Mopars at Englishtown (same event later re-named Mopar Atlantic Nationals in the early 1990s), June of 1989 or 1990--I forget which--and because none of the photos I took back then have any date printed on the back of them!

Who remembers this wedge cylinder block to 426 HEMI head conversion block? The way to go if you couldn't find an original (or affordable) 426 HEMI block in the 1980s and before the re-release of the 426 HEMI cylinder block by Mopar Performance in 1992. I forget the name of the two guys whose shop did the conversion.

The 1969 Road Runner pictured below had a 426 HEMI in its engine compartment based upon this modified wedge block. If you didn't know this (and didn't look closely) you'd swear it was the real McCoy.

Cool! I was hoping someone would recognize somebody in these pix. Where were they from? For sure they weren't Raceway Park (Englishtown) regulars.

Those photos were from the Mopar Atlantic Nationals circa 1993.

Jack Irons car?

3rd Annual Funny Car Reunion, Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ July 25, 2004.

It's interesting for me to see the Jade grenade here on moparts. Last month while I was on vacation in Florida I had lunch with a few of the guys from Delaware Chassis Works down in Stuart Florida. I ended up sitting next to an old guy who walked with a cane and struck up a conversation with him. Turns out that the guy is Tim Thomas, original driver and co-owner of the original Jade grenade back in the day.
He was a modest man, but I pryed. He told me about some of the records that they set. I asked what was the trick to making it so fast. He said lots and lots of nitro! We talked about what it was like to drive a nitro front engine dragster, what it was like to drive through fiery engine explosions, stuff like that. I brought up the story by The Surfers who said they used a very conservative fuel mixture to avoid engine explosions and make more rounds, and asked for his commentary on the difference in their philosophies. He asked "why do you think we called it the Jade grenade!?"


Sometimes you're just in the right place at the right time.

They were Lebanon Valley folks. I raced with them from about 83 (when Connecticut Dragway closed) to 1996 when I moved to Ohio. I would have guessed early 90's based on Debbo's ET - she got faster in the early 90's. Was 11 seconds before that.

I also remember one time standing in the staging lanes at LV talking Mopars with Lou Vignogna while waiting for Jimi to make a run in the big wagon.

Great pics of Atco and ETown Qwik426 !! .. Thanks ... I have a lot of fond memories of running ETown ... we Won the 11.50 index points title back in 2014 and I did well in Friday night Mean Street points back in 2002 , I went to every Mopar Atlantic Nats except one or two due to rain and I ran 11.50 index there the last few years before it closed. Although Island is my home track I still ran ETown and still go to Atco on occasion.... I still greatly miss ETown !

What a great story. That's why I post photos hoping someone would tell me a story or some facts about them. Thanks for sharing!