Chrysler Altered Wheelbase Drag Cars

streetmusclemag.com

Article thanks to Bradley Iger and streetmusclemag.com. Links provided:

Musclecars You Should Know: Chrysler Altered Wheelbase Drag Cars

May 5, 2017  By the mid-1960s the musclecar era was starting to hit its stride, and drag strip bragging rights had developed into a proven marketing tactic. The NHRA’s Super Stock and A/Factory Experimental (A/FX) classes were among the most hotly contested battlegrounds in drag racing at the time, giving the factory teams high visibility to amateur racers and potential garden-variety buyers alike while also showcasing the latest hardware that the companies had in development.

The 1964 race season had been good to Chrysler. The new 426 Hemi motor had taken the motorsport world by storm, setting records in NASCAR and finding success in both of the aforementioned NHRA classes, breaking national records at the drag strip as well. But the other factory teams weren’t going to take this Mopar dominance lying down.

When word got out that Ford was planning to equip its smaller Mustang and Comet bodies with a potent single overhead cam, 427-cube motor for use in the Factory Experimental class for the 1965 season, the engineers at Chrysler knew they were going to have to take drastic measures if wanted to keep the larger Mopars ahead of those Fords.

Jim Thornton, a Chrysler chassis engineer, was well aware that weight distribution was the key to getting the Hemi’s power to the ground out of the hole, especially when contending with the primitive tire technology that was available at the time. But the new power plant was simply a massive, heavy motor that added a significant amount of weight to the nose of the car in comparison to the engine it had supplanted for Chrysler’s racing program, hindering those weight transfer efforts.

To address this, Chrysler expanded its use of lightweight aluminum and fiberglass for body panels, replaced the door window glass with Plexiglass and the windshield with Lexan, while the engine team took some mass out of the 426 with a new set of aluminum cylinder heads and a magnesium cross-ram intake manifold. But the Coronet and Belvedere racers were still considered too nose heavy, so Thornton decided to go several steps further to distribute more of the car’s weight over the rear wheels.

The Original “Funny Cars”

While the Super Stock class rules yielded drag cars that shared the majority of their hardware with models and equipment that were available to the public, the A/FX class was significantly less restricted, allowing teams to develop packages that those companies never had any intention of offering through their dealerships.

Late in 1964, Thornton and the other engineers in Chrysler’s Race Group decided that the most effective way to distribute the car’s mass to the rear was to move the wheelbase as far forward as possible.

To do so they brought the front wheels up by 10 inches and moved the rear axle forward by 15 inches while shortening the overall wheelbase length by 5.5 percent. The end result was a 110-inch wheelbase drag car that put 56% of the mass over the rear tires, weight distribution that was unheard of at the time.

Five Dodge Coronets and five Plymouth Belvederes were allocated for the conversion, having their steel bodies acid dipped and then sent out to Amblewagon in Detroit for their altered wheelbase conversion before being delivered to factory team racers like Dick Landy, Ronnie Sox, and Al Eckstrand.

While there was no question that the altered wheelbase cars were significantly faster than their standard model counterparts, the Chrysler team hit a serious roadblock once NHRA got their first look at the new cars. Officials quickly drafted a new rule for 1965 that restricted wheelbase alterations to two percent versus stock for the A/FX class, effectively banning the altered wheelbase Mopars from the class they were designed to compete in.

But the cars’ wild appearance and impressive performance garnered massive publicity from the enthusiast press, and the cars quickly became a massive hit running match races in the popular and lucrative AHRA Factory Experimentals class around the country, where capacity crowds would turn up to see drivers like Roger Lindamood, Dave Strickler, and Bud Faubel pilot these “funny cars” to low ten second passes at nearly 140 mph. The cars got even faster once the teams switched over to Hilborn fuel injection systems mid-season in 1965.

Legacy

Though the term would eventually be adopted by fiberglass bodied, tube-chassis dragsters in the years following, the altered wheelbase Mopars of the mid-1960s serve as the origin of the Funny Car term and remain some of the wildest factory-modified production cars built to date.

With the popularity of Chrysler’s factory-built altered wheelbase Coronets and Belvederes, private teams quickly began building funny cars of their own, and the altered wheelbase craze quickly spread not only to other Mopar models but other makes as well.

Today, altered wheelbase cars continue to flourish in nostalgia classes across the country. But with less than a dozen of the factory-build cars in existence, and each with a notable racing history, the value of the original Chrysler altered wheelbase cars has only risen over the decades since their debut, with examples like Lee Smith’s Haulin’ Hemi II Plymouth Belvedere commanding sums well over half a million dollars at recent auctions.

While the performance of the AWB cars would be eclipsed not long after their debut as more advanced technologies found their way into drag racing, their unusual design strategy and wild appearance remains iconic for a specific time and place in drag racing history, and the fact that they immediately ran afoul of NHRA guidelines immediately upon their debut feels strangely similar to a situation that a recently-unveiled Mopar now finds itself in. The more things change…

http://www.streetmusclemag.com/features/car-features/muscle-cars-you-should-know-chrysler-altered-wheelbase-drag-cars

What your drivers (still) don’t know about roadside inspections

jjkeller.com

Article thanks to Cristina Commendatore, fleetowner.com and Andy Blair. Links provided:

Cargo securement will be a key focus for the annual Roadcheck inspection blitz this June. Here are some tips from a former DOT officer.

Back in the day, when Andy Blair served as a Department of Transportation (DOT) officer, he used the North American Standard Out of Service Criteria book to write tickets and place trucks out of service (OOS) during roadside inspections.

Now, he’s urging fleets and their drivers use the book as a tool to help keep their trucks in service during inspection season – especially where cargo securement is concerned.

You see, the annual 72-hour Roadcheck inspection blitz overseen by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's (CVSA) occurs June 6 through 8 this year and will focus on cargo securement. And the aforementioned “OOS book” Blair referenced contains information on load securement that carriers – especially commodity specific haulers – and their drivers need to know.

“If you are a commodity specific hauler, then you have some very specific rules that apply to you,” he explained. “If you don't follow these rules, you could very well find your truck being placed OOS.”

Specific rules cover logs, dressed lumber, metal coils, paper rolls, concrete pipe, intermodal containers, light vehicles, heavy vehicles and equipment, flattened or crushed vehicles, roll off containers, hazardous materials or “hazmat” loads, plus large boulders.

If none of these categories apply, then a motor carrier or owner-operator falls under the general freight rules, Blair pointed out.

“This Roadcheck is coming; everybody knows what it’s going to be about,” he stressed. “This year’s focus is on load securement, so now is the time for people to be aware of the regulations.”

Here are a few more tips Blair shared with Fleet Owner ahead of the 2017 Roadcheck inspection blitz:

• Know your Working Load Limit. That limit requires that you use enough weight rated tie downs to equal at least half the weight of the load. So you have to know the length of the object, the weight of the object and whether or not it falls into one of the commodity specific areas. Whichever requires the most number of tie downs is the one to go with. If you have a 20,000-lb. object, you have to have a working chain that is half the actual working weight of the load.
• Use one more tie down than required. “Just in case one of the tie downs is bad, you won't be OOS of you don't go below the minimum amount of required tie downs,” Blair said. “You will be shut down if you don't have enough. Inspect your tie downs every trip. A tie down is only as strong as its weakest point.”
• Pay attention to your pre-trip. Besides the basic vehicle inspection – lights, tires, wheel, mirrors, basic trailer inspection – when it comes to the load itself, enforcement will depend on what the load is. If it falls into any special categories, the driver needs to check whatever load securement devices he or she uses.
• Check the whole chain. “Part of the inspection would be checking in the chain for damaged links, cracks and breaks that they have every tie down and chain down,” Blair noted. “The end of the chain will have a hook or ratchet, make sure that’s not damaged. [Loads] put a lot of pressure on these chains and overtime; it can cause things to damage and crack. Drivers have to check these; they are part of the regular vehicle inspection.
• Synthetic straps are prone to getting ripped and torn. “Check for any wear or tear on synthetic straps. They don’t get better with age. They’re going to get worse,” he stressed. “When I see a truck with synthetic straps, I always look through them [searching] for cuts and abrasions. When it looks like it has seen better days, I take them off and cut them off so they can’t be reused. I don’t see near as many issues with chains. If I had to pick a truck out on the road, it would be a flatbed with synthetic straps tying down whatever it’s hauling.”
• Use the 10-ft. rule. The general rule is you need at least one tie down for every 10 ft. of what you’re hauling. “Not more than 10 ft. I will literally get out my tape measure and if it exceeds 10 ft., that’s an OOS right there,” Blair said. “Most drivers always carry extra chain or straps. If a driver gets stopped and they determine that a tie-down device is legally no good, sometimes officers will allow them to replace strap with another one handy. But if the guy doesn’t have any extras, he’s sitting. The 10-ft. rule is frequently violated.”
• Motor carriers need to train their drivers. It’s the motor carrier’s responsibility to make sure the driver knows what he or she is doing, Blair emphasized, especially when it comes to cargo securement. “[Carriers] should do training to make sure their drivers know the rules and load securement training. Any company who doesn’t do that is doing themselves a disservice,” he pointed out. “There should be a little bit of formal training. At the end of the day, I’m the officer, and if I say you’re OOS, you’re not leaving until it’s fixed. Load securement violations mean you’re sitting until it’s done right.”
“Some of these guys [drivers] are dependent on someone in a building securing their load,” he added. “They don’t bother checking load securement and they leave."
But once you leave the yard, it’s your baby, Blair warned. “The officers are going to be trained and ready,” he added. “The question is, are your drivers going to be trained and ready for this?”
For any further questions, please email Andy Blair at dotinspector@gmail.com.
http://fleetowner.com/safety/what-your-drivers-still-don-t-know

Recognizing That Many of Us just Enjoy Driving

Article thanks to The National Motorists Association. Help support motorist's rights, you can join for free at the links provided:

Here’s a quiz.  The CEO of an automaker said the following about the advent of self-driving technology:

We have full-scale autonomy in development right now. But how we apply this technology will be a little unique. We believe driving pleasure should never die. And we’re selling our products to a core customer who loves driving.

We’ll always take a human-centric approach. The driver will have control and we’ll try to improve peace of mind. If anything happens to the driver, the system will override immediately to bring the car to a safe place.

Which car company does this enlightened executive lead? 

Acura	Kia
Alfa Romeo	Maserati
Aston Martin	Mazda
Bugatti	Mini
Fiat	Peugeot
Hyundai	Renault
Infiniti	Volvo
Jaguar

Make no mistake, with hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on autonomous vehicle technology – the five top carmakers plowed $46 billion into R&D in 2015 alone – we will be seeing an explosion of vehicles on the road completely controlled by computer algorithms within a generation or two.  Cars will truly become automobiles.

But the concern expressed by many NMA members is that those of us who like the freedom of driving at satisfying speeds while navigating whatever challenges the roadways present will be relegated to spinning around the tracks of designated car parks while machines rule the roads.

That is a depressing view of the future, which makes the vision of at least one car manufacturer refreshing. Which brand? Here’s another quote with the answer:

Mazda’s vision of autonomous driving is not bringing you from A to B while you are reading. That’s not Mazda’s way.

We hope that Mazda’s North American chief executive Masahiro More

is able to stick to that philosophy and that other automakers realize the wisdom of satisfying the significant segment of motorists who enjoy driving.

https://www.motorists.org/

595-truck convoy in Pennsylvania raises money for Make-A-Wish

For 364 days of the year, the horse-drawn Amish buggy is the vehicle most commonly associated with the city of Lancaster, Pa.

But not on Mother’s Day. On Mother’s Day, Lancaster is all about trucks. Last Sunday, May 14, 595 trucks rolled out in the annual Make-A-Wish Mother’s Day Truck Convoy. By the time the last driver had pulled out, an estimated $400,000 to $450,000 had been raised for Make-A-Wish of Philadelphia, Northern Delaware and Susquehanna Valley, with approximately $300,000 of that coming from the drivers themselves.

As usual, tens of thousands of spectators lined the 26-mile convoy loop in central Pennsylvania, cheering for the truckers and waving to the more than 100 Make-A-Wish children and siblings who rode along in the cabs.

“This is a tremendous event for Make-A-Wish and the trucking industry,” said Ben Lee, regional director for the charity. The money raised will pay for 60 to 70 percent of the wishes granted to children with life-threatening medical conditions in the region, he said.

The convoy, which began 28 years ago, started with one little boy’s wish to ride in a truck and talk to his sister on CB radio and, thanks to the generosity of truckers, has grown into an all-day family celebration that draws truckers from a dozen or more states.

The RoadPro Family of Brands, based in nearby Palmyra, is the primary sponsor of the event and donated $20,000 to the cause. The company’s involvement has helped the convoy grow in popularity, Lee said.

“We’re honored to be associated with such a great cause and a worthy organization,” said Chuck White, Vice President of Brands & Marketing for RoadPro. “Truckers are our customers and we know how generous and caring they can be. The convoy is proof of that.”

http://www.roadprobrands.com/

Truck drivers arrested in sting for aluminum recycling fraud

hardworkingtrucks.com

Article thanks to hardworkingtrucks.com. Links provided:

April, 2017  A recent sting in California led to the arrest of drivers who had allegedly planned to cash-in on truck loads of aluminum cans through the state’s high-paying recycling program.

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery joined the California Department of Justice and the California Department of Food and Agriculture in a week-long sting which netted nearly 15,000 pounds of aluminum cans that had left Arizona and were destined for California recycling centers, according to calrecycle.ca.gov.

The cans were valued at around $20,000.

The California Redemption Value (CRV) Fund is only available for recyclable containers purchased in the state. Consumers there pay a CRV fee for each qualifying container and then can recoup that cost later at a state certified recycling center.

“CalRecycle’s fraud prevention reforms and substantial network of enforcement partners make it increasingly risky for those attempting to defraud California’s Redemption Value Program,” CalRecycle Director Scott Smithline said. “The department will continue to use all available resources to make sure CRV deposits go back to California consumers and not in the pockets of criminal enterprises.”

The sting centered on the CDFA border checkpoint in Blythe, Calif., and the nearby intersection of Agnes Wilson Road and Highway 95, a route often used to circumvent the border checkpoint.

On March 14, CDFA agents at the border checkpoint discovered a fraudulent Imported Material Report and false Bill of Lading provided by Balmore Alvarado, 49, of Chino, Calif., as he entered California from Arizona. A subsequent inspection of Alvarado’s trailer revealed 7,020 pounds of used beverage containers with a potential CRV refund value of $10,275.85.

On March 16, CDOJ Recycling Fraud Team agents conducted surveillance on a semi-truck, found to be importing used beverage containers from Parker, Ariz., into Blythe, Calif., via Agnes Wilson Road. CDOJ agents confronted Anthony Sanchez, 56, of Tucson, Ariz., and discovered his trailer filled with 7,675 pounds of used beverage containers with a potential CRV refund value of $9,636.79. Sanchez also presented a fraudulent Bill of Lading and did not have an Imported Material Report, requirement for anyone who transports used beverage containers into California.

Both drivers face charges of felony recycling fraud, attempted grand theft, filing a false or forged document, and conspiracy. If convicted, the men could be subject to financial penalties and incarceration. The charges carry a sentence of between six months and three years.

- See more at: http://www.hardworkingtrucks.com/truck-drivers-arrested-in-sting-for-aluminum-recycling