Jim Wangers- The Detroit Supercar Scene Trend

[Steve Shauger]

This is a great article how manufactures and advertising agencies both evolved to quench the thirst of the youth market. Jim was renown for his advertising prowess as well as his racing abilities.

[BJCHEV396]

Thanks Steve,great article!Mr.Wangers was a visionary and ahead of the times for sure!

[Lee Stewart]

https://i.postimg.cc/N0xpYJ92/0.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[L_e_e]

I have some great stories on street racing in Detroit and it's suburbs involving Mr. Wangers, as he was sill into it in the late 80's early 90's involving a wicked red Chevy Monza and a white Chevy Monte Carlo SS....powered by a Pontiac.

[Steve Shauger]

That is what this thread is for, so please share some stories!

[PeteLeathersac]

'

Great thread and subject, looking forward to the stories Lee!
Also keep in mind Member Tenny has Wanger's '64 GTO 421 Post, click here...
https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=81554
:beers:
~ Pete

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[Lee Stewart]

https://i.postimg.cc/QdPgkLL3/blackbird-1.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

https://i.postimg.cc/s2hYTnyZ/0.jpg (https://postimg.cc/VSz06WJY)

[Tenney]

JW and Swiss on scales ...

[Keith Seymore]

That is an awesome photo that I have never seen before.

Thanks, Ten.

K

[Keith Seymore]

JW and Swiss on scales ...

Seeing the Swiss Cheese Cat on the scales reminds me of a story - probably from that same event (1963 at Indy):

"Farmer" Dismuke was the tech director for NHRA and was known for being pretty tough. He had a ring that he wore and on the underside of the ring was a magnet - specifically for finding fiberglass or aluminum where it wasn't supposed to be.

As Dad was in tech for B/Stock Farmer laid his hand on one of those aluminum fenders and said conclusively "B/FX". Instantly agitated, Dad said "I can't run B/FX; this car is a national record holder in B/Stock". Farmer said "I don't care if you are Santa Claus, you're not running that car in B/Stock unless you can show me 49 more just like it!". Dad knew he couldn't be competitive in B/FX, and didn't want to ballast up to C/FX (because Doug Nash was running his Bronco in that class) so he, along with the boys from Royal, decided to park the car for the day.

For a discussion on how the rest of the day went see this attached thread: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=549309

K

[Keith Seymore]

The way dad got some history with running B/Stock with that car:

When he first got the car he took it up to Ubly to run. He knew the tech guy - Brad somebody - and as he pulled in Brad asked "B /Stock?".

Dad said "aaaayup - B/Stock".

With the aluminum front end, special cam from Mac McKellar, and tubular exhaust headers the car was bogus as heck.

;)

[Keith Seymore]

Dad was trying to run the aluminum exhaust manifolds on the street and they kept burning up.

After patching them a bunch of times, and putting patches on the patches he decided to fabricate a set of tubular steel exhaust headers.

He made them really short - which, at the time, pretty much everybody said would not work.

Mac McKellar saw them and liked them and said "I'm gonna make you a cam for those."

So he did. He even stamped the "correct" numbers on the end so it looked original.

Royal and Ramchargers were always picking at each other.

Ramchargers protested Dad one day and made him tear down. They actually took that cam and set it up in V blocks on the tailgate of their wagon. They spun it with a cam wheel on the front and a dial indicator on the lobes - and declared it legit.

It was, of course, bogus as heck.

K

[Keith Seymore]

One more story about "the scales":

Our '65 GTO was actually lighter than it needed to be for B/Stock. One technique for making the weight break was to roll through tech with the tow bar (and safety chains) still in place, toolbox and slicks in the trunk, fuel tank full of fuel and me (all 45lbs or so) standing on the scales! After passing tech, all those items would come flying off/out of the car in time for competition.

We did get caught "light" on one occasion. Dad made a pass and, before he retrieved the time slip, the tech official directed him across the scale.

"I don't want to go across the scale" dad said.

The tech official unrelentingly directed him back. "I really don't want to go across the scale" dad said.

"You have to - you just set a B/Stock record" the tech replied.

"You can keep your record, I'm not going across that scale!"

Well, he did, and it earned him a brief "vacation" from racing at that particular track.

[Bill Pritchard]

Great memories, Keith, thanks for sharing!

[Keith Seymore]

The guys at Royal, as is often the case, were a bunch of cut ups.

Wangers had ordered an aluminum third member for his car and was getting really antsy for its arrival. When it did (finally) show up the mechanics saw it sitting on the floor strapped to a pallet; they noted Dad's car sitting a few bays down and somebody thought it would be hilariously funny to install the carrier in Dad's car and not tell anybody.

Dad didn't notice until some time later, when he was under the car doing something else.

Jim continued to get more and more agitated and finally gave up looking for his aluminum part. I don't think he knows what happened to it to this day. He probably would not find it hilariously funny.

(Well - he might, now. Not then, though).

K