Thompson Raceway Park

[Fred32v]

I would guess 60's, before the walls, and before they cleared the trees in the backround.
Opel seemed the car of choice, I think Jeff Gardner of Gardner Competition Engines had an 8 second one.

My 58 Impala had a 283 4bbl with a powerglide.


For what it's worth, I was there. Even saw Garlits' Swamp Rat run in 1958.

[oldvettedad]

My 58 Impala had a 283 4bbl with a powerglide.


For what it's worth, I was there. Even saw Garlits' Swamp Rat run in 1958.

I'm impressed that you would still have time slips from 1962. If irun across any other old photos from Thompson, I'll post them. This one came from a site named GasserMadness. The guy that runs it has loads of old photos.

[oldvettedad]

I found this one on the Stock/SuperStock/Modified FB page, of which I am a member. We post any old photos we have of subject cars from the 60's thru 90's. The date on this one says 1967


Fred32V do you recognize any of the names?

[Fred32v]

Those were the days. Don't recall any of those names,
but running 13's with a 265 in a wagon was fast.

[Fred32v]

Back on November 8th, I sheared one of the bolts that hold the 3rd member in place and destroyed the left half-shaft. The car still has a bumper to bumper warranty until the middle of May. The warranty says that racing would void the warranty. I explained to the Cadillac folks at Preston that I was only occasionally racing it but I don’t campaign the car. It doesn’t even have the sticky summer tires on it that came with it; it has run flat Bridgestone all seasons on it. They agreed to make the necessary repairs. I also asked them to do a transmission service. The Owner manual says change the filter and 6.5 quarts of fluid at 50k. When I got the car back, they did a Trans flush, but didn’t change the filter. I scheduled another trip to Preston for a filter install, after some truly friendly give and take on the cost they replaced the filter. Before I took it back for the filter I noticed some oil drips on the floor. This car always spotted engine oil but there was also a little transmission oil. I gave them a picture of the spots and relation to the right front wheel. They told me the tranny oil was drops left over from the flush procedure, but the oil pan gasket is leaking. They are currently changing the oil pan gasket. According to service manual, that's a big job. I will say that Preston Cadillac has been great through this entire process.

When Bob Fade was towing me home from TRP (not the first time), he said “breaking is part of the deal”. We make more power and want to maximize the benefits of the upgrades. It doesn’t make much sense to build the motor and then be afraid to run it hard for fear of breakage. BP is the latest example, having destroyed 3 Caddy rear ends before fixing the problem. If you can’t attack a situation with the engine's maximum capability, why not just reduce the power of the motor in the first place.

[markss327]

If you can’t attack a situation with the engine's maximum capability, why not just reduce the power of the motor in the first place.

Exactly.

BTW, nice reading of old Thompson stuff. Man, have 'times' changed.
Today, it's so common to see cars, off the lot, easily, run 13s.

[oldvettedad]

Found this on nFacebook. Posted by Dan DeLaney, aka Dan the Sign Man

Quite a host of legends
The Grump, Larry Lombardo, Ronnie Sox, Bob Glidden, Wayne Gapp and an 18 year old Dan the sign man. Dan was presenting them with cartoon sketches of their cars. Fantastic photo and memories. They were match racing that day, This was July 3, 1976

[Fred32v]

Wow, serious history that.
I followed The Grump in SS&DI in the early 70's, never did get to see him run.
I'm suprised that those famous racers were all at Thompson Drag Raceway.