[Calkins]

Hello All!

I've probably been enjoying the Allpar site for 25 years. For whatever reason, I finally decided to join the forum.

Born and raised in Northcentral Iowa, with a five year stay in Northcentral Missouri. My Father took me to my first drag race when I was fairly young, probably around five years old. Grew up a Mopar lover. I guess my Grandfather turned me into a Ford guy once I became an adult. Starting to get back into Mopars again. Never a GM fan. Love Triumph motorcycles. When I was younger, my Father had a front engine dragster, and crewed on a Top Alcohol Funny Car. Straight out of high school, I had the chance to drive an altered at my local 1/8th mile. That was all it took, and I have been trying to buy/build my own car since. In my late 20's, I crewed on a Nostalgia Top Fueler, which reset the hook. My kids are almost out of school, so now it's time for me to play!

I recently bought a front engine dragster. It was raced by the same car owner I crewed for years ago. It had a blown nitro 392 in it when new. Almost 25 years later, I plan to get it back onto the track. I have an early 5.7 that I am going to build as a starter engine to get me used to the car. Later on, it may build a better Gen III, or go back to a Gen I.

 

[chuzz]

Welcome to Allpar. My Dad had a 392 in a 58 New Yorker and my older brothers loved to drag race the local blue ovals and bowties. They won most of the time and when they lost, they claimed it wasn't by much. I didn't know because of the 12,15 and 16 year age gaps. What ever you do with that bad boy, post some pics here and let us know.

 

[multimopes]

Welcome aboard, finally! As noted, keep us posted on your progress & best of luck!

 

[Calkins]

A little more background on the car. The chassis was built by Hal Canode Race Cars of Indiana in 1997. The original owner was Dale Suhr of Waterloo, Iowa. His recollection is he took the injected hemi out of his previous car and dropped it in this car and ran that for a short time. His driver was also a carryover from the previous car in Mark Hurst, who was a local dirt car guy. I assume the blown nitro combo was installed relatively quickly. The photo below was taken at the 1998 Goodguys event at Indianapolis Raceway Park, which was typically run in early May. By the Columbus event, Roger "Radar" Lechtenberg stepped out of his Top Alcohol Dragster, and into this fueler. That was the start of nearly twenty years of Suhr & Lechtenberg in Nostalgia Top Fuel. Later that year or early in 1999, the car was traded off to a race car parts dealer in Western Iowa. Then it went to a guy in Northern Ohio. In mid 2018, the car went to Southwestern Ohio. Finally, in early 2022, I bought it and brought it back to Northern Iowa.

On a side note, in early 2007, Dale purchased a brand new car, and I joined the team. By that time, the Suhr & Lechtenberg "Orange Crate" Nostalgia Top Fuel had made a name for itself, and was a top contender at any event that it entered. I exited the team in early 2010. It was a great experience in which I learned a lot about nitro racing.

 

[Calkins]

5.7 Hemi has joined the party...

 

[Shane Estabrooks]

AWESOME...

 

[chuzz]

I like it, I love it, I want some more of it!