Hot Rodding, Then and Now

Dennis says he remembers Joe Umphenour (DTA member) from about 1956, even though Joe didn’t know him.  Joe was a member of the Chevrons car club.  He impressed Dennis a lot since Dennis thought it was THE club to belong to.... probably because his car was a ‘48 Chev at the time.  The ‘48 was running a ‘53 Buick nail head V8, a ‘36 LaSalle trans, and a ‘53 Olds rear end.  He was still in high school and ran around with four fellow gear heads.  The four of them would later form a race team and build their own dragster.  Dennis attended various high schools after he’d wear out his initial welcome at everyone of them... Mullins, South High School , and Opportunity School in that order.  Seems he wasn’t too keen about going to school, but very few of us were.

There was considerable street racing during this period and Dennis did his share with his strong running ‘48.  He and his buddies spent most nights cruising and hitting the drive-ins where hot rods congregated.  Their main cruising routes were Broadway, Colfax, and downtown’s 16th Street .

He drove the ‘48 for about 3 years and then upgraded to a near new ‘57 Chev pickup with a V8.  It wasn’t long until the truck had fuelie heads, triple carbs, and a Duntov solid lifter cam.  He and his buddies soon formed the Speed Specialist Racing Team and built their own AA fuel dragster.  Their team consisted of Pat Dugan, Herb Tornow, Bill Highfield, and Dennis.  It had a blown Chrysler Hemi and ran on nitro.  They ran it at several strips..... Continental Divide Raceways (CDR), Julesburg CO, Cheyenne WY , Pueblo CO , Scotts Bluff NE , and Great Bend KS .  All of their drag cars were painted yello w and white and all ran Chrysler Hemi engines.

Their team was typical.  Money was sparse and they used whatever they had or could scrounge.  Dennis’ 1957 Chevy pickup was recruited for use as their tow/push car.  Everything for the dragster had to made since there weren’t any specialty equipment manufacturers like there are today.  Building their dragster was done over the winter and finished in the early spring.  It was decided they could finish the dragster in time for an upcoming two day meet in Julesburg IF they did some serious late night thrashing.  The meet was to start Saturday.  Also, it was decided if they didn’t have the car ready by 6 PM Friday evening, they wouldn’t go.  Yeah..... I’ve heard that before.  Friday evening 6 PM came and went..... and they still were working like fiends.  Midnight came and passed.  They were still at it!   Then came 6 AM on Saturday morning and they were getting close.  By late Saturday morning, it was done except for the throttle linkage. They decided they could finish it at Julesburg.   With no sleep since Thursday night they loaded up and headed for Julesburg Saturday noon.  The dragster was on a trailer and covered with a tarp for the trip.  Dennis’ pickup was towing it.  The other two members of the crew were following in a ‘50 Ford pickup with a spare Olds engine.  Some caravan!   A very sleepy Bill Highfield was driving the ‘50 pickup.  Bill would fall asleep every 50 miles or so, but he would wake up when it drifted into the bar ditch!  Without even letting off the gas he would bounce down the bar pit until he found a smooth spot and then pull the pickup back on the highway...... all without losing any speed!!  Dennis would watch this happening and was certain Bill was going to kill both himself and his passenger before they ever got to Julesburg.

Well they finally managed to arrive at Julesburg.  They spent the remainder of the day building the dragster’s throttle linkage.  They didn’t finish it in time to make a single run on Saturday.  Sunday morning they’re ready to fire it for the dragsters’ first run.  Guess what.... yep.... fun time!  It backfires and takes out the timing cover, gears, and chain!  They’re through for the day.  Since they had already paid their entry fee and not had a run of any kind, they conned the NHRA rep into letting Dennis run his truck.   Remember the truck has 3 carbs, fuelie heads, and a Duntov cam.  They laid some fantastic con job on the officials because it got classified as “Stock”!!!!  Dennis can’t remember whether it was B or C, but it was in a stock class!  Dennis runs it through the strip...... and breaks the state record for his class!  Luckily, this only lasted about a half hour before another “stocker” ran faster.  At least Dennis didn’t have to be concerned over being caught illegal.  You surely don’t think this story is over do you?  It isn’t!  Now the story gets good!

They load the dragster on the trailer and get everything ready for the trip home.  While at the drags, they’ve picked up another car from Denver which wants to tag along in their convoy.  It’s a flathead powered ‘48 Merc.  Dennis is leading in his “stock” pickup towing the dragster on the trailer, the flathead powered Merc is second, and the ‘50 pickup is bringing up the rear.  Bill Highfield is riding with Dennis.  Now Bill is a smoker and flips a cigarette butt out the window.  Right... it lands on the tarp covering the dragster!  Soon smoke is billowing.  The Merc is pretty far back and sees the smoke.  He tries to catch Dennis, but not nearly enough engine.  The smoke is growing and growing… Dennis is oblivious.  Eventually he happens to notice there is a lot of intense smoke on the trailer........ and he stands hard on the brakes.  He hits the road’s dirt shoulder where he skids all four to a stop.  Bill is out like a flash and is heading for the trailer when the Merc comes sliding up alongside.  Almost runs Bill down!  The Merc has two occupants... the driver and his girl friend.  She bails out while the Merc is still sliding and jumps cleanly into the back of Dennis’s pickup.  She throws Jerry cans (GI cans) of their potent nitro fuel out of the pickup.  She threw some of them so far, Dennis said “We liked to have never found two of them!”.  Finally they manage to get the tarp off the dragster and pitch it over to the side of the road.  Whew you say... safe now?  Not yet.... you guessed it..... now the grass on the roadside has caught fire!!!  Everyone stomps and beats the fires until they’re all out.  Then they continue on their way.  I wonder if they considered renaming their team “The Calamity Specialist Team” after this escapade?

In 1959 they raced it at the nationals in Great Bend , KS .  Dennis said their first elimination run was against some unknown gearhead by the name of Garlits..... or something like that. I asked if they beat him.  Dennis said “No, but we might have scared him ever so slightly!”.

Dennis, like most of us, got married and began a family.  He and Nora, his wife, had 2 boys and 3 girls.  He worked at various jobs which included driving 18 wheelers from 1963 to 1969.  He eventually became a fire fighter and retired from it.  During the time his children were at home, the whole family was involved in anything with engines.... snowmobiles, dirt bikes, four wheelers, etc.  At one time, every one in his family had their own four wheeler and he had two himself!

Then the hot rod bug bit again.  He began building a ‘31 Chev sedan.  It was nearly finished when he came across a brand new TCI chassis for a price he couldn’t pass up.  He sold the ‘31 sedan and began building his present red ‘32 Ford three window coupe.  It’s running a 350/350/9" running gear.  Neat hot rod.

In November of 1998 he joined the Denver Timing Association.

Dennis says “It isn’t just the cars that make this such a great hobby... it’s the people and the fun we have with them..... our friends.  The cars are just a means to meeting good people and making new friends.”