My Studebaker powered 1964 Challenger Drag race car

[63larkr1]

I'm all done with the Challenger for the year. This year started out not so good and I missed the Studebaker National Drags.
At the last trip to the track last year (2018) I took all the teeth of the 4.09 ring and pinon gears at the Martin, US131 FAST drags on the first pass so I put a set of 4.27 gears in the car. Since then I have not had as good of 60' times as last year. It spins and just will not hook.
I have made maybe 40 passes and in the last few weeks have been to Muncie twice and Brown County once, and Ohio Valley Raceway. At Muncie a few weeks ago the car ran good and made nine or ten passes 7 of them were over 118 MPH, the rest were 117. I had my second quickest ET in the 1/4 mile @11.30 and I think my fastest MPH in the 1/8 at 95.76 and the 1/4 at 118.78MPH. But my 60' times are about .04 slower and the ETs off by .100. I did have my fastest ever run at Brown County between rain drops at the Flag Drags. The race was rained out and I only made two passes between rain drops, but both my ET and MPH were great. My time slip does not show my 60' time but it hooked best at any track all year.
At Muncie last Wednesday I did go a little quicker in the 1/8 then BC but at Muncie it was spinning all the way trough first gear and the shift light was on the whole time in first so it was over 5750RPM. So I only went 30 or 40 feet and right to second. It still did a 1.56 60 foot. On the first run Wednesday night I ran a C7 Corvette Z06 and won with a 11.380 to his 11.707@131. I guess he needed more than the supercharged 650hp he had! I had a .062 RT and 1.55 60' to his .970 RT and a 2.084 60', he played catch up from there.
I did get to the track one more time. This was at Ohio Valley Raceway in Louisville, KY, it's an eight mile track all concrete and my first time there. The first pass was 7.22@95.49 with a slow 1.616 60' time, still a good run. Next pass was 7.16@95.63 and a 1.582 60'. Last pass I short shifted and slowed to 7.20@95.23 with a 1.588 60'. We had a cross wind, but the speeds and et's were real good, but not my best ever 7.10s with 1.51s 60' times. That kind of 60' times would be real close to a high 6.x second pass on my 7.16 pass.
Thanks for reading this and we hope to see you in May at the Studebaker National Drags.

Thanks
Richard

[skyway]

Keep up the good work!
Hope to someday be able to attend one of these events.

[8E45E]

Keep up the good work!
Hope to someday be able to attend one of these events.

And at MCACN.

Craig

[63larkr1]

My Challenger was there last year.
Richard

[t1003nl]

Hey Richard! Glad to hear you were able to get the car back out and get some good runs in this year! I've replaced the clutch in our 64 hardtop and still need to get the trans back in. Robin and I are planning on bringing it back to Brown County for the Studebaker Nationals next year. Stanton too. Looking forward to getting back with the group again!

Neil

[superbaker]

Way to go Richard! Hope to see you at B.B. next May. Steve (Superbaker) Greer

[63larkr1]

Neil, Steve,
We look forward to seeing you both and of course Robin in May. The information about the Studebaker National Drags is listed on this site under events. I'm also looking forward to running my car this May, and spending time with the Studebaker racers.
Richard

[swvalcon]

Glad to see your in the low 11's if you could find a way to make it hook may see high 10's. In drag racing reaction is everything. A .062 will beat a .970 every time. Hard to make a stock suspension react fast and 60 ft like a all out race . My sons 68 Camaro drag car that runs 5.30's 1/8 at 136 has 60 fts in the 1.018's. If he has a .020 light he's a sleep at the wheel. Most are .005-.006. Get that traction problem fixed and good luck.

[BobPalma]

Wow! A .062 R/T followed by a 1.55 60-foot. Dang, that's good! Congrats! BP

[Buzzard]

Outstanding, Richard.

[63larkr1]

Steve, Bob, Bill,

Yes, Steve I've had better RTs, one night I had a .000 and a .001 back to back. My car is a stick, Borg and Beck three finger stock type clutch with an organic 10.25 cheap disc rated for a 170HP Camaro, No Box, on a stock suspension with 9/28/15 slicks and an aluminum flywheel. It's hard to hook, but last year 1.51 60's were common. It has original Studebaker rear and front springs, rear springs are clamped and I added a couple traction bars I made one afternoon from some pipe I had. I'm your age your sons car is too fast for me!

In the video this was a slow run,

but a better 60', 1.52 and the Camaro was supercharged I'm running a homemade intake and one four barrel with homemade headers, and a stock Studebaker cam I had reground, stock rockers. I could not get a good burnout, but you can hear the Camaro. I can usually on a good track carry the wheels to the tree but the front is too heavy and so is the driver.

The car has a Studebaker six frame so it needs to me replaced.

Thanks,

Richard
I guess you will need to copy and past this on youtube to see it.

https://youtu.be/3ahP5HNqQQo

[swvalcon]

Sounds to me like working with what you have your doing really good. Yes when you get older low 11's or 10s are fast enough. I told my son that but he is all about speed and he's in his 40's now. Guess I have myself to blame for that. He was doing morning warm ups at 15 and full 10 second passes at 16. I just can't wrap my head around 1 second 60 fts and 160 plus mph top end speeds.

[63larkr1]

I guess you and I are not John Force. I'm just having fun with a Studebaker doing things people say can't be done. Sounds like your son is having fun too. That's what it's all about.
Richard