The Man Who Made Garlits: Setto Postoian and Drag Racing's First Top Fuel Rivalry
He's a man who have likely never heard of, Serop "Setto" Postoian, an early top fuel master who helped to make Don Garlits. Postoian was among the earliest stars in a young sport.
Motivated, fearless, and every bit the match for the man who would eventually become known as the greatest drag racer of all time. The rivalry between Garlits and Postoian in the early days of top fuel drag racing was contested across the nation.
They were among the earliest match racing stars and battled from California to Maine, from Tacoma to Tampa, Florida. It was a relentless fight waged between 1957 and 1960. This is the story of the man who made Don Garlits.
The man who pushed Garlits to be better, to be faster, to be more relentless than he ever knew he could be and who forced him to a lay a foundation that would build into drag racing immortality.
You've likely never heard his name...until now.
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Ludicrous Speed: The Racing and Land Speed Record Tractors of the 1930s
This is a look back, 90+ years back into the history of speed to check out the exploits and impact of the amazing racing tractors created by the Allis-Chalmers company in the 1930s that literally changed the world by racing and chasing land speed records.
These were the first tractors with rubber inflatable tires and that changed the farming game as well as entertained millions of fans over the course of five years in the 1930s. They raced, they crashed, and they performed as well as many available cars at the time.
From the road trips they took to the records they set at Bonnville, these Allis-Chalmers Model U tractors were amazing. Here's their story.
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Harnessing Hell: A History Of Top Fuel Clutch Technology 1950-1970
This is the story of how early drag racers developed the clutch technology that has ultimately lead to the engineering wonders in today's 11,000hp top fuel dragsters and nitro funny cars. It is the story of experimentation, of failure, of accidents, and of success.
The development of the multi-disc, centrifugally controlled clutch was incremental in all areas. From the materials, the design, and finally the manufacture of these pieces, everyone had their own ideas on how to approach the issue.
It was one major revelation by racers. The idea that a slipping clutch as far more efficient than slipping tires that allowed performances to sky rocket while the danger level of the sport did the exact same thing.
If you love the history of early drag racing, especially the mechanical side of it, you'll enjoy this deep dive into the clutches that almost stopped the sport and then those that saved it.
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War For The Woods: The Incredible Effort To Save New England's Forests After The Hurricane of 1938
When the Hurricane of 1938 struck New England, it was a disaster of proportions unknown to the region at that point. No storm in modern history had wrought more destruction or devastation than that one.
Beyond the cities and towns, past the population centers, there was another looming nightmare...the forests. Nearly 1,000 square miles of New England Pine Forest were blown down, placing nearly 2 billion board feet in logs and lumber in jeopardy of not only waste but of becoming a massive fire hazard.
No salvage logging operation on the planet before or since has been as large or as robust as that of the New England Timber Salvage Administration of 1938.
In this video we tell the story of the hurricane, the aftermath, the plan, and the execution of this most audaciously bold plan. Somehow a Hurricane helped restore the forests, prepare the country for WWII, and in a plot twist has had a very pleasant after-effect on modern life in New England.
The story of this amazing and massive collaborative effort has been largely forgotten until now. If you love American history, you'll love this tale of grit, gumption, and communities rising up to take on a problem the likes of which the world had never tried to tackle before.
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The Malcontent: Scotty Fenn's Self-Destruction In Drag Racing
There are few stories in the history of drag racing that can compare to that of Alfred Gordon Fenn, known as Scotty.
He was a visionary and created the first commercial dragster chassis business in the world circa 1958, but his life story goes far, far beyond that. For the first time ever, learn the back story, learn the success story, his precipitous fall in the sport, and how he managed to continue his career for years after people thought that he had disappeared.
One of the sports most off the wall, acerbic, and out-spoken characters, it was Scotty's mouth that no only sunk his business, but dead stopped a career that was on track to be one of the most influential in drag racing history.
The Dork-O-Motive Podcast hosted by Brian Lohnes is a research driven, story fueled, mechanically stoked look at the machines, people, and history that make up the modern mechanical world. Whether it's the stories of the men and women who have done amazing things in racing, the machines that roar around tracks and shape the Earth, or some bizarre mechanized history, Dork-O-Motive is here to bring you the story in a fun, well-researched, and informative way!