Of racing bonds............

[Uncle Bob]

Some of you may have already read this as I posted it on another board last night, but I thought it fits in with a thread Frank put up the other day about the changing face of racing today.  I thought it interesting that this would show up in my email box at about the same time.

By Jim Rockstad


In Part 1, I discussed the history of the top fuel car that put the Northwest on the map in the sport of drag racing.


In the 50's and 60's, hot rodding was at a fever pitch in the Northwest. Hot rod shows and rallies were very popular with events taking place nearly every weekend in the Portland-Vancouver area. Drag strips, mainly just airstrips, ran events every weekend in places like McMinnville, Aurora, Madras, Eugene, Woodburn, Scappoose and Delta Park. Those tracks were just in Oregon. In Washington there were tracks in Puyallup, Shelton, Kent, Bremerton, Deer Park an d Arlington. "Gear-heads" could attend or compete in several events every weekend during the spring, summer and fall months. Madras, Oregon would start up the season in February well before the tracks on the wetter side of the state.


In those days, the car clubs were the core of the hot rod involvement. If you weren't in a car club and you weren't into cars......well, you were really "square". In North Portland there where 3 clubs within a few blocks of each other ~ that's how popular it was. Gustin's, a service station on Union Avenue, housed the Pharaohs. Across the street from Gustin's were the Headers of Portland, and on the other side of the railroad tracks was yet another club hidden underneath a bridge. I was a member of the Headers right out of high school in the early 60's.



The early years built a bonding of friends that continue to this day. They were built on the many struggles of building a race car, traveling to events throughout the region and never having enough money to keep up with the passion of the sport. We borrowed and swapped parts and equipment just to be able to keep up with the other racers in the area.

It was the feverish pace which created these life-long friendships ~ the same friendships that motivated the Northwind project..


Jack Coonrod, a Camas, Washington native was passionate about hot cars. He met Jim

Albrich in a north Portland garage while Jim was installing a Chrysler motor in an old Ford. At the time, Jack had a '27 Model –T Ford Touring with a flathead motor and was interested in a Chrysler power plant. With Jack's Touring and the Jim Albrich's tuned Chrysler, Jack and Jim set a new NHRA national record of 135 mph in 1961. After that huge success, it was on to bigger and better things for the pair as they entered into the fuel dragster wars with the first Northwind in 1962. It was a short wheel based, Scotty Fenn fuel dragster, driven by Early Floyd. Earl drove just about anything with four wheels in those days from gassers to fuel-dragsters! However, the whole operation got off to a tough start when in the first fire-up the throttle stuck and rolled over into a ditch on an abandoned road. What a way to get this operation off the ground....but those are the struggles that cement the bonds of friendship over the years.


Jim Albrich borrowed $1,500 from Household Finance for a motor to get started in this drag racing world. After a summer of running the first Northwind, the bank account was empty. So, Jim moved on in one direction and Jack went the other. Albrich hooked up Mike Grimm, Max Bowman, Dean Rowley and Bill Jwayad with different fuel dragsters. As was usual back then, the money ran out with each partnership. Jim parked all his motors and parts until a guy named Ed McCulloch walked in the door.


Jack Coonrod headed in the direction of gassers ~ the funny cars in that era along with Wayne Harry, a local machinist. Wayne had a'33 Willys pickup and in it went Jack's Chrysler power plant. From there on it was supercharged gassers through the rest of the 60's. Later, the Willys truck was replaced by a '33 coupe with a Chuck Finders' setup as Jack readied the car to go on tour back east. Jack was one of the first to head out on tour in 1967 & 1968. There were two to three events a week throughout those summers from New England to Florida and all points in between. The friendship bonds created through many struggles during that time bring us forward to the winter of 2005. The news of Ed McCulloch's struggle with colon cancer shook us all up here in the Northwest. & nbsp;One of our life-long friends was struggling with his health and was going through chemotherapy for this terrible disease. Our prayers were that everything would go well for him in his battle against his cancer as well as the battle for the points chase in the Brut funny car. At the time we felt there had to be something we could do to encourage him in his struggle.


When the photos of the Northwind came out in a magazine last winter, it lit a fire in Jack Coonrod. His bond with Ed McCulloch was very tight and Jack felt that he could give Ed "one day in the sun" and divert his thoughts away from that terrible disease. The plan was to find the gold Northwind that launched Ed's career by rebuilding it, taking it to Pomona in November of 2006 and have Ed start it up.


After Pomona, the car will be displayed in Jack's museum that is located in his home. This museum is dedicated to the world of gassers including old mementos from Jack's touring days in the 60's. The museum has an area set aside just for his special friend of forty years, Ed McCulloch. Ed has also contributed many items for Jack's museum from the old days.


Jack then gathered up his friend Earl Floyd and the two of them burned up the phone lines in search of the famous gold car. For almost 3 months the leads came in hot and heavy as Earl "the bloodhound" Floyd was relentless in the search. He tracked each lead until it was found to be fruitless. There was a car in Idaho and several in Oregon and lots of them that seemed to be the original, but one after another they were found to be the wrong car. Jack, at one time, thought maybe he could copy the original car and fabricate an all new one but it just wouldn't be right; it had to be the 1965 Drag News #1 car in the nation ~ the famous gold Northwind ~ no copies for this deal!


When the search hit a dead end, a $250 finder's fee was offered to Lon Russell, a local drag racing enthusiast and computer-savvy guy. The industry-wide websites were all posting the many needs to accomplish the goal of rebuilding the Northwind. Many searches were being conducted throughout the Northwest. All of a sudden; pay dirt! The actual car was found in an old barn in British Columbia, Canada. Talk about long shots!!


The car had been in Canada for over 30 years. The last time it had made any runs down a drag strip was as a gas dragster in the early 70's. The car had been lengthened twice and was 13" longer than when it ran in top fuel. A different front axle was on the car and it had been a parts-car for other dragsters. The car was purchased from Swindahl race cars of Tacoma at one time. The late Bill "Madman" Phillips, who ran alcohol dragsters for many years, had the car and wanted it displayed in a museum. After his death, several of Bill's friends were planning to display the car, once a museum was built. The museum never came about. Canadas' Bill Bennett willingly sold the car to Jack Coonrod knowing that the car would be used to honor Ed McCulloch and honor the memory of Madman Phillips. This car now has two purposes for getting it rebuilt.


And so, on January 20, 2006 the car headed back to the US because Jack Coonrod bought the machine that hadn't seen a race track in 30 plus years. Now the hard part begins. There were many parts missing; the original front axle, the steering and spindles. But the most important part of all ~ the over-the-roll-cage tail section was no where to be found. On the positive side, the cowl and side panels were in excellent shape because of the earlier lengthening of the frame was in the motor area. As Jack headed for Vancouver, Washington and to his shop with a smile on his face he also knew that he had a huge project ahead of him. Finding the original replacement parts wasn't going to be easy but his strong determination kept him driving forward.


To keep the car original was paramount. This would require using old pictures of the car

and starting from scratch on building new parts. Jack knew it would be time to reach out to many drag racing friends to find the old pieces and to get some support as he started putting the car together.


The question has to be asked "is there enough time and support to accomplish this huge undertaking and make it to the Finals in Pomona in November of '06? It doesn't seem possible that there's enough time left but then again how was it possible that you could find an old dragster that hadn't been run in thirty years? Don't bet against Jack and Earl! They are reaching out to the drag racing industry and together they will pull it all together.