Hornet Powered Jet's (Back in the Day)

Ol racer
Ol racer Senior Contributor
edited March 2016 in Literature & Memorabilia
FYI
Attached picture of a Hornet powered '54 Hudson Jet at Fontana Ca World Championship Finals. This Win was the begining of the end of Hornet Powered Jets in a Stock Class because the embarrassment of an 11 yr old obsolete 6 cyl Car beating Dealer Sponsored New V8 Cars was humiliating. Pictured is Joan Lynch dusting off the new C/FX Ford in the Final Overall Eliminator Match... Joan had two Jets  entered prepped by Ike Smith.

A group of Hudson guys had convinced the Drag Santioning Body (AHRA) that Hudson actually made a Hornet Jet. The Jets were prepped by Ike Smith, the wrench behind Jack Clifford, Chuck Parcell, and a few others. Ike soon began racing his own Hornet Jet. Everything was okay until the Jets began Winning big Events. One of the things Ike did was install 1st gear from a Limo that helped those Jets really Launch.

 Another Mod Ike did was to split the Cam lobes and alter the mushroom Lifters then lock them with an Allen Set screw. The NHRA Inspector would tell him which Cyl they wanted to Inspect at .010 lash so Ike would pull the side cover then loosen the Set screw and rotate the lifter180 degrees to stock Lobe position..... (Picture and story from the late Ike Smith so now you know too)...

Comments

  • Glowplug
    Glowplug Expert Adviser
    Thanks for the post Chuck!
  • StillOutThere
    StillOutThere Expert Adviser
    The Vintage Drags every year have multiple Studebakers running in them competing against all the muscle cars and every year there are multiple class winners that are Studebakers.  The Stude Drivers Club gives multiple pages of coverage in their high quality club magazine.     Apparently there are NO competitive Hudsons?
  • ESSX28-1
    ESSX28-1 Senior Contributor
    What about this one - scavenged from the net!!
  • Glowplug
    Glowplug Expert Adviser
    That car is powered by a Mopar big block
  • LHudson
    LHudson Expert Adviser
    The Orphan Drags are held in Bean Blossom, Ind. They can usually be found on Youtube. There was a guy named Ralph that ran a supercharged stepdown that ran with those Stude boys. Have not heard anything from him  in some time.    LHud
  • Glowplug
    Glowplug Expert Adviser
    Larry, Ralph sold his car.
  • terraplane8
    terraplane8 Senior Contributor
    What times and speeds were these cars doing?
  • terraplane8
    terraplane8 Senior Contributor
    I found some old info by Ol' Racer:

    14.1 @ 95 stock Hornet in a Jet

    NHRA "Stock' Record holder 1967-1975 13.2 @ 104. That would surely have been modified though.

    Pretty quick.
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