Orphan of the day 11-4---Hudson Hornet

[clonelark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YjrH...eature=related





Got this off the earlier hudson post. It's about Ike Smith's Hudson Jet.

How many knew that the large Sanctioning Body NHRA actually Banned the Hornet Powered Jets and required all Hudson's to use smaller Camshafts because of numerous complaints by the V8 Competition being regularly beaten by an obsolete Brand 6 cyl Car?..



Ike Smith said 'The last Straw' was when a lady driving a Jet beat the hottest Ford on the West Coast...(Pictured)



Then At the next NHRA Event, Ike Smith had to cut open his Headliner to prove that he had no Lead attached... At that Point1968 Hudson's could no longer use the 311040 Factory Cam which killed the power and Ended Hudson's Drag Racing efforts. Going forward Hudson in any NHRA Stock Class had to run the 145 Hp Cam... Ike had a number of Customers wanting Hornet Powered Jets which fizzed because of NHRA's Decision......



Ike also said he tried litigation against NHRA that resulted in NHRA makes the Rules and if you want to race you abide by their Rules

(Ie: You play in our Ballpark with our Ball or you go home)


Also they banned the lower stock classes, eliminating basicaly all flathead powered cars and lots of earlier OHV 6s Studebakers and Oldsmobiles. I'm sure it was, because it doesnt sell new cars.

[Kdancy]

Figures!
This is what eventually happened to the mopar hemi in Pro Stock class. NHRA kept adding weight until they were not a factor. Wally Parks said in an interview years later, that he wished they (NHRA) had not killed the hemi by doing that. Sox of Sox and Martin, said in the early 70's after every win, NHRA would make them add more weight until they just couldn't compete in anything but match races.

[JRoberts]

It seems lile all of the big sanctioning bodies get their intial success through the show put on by the little guys. Then as things progress it becomes more and more commercialized and all the rules and efforts go toward providing for the high dollar machines and the little guys gets pushed away. NASCAR is that way and so is the NHRA. I hate watching drag racing on TV for that very reason. There are no small engine stock classes any more. The only place you see stuff like that is at the local independent tracks. I guess that is why I love land speed racing. Last weekend at Maxton we had a old split rear window VW bug that finally went 102mph. That car got more cheers and yells than almost anybody else. At the same time we had a '32 Ford roadster go over 200mph. There are classes for every conceivable engine make and size. It is a blast because the little guy (or gal) is as important as those spending mega bucks on their machines. Break a record and you get a sincere pat on the back. How much more fun can you have than that?

[BobPalma]

I did a little research on the Hornet in the top two pictures.
Here's the post in Racing Studebakers:

http://racingstudebakers.com/foo/vie...php?f=6&t=2144

[black56hawk]

Figures!
This is what eventually happened to the mopar hemi in Pro Stock class. NHRA kept adding weight until they were not a factor. Wally Parks said in an interview years later, that he wished they (NHRA) had not killed the hemi by doing that. Sox of Sox and Martin, said in the early 70's after every win, NHRA would make them add more weight until they just couldn't compete in anything but match races.

NHRA did a similar thing to the 56 Golden hawk by making it run in B Gas instead of A stock (also required to run in Gas classes were the 56 Chrysler 300, Dodge D500 and the Duntov-cammed dual-quad Chevy). This made the power-pack single-four-barrel 56 Chevy the car to beat in A stock.

Gas class cars were modified, and classes were assigned on the basis of cubic inches to weight instead of horsepower to weight. A stock 56 Golden Hawk was not competitive in B Gas running against modified cars with a similar weight/cubic inch ratio.