Page 28 - NM Spring_2021

and that was the end of the great Burket. Like Andy Baron, Corky
show. It’s all on You Tube for those
interested.
As I got out of the coupe, Tommy
Ivo came over to shake hands. I
quipped that I had been a fan of his
in the old “Margie” TV show where
he played actress Cynthia Pepper’s
boyfriend, Haywood Botts in the
Roaring 20’s. I added that he was
fine but most guys liked Cynthia a
lot better. He laughed and replied,
“everyone did”! And so, we headed
home and began to think of what to
do in 2015.
Most of the handling bugs that
we had been chasing had finally
been worked out. Midway through
2015, after another appearance at
Bowling Green’s Hot Rod Reunion,
I made the decision to pass along
driving duties to Joe Morrison.
Joe, from New Jersey, was a friend
of Goldy, an experienced altered
driver and recently licensed in an
A/fuel dragster. In a test session
at Keystone, Joe took to the car
immediately. The short wheelbase,
poor visibility and unpredictable
handling made the coupe the
toughest car to drive I had ever
piloted. But Joe loved it and
brought a new dimension to our
show.
To the fan’s delight, he produced
monstrous burnouts. But he also
had a great feel and respect for the
equipment. Adding to our base
crew, Andy Baron came along
and volunteered to offer his show
winning, Chrysler hemi powered
1929 Model A Ford as our tow
vehicle. This produced quite
a show at the nostalgia events.
About the same time, our program
was “adopted” by Harold “Corky”
28
brought along considerable
mechanical skills, humor and a
real dedication to the fuel coupe.
With Goldy, Mark, Andy, Corky and
Joe at the controls, we now had as
good a crew as any fuel car could
have.
The rest of 2015 went well for us
and we returned to Bakersfield and
the California Hot Rod Reunion.
The guys had the car set to run a
good number, aiming for a high 6
second quarter at about 200 mph.
We lined up for the first round
of the fuel altereds against Brett
Henry’s, Wichita, KS based “Iron
Mistress”. Joe did his customary
tire melting, smokey burnout,
staged and launched. At about
half track, the coupe had a slight
lead and was pulling away. It was
drifting toward the centerline
though but refused to correct.
Without notice, the car “hooked”
the track and made a hard left. At
about 160 mph, it slammed the
Jersey barrier almost head on. The
car flipped onto its side and spun
several times through the lights.
Joe had the presence of mind to
deploy the chute and pull the fuel
shutoff. The car landed upright
well passed the finish line with
severe damage to the front end,
chassis and more. Fortunately, Joe
was uninjured and mostly upset
about crashing the old coupe. It
was a real testament to the work of
Ed Quay decades before and Dave
Dominick who brought it up to
present standards that no injuries
were sustained. We assured Joe the
only thing that mattered was that
no one was hurt. It did manage to
clock a 4.40 in the 1/8th and an 8.90
et at 89 mph through the lights – on
Nitro Madness Magazine
its side!
Back in the pits with
the remains loaded into our trailer,
the entire fuel altered community
came by to check on Joe and see if
we needed anything. All we could
say was that we were relieved there
were no injuries and that we’d be
back.
Repairs were made by Dave
Dominick along with some
improvements to help facilitate
handling adjustments. Longtime
friend, Dave Ley, from Exoticars
in Wexford, PA, took on the task
of repairing the body, priceless
aluminum side panels and grill shell
that were mangled in the highspeed
encounter with Bakersfield’s
concrete barrier. Dave, a world
class metal craftsman, made
everything look as new.
We freshened the engine and
replaced the iron heads with solid
cast aluminum, Mastodons. They
had been the “pattern” for most
early hemi aftermarket aluminum
heads. Cylinder head wizard,
Nick Smithberg from Nebraska
reworked them and they actually
outflowed the more advanced billet
heads now on the market for early
hemis. He also set up a Missile
SPRING 2021
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Part #4405