SHELBY SUPER SNAKE Don SOHC Dragster update plus sad news,,,we lost Mrs Stroppe

[HolmanMoodyStroppeGang]

Hello guys

I have been friends with Don Long a long time. Many of us all tried to help bring this gorgeous AAFC FE rail back and I spoke to both Dons this week for the update. The engine is done,,,,,the target was to be at the MARCH meet, not quite, but soon.

Hope any of you who like these fire breathing beasts get to check it out.   We wanted to buy this car so bad but the Snake got it and nobody does it better....

Sorry, we were real busy and no blog time.   Fuel Coupes and so on this season...plus FORD special things for later please. Thanks for so many nice emails in past months too.

The Owner of the other Forum send me a real nice email after we asked for the rules and terms to just be used, so that we could just stay on topic and keep it civilized.  Our goal was that we can do nice things if we all think on topic and relate like Ford pals. He wrote, I understand this deal, so no hard feelings, it is probably easier if you do your work at JAYS so you can just share with your old pals. He was quite nice in explaining other things too.  So I kept doing our history and have more to share from many old friends

I took time for our work too, but it was good more than not. Here is why I hope to add some content.    I met hundreds of great guys here and there, and many fast old friends and us got back together, so thanks.  I get emails almost every day to this day. It was like a 3rd job for a while so I can do some work as time now allows.  I will post what we can here this Summer, just to think out for fun.

Friends here will be posting the some of latest pictures of the SHELBY Super Snake for me. I have 220 some odd, and a video of me lighting a blown fueler with Snake and Gibbs and Roland Leong, Weed the starter at Lions with Larry, Don Perata, the famous author and so on, for soon,   The video is of a similar fuel system making about 3,000 HP at WOT....
Point there is, this FC has about a 570 tune up in it.  I think a SOHC rail could be faster, and quicker. 

Also, I spoke to Prudhomme this morning and may have some injector or other stuff for this bad boy.  I hope to share more on these other 5 NITRO SOHC's coming back to life soon.

I will update this post once the video and pictures go up.  The engine is done but for a mag drive shaft, and the Tony Nancy hat cover. I have one.

I should say, I joined an FE forum with this goal, and to make friends, show respect to old team mates and learn from you all too.  Thanks !    And as I said, to see who wanted to make FE's cackle again. Many of the old gang worked to make our essays better, it was usually a team effort.

But a key reason we were away is sad.....and this is far more important..... we were away in part due to a sad loss.

I must send my prayers and best wishes before all of my friends on both forums because we lost a beautiful woman last week, Mrs Bill Stroppe.   We would like to thank all that contacted Bill Jr and the old gang. She was a truly lovely woman and sure was a  key part of the Ford Family.  She was a wonderful wife to a professional racer and of course saw many fine men lost from the 40s forward.  Stroppe Jr and his sister are well, so are the family members.

We would like to believe that her and Bill are having a splendid time up above, and will know joy everlasting,,,   We laughed, he probably took her back to old Gilmore Stadium(Racing 1/4 midgets), or Ascot, INDY or on the Baja 1000 again.......or boat racing with Henry FORD Sr on Lake Michigan.   That is were Ford and Stroppe made a deal that lasted over half a century and continues in part today. Henry FORD Sr actually hired Stroppe to build our race shop out here. We can race all year and that helps win.

May God continually rest their fine souls,,,,,,she was so splendid...

We have a little news on 5 SOHC projects   for Nitro use and we sure appreciate all the kind mail in past months,  Chip Foose is doing an injected Nitro rail based on a Woody Gilmore car to cackle. More soon.

I was asked to explain also that In my past essays, many old guys and us shared everything we could as accurately and honestly as we could. Not one fabricated essay. It was all for a book and for old friends we lost and cared a lot for.  So the use of WE was to say thanks to several of the guys.

Why some want to fight never made sense to us because were always a FORD brotherhood.  We had to try harder and be smart to beat Dodges and Chevys. Just staying on topic and polite is a lot more fun,

Anyway,,,,I want you guys to think through the engineering and merit of this awesome rail maybe

Pure power and little weight.......and it was dominate car. I was very lucky to see these cammer rails run a lot, as we described

Any of you could do the same and go a lot quicker.......like I said back when, we'd love to help

And as my guys know, those who claim we did not race in these shops, well, folks say it was just a few making stuff up we guess. Why, who knows.   We were in fact there, i was young, but machining, building FE'S, tuning and kind of lived at the track. I then opened shops with 2 of our best guys after the big shop closed

As a young young guy, I got bit by going to the DRAGS as a boy, with an injected Nitro SOHC.. I hope a lot more young guys keep racing FE's for decades.

I showed you all a picture of that Nitro SOHC Crew Chief and me on a Fueler last March Meet.    I hope similar teams come together today, like in the 60s.  Mike has been in our shops, 35 years now...    It was fun to be close to the Crisman shop and other SOHCs on fuel back then.

Kindly,,,,Tom from the old HMS Ford team

Email me if you want to meet some old HMS guys st Knotts on Sunday,,,going to bring maybe 5 surprise guests, and Dan, John and Me will smile because we all worked for Dyno Don who I miss a lot

Thanks

RIP Helen Stroppe

[HolmanMoodyStroppeGang]

Thanks JAY for offering to load the pictures,

That was a real nice pair of emails and guys, JAY will load a video and some 12-15 first shots for you soon.   I tried.  It was not working on 54 either.

The video is of a similar Nitro car power wise. I lit it with its new driver...as part of the debut of the Super Snake....and it was a blast to have Long, Roland Leong, Snake, and many cool old pals there.  Steve Gibbs(NHRA), Don perata the magazine and book author, you will see Lou Baney's son, that big smile, and Terry Jongewrard, we raced a Fuel Dragsters in about 71 and LONG did the chassis

Chassis wiz Bruce Dyda is there. And we put Don Long's grandson in the flopper and he had the night of his life....we were really loud on purpose,,,haha.  To celebrate this event.

Racers alley is a few blocks from ISKY, a mile from ARIAS maybe, 2 blocks from SHELBY, close to SCAT and ENGLE, close to the original Sig Erson shop. 3 blocks from where ASCOT was, 3 miles from LIONS drag Strip. next to Goodyear where got race tires forever, close to Parnelli Jones and 4 miles from our big place.   2 miles from DONOVAN racing maybe, a few miles from other vendors too.., Kieth Black,.Venolia, Probe, Enderle and so on. Simpson. Point is, there is still a cluster of old Hot Rodders,,  And those invited to this event all worked to help get this FE back on the track.

Long was the best of his era...so was Woody Gilmore who was with us in our last big shop. We have a group that meets there on a certain night to work on other restorations. Right now, the new project is the legendary Water Cerny Moody rear engine rail that was one of the first winning rear motor rails.

What was cool is Wes Cerny came by and hung his original Crew Jacket from about 70-71 over the car. When it is done, the coat goes to the track with that car.  For those who dont know, Cerny was a key part of the Bud King Team with Dale Armstrong, Bob Brooks, Mike Guger and Bernstein.   cerny and Long have been close friends since the 60s

We are going to try to get you guys pictures of the 30 cammers at Knotts too. I hope some of our FE pals can help.  Wish you could all be there too.  Tons of FE cars every year

There will be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of cool FORDS.    Not easy to catch them all but we will try

I am taking 3,4 maybe 5 of our guys from HMS including a wonderful old pal who built Dyno's best 9.39 SOHC for the maverick.

That was the record for a FORD that year

Gas Rhonda may sit in his Funny car...

Cammer Butch and Big Ben are doing a great job, thanks so much. There will be a show inside of the show basically

Lots more for later

Thanks a lot

Email me at HMStroppeVet@Gmail and maybe we can introduce you to some of the old Drag Team.

Thanks Jay.....I send many of these shots to start to Barry, my pal Blair, Big Frank, Brent and others... One pal posted it elsewhere but also cant load the pictures.  We just wanted to share it for those who like SOHCs with blowers that won.

I am so happy a bunch of SOHCS will cackle this year

That is kind of why I joined the blogs, and to share history of some really solid friends and mentors..respectfully and with a sad sense of loss....

Thanks

Again JAY, thanks for your help and friendship when I get to come over here.    This is a very productive work place full of very talented folks.

Also, thanks for helping Prudhomme  find a nice blower intake.  He was very happy when we talked this morning about it and it is on the engine and ready to pay the rent, then haul the mail,,,FORD style !   Snake looked for the right intake for about a year and many of us also dug, several of us sent him to you and a few more fast friends.  So you were a big help finishing this FE too.

There is 2 spares if any of you get the itch to Force feed a cammer some day

That's about it for now. We will share when and where this will fire as time allows

This is a hot topic for us to conclude.  A Tommy IVO rail that was restored just sold for 600,000 at an auction.  It was a cool car but this SOHC car won many many events and is very very rare.

We all agree that if this car goes up for sale, it will easily and significantly exceed 600,000 bucks.   Now that is a valuable FE car to us...   And SNAKE is going to get in it again . He told me he is eager to smoke the hides with it soon !   That is great.

More on that later.

[HolmanMoodyStroppeGang]

Thanks JAY,,,,,the pictures are under Guess what classic race car...thanks