The Illegal Engine

The GP Story cont'd.

by: J.D."The Okie"Rhynes

To continue with the story of our illegal engine, and how we got away with it;  When we built the 296 Cubic inch engine for old #111,we didn't know if the motor would hold together, given the fact that we'd whacked the counter weights off of the crank. Gary also knew that we had a good chance of being torn down to prove it was a legal-size engine, should we start winning races with it. What to do? We pondered this over for about a week. Gary came roaring into my shop one day, jumped out of his 56 'Bird and yelled: Okie! I've got it! He explained the mechanics of the solution and that night, we "doctored" the motor, and it worked like a charm!

The first main event we won with that motor, Gary had barely crossed the finish line, and the race Steward had a hand full of protests to the legality of our engine size. Gary absolutely BLEW their doors OFF! So into the pits, drain the radiator, and pull the head, so the Steward could check the bore size and the stroke. They're legal boys, said the steward. That was the story after every race we won with that motor! They knew we were cheating, but HOW?

Here's how we did it. That night that Gary had come up with a solution, we pulled the head on the motor, turned the crank until number 1 piston was at the STOCK STROKE, and  filed a mark on the crank damper. Whenever we were torn down, we simply pulled #1 sparkplug, turned the crank to the "legal" mark then pulled the head so they could check the bore and stroke! Like I said in my earlier story, Gary was the smartest man I've ever known.

What happened to that engine? Well, eventually the rigors of more RPM's than the crank was designed for took its toll. Gary reground it twice until one night at the start of a race, it self destructed. We were never able to find another crank the same as the one that made old #111 the scourge of Capital Raceway for that one glorious summer, lo these 40 some odd years ago. God how I'd love to relive that one summer. G.P., you were the greatest!