Well we are honored to have Joe sticking his head in now & then.

A few people have ask me if Joe would be open to a Q&A forum, & also so that no one misses any of this valuable inside information(on other threads)

Ronnie Sox, Don Carlton, Clyde Hodges,& many others have left us. . . These were all people that Joe knew, & worked/played with back in the 67-77 time frames.

Joe has agreed to share as many stories, & insight as possible

I heard many stories from Joe,& crew @ The ALL HEMI Reunion. My favorite was a story of Carlton @ the store (Bologna & Ketchup story)Tell it again Joe

Fire away boys.!! Here's a once in a lifetime chance to ask away! (better save & print this thread.)

Did the Motown Missle ever race the Sox Duster in the 70's ? Did it win ? Will it ever win in the future ?

What is the most memorable race of your career? Give us some good details...

i always pictured the 60's,70's to be the most creative for dragracing.do you feel this way?
if rules would allow what other mods/tricks would you have liked to try?

Of all the tracks you went to major,backwoods, ect which one was your favorite ?? Why ???

Hey Joe , You said Don Carltons shop was close to Mike Fons Shop, Where. I know Mikes old shop was in Troy, MI. A old freind of Mike and Kenny told me they use to watch movies out the back door of his shop, coming from a drive in theater. Are you involved in racing any more? Oh yea, I here there might be a 70s pro-stock class forming, what do you think More to come, now back to work on my car

EMAIL From Joe earlier Today

.
Kevin,

I will take a look and spend some time with it(questions) tonight and tomorrow. Friday morning at 5AM Lynn and I are headed to the airport for our Florida trip. (PRI Show)
I will have a computer with me so I should be able to take a look and try to answer some of the questions. I might get a bit behind but if the group is patient, I will be totally caught up by the time I get home the weekend of 12/13 – 12/14.

Joe P.

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Joe,
1) What are your thoughts on today's highly sponsored driven Pro category drag racing culture?
2) Is it where you would have hoped to see the sport grown to or does it miss the mark that your generation of racers set forth with in the 70's?
3) Today the Pro categories are thinning in numbers and suspect the economy could in fact cripple current sponsorships....what were common numbers of cars that would show up to qualify in those days

Thanks for taking the time for some questions us "kids" with inquiring minds would find fascinating to know!!

This is great. I gotta write mine down as it to many to remember all them. Ron

Yes, the Missile raced the S&M Duster on many occasions in the 70's. You have got to remember that there was the Missile Challenger 1970 and 1971, the Missile Cuda 1972, and finally the Missile Duster late 1972 and 1973. I was working for Mike Fons (Rod Shop 1971 and 1972) when the Challenger and the Cuda were racing so I was pretty focused on the Fonsmobile. With the Duster, I do remember beating the S&M cars many times (1973) at both IHRA and NHRA events. But, in those days the bulk of the weekly race programs revolved around the match race world. It would not be unusual for a team to match race 2 or 3 times a week. Unfortunately, we (the Missile) could not do that. Our primary job was to participate in the world of R&D for Chrysler Corporation Performance Parts. Generally speaking, we spent 5 days a week testing. During the winter months the venue was California or Florida. Spring, summer, and fall was Milan Michigan. Match racing was just not part of our program. I do believe that the Missile Cuda was allowed to participate in the United States Racing Team program - a field of 16 selected Pro Stock cars that put on a mid-week match race at about 10 different tracks in 1972 - but that was pretty much it.

Now, to answer your "loaded" question - do I think the Missile will ever beat the S&M car again? Heck yea - sorry Fred - it will happen, but it is going to be a real see-saw all season. Those two pieces of history going at it are going to be lots of fun for everyone.

The most memorable race of my career happened when I worked for Mike Fons. It was October 1971 and we were headed to the World Finals in Amarillo Texas.

On the Tuesday prior to leaving for the race, Mike took the car to Milan for a final test. While there, he failed to hook up the wheelie bars (I was back at his house getting stuff ready for the trip to Texas) and managed to put the car literally on the rear bumper. It didn't go over but when it came down he managed to bend or break everything under the sun. The front wheels were pointed east and west, the oil pan smashed to pieces and most importantly, the crank was broken in the engine. I knew right then that I would not be getting much sleep for the next few days. That night we pulled the motor, disassembled the car, and Mike made LOTS of phone calls. I think it was Dave Koeffel that called Gary Ostrich in Nevada Iowa to bring everything in his shop (especially a crank) so that we could rebuild the engine. On Wednesday, Gary was IN THE DRIVEWAY of Mike's house rebuilding the engine, Mike and I attended to the chassis repairs and on we went. By late Wednesday night we had reinstalled the engine (newly rebuilt), finished the chassis repairs, loaded the truck and off we went.

You would think that was a good enough story right there but you would be very, very wrong. Around 3 AM just outside of Niles Michigan the engine decided to hole a piston and suck some valves. Being racers, for some unknown reason, we had a spare piston, rod, valves, for that old 383 engine that powered that piece of junk truck we had. We pulled into a beat up service station and pulled the oil pan, intake, and heads. We spent the next few hours patching that piece of junk back together and once again off we went.

End of story - no stinking way.

Heading southwest we now were just outside of Cuba MO - it was after dark on Thursday evening and all of a sudden that stupid truck pitched the left rear set of dual wheels/tires. Yep, they were gone... Fons just shrugs and says well we have a spare hub assembly with us ( I think old Mike just KNEW this was going to happen). Two hours later and with grease up to my elbows (still no sleep since Monday night) - off we go again. Finally we arrive in Amarillo on Friday.

We go ahead a qualify somewhere in the field - there is just no way I can remember those stats but we were solidly in the field. Come eliminations on Sunday things are plenty hectic. Round after round we managed to hold our own. Finally we make it to the Semi-final round and who are we up against but Ronnie Sox. Well, I might just as well go pack up the truck because there is no way we are going to beat the formidable S&M team. Wrong again - Mike pulled one out and we are in the final against none other than Herb McCandless in the other S&M car.

Now two things happen that sort of fit with the rest of the week. 1st, the Mallory mag we had been using decided to take a dump. We don't have a spare. Now what? To the rescue comes Donnie Carlton with a Vertex mag. We didn't quite have the wiring set up for a Vertex so I think we managed to run a wire back into the cockpit with a bare end that Mike could use to ground out the mag in order to kill the engine. The other thing that happened was that in the rush to service the car for the final round I was burned with the superheated steam from the engine. It seems that the crowd was pushing in to get a better look and someone saw that the pressure release lever on the radiator cap was up so they pushed it back down. I always released the pressure prior to pulling off the upper hose to cool the car with fresh water. When I pulled off the hose, out came the superheated steam and burnt the living daylights out of my arm and the side of my face. I was so pumped up with making the final round that I didn't feel the pain for a couple of hours but I paid for it later...

The final round was just perfect, Fons cut a great light and walked away with the Wally. What a day - what a week... Hey, we were the World Champs!!!

But - the story is not over. We weren't home - yet...

We left Amarillo around 11 am the next morning heading back to Michigan. Mike Koran had attended the race for the Missile team and we decided to caravan back home together. Off we go until sometime that night - again outside Cuba MO, we AGAIN pitched yet another set of rear dual wheel/tires. Another broken hub. Do you see a pattern here??? Another two hours with grease up to my elbows and holding a flashlight in my teeth got Mike and I back on the road. This time, we make it all the way back to Michigan without incident.

I think I was pretty tired when we got there because I don't remember much after that for at least 3 days. Oh, it took about a week to wash all the grease off my arms and out of my clothing. I believe good old mom was still taking care of the laundry duties or I would have been awful smelly and grimey for a long time aferwards...

Those old stories from the road are priceless !!!

Great story!

Joe, great to hear from you again. Thanks for all of your help and photos several years back when I had Donnie's Wire Car. Jeff Johnson

i have a question that may shed some light on some things... spehar never likes to talk about old stuff,, i think he thinks its outdated,, but i dont know..

in talking to ted i believe he said that the missle was the first car to have titanium spring retainers on it and that before that they had to change the retainers every other run or something,, runing aluminum ones.


what innovations or technological advances did you see or partake in with the missle's early pro stock cars that is still around today, changed the course of racing, by making things faster or last longer, or is still used in average bracket cars to pro stock cars of current day.


jeff

VERY kool stuff...

But lets compare 1973 was THEN