68ironhead,

Thank you for posting that about Joe Mondello's accomplishments. It's beyond astonishing to me that he is vilified on this forum. Joe was a legend in Southern California drag racing in the 1960s. His cylinder head porting skills were considered the best there was. Campaigning a 1937 Fiat driven by Sush Matsubara in the AA Fuel Altered class they were the first in that class into the 8 second range and then the first into the 7 second range. Here's the Chevy powered Fiat they did that in:

http://racersreunion.com/mel-newton/gallery/69867/mondello-matsubara-fiat-aafa-irwindale

As I recall their best was something like 7.24 seconds and 215 MPH. That was Top Fuel like performance in an Altered Coupe. Drag racing of that era featuring home built creations in a variety of classes was vastly more interesting that the corporate sponsored million dollar top fuel, pro stock and pro stock motorcycle classes of today. and "races" that are over in less than 4 seconds.

Can you imagine what it must have been like piloting that short wheelbase, engine at eye level, 2000 horse power vehicle? Wow, those were definitely "manly men" !

Last edited by yar; 01/21/2019 4:32 PM.
Ray