A pair of supercharged 1,000-plus horsepower engines powered Hurst’s four-wheel-drive smoke machine.
In the mid-1960s, Hurst literally owned the aftermarket shifter business. And it wasn’t only because they made quality shifters that put OE units to shame and were embraced by racers and supercar enthusiasts. They became larger than life thanks to Hurst’s majordomo, George Hurst, a marketing genius who turned his iconic shifter into standard equipment on just about every Day Two supercar. (Back in the day, large-engined, mid-size factory performance models were called supercars.)
Hurst was well represented at major drag events with mobile shifter service units, sponsorship money and the lovely first lady of drag racing, Linda “Miss Hurst Shifter” Vaughn. George Hurst was the consummate showman and Linda, left, captivated both racers and spectators.
One of Hurst’s most outrageous show productions was the Hurst Hairy Oldsmobile, a four-wheel-drive ’66 Olds 4-4-2 exhibition racer. Powered by a pair of fuel burning, 1,000-plus horsepower 425-inch Olds engines, it was the brainchild of Jack “Shifty Doctor” Watson, president of Hurst Performance Research. Better known as Doc Watson, he championed the project and watched over its construction in an isolated high-security area (The Smoke House) in the Research Center in Madison Heights, MI.
The Hurst Hairy Oldsmobile project, supported by some of the biggest names in the performance marketplace, was constructed entirely at Hurst by in-house technicians who had drag racing experience. Managed by Doc Watson, the car was built by Dave Landrith, Paul Phelps, Bob Riggle, Jim DeJohn and Ray Sissener. Aluminum specialists from Proto-Products created the bucket seats, floor, inner fender panels, wheelhouses, hood, interior panels, deck lid and bumpers.
A pair of Oldsmobile Toronado front drive assemblies was installed fore and aft on the jig-built tube steel chassis with integral roll cage, right. The rails of the chassis also served to handle coolant flow, thus the lack of traditional radiators. Since the car was designed to make just a few exhibition runs and not get involved in rounds of competition, cooling the nitro-fueled motors wasn’t a major problem.
The Oldsmobile engines required a lot of special components in order to survive severe blower pressures and steady diet of nitro. Milodon Engineering created the bearing supports, cam retainers, oil pick-ups and fuel pump drives. Sharp Engineering made the supercharger manifolds, timing chain covers and finned alloy valve covers. Mickey Thompson manufactured the engine’s special forged aluminum ”blower” pistons, rods and custom rocker arms. Isky cams handled camshafts and valve train responsibilities. Blower drives came from Cragar who also made a variety of drive pulleys so that they could overdrive the blowers by 10 to 28 percent.
Other major players of the day who contributed to this four-wheel-drive “smoke machine” included Fuel Injection Engineering (Hilborn bugcatcher and port injection), Schiefer (magnetos), Doug’s Header (exhaust systems), M&H (Racemaster slicks), Simpson (drag chutes) and Kelsey-Hayes (disc brakes).
Teleflex, a major supplier in the automotive and marine OE and accessory fields, created the linkage and cables that connected the engines, throttles, Hurst shifters and fuel shutoffs. Teleflex also supplied dual tachs, oil pressure and water temperature gauges, above.
Painted in traditional Hurst colors – gold and black – the Hurst Hairy Oldsmobile was driven by one of the most popular pro drivers of the day, “Gentleman Joe” Schubeck. Ever the showman, George Hurst and Joe would arrive at the track in a small chopper. Joe usually had on black tie formal attire and would get into a custom Bell fire suit, tailored like a tux, below, right, with some help from curvaceous Miss Hurst Shifter dressed in a form-fitting strapless gown! The crowds ate it up especially when Joe lit up those supercharged fuel-burners and turned the 4-4-2 into the ultimate smoke machine.
The Hurst Hairy Oldsmobile had quite a run before a crash in 1967 at Niagara Dragstrip ended its show tour. The body was junked and running gear was salvaged to use on a 1967 exhibition Olds. Ah, the good old days!
Four more information about Hurst’s hairy Oldsmobiles and 1960s drag strip promotions, visit the website that supplied the action photo, http://hursthairyolds.com/1966.aspx
Both Linda "Miss Hurst Shifter" Vaughn and Doc Watson will be at a
special Hurst cars display at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in
Chicago, IL on November 20-21, 2010. For more information: http://www.musclecarandcorvettenationals.com/