In regards to the 4.89 gear ratios: Remember, the mph trap speeds back in 56
were not all that high. With 4.89 gears and 32 inch tires, a trap speed of
90 is only 4600 rpm, and 100 mph @ 5100 rpm. With 30 inch tires, we get 90
mph @ 4900 rpm and 100 mph @ 5400 rpm. The power curve on the dash one
engine doesn't fall off until over 5500 rpm, so they will pull hard all the
way.
-----Original Message-----
From: Forward Look Mopar Discussion List
[mailto:L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of eastern sierra Adj Services
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 10:17 PM
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [FWDLK] DOG, and 150 Ponies show!
Well, the question of the Cosmic Origin of the 1956 Dodge D500-1
performance claims comes down to (as far as a fully equipped stock car
is concerned; C-Gas class cars are modified versions, and Adam Linderman
points out that a 4.89 gearset might require 8000 rpm, in order to
produce 90-ish mph; any car would certainly appear to run out of on-cam
rpm very quickly, that way, but, the story-goes, the 3-speed trannie
could take-off, in second, and then only shift once, into third (at
what: 50mph?) .
OK, but the Physics-bottom line (don't we have any Rocket-surgeons, or
Brain-scientists, on the List??) is : CAN 150 road horsepower propel a
mass of about 3,600+lbs, from a dead stop, and transport it [having the
aerodynamics of a brick] down a 1/4 mile, in under 16 seconds?
MoTor Trend determined, on various MoPars (but, not, necessarilly, on a
1956 Dodge D500) that the road HP was actually about 50% of its
advertised gross HP.
Dave Homstad has written, to say that the weight of the 1956 D501 was
under 3,400 lbs.
I believe that its weight (fully dressed, not in C-Gas Class, at any
rate, where it scored a 15.74?- 1/4 mile) would be around 3,800+ lbs.
The primary claim, that has stuck in my craw, over the years, was/were
the one(s) regarding the warp speed that the D500-1 was claimed to have
acheived vis: (without naming-names, unless I'm called-out, on this)
published article(s) that stated that the car had acheived 1/4 mile
times of: " +100 mph or under [!!] 14 seconds.... and this, on a
2-speed 1950's manual transmission, with 1950's bias ply tires
(but, with "4.56 or 4.89 gears".)
At least, we are now discussing e.t.
's in the 15 second realm.
It has been questioned as to what the beach conditions were like, for
the 1956 'runs'.
If I might quote from the 5/56 issue of Hot Rod:
"Tuesday, the 21st proved to be the day everybody had been waiting for.
There had been no activity Monday, but during the night the nor'easter
had arrived and put the beach in the condition Bll France had been
hoping for. Quick time for the day over the Flying Mile was 136.622
mph, by Herb Thomas in a Smokey Yunick (hoo-rah!) prepared Cubbie. He
was followed by Brewster Shaw in a '56 Chrysler 300B at 133 mph and
Danny Eames in a '56 Dodge 500-B [SIC????!!--yeah, really! ] at 133 mph
[actually, that's a typo; the car ran 130+]."
So much for beach condtions, in 1956.
Regarding the "stock-ness" of the D500-1, a 'published' article quotes
Dean Engle [a very-high Dodge Honcho] as saying :" that the D500-1
'test' cars [ apparently, for Daytona selection-preparation-purposes ]
were not randomly selected, and that all the 'test' cars engines were
gone over and blue printed" (as were all, he surmised about the other
FACTORY-supported entrants at Daytona.
You may recall that Dodge's D500-1 driver, at Daytona, in 1956 was their
'engineer, and chief test driver, Danny Eames.
Hot Rod (5/56, again) states, about the 1956 Dodge effort: " A swing
over [the writer was visiting the various marques' entries ] to the
Dodge Agency(!) located several Dodge D500's and 500-D's being
prepared(!!!) for the race course and one 500-D getting tuned up by
Dodge engineer Danny Eames for Flying Mile and Standing Mile attempts.
Although there is no organized Dodge factory racing team [WHAT??] , some
of the private owners [!] work very close with Eames and the Dodge
Engineering Department so that they can keep up to date on all factory
developments."
In 1956,the D500-1 ran in the Class 5 (259-305 c.i.) so, it was very
close to the engine-limit sioze, in its class.
The '57 D501 ran in Class 7 (over 350 c.i.)
But, we are discussing the comparative performance of the two years'
cars.
In the MT ( 5/57) review of the 1957 Speed Week clambake, it said : "
Factory support is evidently down quite a bit from 1956 because there
were no '57 Dodge 500's entered in either convertible or Grand National
races and only a couple of 'man-off-the-street' entries in the Flying
Mile [actually: one enrty in the Flying, and one entry in the
Standing-Mile] trials. This is one car that will grab attention should
a few good[!] mechanics and drivers latch on to some cars and prepare
them properly.
Any questions?
BTW, the 1957 D501's first became available for private purchase at the
end of March; by then, most racers & teams had long-since
bought/acquired their competitive rides, for the 1957 NASCAR and NHRA
seasons. AND, Dodge did not promote or support the D501's, when they
finally did become available.
The factory-supported '56 D500-1's were publically available around
January, 1956, and Dodge DID support the D500-1 program; even arranging
to have the dual 4-barrel carb set-ups
be available to Speed Week racers (in order to have Danny Eames be
allowed to run his Proving Grounds-tested D500-1 at Daytona.)
Finally, there has been a discussion about how accurately the 1956 drag
racing speeds/times were recorded, long-before the advent of the
electronic Chrondek starting "Christmas Tree" , with the necessary use
of starting flagmen and a guy at the end of the track, probably using a
multiple-stopwatch timing-board.
Which brings up the question of "trap speeds", which nowadays is the
electronically-recorded average speed, in the last 100'(?) of the 1/4
mile [the actual distance is not important].
A flagman can start-off a couple cars , and maybe determine, by himself,
if one car has false-started [red lighted].
I don't know how the 50's-60's 1/4 mile speeds were accurately recorded,
but, a lot of emphasis was apparently placed on a car's speed, thru the
1/4 mile.
I don't know how this will play-out, mathematically, but I've considered
that the recorded winning speeds, referenced at the San Gabriel Valley
drag strip, and elsewhere, may be the result of the 1320' 1/4 mile,
divided by the elapsed time (although why the e.t. was not emphasized,
in lieu of the MPH, I don't know--maybe the MPH was a function of
Daytona's having emphasized the MPH, too.)
So, perhaps a given MPH is the result of a mathematical formula,
although I know that any given e.t. is a function of a LOT of factors,
but, there doesn't appear to have been any way to record accurate
top/final trap speeds, "by-eye".
The L.A. Times, this past week, had a full-page article, on the NINE
local area drag strips that were in operation, up thru the 60's.
As part of the article, there is a GREAT photo, from 1962, showing two
Chrysler-powered 'rails' , digging-out, at the San Fernando Valley drag
strip, having been started by a flagman!
I am (now-once-again) trying to get drag racing info from the NHRA's
archives, regarding the 1956-57 seasons, and the Stock & C-Gas racing
classes, and, the complete 1956-57 Daytona Speed Week participants'
records (not just the listing of the top-five finishers ).
Rah, Rah, reesearch!
Nel Vedder
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