Originally Posted by ronmil:
I am not allowed access, apparently.
Ron, here is the article at least you can read it, no photo though
MY FAVORITE RIDE
Rebuilt Model T anything but a drag
February 18, 2012
This photo was taken during a test run at Lyons Raceway Park just before it ended in disaster at the starting line. Courtesy photo
Troy Wilson got hooked on drag racing — driving, not watching — a quarter century ago.
He was 13.
Back then, altered drag racing vehicles had huge engines, a high center of gravity and a short wheel base. They were unstable, prone to crashes, downright dangerous and “always good to put on a show for the fans,” the Bloomington man said.
As the cars evolved, engines and the center of gravity sat lower, he said, “making them a little easier to drive.” Because the exposed motor sits square in front of the driver, “you see everything, including the chance of hot oil or fire.”
Hot oil spewing from a motor is not unusual in the world of drag racing. Wilson actually has layers of plastic laminate on his helmet face shield. When it gets coated with oil, he peels off the top layer to see the quarter-mile track ahead. “I know it sounds crazy, but I have been covered in hot oil while driving.”
Wilson rebuilt his dragster with a smaller engine than it once had so he can see where he’s headed when the car launches, like a rocket. Zero to 154 mph in 8.7 seconds. Then out comes the parachute, activated by pulling a lever releasing a tightly wound spring.
The car, with a one-piece fiber glass body, is a 1923 altered Model T Ford. Really. The only thing left on the car from the old Ford is the rear differential housing and the taillights. “I’m sure Henry Ford never imagined this,” Wilson said.
Wilson initially built the car for someone else, then took it to Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis for a test run. They got it up to 150 mph. It was ready to race, so they went to Lyons Raceway Park in Greene County.
He revved the engine to 4,000 rpms, then released his thumb from a button mounted on the steering wheel. “The car launched, but it broke the wheelie bar off the back and went straight up in the air,” he recalled.
The car landed back on the ground, hard, buckling the chassis, crushing both front wheels, splitting the welds on the aluminum fuel tank and breaking some brackets. Wilson ended up with a headache that lasted a few days.
The owner decided to build a car with a longer chassis, so Wilson bought the wrecked one. He hauled the heap of metal to Prince Racing in Heltonville, and before long it was in Wilson’s garage being primed to return to the track for the 2011 season. He won his final race.
He’s preparing for the 2012 racing season. “Right now, the car’s stripped down to the chassis, and I’m rebuilding the engine and checking everything,” Wilson said. “It will be race ready in three weeks.”
He started a drag racing series called the Nostalgia Drag Racing League, and holds races at tracks in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. The first is Memorial Day weekend.
“We end up with about 50 cars at some of our events,” Wilson said. “It’s not uncommon to see cars going over 200 miles an hour. It’s pretty exciting.”