When Stock was Hot: Hot Rod looks back on the Golden Age of Junior Stock." This is a great article with many old 1960s black & whites; worth the price of the magazine by itself. Of course, those of us in Studebaker-land know the most dominant drag racer and car in the lower stock classes: Ted Harbit & The Chicken Hawk.
On Page 78 is a starting-line photo of an early K/S elimination race at the 1961 NHRA National Drags at Indianapolis Raceway Park. A four-cylinder Tempest sedan and a Corvair station wagon are being launched (well, OK, to the extent that you can "launch" a 4-cylinder Tempest or a Corvair station wagon). The caption says,
"Compacts were big news in 1961. Believe it or not, fans at the Nationals in Indy screamed their lungs out as four-cylinder Tempests and air-cooled Corvairs battled their way to 18-second times. With their rearward weight bias, Corvairs did well on the lousy tires then available. However, Bill Senft's '50 Oldsmobile V-8 won the K/Stock class trophy that year."
Not disclosed in the caption, unfortunately, is the 1961 K/S runner-up who lost to Bill's Olds. That would be the 1951 Commander convertible Teacher's Pet, piloted by our own Ted Harbit.
Runner-up status was Ted's Inspiration to find a 1951 Commander about 300 pounds lighter, still able to run in K/S, for the 1962 Nationals. Within the month of September 1961, after that Labor Day runner-up finish, Ted's wallet was $30 lighter and The Chicken Hawk had been extracted from a field to begin life as the most famous racing Studebaker of all time.
Of course, Team Harbit & Chicken Hawk showed up for the 1962 Nationals a year later and went home as The Big Kahuna...a feat that would be repeated in 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969, to close out the decade being discussed in this article.
So when you read Page 78 of the July 2009 Hot Rod, you already know "the rest of the story."
BP 
We've got to quit saying, 
I don't know; 'never happened to ask Ted, either. But it was not that unusual for a 10-year old car to be scrap in 1961. Cars simply wore out earlier back then and styling changes really brought to bear pressure to keep up with the Joneses.
Comment