all but one

Thanks Stewart.

The cigar gave Landy away huh...?

Classic pic. Which of course was originally sent to me by none other than Stewart.

Bill Hartman email this video this morning.

Fons, Carlton, Landy, Sox, Lyles, & others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBJ2_oQlIUQ&feature=related

Thanks a TON Bill.
.

that video was awesome!!

Google is such a great thing... (Rich Mirarcki?) What do you think Joe P.; might it be Mirarcki?

USRT

Doing some more digging (google)...appears Rich Mirarcki ran the "Mimi" Camaro and later a Vega in Pro Stock....could this be the mystery name?

that was my memory - Mimi car

Hi Joe,

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions about the "good old days!"

1. It is obvious from all of the pictures that Stewart has posted that Donnie, you and the rest of the "Missle" team did alot of thrashing on the small block parts in 74 and maybe into 75 to make the W2 heads work in the yellow car. I heard that the Rod Shop guys were also doing alot of testing in the Thomson C/G Colt on the small block PS engine. As I recall, Bruce Meihls was saying they actually had very competitive PS times in 1974, but the blocks just would not stay together. Thoughts?

2. Do you have any knowledge of the five Colts that Dan Knapp built for Chrysler? I know that one went to the MIssle program, and was finished by Butler and finally ended up with Lynnwood Craft. A second car went to Desantis and Crider for the C/G small blacok car. A third went to Jim Thompson/Rod Shop and was known as the B/G car, and a fourth chassis went to Bob Riffle/Rod Shop, but sat in the rafters of the shop for a whlile, and was then sold. Any idea where the fifth one went?

Thanks!

Mark Panos

Quote:

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Mike was not familar with any of this nor with the two buttons on the dash - one green, one red. Those two buttons were for the air brake emergency stop and for the air brake parking brake system.

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Classic!! Too funny and glad no one nor the car was hurt. Could tell this story was going "down hill" (pun intended) as soon as I read the above quote! Great stuff!

It's all good on the name recollections...that's what makes this post great. Collectively it's reuniting legends of the sport, tapping into their memory banks, and sharing those times with mopar enthusiasts of all ages; particularly those too young to have experienced it. This is something Stewart Pomeroy has mentioned many times, he recognizes the need to capture this stuff and whole heartedly wants those days NOT to be forgotten Thanks for taking the time to write and share the stories

I have spoken to Stewart on more than one occasion, and he is very passionate about making sure the next generation knows about what happend in the past. This is such a great thing that all of you guys are doing, i happen to be one of the younger guys, and i love learning about what happend back in the "Good Old Days"!
Thanks to everyone who contributes!

Thanks for the reply, Joe. Your story about picking up the Colt in CA intertwines with a story from Bruce Meihls from the Rod Shop. Here is the gist of the story as Bruce related it to me one day.

As a new employee at the Rod Shop, Bruce Meihls was excited by the prospect of working for a very successful racing team. He was a “roadie”, one of the crew whose responsibilities included driving the transporter, washing the race car, getting water to cool the car down, pushing the car through the staging lanes, and every other conceivable job to make this team a success. The Rod Shop's first Colt, the “B/Gas" car for Jim Thompson, was delivered semi-finished in Spring of 1973. Due to the commitments of the racing schedule, the time just wasn’t available for the team to finish it. It was decided to send the car to Butler Racing in CA, and have Ron Butler work his magic. Butch Leal had debuted a Butler-built Duster in 1973, and it was very good. So good, in fact, that the Rod Shop had ordered a Dart for Bob Riffle. Thus, the Colt was destined for a trip to California.

Bruce volunteered to deliver the car to Butler Racing, and at the same time fit in a family vacation, fo off to California with the Colt on a trailer behind the station wagon. Bruce was scheduled to deliver the car on Monday, but actually arrived in Ca on Friday night. Not wanting to drag it around on vacation, Bruce decided to go to Butlers on Saturday morning and see if he could drop it off. Upon arriving at Butler Racing, Bruce went around to the back of the building, and one of the overhead doors was open. There were five men standing around looking at a new race car. A Dodge Colt. There was some magic marker on the scoop and door. The hood said 366 Hemi. The door said Mini Missile!
Bruce looked around, and finally someone asked if they could help him. Bruce mentioned that he was from the Rod Shop, and wanted to drop off a car. Imagine his surprise as they gruffly asked him to leave, and bring the car back on Monday! Bruce did return the car on Monday (of course the Mini Missile was gone), and called Jim Thompson (one of the Rod Shop founders) to report that it was there. He also mentioned the curious incident about the “Mini Missile”, and Jim Thompson became rather curious. A call to Dick Maxwell at Chrysler didn’t net any real answers.

It turns out the “Mopar Missile” team had their Colt before the first Rod Shop car was even delivered! In later years, Bruce would become very familiar with the five men at Butler Racing that day. Tom Hoover, Don Carlton, Ted Spehar, Clyde Hodges, and Ron Butler!

Funny story!

Mark

D5 Colt

Hey Stewart, I know it's just a mock up engine in this pic, but any idea why there's such a huge gap between the intake and the head? Even the angle looks wrong. Was there something different about the D5 setup and this was set together here with a standard tunnel ram?

the technical differences between the D5 and the regular Hemi, are too vast for me to try to explain. There are tech bulletins that explain the differences, I do not have them yet. HemiFred or Joe, might give better explanations .