Curious - have there ever been any Studebaker rail dragsters?

[PackardV8]

The one I mentioned was built by Bill Bonebrake and Earl Rowland.
Engine was square bore 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 and Hilborn injected.

Clarification, please. Didn't the article say it was a '52 block, but with a 1/2" stroke? That is 3-3/4" stroke, OK, but no way a '52 block gets to 3-3/4". Could it have been a 3-3/8" x 3 3/4"? Or are we discussing something other than the magazine article build?

jack vines

[bob40]

Click on the first pic in posts 11 and 13.
Click on the first pic and enlarge it.
That's where is says it's 3 3/4 x 3 3/4.
Just going by the info stated in the magazine.

[SilverHawkDan]

Last post was 2004 so not sure where this project is at this time. wish it was in my driveway.

[HOXXOH]

In response to the Packard powered dragster in post #6.

IIRC, that engine was one that Louis Senter got in '56 after Packard stopped production. There were several dragsters who ran over 150 MPH in 1955, with Lloyd Scott's Bustle Bomb generally being considered the first. I'm just curious where you found that info and was there a date and location.

[PackardV8]

In response to the Packard powered dragster in post #6.

IIRC, that engine was one that Louis Senter got in '56 after Packard stopped production. There were several dragsters who ran over 150 MPH in 1955, with Lloyd Scott's Bustle Bomb generally being considered the first. I'm just curious where you found that info and was there a date and location.

Seems we're both correct, just about slightly different records. Points of clarification are in order.

For last Father's Day my daughter bought me Merchants of Speed by Paul Smith. The first chapter is on Ansen Automotive and Lou Senter. The story goes he bought a lot of fifty Packard V8s, figured the best way to sell them was to race and win, so built a bored and stroked dragster, first with carbs and then with supercharger and injection. The first photograph illustrating the article is of his GMC supercharged, Hilborn injected 435" Packard V8 dragster. The caption claims it was the first NHRA gasoline powered run over 150 MPH.

the Bustle Bomb team decided to attend the second Automobile Timing Association of America (ATAA) World Series of Drag Racing in Lawrenceville, Illinois, from August 17–21, 1955. To stack the deck in their favor, they filled the tank with nitro. The result: On August 20, 1955, Scotty drove Bustle Bomb to 151.07 mph, setting the world speed record in the quarter-mile.

So yes, the Bustle Bomb was first to clock 150 MPH, but on nitro at an ATAA meet.

jack vines

[r1lark]

For last Father's Day my daughter bought me Merchants of Speed by Paul Smith. The first chapter is on Ansen Automotive and Lou Senter. The story goes he bought a lot of fifty Packard V8s, figured the best way to sell them was to race and win, so built a bored and stroked dragster, first with carbs and then with supercharger and injection. The first photograph illustrating the article is of his GMC supercharged, Hilborn injected 435" Packard V8 dragster. The caption claims it was the first NHRA gasoline powered run over 150 MPH.
jack vines

Wow, 435 cubic inch Packard V8. Sweet.