The Schrank Bros; Walt & Jesse
WALT AND JESSE
SCHRANK-THE BOYS FROM BELMONT
by Steven Justice
The Record Setting Day
On August 12, 1961, the ban on nitromethane fuel at Lions Drag Strip was lifted. Although the engines were limited to 300 cubic inches if supercharged, there was no shortage of fuel dragsters vying for the $500.00 bond up for the winner of the inaugural event. All the usual suspects were in the pits including Gary Cagle, Zane Schubert, Pfaff-Sowins, Glen Stokey, and then some that were not expected. Though forewarned in Drag News by Al Caldwell, author of its Northern Briefs, that there were these really bad hombres named Walt and Jesse Schrank racing a blown and injected Desoto B/FD, few expected to see the Texans in the Lions pit that night. Yet, there they were. As Jesse explains,” We were running Al Gonzalez’ injectors (Algon Injectors) and he wanted to get some publicity for his product. We had just run 182 mph at Half Moon Bay, and he knew that if we went down South and made some noise, that would really help sell the injectors. So, he offers us $50.00 gas money and we loaded the dragster up and headed for Lions”. It would be a record setting night. On his first run, Jesse ran 8.66-182.18. In Walt’s own words, “It looked real pretty; the smoke rolled off the tires to about half track, then settled down and really started pulling”. Jesse adds, “It was the smoothest run ever. It lifted the left front ever so slightly with smoke just hazing from the tires, but it was such a calm, straight run; I knew it was a good one”.
August 12, 1961; Jess Schrank sets the Standard 1320 B/FD speed record at 183.28 at Lions Drag Strip
Startled by such a bold statement by the newcomers, and at the request of track officials, Walt dropped the pan and Gary Cagle measured the bore. It was 3 5/8” alright; Cagle couldn’t believe it. For the second run, and in an attempt to increase the rpm, The Boys changed the gear ratio in the quick change rear end. Though looking to set a new e.t. record, the car slowed slightly to an 8.73, but carded the big speed and a new record of 183.28! This was such a monumental achievement that their B/FD record would stand up for nearly two years, only to be finally bettered by Smirthwaite-Mooneyham’s 185.94 run at Pomona on May 5, 1963. For icing on the cake, barely a month later at Half Moon Bay, their 8.65 e.t. gave them both ends of the B/FD record. Simultaneously, they also held the C/FD speed record at 163.63 set nearly a year before at HMB. The rest of the evening did not play out so splendidly. Jesse recalls, “I was not familiar with the starting line lights at Lions, and Zane Schubert really schooled me that night. Nonetheless, I took off after him only to encounter all kinds of problems and see the Desoto turn into an eight cylinder sparkler”. Despite getting “trailered” first round, the fallout over the record run was substantial and earned The Boys the coveted cover of Drag News. “Al Gonzalez really got his $50.00 worth”, chips in Walt.
So, what was it with this 276.1 cubic inch Desoto? Why were they the ones that could get it to respond, and particularly, with the fickle and temperamental Algon fuel injectors? To understand the genesis of the genius, we need to go back in time; all the way back to San Antonio, Texas and the year 1955.
Ed. Note: The Algon injectors were used by a number of teams in the Bay Area, including Forsberg-Hubbard and Champion Speed Shop. Al Gonzalez had a shop in the East Bay and Jesse said it was located in El Cerrito on San Pablo Dam Rd. That means it was in El Sobrante or, if it was El Cerrito, then on San Pablo Ave.
The Bluebonnet Years
The year was 1955 and Walt had just gotten out of the service. Mechanics and welders by trade, it didn’t take The Boys too long to channel their substantial mechanical skills into a project that involved a hot rod. Walt owned a ’34 5-window coupe and they took it to Martindale Airfield, which was a concrete, abandoned WW2 training facility. About once a month there was an organized drag race, and Walt and Jesse raced A Open Gas. Spurred on by some success with their new hobby, they parked the coupe and built a rear engined ’27 T roadster. Originally outfitted with a nitro burning flathead, they quickly replaced the old-style engine with the now famous 276.1 cid Desoto hemi. Their concept was similar to the Speed Sport rear engined model, maybe a tad more primitive. As Walt tells it, “We really cut our nitro teeth with the roadster; actually had two roadsters at one time. Equipped with big heads, 2” intake valves, 1 7/8” exhaust valves, we won class at the AHRA Nationals both in 1957 and 1958. It was racing the roadster that taught us so much about nitro racing and what the engine wanted. Also, we stayed with this same engine design the entire time we raced out of Texas. This gave us a wealth of experience to draw on when we decided to build the dragsters. We always believed that this engine was perfect for the time, considering the limitations placed on the race cars by tires and clutches”.
The following images were taken at Great Bend, Kansas at the 1958 AHRA Nationals. The lure of AHRA was that they did not ban nitromethane when NHRA outlawed it as a dangerous racing fuel. Walt and Jesse were not interested in pump gasoline as the fuel for their engines. So, for them and the many other drag racers not intimidated by NHRA’s nitro ban, “fuel” racing flourished on many tracks in those days.
Ed. Note: top fuel dragsters as well as their coupe/sedan and roadster cousins continued to grow in popularity in the late 1950s and early 1960s as many tracks not affiliated with NHRA ignored the ban. The success of the weekly programs at such storied tracks as Famoso (Bakersfield), Riverside (including ½ mile drags), Fontana, and Long Beach (Lions) probably had a lot to do with NHRA finally lifting their nitro ban in 1963.
Bobby Langley’s “Scorpion I”
The “Scorpion I”; waiting to sting
The “Scorpion” in its cage
Don Garlits’ “Swamp Rat 1”
Big’s SR1 waiting its turn in the lanes
When the day was done, Walt and Jesse collect the hardware
Walt’s ’34 5-window coupe; San Antonio Coliseum in the background (1955)
John “Mouse” Wilson, member of the Poor Boys, drove many a top fuel dragster; killed in 1968 at Green Valley Raceway
Bob Rodgers from Kansas City
Lynn Huiet from Houston, TX; check out the outfit on the back-up girl!
I know it looks like Speed Sport, but this is Hank Garner’s Tex-Sun; a San Antonio racer, Henry was a member of the Poor Boys (see below)
Left to right:: Rufus Walker, Benny Cass, Henry Garner, Rubel Mungler; and Carlos Andarza
The Tex-Sun in its underwear
OK; this is the Speed Sport Spl.; Lyle Fisher and Red Greth’s baby
Mackey-Veselka
No haulers or rigs in those days; Jesse Schrank nearest camera
They start ‘em young in Texas; Henry Garner’s little guy (Billy Joe)
Go West Young Man
By 1958, the bloom on the Texas rose had started to wilt a little. That winter Walt made a trip to California, first to the southern part of the state, and later, to the Bay Area. Although he wasn’t exactly thrilled with Southern California, he thought the north was something special. Not only was there plenty of work for mechanics, there was also drag racing every weekend at Half Moon Bay, Vaca Valley (Vacaville), Kingdon (Lodi), and a new strip that had just opened in Fremont.
After finding employment at Howard Auto in Belmont, an auto repair business catering to foreign cars, Walt got Jesse to join him in May 1959. They were mechanics by day and racers by night. After working at Howard’s shop all day, they worked on building a race car by night. By September they had crafted their first dragster. Using the facilities at Howard’ s shop, their homemade chassis was welded together using 1” square tubing on top and 2” on the bottom; a far cry from the swing set and exhaust tubing most guys used. The power plant was the trusty 276.1 Desoto topped with (8) Stromberg ‘97s that sipped a liquid diet of pure 98% nitromethane. The dragster was a consistent winner running low 9s and over 140 mph. Although successful as a class winner, they really had their sights set on top eliminator and the cash purse that accompanied it. Obviously, this would require a more powerful and sophisticated approach. So, that winter Walt and Jesse paid $500.00 for a Chassis Research frame from Jim McLennan of Champion Speed Shop. Along with the pipe, The Boys got tires, wheels, rear end, and extra parts. The car debuted in early 1960 at Half Moon Bay (HMB) with the same engine combination they used in their first dragster. Jesse recalls, “That dragster just worked from the get go. Before the summer was over, we held the Standard 1320 C/FD speed record at 163.63”. Flushed with their success and yearning to step up a class, they tucked a 6:71 GMC supercharger underneath the Strombergs. Now, they were making some serious horsepower and matched against guys like Denny Forsberg and Vic Hubbard. Walt, then the driver, had some scary moments at Half Moon Bay one Sunday, so The Boys decided to jettison the carburetors and get a more trustworthy fuel delivery system. As was done in those days, Walt and Jesse worked a horse trade with Al Gonzalez for a set of new injectors. At about the same time and right before the 1961 March Meet, Walt decided to vacate the seat, turning the driving chores over to “Little Brother” (the nickname given to him by Al Caldwell). Initially, the temperamental Algons caused a lot of problems from broken rods to burned bearings. But, once Al Gonzalez got the injectors right and made the engine happy, the car became a beast. It ran 182 mph at HMB in July and the stage was set for the record at Long Beach.
Drag racing northern California-style; Top Banana vs. Glass Slipper, Lodi (1959)
Nice close-up of the ‘Slipper” in the pits at Kingdon
Hank Vincent’s Top Banana was the Standard 1320 B/FD record holder before The Boys from Belmont; sadly, Hank was fatally injured in a horrific crash at Fremont in 1959
Forsberg-Hubbard B/FR; another record setter from Hayward CA: 9.46-164.60
(1960)
Howard Automotive, Karen St., Belmont CA
Built in 1959 and patterned after a Chassis Research design, The Boys built this C/FD from ground up. They would race this car for only a short time and replaced it with a genuine Scotty Fenn rail.
The first incarnation of the record setting slingshot; carbureted on nitro, it took the C/FD speed record at 163.63 in 1960
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