mystery photo
- at Olean Speedway
Dutch Strang late model
What year?
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Tags: Dutch Strang, late model, mystery photo
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The Stateline Legacy Fund gratefully thanks the family of Gordon Mahan for the use of his photographs. Mahan was the track photographer at Stateline from 1956-1978.
Stateline Legacy
Dutch says that car had a 401 bored out to 414 he run it 4 years starting 67 thru 70
It was a very nice built car.
It had 8 pipes coming out of the corners of the back of the hood. If I remember right that car ran one of nascars last dirt races on Fonda Speedway and placed ninith and I think Tiny Lund won the race.
Nascar pilled it with a waiver as the exhaust rule said exhaust behind the driver. They deemed it the cleanest exhaust car that they had ever seen.
The rollcage was made of driveshafts that were chromemoly and it was stick welded by Jack Snyder in the driveway of a house on 67 Indian Creek Road in Eldred Pa.
The engine was started for the first time inside the old munitions plant on the Artline road. The car was light but strong. It had a cob web of spring steel trunk rods welded at angles in the front and back. It would take a hit. It had a simulated vinyl top and a nine inch Ford rear end out of 1958 59 Mercurys. 31 spline.
It had a trick system on the windshield because you had to run windshields then.
It was saran wrap with strings tied to them and pulled by the driver. There was also a choke controlled cable for flip up plexi sheets like a flap mounted on the windshield with saran wrap to each one of them. for the first tear offs I had ever seen or heard of on a windshield.
The tracks were muddy in those days and half the battle was making it through the mud and the track drying out so you could actually race.
The features races were 25 to 35 laps long depending on the track. It was build of of may different cars at the time is was fairly new and If I remember right it was made of 13 different cars.
Dutch didn’t drive the car throughout its career.
Dutch got sick and Jerry Grimes drove the car. Jerry was a cowboy and did everything from driving it onto the wall and backing it through the pit gate at Bradford and other North Eastern Pa. tracks. But he made that ole gal run! If you could keep it together under Jerry he got the job done.
The car broke the record at Bradford Speedway set my Richard petty’s dad Lee Petty. It ran the track in a low16 second time. They ran time by stopwatches back then. A little boy watched the whole thing run as the car was a long way ahead of its time. It had trick tires and is probably the best example of what the most modern Street Stock would ever be. With modern tires I doubt it would ever be beat.
Dutch tried to follow the examples of what Nascar did at the time and put it to dirt. He did a excellent job. he knew what spring rates, shock rates, wheelbase offset, bump steer, cross weights, and he did it without any measuring equipment except of the stuff he personally build by hand.
I don’t know where he ever wanted to go with racing. I never understood. Was it for the money? Was it for the fame? Or was it for just something to impress the ladies?
Thanks for the great detail about this car. Good stuff.