Drag Boats

All of us here love hot rods (if you don’t then why are you reading this magazine?) we see them cruising down the streets of Modesto, racing on the back roads, tearing up the drag strips, hitting the oval tracks, and crowding the parking lots of Bob’s and Mel’s. Now a place were you usually don’t see hot rods (or at least a place you wouldn’t think you would see a hot rod) is on the water! That is right there are a bunch guys who run hot rods on the water known as drag boats!

Drag Boats started way back in the 1500s when Christoper Columbus raced the Mayflower against the Argo and set a record for lowest ET.
Seriously now drag boat racing started not too long after land drag racing did. It all started when one guy claimed his boat was faster than the other guys next thing you know they were drag racing! By the 60s Drag Boat racing grew and drag boats became their own type of boat. Running the same motors as their pavement cousins, creating their own designs for drag boat racing and coming up with their own launching and staging formats!
How drag boats run is very similar to drag racing of land lovers, two boats are paired to race, they line up, when the light turns green on the tree they go! (Yeah they have floating trees for drag boat racing). Their are some differences how drag boat racing is done, due to the fact they have to race on water.

Drag Boats use a moving start when they race. This starting system was implemented as a safety precaution because it is difficult for a boat driver to determine if the boat will launch straight from a standing start.
As two boats are “paired up” on the holding rope, a countdown clock begins before the boats get the green light. During competition, if either boat crosses the starting line before the green light is illuminated, it is disqualified.

When the boats launch (especially when the Top Fuel and Top Alcohol classes launch) walls of water get shot up over 30ft in the air and the boats themselves literally get airborne for a few seconds! Then Jump forward into the air before landing to finish the race!
Another thing about drag boats is like drag cars they come in all shapes and sizes. You have everything from speed boats with small block motors to flatbottom boats with Hemis, to hydroplane boats running Top Fuel Keith Black motors!

Classes in Drag Boat racing range from personal watercraft (jet skis, small boats) to outboard motor boats, to 11.00 Second flat bottom boats, to Pro Mods on water (just about anything goes) to Top Alcohol Flat Bottom and Top Fuel Hydro boats which run almost as fast as there land cousins. Top Fuel Drag Boats can finish the liquid quarter mile in 4.5 seconds!
The Lucas Oil Drag Boat series is the largest Sanctioning Body for drag boating, other sanctioning bodies include the IHBA (International Hot Boat Association) and the SDBA (Southern Drag Boat Association).

What makes drag boat racing exciting? Well there are many different reason it could be exciting, the loud sound of the motors, the hard launches that send walls of water 30 feet into the air, the quickness of the boats and more.

So what are you waiting for land lovers? You know what drag boat racing is get out there to the nearest lake and race!

The Digger

I have been getting a lot of emails lately of people asking me what is a Digger. As we all know if you read chopper magazines, look at chopper websites and go to shows you hear the term digger being used to describe some choppers.
The Digger first started to appear in the early 70s in the chopper world and it is often credited to be first built by Arlen Ness (back then Ness built cool bikes). The style that makes a chopper a digger is typically a long and low look. Other common this you will see are diamond and hexagon shaped gas tanks (which are usually long and long gas tanks as well), drag pipe exhaust, and large old school style drag wheels.
To get the long and low look for the digger, they were usually built with low gooseneck frames and would have a big rake to the front fork. The frames usually have backbones that have been chopped so they can be lengthend for the long look.
Some people say the style was influenced by the drag bikes of era and they were meant to resemble drag bikes.  The main story of it is Arlen Ness attended a drag bike event in the early 70?s where he saw a bunch of Harley sportsters. This give Arlen Ness an Idea, take a sportster, chop the backbone to lengthen the frame, put a longer rake on, add a diamond shape tank and add a 70s style drag tire.
The origin of why its named the digger has its own story as well. My guess of why it’s called the digger is because it’s based of a drag bike and back then dragsters were known as diggers so it is a digger style bike. The other story I have heard is because of how low they are (though not as low as a lowrider) they looked like they were digging into the ground so they name digger was given.

Thanks to Arlen Ness diggers grow in popularity through out the 70s and become some of the best choppers ever built.  Diggers still seem to have a strong influence on modern choppers today! They may have been on of the two influences for pro street choppers (the other was pro street hot rods).

29 Ford Rat Rod

Being the owner of a Hot Rod Magazine and being a fan of unique and crazy hot rods sometimes I have to go digging for these unique and crazy rods but ever once in awhile a unique and crazy rod finds me. I give you ladies and gentlemen Scott Wiley’s 29 Ford “God’s Rods” Rat Rod! When it comes to rat rods, I am usually very picky about them some a great others I think are just money spent on junk, but with Scott’s rat rod he put in a lot of his own blood, sweet, tears and personality into the car so I ended up loving it at first site. (Plus its a flathead and I love flatheads).
The story of the 29 Ford Rat Rod by Scott himself

Here is the story of this car from an abandoned body left in a field for over 75 years to the “best of show” winning creation in the following photos.

“After having collected classic and muscle cars for over 35 years they all began to look the same to me and I was bored with the hobby.   Then in June of 2011 I went to an event called the Road Rocket Rumble in Indianapolis, Indiana that changed my perspective and ignited my passion for the car hobby again.

What I saw were these creative, one-of-a-kind, crazy, cartoonish, totally personal vehicles called Rat Rods.  Not one of them were the same and they all reflected the builder’s personality.
Instead of rows and rows of the typical Camaros, 57 Chevys and Mustangs, that to me became “white noise”, I saw these vehicles that were raw with unique powerplants, weird wheel and tire combinations, bizarre interiors and fabricating techniques and materials.

These were individual works of art and moving sculpture that used raw, rusty metal as their clay.  I immediately put up for sale old our beautiful, restored 1966 Shelby Cobra and set out to create the rolling tribute to my life you see before you in this article.

I found just the right canvas for my project not far from my home in Northern, Indiana.

A gentleman named Ed saw an abandoned 1929 Model A Tudor body in a field near his home and built that base car.  It was chopped 7? inches and channeled 6? on a new 2 x 4 boxed frame.  It was Z’d front and back.  For even more uniqueness it was converted to be driven from the right side of the car.
The rear suspension is a ladder bar set up with a panhard bar and a 1940 Ford buggy spring.  The front is a 4” dropped axle.

The engine is a 1953 Ford Flathead V8 with a Fenton intake and dual Holley 94’s.  Resting on the Holley’s are a pair of functional Model T horns acting as air filters.  It uses a Chrysler starter and the exhaust is handled by a set of  Lakester headers complete with removable motorcycle baffles.
The transmission is a Turbo 350 with a manual Hurst 4 speed shifter powering the 10 bolt Chevy rear end.

Stopping the beast are finned Buick brake drums with 1940 Ford brakes inside.

It has chrome reverse wheels with rare Coker inner and outer whitewall tires.

To make it truly personalized and one of a kind I added these personal touches from my lifetime.

The Radiator cap is a 1940’s Boys’ Club Bumper clamp. I’ve been a member since 1966.

Roof is an actual sign from my Mom’s 1960’s Warsaw Dance Hall.

Transmission boot is my very first baseball mitt.

Baseball shifter knob my brothers 60?s.

Golf head cover on the transmission dipstick was deceased father-in-law’s.

Bullet casings on the door openers are from my brother’s and father’s 21 gun salute at their military funerals.

Third brake light is from an old Schwinn.

License plate light is an old Rayovac flashlight.

Tail light lenses are modified Margarita glasses with blue dots added.

Oil drain plug is a Pabst Blue Ribbon Draft Taper.

Periscope is functional and came out of necessity so I can see stoplights.

Coil cover is one of the very first Diet Pepsi cans.

Oil dipstick is a horse syringe.

Radiator grill is from a house fan.

Screwdriver sticking through radiator is an old one of my Dads.

Seats are school seats from a 5th grade class.

Steering wheel (yes it is right hand drive) is from an old bumper car ride from the county

fair, held on by an allen wrench.

Steering wheel spinner is from a water faucet.

Brake pedal is an acrylic encased scorpion.

Gas pedal is an old motorcycle license plate.

Primitive alligator clip kill switch on steering column.

Boat bilge pump switch on steering column just for fun.

Flashlight dash light mounted on passenger side

Dome light is a modified ceramic house light fixture

Dome light pull is an antique plumbing  tag

Pass through between the seats is an old meter cap

Rear view mirror is an old lady’s compact with my wife and daughters photo.

Louvered interior door panels are from an old furnace.

Trunk in back is an old ammo box.

Blower behind the seats is an old air conditioner unit.

The pair of Vise grips on the driver side frame holds the ground wire on.

Large Safety pins hold the wheels on.

The Odometer in the passenger side rear wheel and is from an old semi.

Meat Thermometer through the top radiator hose is the temperature gauge.  (Ham and

pork seem to be the best temps)

Antique pliers mounted on the front were found in the gas tank.

The front turn signals are old drinking fountain spigots bored out and mounted on the

headlights.

Headlight mounts are Ford Flathead connecting rods

Look for the ball bearings in the fuel bowls

Door hinge pins are old nails and a couple of old screwdrivers

It has been signed by George Barris and Dennis Gage

The sides are painted with “God’s Rods: Where Car AND Driver are works in Progress” to share my faith.

Antique repo Route 66 signs on sides with nail crosses, again to share my faith.

Actual 1929 license plate.

Biohazard sticker on voltage regulator on interior passenger side firewall

Old wrench welded as a handle for the electric access panel.

Old barn wooden floorboard

In back are an antique gas can, battery charger, and voltage meter.

Interior door panels are the louvered access panels from an old furnace.

I get a real kick out of seeing the look on peoples faces when this “beast” wins “best of show” at the car shows.  I know what they are thinking.  They are thinking that their car has a $10,000 paint job on it with a $20,000 engine so how is it possible that this contraption without paint and a rusty flathead beat my car???  It has 5th grade seats for an interior for crying out loud.

I just smile.” – Scott Wiley