1962...

1955

10th grade.  My first attempt at a Hot Rod.  A '34 Ford 5-window coupe with a '48 Mercury flathead.  Boy, do I wish I had that today.  What a great car.  It was later owned by Mark Williams when he still lived in Loveland, Colorado.

We went to San Gabriel to tune the car in 1963.  We had head gasket problems.  We finally got the heads O-Ringed.  The national record was 11.03et.  We ran 10.75 at Pomona and got beat by Doug Cook.  Cook and K.S. Pittman were running in the 10.60s.  We were all running Engle Cams and B&M Hydros.

Seevers Wiesner and Owens verses Stone, Woods and Cook in 1964.  Hugh Tucker was driving for S.W.C that day. We lost a best 3 out of 5. This race at Amarillo Texas

Handout cards with some of the best AA/Gassers. Somebody thought we were pretty good! I just found this somewhere, I can't remember where or when.

1962.  The car was completed and ran a '57 Olds with a B&M Hydro, 4-71 blower and dual 4 barrels.  We ran around 120 in the 11's.  We won a lot of trophies at C.D.R., Julesburg, Cheyenne and all the tracks in Division 5. 

Seevers Wiesner and Owens with Harold Owen's '49 Olds engine as we got ready to go to Pomona 1963.  The engine was 308 cu.in. with an Engle flat tappet cam.  We ran 131.57 and 10.75 ET.  At that time we ran a B&M Hydro and 6-71 blower with Scott fuel injection.  The car was all steel and ran in B-Gas Supercharged Class.  It ran really fast.  This same engine was later destroyed while running a full load of nitro in Jerry Wilson's Top Fuel Dragster.

Stone Woods and Cooks, Dark Horse with large cu.in. Oldsmobile driven by Chuck Finders at Pomona 1964. Car was fast and quick but did not win.

Our original car at Pomona in1964. Photo was taken by Bill Schnieder and given to me 50 years later. Bill is the track manager at Firebird raceway in Phoenix

1960-1961

This is my good friend and race partner Dean Seevers.   He ran this wild Olds blown 39 Chevy coupe on the strip and the street before we built the Willys.  He is the one that we always turned to to make something run.

!923 T  150 M.P.H.  AA/Street Roadster . Oldsmobile power. Car almost killed me at Mountain View Dragway in Erie Colorado, Sept 1966. A bad crash. I still have the scars from that wreck!

Dean Seevers 39 Chev coupe with Blown Olds and Charlie Belliars 32 ford B Altered sedan with nailhead Buick. We raced around division 5 in the early to mid 60's. Both cars were out of Loveland Colorado

Doug Cook was really hard to beat.  We ran him about 10 times and beat him twice.  We beat him twice in a 3 out of 5 match race in Dallas.  He was a great guy and helped us a lot.  At that time we were both running in the 140s and the low 10s.  His Chrysler usually ran 6 to 8 mph faster than us. 

Looks like we are on our way to a big race. Hope we made it. We would often flat tow more than 1,000 miles on a weekend to go racing. I think here we are on our way to Green Valley Raceway in Smithfield Texas for a A.H.R.A. Fuel Nationals event. I know we won our class as I still have a very nice trophy for it. We were leaving from Loveland Colorado. This would be 1963.

This was a group that traveled with us.  It was about a 1200 mile trip to the west coast.  The more people that went with us, the more money we had.  Left to right, Del Wiesner, Dean Seevers, Dave Morris, Rich Gilmore, and Harold Owens.  This is at B&M's shop in California.

These were the days, probably taken in about 1960 or 61.  Looks like both cars won.  Dean Seevers blown 39 Chevy coupe, Blown Olds powered and Charlie Belliars '32 Sedan B-Altered with a 322 cu.in. Buick Nailhead.  Left to right:  Harold Owens, Del Wiesner, Tom McDougal, Dean Seevers, Melvin Perry "Hooks", Paul Morgan, and Charlie Belliars.  Looks like Julesburg, Colorado.

Another picture someone sent me from California. This looks like 1963  because it has my old 1962 Ford Unibody pickup in it. It was a new truck then. I still have the pickup and plan to restore it someday!! That was our tow truck that year. It had a 272Y Ford block with a 3 Speed trans. It liked to got us killed out there in California! It was really underpowered, especially towing a trailer and the Willys on behind.

Three country bumpkins seeing the Pacific ocean for the first time. 1963; Del Wiesner, Dean Seevers and Harold Owens

Here is Stone, Woods and Cook and us at Amarillo, Texas after our match race in 1964!

1963 at Pomona B/Gas Supercharged. We were running a 1949 Oldsmobile 308 cu.in. engine which was owned by Harold Owens, yes the same Harold that you see at all the big N.H.R.A. events at the head of the staging lanes It had a B@M Hydro. we ran a 10.75 @131.54 mph which we were real happy with. We beat Mallicot Brothers in the 1st round only to lose to Doug Cook. He was running in the 10.60s

Our group at B @ M Hydro. We ended up doing stall converter checkout, burn outs in their parking lot. When everyone thought all was well, we went to San Gabriel Drag Strip an ran test runs to get ready for the Winternationals 1963.

This 1962 Ford Unibody has been in the family since new.  When we were towing with it, we put a 325H.P Oldsmobile with a 4 speed Hydro behind it.  I still own the pickup and drive it.

Here we go, head gasket problems. This was before we knew about O-Ringed heads. Later we O-Ringed the block or heads and solved the problem of blown head Gaskets.

How would you like to tow to Dallas, Ft. Worth in this rig.  That's what we used to do.  We carried an extra Hydromatic trans and two set of slicks on top of the 1953 Ford Station Wagon.  Dean put a '57 Ford 312 with overdrive in it.   We had to tow the Willys on street tires and remove the driveshaft each time.  This trip we were going to the A.H.R.A. Nationals in Smithfield Texas.  I guess we made it.

Me and our single axle race trailer at Continental Divide Raceway. It's just what everybody had. Probably 1965 or 1966. Note Tom Hoovers Race trailer in background!

Earl, Jackie, Chris, and Cindy Dody, a part of our racing family.  Their beautiful '33 Willys A Gas Supercharged car. From Denver Colorado. Earl later partnered up with Brad Anderson to run this car. It was really fast in 1965.

Chuck Hammonds with his D/Altered straight 8 Buick and S. W. O. at Garden City Kansas, Chuck won the points that year in division 5. With his handicap, he was real hard to beat. He raced on a shoestring and was a National Record holder at that time.

1964

Fontana, California, Mickey Thompson 200MPH meet. Here racing against MGM-C @ O Hydros 41 willys pickup. We ran 10 flat 146.87 mph.

Killer car, AA Street Roadster, Oldsmobile power.  Crashed and burned.  Del Wiesner built and drove this car.  He crashed the car at Mountain View Dragway, Erie Colorado September 1966. Car ran in the high 9's at around 150mph

In 1963, on the way home from the Winternationals, we stopped at Mel Larson's track in Phoenix where he was holding the AHRA Fuel Nationals.  The track is still at the same location today 2009 and is called Speed World.  We won our class and ran several rounds of Little Eliminator.  We had so much fun that the next year we came back to the new Beeline Raceway in Scottsdale, AZ on our way to Pomona.  The above picture was taken by Drag Racing Magazine and was in their July 1964 issue.  We were running B modified Gas class carrying about 400# of ballast.  We set a new AHRA national record at that time at 136mph.  Before the meet was over we ended up doing a huge wheelstand and bent the front axle.  That put us out of competition for the rest of that meet.  We took the car to California and built a new axle at George Britting's shop so we would be ready for the 1964 Winternationals in Pomona. This was the same George Britting that did the work on Craig Breedlove"s Land Speed Racer!       "Spirit of America"

Opening Day program at Amarllio Dragway 1965.

This poster advertised the match race with Doug Cook in the Stone Woods and Cook 41 Chrysler powered Willys at Green Valley Raceway in Green Valley, Texas best 3 out of 5 against Seevers Wiesner and Owens from Loveland,Colorado. Actually it was the Dallas Ft. Worth area.  It was a best 3 out of 5.  I red-lighted the final round.  We won 2 rounds and ran really well and the fans loved it.  We were both running in the low 10 sec and 140 to 145 mph.

One of the N.H.R.A. ladies at the weigh in scale.  1964 or '65.  I think this might have been Dale Ham's wife, Glenanna.

Del at Pomona in pits.  Removing the hood the old fashioned way.  I think we were getting ready for inspection.  Gosh, I sure do look young there!!!!

Our car and Don Gartlit's car in the same article in "True, The Man's Magazine" in 1965 or '66.  We were really proud of that article.

John Mazmanian was one real tough competitor with Bones Balogh driving. Bones is still a very good friend to this day. We raced again in 2012 at Indianapolis at the U.S. Nationals. Bones was 76 years old then and I was 73.

We're racing John Mazmanian at Pomona.  We're out on Bones by 3 car lengths and we break a rocker arm.  We run a 10.34, Bones runs the first 9.99 at 151 M.P.H,in Supercharged class history and beats us in the lights.  Bah Humbug.  Dean Seevers was driving at the time.

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Seevers,Wiesner and Owens A/Gas Supercharged vs K.S. Pittman at the U.S. Nationals 1964. K.S. red lighted this round. Del Wiesner was driving at this time. We went on to face George Montgomery in the 2nd round. A/Gas/Supercharged class. George won the class in 1964

Car was completed Christmas, 2007.  The number 239 was our designated number for the 1964 Winternationals in Pomona, CA in A Gas Supercharged Class.

Powered by 1962 Oldsmobile Rocket , Engle roller cam, Scott Fuel Injection. Heads by Dave Sarno of Denver Colorado. all this detail work done by Del Wiesner and Bobby Anderson of Sled Customs in Apache Junction Az.

...car after completion 2007.  Polished stainless push.bar.. finished wheelie bar____ Simpson crossform chute and  _______ Marv Riftchins M and H slicks. This tire size is 12.00X15s Car looks like a bitchin' Gasser!!

Inside of car done in all aluminum. Wow! Beautiful. Thank you Bobby Anderson!!  Car also has polished Roll cage which is very unusual.

Dean Seevers probably in 1960 or 61 with his 57 Olds powered Blown 39 Chev coupe. Everyone loved to see it run. Pulled second and high with a La Salle trans @ 108 to 110 mph in the quarter.

"The Smiling Three", as some writers and Darrel Zimmerman used to call us in the old days.  Darrel was the division 5 Tech Director for many years and continued to work for N.H.R.A. until just recently. Del Wiesner on the left, Harold Owens in center, and Dean Seevers.  Dean was the original engine man and was instrumental in getting the first Seevers and Wiesner cars tuned properly.  Harold later became the engine guru while I shagged parts and took care of the driving in late '64 and '65.  Dean Seevers was the original driver, but then got the bug to build a Mark Williams dragster which he did in 1965.  It was also Olds powered.  Dean's dragster met an untimely fate when it crashed at Rocky Mountain Dragway in 1965.  Harold Owens and I became full owners of the Willys in late 1964.  From then on the car was powered with Harold's Oldsmobile engines.

Inside of Amarillo, Texas opening day program 1965.

Advertising Stone Woods and Cook A/Gas

Supercharged 41 Willys Hemi Power vs. Seevers

Wiesner and Owens 33 Willys Oldsmobile power.

 best 2 out of 3. Stone Woods & Cook won 2 out of  3

This is a younger version of the "Smiling Three" in 1963.

We always flat towed the car everywhere we went in the

early days. Had to remove driveshaft and replace slicks

with street tires every time we towed it.

Here we are in staging with our '53 Ford Wagon complete with extra slicks on top. Winternational Drag Race Championships Pomona Ca 1964

Chuck Finders in the Dark Horse.  Stone Woods and Cook's high powered car.

One of my all time favorite cars, Oldsmobile powered Bantam fuel coupe owned, tuned and driven bye Gabby Bleeker from  Chicago Illinois. I got to see this car run at A.H.R.A. Fuel Championships at Mel Larson track in Phoenix Az 1963. Car pulled high gear only at 160mph+ in 1963. I bet that would give you a thrill!!
Gabby later put a fuel burning Hemi in this car.

At right is Labor Day 1964 advertisment for A,H.R.A. World Championships at Green Valley Raceway, Smithfield, Tex