Landracing Forum
Bonneville Salt Flats Discussion => Bonneville General Chat => Topic started by: Dr Goggles on October 28, 2013, 06:37:57 AM
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OK. I visited Jack and Sammi Dolan in San Diego with Simon Davidson in 2011. I have more of this, it was recorded , however although it is word for word I will at my discretion, leave some out, being an outsider I don't want anyone's nose to be put too far out of joint and as we know Jack was capable of being controversial. As it is this is about ten per cent of it.
It was a very emotional time for me as apart from everything else Jack was on oxygen by then, my father had died from a lung disease and went onto oxygen but died soon after , it was difficult meeting Jack for the first time and him being so ill. Despite that, he was still funny, he was also determined to get some story out.
I will get around to transcribing more in time ...for now it's the story of the LN7,So, JS is me, SD is Simon and JD is Jack.
Jack Dolan in his own words as told to James Stewart.
"So, the two little Fords that I ran, one originated from Ford, that was a Lincoln, no, not a Lincoln ,a, um Mercury! A Mercury LN7. And that’s the one that they produced in 1982 the Mercury version was a 2 seater, had a hatchback, and had a different type of front end on it to make it distinct from the Ford, but the rest of it was the same as the Ford EXP that was a four seater so I could use the same car in GT which is two seater cars like Corvettes when I put the Mercury parts , the Mercury was the grill and the hatchback then it became the Mercury 2 seater to run GT in modified sports classes. Then in half an hour I could put the Ford front end back on and change it to a notch-back then it was a Ford EXP four seater legal for all the gas-coupe, fuel coupe that everybody else contests with the same car and they hated that. They hated it because I could switch classes instantly and I never took full advantage of the class for example competition coupe , competition coupe allows you to stretch the front and streamline and lower the top so it looks nothing like what it started out to be. But I never did that. Competition coupe the ah, highest level of….
Is competition coupe what Tom Burkland’s Datsun was?
Yes, well actually that car was a sort of a cheater, it started out as a two seater Datsun and then Datsun produced a four seater version but it had a different roofline. So they made it into a competition coupe as there’s four classes available, it started out as a GT, with just two classes GT and modified sports , so there’s not many people who know that that car started out as something else. The EXP and LN7 was legal to do that that’s exactly the way it came from the factory. One of the things you do in the United States is the DOT takes a vehicle that’s to be licensed in the United States and tests every system related to that car all the smog and emissions stuff ,evaporation stuff aaand the seat belt and seating configuration. So they sent the Mercury LN7 forward as a two seater, it had the brackets and everything for the rear seat but the hatchback cut your, ahh, headspace and instead of having the rear seat they just put a shelf in there as a Mercury. But, as a Ford they put a rear seat and a different back and they had a Ford emblem front end , and a Mercury emblem front end, the Mercury front end was slightly better streamlined with different louvers and things like that.
They hated that car so bad, we set so many records with it, we had the records painted on the hood, and all the classes we could run painted on the hood and we just filled in the records as we went. They hated that, they just hated that, we thought, this is great just great.
With one of the cars we set 21 records. That was our primary car, then we had a secondary car that, um, set a few more. At one point in the late eighties early nineties we had forty one records with five different cars, they hated that. Because I would come up to Bonneville with three cars , we were the only group, that, one of my cars set a class record every day of Speedweek in a different class two years in a row. (Dog itches itself, JS laughs, JD says ”that’s what I said, exactly what I said”) They weren’t so happy about it, I had two different motors and the motor that um was designed for the United States that Ford ran or the Mercury Division was what they called the CVCC or “constant velocity combustion chamber” and that was a cross flow head, two valve, but it was primarily a head to increase the efficiency for emissions for smog stuff and consequently wasn’t as maximum performance as it might be. In Europe they had a , I forget what version Ford called it, but they had a rally sports motor that came with the cars in Europe ( Sierra?) and the rally sports motor was a 2300 Pinto block in terms of all the accessories that you could bolt onto it. It was made out of aluminium by Cosworth and it had the four valve Cosworth head on it just like an Indianapolis car ( yeah, the Ford Sierra…Jack: OK, that’s the Ford Sierra? Right. Simon: They were big in NZ as well. Jack : right, but they’re not legal in the states because of the emissions. JS “They slaughtered everything in Australasia. SD: when they ran in Touring Cars they just, that was it they nailed EVERYTHING. JD: “ah-hahaha , good, I’m glad to hear it) well, I got three of those motors from Ford and two of them were 1997cc motor and the other one was their turbo-charged version they used in their GTP cars, same block but smaller bores 1497cc and it was designed to be turbocharged so instead of having liners , steel liners in the bored aluminium block it had chrome plating in an otherwise aluminium block and the compression was different and the pistons fit different. It had four bolt main caps instead of the two bolt that the others had two came in from the bottom and two came in from the side and it had side oilers that came in and squirt oil from underneath the piston instead of depending on splash off the crank these were designed to put oil under the piston to cool the piston because the heat from the turbo-charging was so high. They made in the 1500, 1497cc version they made right near 750hp, they were the GTP cars so ahh, I got one of those in boxes I mean everything was there brand new in boxes , it was a set of spares for the GTP cars when they quit running them and went onto something else I just got this whole thing of spares that I could put together a motor. I never ran it turbo-charged, I could have but I just didn’t have the time. I did run in the fuel class I ran nitrous oxide with it, because with nitrous oxide you can elevate the horsepower substantially, with a motor that was designed for turbo-charging it will take it instead of taking a normally aspired motor and put a bunch of nitrous oxide horsepower in it and blow it up or break or take out the bearings or whatever this was designed for turbo-charging, designed for very elevated horsepower, and smaller and the way the pistons fit in the chrome bore instead of the sleeves they could be made tighter so that the rings worked better, in a normally aspired motor they had more clearance, and in a race version you had to have so much clearance that the pistons rocked and it took the rings out, they didn’t last as long…they are designed to work straight up and down with a straight edge and when you rocked the piston when it’s cold or you need a lot of clearance or whatever you take the rings out. They’re not as effective. Well the turbo-charged version with the chrome bore everything expands together, you don’t have an aluminium piston expanding inside of a steel sleeve so you don’t have to have as much clearance with the chrome bore you can make it real tight, it stays straight, expands together and stays tight as a package.
One of the guys I raced against in class and kicked his butt every time was Scott Harvey, do you remember the Chrysler project ahh, the Shelby version of the front wheel drive Dodge, the Shelby Charger? You know Carrol Shelby of course, I don’t know how much he had to do with the whole deal , they might have just bought his name to put on it but it was a Dodge Shelby charger with a distinctive paint job on it , a high performance engine and all that kind of stuff and then later on they evolved into turbo-charging. Scott had all the G and F records for a sedan at Bonneville and El Mirage until I came along and I just kicked his butt. Scott Harvey was the chief engineer for Chrysler for the high performance Dodge Charger so they would dyno that thing they would have their best engineers working on it getting all the horsepower they could then I would go kick his butt. I not only took away the records he had but if he switched classes to try and get away from me I would go get and the thing is they knew I was sandbagging about twenty per cent and I wouldn’t go any faster than I had to beat him and I would just kick him every time and he just quit."
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Dr. G thanks for pulling it out and dusting it off and posting it :cheers:
So good to hear some of the back ground..
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Thanks for posting, great stuff. :cheers:
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Thanks James. Your efforts have preserved a piece of history. We'll look forward to further instalments.
Pete
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Can we see what Jack wrote about You?
FREUD
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Hey Pa,you've seen what he wrote about me...."looks like you've been spending all your lunch money on the car again"...
BTW, I didn't "write" that, he spoke it :wink:
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Dr. G,
I'll add one of our memories of Jack Dolan relating to the EXP/LN7 mentioned in your note. During a major wind delay at Speedweek he and Doc Jefferies had pushed the car out in the pit lane pointed directly into the wind and were using a long piece of the caution tape from the pit area marker as a "smoke wand" to visualize the air flow around the car. Always thinking of ways to make their equipment faster in typical land speed racer fashion.
Just one correction to the transcript you posted, the note says:
"Is competition coupe what Tom Burkland’s Datsun was?"
Jack replies, "Yes, well actually that car was a sort of a cheater, it started out as a two seater Datsun and then Datsun produced a four seater version but it had a different roofline. So they made it into a competition coupe as there’s four classes available, it started out as a GT, with just two classes GT and modified sports , so there’s not many people who know that that car started out as something else."
Our Datsun comp coupe was built from a 1975 B210 hatchback, which originally had four seats and qualified legally as a comp coupe. It was never campaigned as anything other than a comp coupe, although Ermie Immersio accused us of building a "two door streamliner" when the car arrived in 1981. This car did use all of the available interpretive space in the comp coupe rule book but was never any "sort of cheater" as Jack implied. The long sloped roofline made for quite the metal working challenge to chop it to the class minimum five inch windshield height, but it definitely used the original roof that came with the car. This car set the class record in 1985 at 294.868mph with blown 392 based Chrysler power. Dan Webster purchsed it in the late '80s and has run it with blown flathead power.
The car Jack referred to was probably the Stringfellow-Nicholson 280Z comp coupe which set records and gained 200mph club membership for Donnie Stringfellow and Darren Nicholson with turbocharged small block power. This particular car was later deemed by SCTA to be a two seat production car that was not legal for comp coupe. The team then spliced a 280ZX 2+2 roof onto the car making a hybrid configuration that continued to run as a comp coupe.
Tom Burkland
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Hi Tom,
I kind of mumbled "oh-oh" when I saw you had replied to the thread. I knew there would be some contention with any of what I had posted from the recordings I have of Jack. That is part of the reason I waited until now before posting any of them, as they are now "set in stone".
It's perfect that we now have your background, and the correction .
Just for the record I don't remember any of what Jack said as laced with even the slightest bit of malice in fact he delivered it all in a particularly cheeky, if laboured way.
The blame for the mistake may even lie at my feet for bringing it up.
Anyway, thanks for the reply and as i said I hope everyone understands the spirit of it and my reasons for waiting til now.
Cheers.
Dr G
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Dr. G,
I'll add one of our memories of Jack Dolan relating to the EXP/LN7 mentioned in your note. During a major wind delay at Speedweek he and Doc Jefferies had pushed the car out in the pit lane pointed directly into the wind and were using a long piece of the caution tape from the pit area marker as a "smoke wand" to visualize the air flow around the car. Always thinking of ways to make their equipment faster in typical land speed racer fashion.
Just one correction to the transcript you posted, the note says:
"Is competition coupe what Tom Burkland’s Datsun was?"
Jack replies, "Yes, well actually that car was a sort of a cheater, it started out as a two seater Datsun and then Datsun produced a four seater version but it had a different roofline. So they made it into a competition coupe as there’s four classes available, it started out as a GT, with just two classes GT and modified sports , so there’s not many people who know that that car started out as something else."
Our Datsun comp coupe was built from a 1975 B210 hatchback, which originally had four seats and qualified legally as a comp coupe. It was never campaigned as anything other than a comp coupe, although Ermie Immersio accused us of building a "two door streamliner" when the car arrived in 1981. This car did use all of the available interpretive space in the comp coupe rule book but was never any "sort of cheater" as Jack implied. The long sloped roofline made for quite the metal working challenge to chop it to the class minimum five inch windshield height, but it definitely used the original roof that came with the car. This car set the class record in 1985 at 294.868mph with blown 392 based Chrysler power. Dan Webster purchsed it in the late '80s and has run it with blown flathead power.
The car Jack referred to was probably the Stringfellow-Nicholson 280Z comp coupe which set records and gained 200mph club membership for Donnie Stringfellow and Darren Nicholson with turbocharged small block power. This particular car was later deemed by SCTA to be a two seat production car that was not legal for comp coupe. The team then spliced a 280ZX 2+2 roof onto the car making a hybrid configuration that continued to run as a comp coupe.
Tom Burkland
Tom, that car is one of my all time favorites. I need to dig my Hot Rod article out again. Any chance you could start a thread with some pictures of it some time?
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NO blame to anyone.
THIS is LSR
"Thinking mans racing"
I presently race special construction--- BUT
in my back yard is a 95 GMC extended cab why because of my research it has about as good of aero as there is for a full size pu
I will soon have a 34 Ford Roadster PU in my back yard---why---because as the ROADSTER rules are presently written it has some rule wiggle room--"subject to SCTA interpretation" :-D
Jack & Doc choose their car because it gave them rule options---they were using their heads
This is not nascar although EL Mirage rules do promote "BRACKET RACING"
Jack did not care much about how he said things and he was recalling things that happened 30 years ago --got his facts slightly twisted-- comes under the heading of most of us seniors --CRS happens all the time!!
If one wants to be competitive you had better be looking for rule wiggle room especially with any kind of door slammers ---that is why we call LSR the thinking mans racing!!
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This thread would be even greater with pics of all the vehicles being discussed.
Being a newbie myself, I'm not familiar with all of them, although I have heard of the LN7 / EXP car, and a little bit about the 280Z rulings.
Any pics would be fantastic!
Steve.
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This one...
also one of my favorites...
This car did use all of the available interpretive space in the comp coupe rule book...
Tom Burkland
And quite a shocker when it showed up, lots of CC cars are now built to Gene's interpretation of the rules. Very cool car.
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Great pic, even has the hatchback up so he could load the groceries inside. Looks like the factory strut rods on the hatch. :cheers:
Steve.
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Another pic, hosted by NSRA in the UK.
(http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr44/Jetmugg/burklandb210_zps9d27c952.jpg) (http://s468.photobucket.com/user/Jetmugg/media/burklandb210_zps9d27c952.jpg.html)
A friend of mine had a much more pedestrian Datsun 210 hatchback when we were in high school. I believe it was green, with some tan highlights. Not quite as good looking at Burkland's comp coupe.
Steve
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...hey guys, we are going to need a longer trailer.
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As cool as both pictures are, they don't quite capture the stunning view you get standing next to it.
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.....
The car Jack referred to was probably the Stringfellow-Nicholson 280Z comp coupe which set records and gained 200mph club membership for Donnie Stringfellow and Darren Nicholson with turbocharged small block power. This particular car was later deemed by SCTA to be a two seat production car that was not legal for comp coupe. The team then spliced a 280ZX 2+2 roof onto the car making a hybrid configuration that continued to run as a comp coupe. Tom Burkland
I'm not familiar with all of the "Z" cars but have helped 2 younger brothers with theirs and I think they are both early 80's of the same year. One we put a sbc that I had into and the other is stock. One is the 2 seater and the other a 4 seater. I'm almost sure that the door on the 4 seater is also longer so not sure if just using the 2+2 roof on the single seater would really be legal at this point. Donnie doesn't run his any more but I'm not sure if it went to someone else or not.
James thanks for the posting, brings back memories of talking with Jack,
Sum
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Is the Datsun 510 Comp Coupe still being run on the salt?
That thing looks so intoxicating, I can't stop looking at it.
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Two answers . . .
Yes, the car has run lately with a blown flathead as noted earlier in this thread. Don't know how lately lately is, though.
And, if the body is the same length, why would the door seam location be an issue -- glass roadsters are running with flush doors that came overlapped from the factory and just a hint of having a seam at all.
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....And, if the body is the same length, why would the door seam location be an issue -- glass roadsters are running with flush doors that came overlapped from the factory and just a hint of having a seam at all.
I'm not familiar with what is and isn't allowed with a roadster but comp coupe rules say...
...other than a top chop no modification to the body is allowed.
So if the single seater body is not allowed then how could it be allowed with a different top since the body is not the same as the 2 + 2. I'd think the body used would have to be the 'allowed' one, the 2 + 2,
Sum
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Is the Datsun 510 Comp Coupe still being run on the salt?
That thing looks so intoxicating, I can't stop looking at it.
Actually I think it was a B210 and not a 510 Steve. The B210 had hints of aerodynamic thinking while the 510 was modelled after a brick and came very close to that shape, sharp edges and all. :evil: :evil: :-D
Pete
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I can't find any pictures of the Dolan / Jeffries Ford EXP / LN7 car on the intertubes, can anyone post one? Thanks, Dean
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You are very much correct - it's a 210. Slip of the fingers, and I know better. The 510's are cool, but in a different sort of way.
STeve.
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And again, speaking of Jack, I got this note today from Jackie -- Jack's daughter.
""Jon,
I visited your Web page and forums last night and it was awesome to see all of the feedback about my dad's contributions to your members. When he first retired, he spent HOURS at the computer and I can only imagine what his too-clever mind put out on the internet at 2 AM. I'd like to invite you and your members to visit the Facebook page I set up and leave a note. I think we only have an inkling of how many people he reached with his wit, knowledge, and one-of-a-kind personality. I'd love to show my mom how others will remember him. The page is www.facebook.com/jackdolaninmemoriam
- Jackie
Jack's daughter""
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Using a little bit of supposition, it looks like Webster set a record in 2007, running XF/BFCC at 184.851 mph.
I'm guessing it was in that Datsun.
Steve.
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You are very much correct - it's a 210. Slip of the fingers, and I know better. The 510's are cool, but in a different sort of way.
STeve.
Our Colonel had what you guys call a 510 but what we know as a Datsun 1600 with a 327, he has stories to tell about that..... :cheers:
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"Using a little bit of supposition, it looks like Webster set a record in 2007, running XF/BFCC at 184.851 mph."
. . . and the XF/BGCC record at 161.098.
Both still stand -- at least thru the end of 2012 according to the 2013 Rule Book.
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Folks, you have only to check my photogallery on Landracing...
http://www.landracing.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=244&pid=12226#top_display_media
by the way, some weeks ago, out web elf Bob add some more picture....have fun
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Thank you very much, Pork Pie. I spent some time looking for photos of that Datsun, as well as the EXP / LN7 of Jack Dolan on the interwall yesterday, but never saw your pics. :cheers: Great photo there.
Finding specific photos is certainly a challenge, with so many photos posted on the internet in general. Google has a huge database of images, but unless you know the specific tags they are stored under, they can be all but impossible to find. Images like you have captured and posted the link to are much better quality than most on google.
Frankly, I didn't know that you had images in your gallery dating back that far. Now, I know that I need to do some more digging.
Thanks again, Pork Pie.
SteveM.
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If you don't mind my asking, Pork Pie - did you remember by "dead reckoning" that you had a photo of the #313 Datsun, or do you have the images tagged/indexed in some way?
Steve.
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I forgot the car is now blue
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We have kind of diverged from the original posting about Jack Dolan, except for the fact that he was talking about Burkland's Datsun, which Jack remembered, but didn't have the car's original roots identified 100%.
I have read stories about the EXP / LN7, and now hearing that it had something like 700HP potential from a turbo 1.5, becomes even more fascinating. If there's any more information about that car, in the form of pics or text, I think that people would really enjoy them. I haven't been able to find any in a basic google search, but that doesn't mean that there aren't pics and text available.
Steve.
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when Doc J. sold it, I think it went to the ECTA side of things but I do not know where or who it may reside with!!
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Peripherally:
I am correctly listed as the SCTA record holder in G/GT.
I have set records in all of the lettered sanctions that have run a Bonneville event.
A magazine picked a Honda S2000 for a easy project to try to beat me but failed both of 2 years recently.
In 1 period I built 8 car entries in 5 years and set records with all of them.
Link to the magazine (article) Jack referred to:
http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php/topic,2502.0.html (http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php/topic,2502.0.html)
Mike
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Folks, you have only to check my photogallery on Landracing...
http://www.landracing.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=244&pid=12226#top_display_media
by the way, some weeks ago, out web elf Bob add some more picture....have fun
Some of those photos make you feel as though you're standing there yourself. :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
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You are very much correct - it's a 210. Slip of the fingers, and I know better. The 510's are cool, but in a different sort of way.
STeve.
Our Colonel had what you guys call a 510 but what we know as a Datsun 1600 with a 327, he has stories to tell about that..... :cheers:
In Canada the 1600 was the Fairlady sports car. Those Japanese were just playing games with us to keep the masses confused. :-D :-D :-D
Pete
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Steve,
I got tons of picture from this car....and I knew that I had this one in this chapter...I remember very well what picture I done and use....also when they run in the numbers of 25 000 slides and 100 000 + digital...only that it is more difficult to find the slides.... :roll:
If you don't mind my asking, Pork Pie - did you remember by "dead reckoning" that you had a photo of the #313 Datsun, or do you have the images tagged/indexed in some way?
Steve.
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a picture had to be technically not perfect....a picture had to tell a story....a picture has to show a message....at the salt...the picture has to show the spirit of Bonneville...the reason why we love this place so much....
....and this I try to capture....and this is the reason why I call myself an photo artist....not a photographer
a picture is right when the viewer starts to smile :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D
Folks, you have only to check my photogallery on Landracing...
http://www.landracing.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=244&pid=12226#top_display_media
by the way, some weeks ago, out web elf Bob add some more picture....have fun
Some of those photos make you feel as though you're standing there yourself. :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
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Dr. Goggles, when you started this thread you indicated that you had more of the Jack Dolan interview.
We have been patiently waiting. :-D
Don
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Don,you're six years old,your idea of patience and mine are two different things, in fact they couldn't be differenter, be patient knee high to a grass hopper........
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Dr. G., at 163 you can not afford to procrastinate.
A grass hopper sounds good but I'll have a margarita instead. :-D
Don