The Birth Of Bill Burke

A few weeks ago, we featured the first belly tank to ever hit Bonneville. It was built by a mild mannered yet seriously respected man by the name of Bill Burke. Assuming you don’t know the name would be a kin to me assuming you don’t know how tie your shoes. In a lot of ways, Bill Burke is the Michael Jordan of Bonneville master minds. He’s one of the best we’ve had in terms of both talent and accomplishments.

It all started for Bill in 1938. That was the year that he got the hot rod bug. He built a ‘29 roadster featuring a flathead v8 with dual carbs, milled heads, and dual exhaust. Later that year, he caught the racing bug, became the 45th member of the SCTA, and hit the dry lakes with his first race car – a modified T-roadster on Chevrolet rails powered by the venerable Model B banger motor. Bill turned 110 mph his first time out and, in doing so, became one of the first five to go 100 mph.

“I was scared, boy, real scared! Remember, in those days we had no roll bars, no seat belts… Nothing! Not even insurance if something did happen!”

Of course, shortly after Bill’s record run the world of fun shut down and its members concentrated on making killing machines rather than horsepower. Bill was out of the game until 1946 – the year he built and raced the belly tank we spoke of earlier. The rest, as they say, is just history… Amazing, glorious, wonderful… history.

Bill went on to build around 20 land speed cars and set just as many (or more) records. I could write about each, but rather than tease you with words I thought I would post a little picture story. Enjoy.

Much of this article was sourced from various articles found in Hop Up and Hot Rod Magazine… The June, 1965 issue of Hot Rod Magazine has a great article on Burke and his accomplishments. If you have that issue, read it!

Related posts:

• Save these cars: The Spring of the Estate
• Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid
• GM prices Silverado Hybrid, Sierra Hybrid, and Pontiac G3
• Brazilian prototypes and other oddities
• Lutz reaffirms Volt mules are doing well in testing

Related posts:

• Chevy Announces 2008 Cobalt XFE with Improved Fuel Economy
• Spy Shots: 2010 Chevroelt Cobalt Spotted
• Shell and GM Open Hydrogen Fueling Station in LA
• 2009 Corvette Laps the Nurburgring in 7:26:4...Which Means it Beat the Nissan GT-R
• GM doing something right: Malibu recognized as highest-quality midsize sedan

Scooped By Moriarity

I was on my way home from the H.A.M.B. Drags and somewhere around Edmond, Oklahoma when my cell phone rang. I glanced at my iPhone to see the name “Mark Moriarity” flash across the screen. I answered and Mark got right to the point. “Hey man, what do you know about front-drive Miller/Fords and backwards intakes?”

Then, he laughed…

If you know Mark, you know he is into some pretty heavy stuff. If he asks you a question while giggling? Well, you know something is most certainly up.

“I’ll send you a link,” he said. “I think you’ll dig this.”

I got the link this morning and was surprised to see that it was actually pointing to a thread on the H.A.M.B. posted by one of Mark’s good pals - Guffey. It seems as though Guffey was farting around at a swap meet and found an interesting looking intake for a flathead Ford. It was a rough casting, featured no identifying marks, and the damn thing appeared to be casted “backwards.”

The odd little intake was cheap, so Guffey bought it and promptly posted it on the H.A.M.B. hoping someone could identify it. Of course Bruce Lancaster, the all knowing flathead genius, knew exactly where that intake came from. When Harry Miller was building the Miller/Ford Indy cars in 1934, he had decided to run his own carbs on top of the flatheads. As the Miller/Ford team prepared for the 1935 Indianapolis 500, it was becoming apparent that the little Miller carbs just weren’t performing adequately. In a frantic rush, 10 or so intakes were ordered from Hexagon that would fit the backwards mounted (remember, these are front-drive cars) flatheads and mount three-bolt carbs.

And here is where the story gets weird. See, Guffey actually has one of the incredibly rare front-drive Miller/Ford Indy cars!

And so there ya have it… A guy stumbles upon a weird intake at a swap meet and buys it on a whim. As it turns out, the intake is one of ten or so ever made and just happens to have been casted specifically for a car that he owns… which, of course, only ten were made.

It’s a miracle.

Related posts:

• Fuel Efficient Saturn Vehicles for 2009
• Detroit CEOs fly private jets to Capitol Hill beg-fest
• Jaguar wants to be 'Mainly a Sportscar Manufacturer'
• The Art Gerrick Car
• New EPA Fuel Economy Guide Reveals Ten Most Fuel Efficient Vehicles For 2009 [I Feel Gassy]

Related posts:

• Ford Declares There Will Be One Global Focus in 2010! …or 2011!
• Ford Europe offers up more Horsepower in Focus and Fiesta ST Models
• Mustang GT and Shelby Included in Fords 0% Financing Package
• Regardless of Ford’s later influence, though, in 1905, H. Piper, an engineer, ...
• Detroit Auto Show: Ford’s Verve Sedan Concept reClasses the Small Car Segment

Hot Rodding in Hawaii… Hao Wela!!

Last week was the 50th anniversary of Hawaii’s statehood. If you’ve never been over to see our hot rod brothers to the far west, you owe a trip over. If you love WW II history, Pearl Harbor is a must. If you dig surfing, snorkeling or general relaxation, Hawaii is THE place anyway. Once you’ve been, you’ll just keep dreaming of going back.

There have been a few posts about guys on vacation with the family in  Hawaii scouring for hot hod related activities. They have some really good car shows scattered about the islands, and I did see a few jalopy projects in driveways on my last visit to Maui. But, did you know that nearly 10 years before Hawaii even became a state, the Hono-Kai Timing Association formed, and there was organized drag racing on Oahu? They even had a full-on indoor hot rod show at Honolulu’s Civic Auditorium! The locals called these crazy cars Hao Wela… Hawaiian for Hot Rod.

I found this small article about it and thought I would share today. A grass roots effort to get the sport going on the islands… Happy 50th Hawaii! Aloha!

Related posts:

• Porsche Cayman 2010 unveiled at LA Auto Show
• DIY Windscreen Repair
• First Glimpse of the 2007 Hyundai Tiburon
• Who Cares About the Prius When the New MINI D Gets 72.4 mpg!
• Top Gear Season 12 Starts Tonight On BBC America

Related posts:

• Mitsubishi kicks off ArenaBowl XXII down in Big Easy
• Topping the range is the 1.6-litre Sport which builds on feedback from ...
• Peugeot 3008
• Volkswagen Scirocco GT24 Unveiled with 321 Horsepower
• VW Golf BlueMotion Diesel Will Achieve 52mpg

Otto Crocker: Father Time

When Burt Munro does his climactic run down the salt in ‘Worlds Fastest Indian’, you see those big, circular clock dials spinning, and the name “CROCKER TIMER” is right on the face of the dial, capturing his world speed record. It’s hard to appreciate in today’s world of electronics, but in the early days of auto racing (up till 1949) timing records were calculated by a hand-held stopwatch, and were marginal at best.

J. Otto Crocker, a San Diego watchmaker, made it possible to accurately time these vehicles to within thousandths of a second for the first time, making new records highly accurate and virtually indisputable. The device consisted of 3 master electronic clock units with individual controls for recording speeds over progressive distances. A photocell beam tripped the clocks at the quarter mile (after the 2 mile start), mile mark 3 & 4, and at the finish line. The Crocker Timer went on to prove its worth at Bonneville, dry lakes, boat racing, and later at the drags.

There is very little written about this man behind the scenes, and I find only a few mentions here and there in the hot rod books. I don’t know if its possible to overstate how much Otto Crocker did to help establish organized motorsports racing, but “The Clocker”, as he was known, was dedicated to improving competition practices and give legitimacy to the record books. His timing devices were nothing short of milestone in the annuals of Hot Rod History…

Related posts:

• LA Metro picks up more natural gas buses
• Video: World’s Most Expensive TV Commercial
• Top Gear Season 12 Starts Tonight On BBC America
• VW Phaeton: Special Edition 5 announced!
• VW Phaeton: Coming back to the US, repositioned!

Related posts:

• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang sold at auction
• Final Gear Mentioned In Top Gear Magazine
• Head Over and Check Out StreetFire’s New Homepage!
• TopGear.com US’s “Project Sipster” Results Are In
• NHTSA: Drunk driving is down, but 16.3% of nighttime drivers are on drugs

The First Belly Tank

Before WWII, Bill Burke was active in the Southern California hot rod and racing scenes. Speed had grabbed Bill by throat and wasn’t about to let go. Like many of us, he was a slave to all things fast and hopped up. So it makes sense that even while Bill was stationed in the South Pacific during the war, he couldn’t keep his mind off of hot rods. Towards the end of his deployment, Bill noticed the graceful shape of a 165 gallon drop tank latched on to the wing of a P-51. His mind raced.

With the war over and Bill’s ass planted firmly back in SoCal where it belonged, he began to build the race car that would change land speed racing forever. A set of model-T frame rails were set up with a ‘32 Ford axle out front and banjo out back. Both were sprung with ‘32 springs and the steering was directed by the popular Ross box. Power was handled by a ‘39 Ford v8 installed in front of the driver and backed by a ‘39 top loader. It was all pretty conventional stuff… Until it was time to install the body.

The 165 gallon drop tank went over and around the frame rails nicely with a little slicing and dicing. A hole was cut for the driver, a bicycle seat was mounted on the torque tube, and the whole shebang was called done by 1946 - just in time for the 2nd meet at El Mirage. Four streamliners ran that day and Bill’s speed of 131.00 mph was second only to the legendary Stuart Hilborn who ran 138.24 mph.

“I was scared… I sat real high in the car and had only goggles to protect me from wind, no windshield. I’ll never forget… It was just shake, rattle, and go!!!” - Bill Burke.

We all know Hilborn was a tough guy to beat and Bill learned the hard way as he chased the “injection king” for the rest of the 1946 season at El Mirage. Although Bill ran a best of 137 mph, he was never able to secure a first place finish.

In the grand-scheme of things, however, it didn’t matter. Bill’s innovative idea of using a belly tank to cut the air changed the world. For the 1947 season a bunch of changes were made from lessons learned. One of those was the use of a larger drop tank that further aided in aerodynamics and allowed the driver to sit lower in the car. The era of the belly tank was full on…

To be honest, I’m not sure what happened to Bill’s first tank. I’d guess that like so many other race cars, it was cut up and repurposed through the years. That, however, did not stop Geoffrey Hacker from taking on the daunting task recreating the significant piece for us all to enjoy. He teamed up with Ted Kempgens and Tom Bambard of Creative Motion Concepts (Dodge City, FL) and made it happen. It took a lot of time, passion, and plenty of calls to the man himself, Bill Burke, to make it happen… BUT, they did just that.

Enjoy the photos.

Related posts:

• Dodge Caravan Car Profile
• The V8 engine is now cooled through the CNC-shaped ports and combustion ...
• Wanna Win a New 2007 Dodge Nitro?
• Dodge Viper Car Profile
• Dodge Hornet likely to be built by Nissan

Related posts:

• Audi A8 Car Profile
• Aston Martin DBS: The Synthesis of Raw Power
• Top Gear Does The 2904 Cross-Country Rally, Brings Jalopnik On Board For Heavy-Lifting [Top Gear Us]
• Lincoln MKX Priced Under $35,000
• Consumers love hybrids, just not the price

He was widely known to be a bit of a loon with more intelligence that he ...

I had heard of Carl Marchese before. He was the rookie of the year in ‘29 at Indy and in the early 50’s he designed his own chassis for the same race. He was widely known to be a bit of a loon with more intelligence that he knew what to do with… In other words, he was ahead of the curve. I had not, however, seen or heard of the “Marchese Special” pictured above (and below in hi-res).

I stumbled upon the picture while flipping through a vintage archive I have and immediately went into research mode. I didn’t find much… The car first ran at Indy in 1938 with an unblown Miller 122 and finished 7th with Harry McQuinn at the wheel. After taking a few years off, the car then placed 9th with a blower motor and Paul Russo at the wheel in 1941. Eventually, the car was rebuilt to compete on the dirt and crashed.

Frankly, the above historical perspective is all “mumbo jumbo” to me. I just love the car and the forward thinking behind it. This has got to be the first car to compete at Indy with side pods housing radiators - right? And its also has to be one of the first cars running an attempted air foil out front.

Yep. Settled. Marchese was a loon.

Related posts:

• Filed under: Diesel , India , USA Considering how slow change tends ...
• At least, we'd like to think so.
• The sports sedan is scheduled to hit the market in the last quarter of ...
• Greener golf with a solar golf cart
• Top Gear Vietnam Special Out Now

Related posts:

• The Japanese car maker says that the new Prius and Lexus HS250H on display ...
• A number of car owners have not yet tried cheap car insurance and they ...
• As part of the LA Auto Show , the 2008 LA Design Challenge competition ...
• Internet providing prescription for good auto maintenance
• Okay, we made that up, but the LA Design Challenge is a competition, although ...