In the late 1960s through the mid 1970s six-cylinder stock cars raced at Twin Cities Speedway in Vernon; Whitewater Valley Speedway in Liberty; Riverview Speedway in Milton, Kentucky, and the 25thStreet Fairgrounds Raceway in Columbus.
The largest car counts were at Twin Cities were from 1971-74, where two drivers would dominate the feature win list. Madison racers Johnny Robbins and Tommy Day won a combined 43 features at Twin Cities during that period, with Robbins’ 13 win-season in 1973 culminating with a track title at Twin Cities. The next highest winner after Robbins and Day during that era was Ken “Hillbilly” Ogle of Columbus.
Eventually, the costs and availability of parts for the super sixes led to the downfall of the engine. Jim Howe of Elizabethtown; whose father Gene worked with several drivers; including Ernest Murphy, Roger Helt, Larry Exner and Roy Faulkner during this era; talked about the evolution and then the end of the engine.
“At first, there was a 248 cubic inch limit with the six-cylinder class. This was intentional to allow the Chevy 235, the Ford 240, and the Chrysler slant six 223. But this kept the Chevy 250s out which was a superior engine to the 235 due to his main bearing set up and allowed for higher RPMs. This also kept out the Ford 262 engine which was faster than all of the above engines, including the 250. But most of all, it kept out the Jimmie/Chevy 270 which was the best engine of the bunch,” Jim Howe said.
With the technology of the time, a four-barrel carburetor was used with all of the above engines. Around 1972, Twin Cities opened up the cubic inch limit, with most of the guys moving to the Chevy 292 or the Ford 300. Both engines were superior to any of the lower cubic inch engines. The Chevy seemed to be able to tolerate higher RPMs, although the Ford was somewhat more solid and consistent (if not equally as fast).
“Technology was still an issue, however, for carburetion. The 292 could use the four-barrel with a manifold that was easily obtained. With its Siamese ports on the head, you could easily build your own intakes for the individual Stromberg or Rochester carbs (two ports per carb for a total of three carbs). The Ford 300 was another matter as the ports alternated between exhaust and intake. For a while, the 300s ran a four barrel carb but intake manifolds were hard to find and there was a major issue with the No.1 and No. 6 cylinders starved for fuel as they had farther to go to the carburetor with several of the manifolds (and furthermore, several of these manifolds had the four-barrel carb turned the wrong way for circle track racing). I remember my dad and Roy (Faulkner) finally found one from some company in California that catered to west coast drag racers. Shortly after that, they found one for the individual carbs similar to the Chevy,” said Jim Howe, who worked for several years at twin Cities before working for the ASA series.
The higher cubic inch engines started with a four barrel, but went to the trio of Stromberg 97/Holley/Rochester carbs as the manifold technology became available. A few of the Chevy teams experiment with the exotic Weber carbs that were available in down-draft or side-draft configurations, but they were higher priced and a bit more inconsistent/hard to tune.
“Another thing, the higher cubic inch engines typically ran magnetos as opposed to ignition systems. Again, technology. Ignitions were very problematic and very unreliable. Magnetos were proven commodities, readily available, and easy to maintain,” Jim Howe said.
Tricks with the heads and blocks were rudimentary back then, although Chevy parts were much more available compared to Ford ones.
By 1975, Twin Cities did away with the cubic inch limit and now the racers started to get exotic. Stroker cranks became available for both Ford and Chevies, which often pushed the engine displacement into the 350 to 375 cubic inch range. With this type of displacement, the six cylinders could and did race with the V-8s.
By 1977, the six-cylinder class was gone.
Brownstown racing tonight
After having its race event canceled by rain on June 27, Brownstown Speedway will be racing tonight with the “Born Free 40” for super late models paying $5,500 to win. Also competing will be modifieds, super stocks, crown vics and pure stocks. For more info, visit brownstownspeedway.com.
Lawrenceburg results
Lawrenceburg Speedway was back in action on June 27 with a full racing program. Nick Bilbee won the sprint car feature race over Brady Bacon, Matt Westfall, Dickie Gaines and J.J. Hughes. Matt Hamilton won the modified feature over Rocky Wilson, Aaron Branham, Kyle Schornick and Keith Smith. Other feature winners were Cordell Moore (hornets) and Joel Andrews (pure stocks).
Tonight, Lawrenceburg will hist the Merrill Downey Memorial for modifieds and late models. For more info, visit lawrenceburgspeedway.com.
This week in racing history
From 50 years ago tonight on July 4, 1970, at Brownstown Speedway, Gene Petro won the 250-lap feature race, by eight laps over the competition. Dave Moran finished in second, followed by Kenny Simpson, Teako Ray and John Warner. Completing the top 10 were Carl Collins, Jack Owens, Don Cockerham, Gene Sutton and Ray Godsey. The event marked the last 250-lap late model feature ran at Brownstown.
Also from 50 years ago this weekend at Bloomington Speedway, Bob Kinser won the sprint car feature over Calvin Gilstrap, Bob Papoy, Mike Bowlen and Frank Hollingsworth.
On this weekend in 1970 at Paragon Speedway, Larry Miller won the sprint car feature race over Allen Barr, Danny Bowlen, Hollingsworth and Dick Gaines.
Also from 1970 at Haubstadt, Chuck Amati won the sprint car feature over Gene Henson, Cliff Cockrum, Bob Kinser and Chuck Amati.
From 40 years ago at Paragon, there were two sprint car features ran. Ron Dorsett won the first feature over Larry Goad, Ed Angle, Larry Martin and Bob Kinser. Rickey Hood took the second feature over Goad, Kinser, Dorsett and Angle.
Also from 40 years ago tonight on July 4, 1980, at Brownstown, Charlie Swartz won the late model feature over Paul Crockett, Ira Bastin, Kenny Simpson and Noel Witcher. Tony Moore captured the hobby stock feature over Kevin Claycomb, Ernie Barrow, Gary Harden and Steve Trabue. Larry Kiser took the street stock feature over Jack Smith, Willie Sallee, Ernie Niemoeller and Chuck Gilpin.
The next night, on July 5, 1980, at Brownstown, Kenny Simpson won the late model feature over Crockett, Charlie Reed, Barry Magers and Larry Taylor. Steve Trabue took the hobby stock main event over Ernie Barrow, Gary Harden, Moore and Cooley Singer. Mont Scaggs won the street stock feature over Ralph Hurt.
Also from 1980 at Putnamville, Pete Willoughby won the late model feature over Taylor, Roger Absher, Norm Swift and Russ Petro.
From 30 years ago in 1990 at Twin Cities, John Gill won the late model feature over John Rhoades, Charlie Sentman, Mike Bechelli and John Holt. Brian Wilhite was victorious in the street stock feature over Don Hoover, Mike Phelps, Joe Johnson and Tim Clark. Randy Petro grabbed the bomber feature.
