PIX: Studes @ Meltdown Drags 7/21/2012

[BobPalma]

'Just got back (577 Miles RT!) from the 2012 Meltdown Drags at Byron Dragway in Byron IL. Several Studebakers were competing. AFAIK, all the competeing Studebakers will be seen in this thread's photographs.

All appeared to have been powered by variations of the basic 1965-1966 McKinnon Industries V8 engine used by Studebaker during those model years, which IMHO is a masterfully delicate way of saying that none were powered by -ahem- "earlier" Studebaker engines.

(However, I do not know about the '42 shown in the front row of the lineup; I was unable to stay long enough to see it run and did not speak with the owner or examine the car.)

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First and foremost was our own Rich Dudkowski from South Bend and his cute F-body 1961 Lark DeLuxe. Here, Rick pokes his head out the window after passing "tech." (Wasn't there a snack food once known as Screaming Yellow Zonkers? I think Rich copped the color...)



Rick's '61 is powered by a 400-inch McKinnon Industries derivative, supercharged!



Of course he passed their tech, but he passed The Big Tech as well!



On the track, Rick did very well...in the 12s, IIRC:





The other crowd-pleasing Stude was the famous Suicide King:



...and an R-Series pickup:



Here's the lineup just before eliminations. These photos should account for all the Studebakers in competition, one way or another:











Overall, a great day! Plenty of heat, but the crowd was such that it was easy to get around, and they kept things moving all day.

Perhaps Rich will add more particulars to this thread when he returns to The Mother Ship (a/k/a South Bend). BP

[JRoberts]

Thanks for the great pictures. They do take one back in time a bit.

[AKAchamptrucking]

Thanks for the pictures Bob! I was surprised to bump into you there. My friend and I had a GREAT TIME. What a cool event. No trophies,no egos,no B/S,just dragging for fun and bragging rights. I met some really cool people,and we were thanked profusely by the host club who took the time to greet every person coming to the event. The Lark ran flawlessly. It is very traction limited with the 215-70R15 BFG radials. (I only have 331 rear gears in the Model 44) I have not raced it since the last International meet in So Bend,so I didn't know what to expect. That was a hot,humid day and I had it whittled down to a 13:04 @104 then.

There were soooo many cool cars @ The Meltdown (200 preregistered and aprox 100 more showed up) that I didn't get too many runs. My first run on the Byron track resulted in a 15:05 @ 102.80 mph. It launched and then spun badly.I got it pedaled and ran that big Dodge down on the big end and beat his 15:336 @ 87.83mph.
My second run was 13:06 @ 106.43. I did a better job of pedaling and had a better burnout. My third run was against the Willys gasser in your picture and it was my best. The Lark hooked great and it felt great all the way down the track. That run was a 12.900 @ 105.85 mph. He went 12.300 @ 105.30 mph. My reaction time was .045,his was.335. He won by .300! I surprised a few guys with that run. Then the sun came out from behind the clouds and the track seemed to get slippery. My next run was 13.145 @ 105.94 mph and I spun and pedaled after the launch. My last run spun badly after the launch and was 14.20 @ 104.22 mph.

We would like to go back again next year and I think some wider wheels with short slicks would be a benefit. Thanks again for your pictures posted and it was great to see and talk with you and your friend! See you in So Bend in a few weeks!

[AKAchamptrucking]

A couple of the other Studes in attendance........