[Healeys] Memories of an Austin Healey Drag Racer

warthodson at aol.com warthodson at aol.com
Mon May 10 07:58:41 MDT 2021


As an aside, I initially fitted a Chevy inline 6 in my BJ8 during a ground up restoration. It was painted Healey engine green & make to look like a Healey engine in as many ways as possible. It was also fitted with triple side draft twin choke Weber DCOE 45 carburetors which kept most people from noticing the engine! See attached photos. It was dyno'ed at 298 HP. I eventfully blew up the clutch, requiring pulling every thing out, so I decided to rebuild the original Healey engine & re-installed it. 
Gary Hodson

-----Original Message-----
From: richard mayor <boyracer466 at gmail.com>
To: Perry Small <healeyguy at aol.com>
Cc: Healeys <healeys at autox.team.net>
Sent: Sun, May 9, 2021 10:28 pm
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Memories of an Austin Healey Drag Racer

It is with much regret that I must report that Danny's car has been "restored" by a person in the Vancouver, Washington area.  The car has been on the Portland, Oregon Craigslist over the last year and listed for $59,000.  It has been painted black and does not look like Danny's car any longer.  I just checked but it is not on Craigslist at this moment.
I saw this car and met Danny for the first time in 1978 or '79.  The car was in the Forest Grove Concour D'elegance. The Chevy six (or was a Jimmy six?) was painted Healey green and had triple carbs.  I was fairly new to Healeys at the time but I knew that something wasn't quite right with that engine.  Danny explained to me that he held the NHRA record in his class with the Austin 3000 engine but then the NHRA changed the rules. That's why he upgraded to the Chevy/GMC six.  

When I saw the photos of his "restored" car on Craigslist I was dumbfounded. What had been an iconic gold colored, record holding,  unique looking drag race car,  is now a black, BN4, street Healey with the wrong engine.  So sad! 


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