Business in our family was a priority and there is only so many hands. Understanding the plan discounts the pursuit of frivolous information when it doesn’t enhance the income. School was an afterthought in the quest of profitability, most of the fall of 1973 I went to school Tuesday- Thursday worked on business projects on Friday and Mondays. This pattern carried over into spring of 1974. Mom was livid, Dad and I had an understanding, good grades kept mom happy, and Baker County Schools sucked. Making straight A’s, being a better than average body man, sawyer and excellent painter made my life great until. In 1974 the state had issue in rural counties were kids that families relied on them for farm labor didn’t go to school but a few days a week in the late winter/ early spring. The state passed a law that mandated a minimum number of days a year. My dad at that point expressed his issues that I shouldn’t be making A’s and going to school 3 days a week. The answer included but was not limited to me going to a private school in the fall of 1974 in Lake City, FL, and my dad teaching at Baker County High School. This turned into a role reversal between my dad and myself, the cluster program gave dad 30 or 40 students to train using our projects as teaching aids while I concentrated on school, refinishing, and managing the pig operation. The plot thickens folks.
Back to racing, in 1974 Dickie Ferry learned to win and I was a student of the way he raced, he had a lot of race craft, dominant in north FL, where the racing product was random, Dickie’s car was a typical NASCAR late model sportsman car, the mechanics of the car defined my direction for years to come. In 1975 and 1976 Dickie dominated and I had a deal with Wally Ferry to paint Dickies cars, a deal with Jerry Moran to paint Steve Moran’s cars, same with Leonard Davis, and a few more, I painted to keep me in the loop. In the fall of 1975, we started a wrecker service a 24/7 commitment, in Feb of 1977 another twist to the adventure takes place, Art Reno coming back from Daytona lost an engine in his U-Haul truck in Baker County, dad was in again. Dad took Art’s rig and NASCAR Grand National racecar to the Jones Shop; we will visit this in another chapter. The GN car fueled the idea we should own another car, Dad, Mom, had a heart attack, myself, Don Combs, and Darrell Mobley wanted to chase that rabbit. Lake City Speedway was adding a Thunder Car division in an effort to bring back an inline 6 cycle. division. I had my eye on a 1964 Chevy II so I grabbed it to build it. As before I was all in. Our goal was light, simple, fast. Chevy II’s were simple cars with geometry very similar to the Chevelle, the only downside was rear steer, springs on top of a arms. We knocked out the roll cage, chassis changes and had the body ready to paint within 30 days. I went to work researching the kicker of choice. The rules were simple, 258 max cubic in, shave the head .060, no metal removing on heads, no headers, stock lift +.030, any OEM one barrel carb. Any combination of OEM stock chevy parts with no modification.
Baker County is a strange place with a lot of racers, the racing crowd from the outside Baker County thinks that we are a consortium. The consortium powered by the winningest driver/ engine builder Dickie Ferry. I always trusted Wally and Dickie but they both surrounded themselves with folks that wanted to matter but didn’t. The best way to protect your secrets is to go to the ring for advice, accept the advice and justify the course with a plan all can see. This included a 250 cu in 6 cycle I had in a daily driver and a special ordered Schooler camshaft. The choices I made were against conventional wisdom of Dickies advice, not as any disrespect, but similar to the direction Curtis Lehman advised us with the 57 engine. Research pointed to the 1964 155hp 225 ft lbs. 230 cu inch Hi Po Turbo Shift engine. The 230 cu inch engines had ½ the counterbalances on the crankshaft, 12lbs lighter than the 250-cu inch crankshaft. The1964 HI Po 155 version had a steel crank. Stock turbo shift engines also had no valve reliefs on the pistons 9 to1 compression stock. We reached out on the salvage line and found a 1964 El Camino engine complete $250. As in any of my adventures I had no money, the day Paul called from Columbia with the news I was standing in front of our shop on Macclenny Ave and Brian Rhoden ran into a dump truck. They rolled his 1969 Chevy pickup truck into our body shop parking lot. His dad showed up in about ten minutes, livid having a melt down over the truck. I told him I had a truck same color that I was going to part out, and for $750 I would fix and paint his truck and have it back to him on Monday. This was Thursday at 3pm. We made a deal, I called Paul and got the engine rolling, pulled my daily driver in and pulled the front end and the rest is history. From the Baker County Racers, it looked like I was stripping the truck to freshen the 250 engine. Once the 250 was pulled it set by the racecar for looky-loos to see. Once The 230 was in hand we implemented our design that included but was not limited to having the block bored .030, replace pistons with 307 flat top pistons, floating pins, new 283 rods, small journal, narrowed to fit 6 cycle crank, surfaced deck to desired depth, the 230 head shaved maximum of .060, single 45* angle valve job, angle milled, 0 to .100 with intake and exhaust milled 0 to .100 to match. The cam was a stock OEM 1964 Turbo Shift cam 230/155hp (Hi Po, 64 Chevelle w/chrome trim)188-188 at .050, 0 advance (111in 111 ex lobe centers) .406 .406 lift using 1.75 stock rockers, LT1 hydraulic lifters and OEM pushrods. We used a L-88 nodular iron flywheel, a Schiefer 10.5 aluminum Borg and Beck pressure plate and clutch disc. As in everything doing your homework pays off, rules state the carburetor had to single barrel for make and model, 1964 six-cylinder engines (the standard 230ci/140hp and the optional 230ci/155hp), received the Rochester “Monojet” (1MV) one-barrel carburetors, rated at 250 CFM. Monojets came in 3 sizes, and were like easter eggs, the 250-cfm version designated by the OEM part number we raced came off a school buses often fitted with a vacuum operated plate governor. Using an OEM service manual and OEM parts Ray Linster rebuilt the carb for us, my dad tuned it following the Smokey Yunick spark plug and timing guide. Using mass flow, rpm, cubic inch, calculations our little 238 cubic inch 6 banger made 308 hp at 6150 rpm with 355 ft lbs. of torque at 5200 rpm.
1-7/16″ throttle bore with 1-7/32″ venturi is 160 cfm
1-11/16″ throttle bore with 1-5/16″ venturi is 210 cfm
1-11/16″ throttle bore with 1-1/2″ venturi is 250 cfm
As stated, earlier folks always discount your position in the game based on their incompetence, it is a way for them to equal the playing field in their mind not in the reality of the situation.
To keep those folks’ superior in their mind we used the old divide and conquer method of building an engine, I had a 194 closed chamber head, I got Wally Ferry to send it off to get a valve job and shaved, ordered a 250 cu in gasket set. Had Dickey get me a Schooler OEM regrind cam. Behind the scenes I had Jose at Zabatt Machine do the 230 head machine work, bore & deck the block, Juanita at Nimnicht Chevrolet ordered the OEM .030 307 flat top pistons, 283 rods, L88 flywheel, and 230 Hi Po 155 hp cam, LT1 lifters and pushrods. At the end of the day almost $1500 parts. When the parts all landed, I loaded the 250cu in from the 1969 pickup, plenty of looky-loos, headed to Ray Linsters to get the 250 freshened, but I actually traded the 250 to Ray and Buddy to get the 230 assembled. I sold the bed for $250 and the cab from the 69 Pk up for $1000 to body shop in Gainesville. At the end of the day, I was broke again. By Christmas of 1976 the car was 80% complete, 3 things, 2 money items, stood in the way, the rear end needed to be modified and freshened, we needed a set of tires/wheels, and a radiator. I ordered a rear gear from Honest Charlie a 3.36 for the 10 Bolt stock rear, we chose to stay with the 10 bolt based on the Chevy II vs a collective of GM cars weight/ hp/ duty cycle, in agreement by committee Don, Dad, and myself agreed that GM created a factor of confidence in the component in vehicles that service demands were 1.5 to 2 times more demanding than our needs. The weak link in the drive train was the Chevy 341 3 speed transmission, the 1.68 second year ratio x the 3.36 rear ratio gave us a 5.64 final drive. The 341 is light and available so we chased that rabbit. Buddy Tolliver built the rear differential, to lock the rear we used a method we used on the 57 not endorsed by many but we welded up one tooth on the axle gear, we did this by heating the gear evenly, and gas welding with nickel. This gave us about 180 degrees between locks. At the time my brother-in-law was building a Dart we snaked a 12 bolt SS Nova rearend for his build, the local consortium was sure the rear was for the Chevy II. The rules called for an 8” DOT street tire in an effort to save money, this rule was quickly rethought, but to start the rule was the rule. After calling around it appeared that most of the oiled clay tracks were pushing a tire brand known as Road Huggers. I had a set on my street Chevy II, the decision was obvious, and it included parking the street Chevy II and going racing. The next big issue was a racing radiator. The story takes a turn here, the car was complete the radiator was the last issue, the driver situation was never an issue to me, I had reached out to a number of guys that I knew we could win with, a number of hangers on wanted to drive it. My dad had told some friends that the racing was my obsession, worse than a drug addict but it was obvious that after watching me drive the 57 that I had no interest in driving. He even went as far as telling a sponsor to hold off because he was going to throw a wrench in the whole racing deal. My dad and I had a few issues we both had a lot of mechanical talent, I always respected his ability, I also knew his short comings, he was quick to discount my ability based on his ability, my engineering talent was a product of his shared knowledge, but my boundaries were not married to shared interests. His knowledge complemented my direction, he wanted to race, the truth is without me making racing my life choice we would still be raising bait. My desire to race included my dad being involved, we sat down he said he would help financially with the car, but I had to drive the car period and no racing until June 1977, I had to graduate first, and if we were not successful, we put racing to bed! I looked at him, told him I need a radiator and I want to buy a trailer from Wally Ferry, I didn’t give him no room to back down to his initial demands. 46 years later it still hasn’t been put to bed. We started practicing in early May, a number of the hangers on found out I was driving and voiced their opinions, Dad told them it was me or nobody! They gone! My lap times were close to fastest, had a few issues with feel. While testing one Thursday, I would go in and set the car as I waited for the car to settle down it would spin. Harvey Jones and the Cooper Bros, was testing a new Snow Brothers car, Harvey hollered “I drove those little Chevys, as it starts to spin stand on it and steer it out of corner.” Next practice I laid on it just as the ass came around, it was bad fast. My dad was adamant we raced at the track, worked on the car at the shop. The first race was June, drew 8th 4th in the 2nd heat race, finished 5th. In the feature I lined up ninth, in 4 laps I was 4th and finished 4th in my first feature. In the next 4 features I finish behind the same 3 cars. The late model and limited crowd was bitchin’ the Road Huggers was cutting up the track, so the track owner give us 10’ racing tires no more street tires. Dad was already invested, I reached out to Gene White Firestone to get tires, he told me to get with Wally Ferry, he would give me two tires if I would buy two. The tire of choice was the Firestone 106 Rain Tire we ran the 29-compound they cost $72. The issue was wheels, we needed 15” x 10” x 5- 4.75 bolt circle. Nobody in the racing world stocked a non 5”x 5” bolt pattern steel wheel. We have 7 days to get the wheels. Dad was making a parts run to Jacksonville when he saw wheels at 103rd Street Pawn Shop, he bought 4 used 15” x 10” ET Mags w/uni-lugs. We got them back at the shop again the collective, Don, Dad and myself felt what the hey $20 Mag wheels, no rules mandating steel wheels, legal width, right offset, if they broke no big loss. We painted them up to not make them obvious mounted the new Firestones and we were ready to race. As we got ready to mount them on the car we realized a significant weight reduction, the OEM Rally Wheel 14” x 8” and L60 Road Huggers weighed 58 lbs., the ET Magnesium wheels and Firestone 106 racing tires weighed 38 lbs. 80 total lbs. lighter, same roll out, 40 points softer on durometer, 14 sq in more of static contact patch. It never dawned on me how big the change would be. The first practice was an eye opener, the car was a rocket, you could go anywhere to pass anybody, I ran down the fastest cars and past both on the outside in 3 laps. I pulled in my dad said I was 8 tenths faster than the week before, but we still didn’t know how good. I drew way back in the 5-lap heat race but in 3 laps I was chasing down the leader finished second. That gave second row inside in the feature. The lineup was the 3 fastest cars than me, the 17, 55, 8, had won every race that year and we lined up 17, 55, 7/me, 8 for the 15-lap feature. My dad told me to follow the 17 and learn. For some reason the 55 got bumped to the tail that put me outside pole. Dad changed the advice to if you beat him to the flag take the lead if he beats you get down and learn. We came into four 17 powered up, I powered up when I got to the flag I could see his front end, I took the lead and in 15 laps I lapped every car including the 55, 8, 27 was back to the 17 car for my first win. Let’s just say everybody was in shock. Everybody was chasing the tire deal, most of the field were on Towel City recaps, they had decent rubber but capped on Blue Streak Grand National casings, tall sidewalls, heavy 30lbs, cheap $54. Most cars had a combination of 5×5 wheels, track treads had a $50 steel wheel 30lbs, at the time Pistone in Charlotte had double centered GN wheel for $60 a set, 45lbs. The tire deal and our discovery of light rotating components changed the game. And our local consortium fueled the fire. The following week and 2nd feature win was eventful. No sooner than we got there the natives came calling, one competitor demanded we open the hood, my future father-in-law stood his ground, the Live Oak mafia went full red neck, and you should never go fill full red neck! The heat race was an adventure, one of the track officials told my dad the Live Oak mafia was going to crash us, I didn’t care, dad was like start on the tail of feature, as we arm wrestled, I missed heat race line up and was sent to the tail of heat race. They threw the flag, and it was like dodging ping pong balls, but 3 years watching Dickie Ferry work traffic and the lethal acceleration the deuce had I was in the lead by lap 4. The heat race win gave us pole, dads instructions were not to embarrass them just do just what it takes to win. The old racing saying “we had ‘em covered until that dumbass threw the green flag” explained the start. Heading dad’s advice, I ran into turn one with just enough to set the car, I got tag teamed by the 17 and 55 and around I went, well just say that the embarrass them went out the door. I started dead last in 8 laps I dodged every moving roadblock only 2 were left, the 55 car was about a straightaway ahead, the 17 was 4 cars back I got to the 17 he ran me up the back stretch he didn’t know the Deuce with the Firestones could turn on a dime, I waited until he was beyond his talent, I dumped power turned left as he shot across the bank. As I powered up, I could see the 55 under the flagman’s stand by the time we got turn 3 I was there, the 55 car had won a lot, had a line that a lot of racers used, I knew where he was going but he didn’t know I was there. As he powered up, I pulled my nosed down and powered right by him with 2 laps to go. The irony of this 2nd win changed a lot of things. My dad was friends with Sonny Hawkins, Sonny pushed a theorem there were 3 stages in winning with a race car, you had to learn to drive the car, learn to race the car, and learn to win with the car. Again, folks always discount your position in the game based on their incompetence, it is a way for them to equal the playing field in their mind not in the reality of the situation. This moment defined me, it should be satisfying to jump the broom in the mind of others, I realized that the doubters in this case discounted the possibility of success based on control. There were folks that seen the win as proof I did my due diligence, others asked how, they didn’t realize that since I was 12 years old, I had stood on the top of a truck watching the best racers race at that track. I drove thousands of laps in the 56 and 57 at Lake City Speedway, and the Chevy II was a superior car for the class. The fans seen an 18-year-old racer, that had a pretty car with a bunch of kids working on it, that every racer in the field 30 or older kept trying to crash. One night a local radio dude asked me a question about being the next hot shoe, the answer was not what he expected, I explained that driving was my dad’s idea, that my focus was on building good racecars, that the Chevy II or the Deuce as the radio dude called it was in a category of its own as many cars that came from Baker County. I told him that racers like the Everett Moran, Wally Ferry, set the bar, Dickie Ferry, Steve Moran and their teams raised the bar. The Snow Bros, David Roberts, and my dad brought engineering into the game. I could easily see a half a dozen better drivers in the Deuce, but at this point I am the jockey of the # 7 car didn’t see it changing. The track photographer caught the pass off turn 4, the 55 car the expression of surprise was priceless, the Live Oak Mafia went in overdrive, they were all illegal, and their racer egos never allowed them to analyze why that a fourth-place car, a rookie driver become dominant with a rule change that complemented everybody. My statement has always been “gentlemen you can see what’s beating you from 20 ft away”! The season ended with 5 wins, 2 seconds and 2 DNF/ crashed and a Rookie of the Year Trophy!