With the entire top end of the
Pomona track covered in cacklecars the show was staged. Steve
Gibbs and Alan Miller would do the honors of sending them off.
The first car down was
Norm Weekly in the Frantic 4 fueler.
When Weekly was fired and nearing
the 330' mark the Smirnoff car was on its way and from then on
the pattern was set.
Jerry Baltes was one
of several cars that failed to fire.
Bob Muravez was in the
Howard Cams Rattler.
Roger Gates in his old
car now fielded by Denny Fenstermaker.
Tommy Allen in his unique
Woody Trick Car.
Ron Hampshire in the
new Waterman & Hampshire repop.
Ron Sterns was in his
Ratican-Jackson-Stearns A/FA.
Wendy-Ann Williams in
the Syndicate Scuderia from Canada.
Roger Lee in his Brissette
& Alexander AA/FD.
Lee
finally ran out of fuel and pulled over to the far right (above).
Keep this incident in mind, because it comes into play in a big
way, a little later in the program.
Jeep Hampshire in the
Winkle & Trapp Magicar.
Due to a problem with
the driveline coupler Don Ewald also failed to fire.
Leon Fitzgerald was back
in the seat of his Pure Heaven II AA/FA.
Shortly after this picture was
taken Pure Heaven stopped on the return road due to congestion,
to the left of Roger Lee's car which had run out of fuel. This
contributed to the developing situation and is the second incident
to keep in mind.
Paul Rossi was in the
Yeakel Plymouth Spec.
Bobby Hansen in his restored
"Wynn's Spoiler" AA/FD.
Dave West was right at
home in the seat of his Beebe & Mulligan entry.
Kenny Safford in his
Safford-Gaide-Rattican "Sour Sisters".
This shot was taken an instant
before the blower literally came apart... and the engine was
idling.
Incredibly no parts went flying
and no one was hurt but it did leave a bunch of drag racers scratching
their heads as this was a lot of top end damage for an idling
engine.
Shortly after Safford murdered
his supercharger a more significant event took place that could
have been a deal breaker for Cacklefest and it concerned Rod
Hynes in the Addict.
At this point Hynes knew he had
a clutch problem and stopped the car. He tried to pull the fuel
shut off which didn't fully close and in essence just leaned
the engine out which raised the rpm level to a point the damaged
clutch would not disengage.
Weiss and Larkin, driven
by Tom McIntyre was following the Addict.
When Rod Hynes pulled over to
the side of the return road, McIntyre elected to go past Hynes.
You will note the push car for the Addict is in the background
of this picture, as it sat behind the Addict while Hynes attempted
to correct his situation. Due to the incident that occurred with
the Safford car, traffic has stopped further on down the return
road, shortly before the finish line. McIntyre and his push truck
had to stop and that left his push truck in the Addicts subsequent
path.
The car lurched forward and built
speed coming to a violent stop in the back of Weiss & Larkin
push truck up track. The one option left to stop the car was
the mag switch which was not activate.
After Hynes drove the Addict
under the McIntyre's push truck, both vehicles spun around and
were pretty much facing back toward the starting line.
Damaged in the incident was Pure
Heaven II, McIntyre's push truck that took the first blow and
the Addict which will need to be front halved. This could have
been so much worse and after review new, strict guidelines have
been implemented for future Cacklefest events. 2010
Cacklefest Rules and Guidelines
Kuhl and Olson pushed off two
cars behind the Addict, with the accident still minutes away
from happening.
Carl Olson followed the Weiss-Larkin
car until it passed the Addict, at which point the Addict took
off again and the accident occurred. Kuhl and Olson were the
first car that stopped short of the accident scene on the return
road when a heads-up Olson saw the problem and pulled the fuel
shutoff, hit the mag switch and coasted to a stop right behind
the mess. All subsequent cars were stopped as the crews attempted
to get the area clear.
Walt Stevens was in his
normal seat in the Poachers.
Crowd favorite the Freight
Train had Sam Davis at the controls.
The Johnson fleet was toward
the end led by Zane Shubert in the Shubert & Herbert SBC
car.
Because of the accident, Ivo
and those behind him were shut off after making the turn onto
the return road.
With the return road tunnel through
the grandstand in the background, Ivo was being signaled to stop
the car. He kept the engine running for a couple of minutes and
whacked the throttle a few times to the delight of the spectators.
As it happened, it was the last engine running.
The Greek in the maiden
appearance of the ChiZler V.
Right after this picture was
taken as the Chizler approached the starting line, officials
signaled the Greek to stop the car and shut off the engine.
James Warren in the WCM car who
was also shut off right after this picture was taken.
James Warren in the WCM car who
was also shut off right after this picture was taken.
The final car down was Garlits
who could care less what's going on eleswhere. He's a drag racer
and no matter what the situation, focus on the task at hand.
Garlits fired but stopped
before the 330' mark.
He was pushed off the
track.
Everybody left at the bottom
end were pushed back to the pits via the return road and the
fans showed their approval.
Ivo in the Barnstormer had moved
closer to the fence to go around the Tan Ford F-100 push car,
when the officials stopped him. In these shots Ivo and the Barnstormer
were hidden behind the F-100 Shubert/Herbert push car.
For Sale - 1 used Oldsmobile
blower manifold and assorted other parts.