~ Byron's Gasser Madness! ~

~ Iowa Drag Racing ~

~ Photos by Jim Farnsworth ~

 
 

Received from Al Booton of Carlisle, Iowa.

I am going to write a note about the cars I know.  The rest will be blank.

Jim Farnsworth lives in Waterloo, Iowa and runs the family electronics business.

He started racing before the Des Moines Dragway closed, which was 1967, and races off and on until about 2002.  His last 2 cars were both TA/FC's which he ran with the help of Vern Moats.  Vern has helped a lot of people with both the tune up and the buying of parts.

Note:  In BLUE is the "blank" stuff.  Any errors are mine, not Al's.  Byron

  
  Gassers
 		 
  Jerry Junkman of Ft. Dodge, Iowa

The 55 ran a SBC.

  
  Jerry Junkman of Ft. Dodge, Iowa

The Willys had a Wedgefire Chevy (348-409)

  
  Another W Motor in an early Chevy  
   
  "Fever" waiting for the next pass  
  "Dinky's Irritation" running C/A on this day  
  A couple of C/Gassers going at it  
  ...and here's the engine from the one in the far lane  
  Lyle Heffel's Anglia, later repainted and sold to Vern Moats who ran it as "Toxic"  
  Heffel's car after repaint  
  The Grove Bros from Ft. Dodge, Iowa.  Driver Jim has his hand in the drivers window.  
  "The Boss!" A/G Anglia  
  Do not remember who owned the car, but the "Red" on the door was Red Droste, a very well known engine builder here in Iowa who built a lot of sprint car engines for our famous Knoxville track.  
  The Sather Bros A/Gasser  
  Unknown C/Gasser.  The only ID seems to be "M.A.S." on the door  
  Unknown A/GS Willys  
  This guy is 73 and still racing.  His name is John Day and here he has a Chevy 6 in the Falcon.  He now races a SBC rear engine dragster with only his wife as crew and wins a lot at our local Eddyville track.  
  Keith Ferrell's Dogcatcher.  Keith would go on to work for NHRA for years.  
  I think this is Curtis Wasson from St. Louis.  
  This might be the Feltrow Bros out of Minneapolis, not sure.  
  The "Shaker" AA/G from South Bend, IN.  
  Kohler Bros "King Kong" AA/G  
  "Hobo" A/MSP  
  Sure looks like Ohio George in the train hat at left front.  
  Ralph Muller, also known as Big Foot, raced several cars around Iowa.  
  Jim Farnsworth near vs Lyle Heffel far at Cedar Falls, Iowa  
  Nice Looking, record holding, 55 Chevy D/A  
  Jack Ditmars?  Bauer Buick was his long time sponsor.  I never saw this car before this shot.  
  Nice looking Modified Sports  
  The "Four Horsemen" Anglia.  Barcelona Bros, Hoffman & Roe  
  The Nelson Bros & Roeder raced this blown BBC out of Iowa.  The car is in the current issue of Hot Rod Deluxe on the stands (Feb 2012?).  The Nelsons built a blown 426 Hemi Opel GT after this before retiring.  
  "Ontario George" A/GS  
  Looks like a Kellison, but that's all I know.  
  Nice Looking blown Corvette.  
  "Yellow Page" Anglia  
  Busse & Fout A/GS Willys  
  "Dinky's Irritation" again, this time as a B/Gasser  
Altereds, Roadsters, Dragsters & Comps
       
  Davis & Ingram "Jewel T" AA/A

 

  
  This is the former Powers & Riley car sitting at Des Moines Dragway with the track concession stand in the background.  Massey, Roth and Thill bought and raced a couple of Powers & Riley cars.  
  This is Jim Farnsworth's first race car right after it was built.  
  This is Jim Farnsworth's car after modification  
  Unknown Dragster  
  A/A Crosley  
  "CC Tap" B/A Fiat  
  Sam's Brothers A/R  
  Unknown Dragster  
  Jack Ditmars "Little Screamer"  Lower shot at Cedar Falls  
   
  Nice looking little C/A roadster  
  Sweet looking little Comp coupe  
  Boyd & Spiller AA/A  
  Unknown...but nice!  
  Jim Minnick from Nitro, WV won some big races in this Stuckey car  
  Frank Husson...good looking Altered  
  Cook Bros beautiful Comp roadster  
  The Snake with his back to us (white tee shirt)  
  A/FA Metropolitan  
  Unknown, but very cool B/R  
 
Funny Cars
 		 
  This truck and race car were bought from Nick Gaglione in Chicago.  Jim ran a number of injected funny cars with the Midwest UDRA circuit.  
  This is Jim Farnsworth's next to last race car.  He raced NHRA Division 5 and some national events  
  This is one of the 3 original Dodge Chargers of which Frank Spittle owns the only one left.  The car in the photo was raced by the Chicago Guzzler T/F team.  
  Don Gay at Indy  
  Vern Moats "Super Jag" with a BBC in it.  
  Charlie Jacobs raced some very fast Chevys, and raced Pro Stock in the early days.

 

  
 

Thanks Al, and thank Jim for all of us!