Dyno Don: The Cars and Career of Dyno Don Nicholson. Doug Boyce
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the hitch], tools and spare parts, including a spare rear-end section, were tucked under the hood of the ‘61.”
“To make it a big deal, the $600-dollar winnings was all in one-dollar bills in a wheelbarrow.„
Don has often been credited as the father of the bleach box–style burnout, first using bleach to clean the tires. By trial and error, he found the best water/bleach mix for his Vogue (or Caslers) slicks was 50/50. People use to question the fact that he ran his 7-inch cheater slicks on 4-inch rims, without realizing the advantage it gave him by increasing the footprint.
By August, Chevrolet was producing upgraded performance parts for the 409. The over-the-counter parts included larger valve heads, a longer duration high-lift camshaft, and a pair of deep-breathing Carter 4-barrel carburetors on an aluminum intake manifold. The parts brought the horsepower rating of the 409 up to an equal 409. Chevrolet slipped Don the parts, which were installed on his 409 prior to the NHRA Nationals on Labor Day weekend. It was after the Winternationals that Don’s tie with General Motors strengthened. He’d had indirect contact with Chevrolet but after the winters’ win, he had an open line to Vince Piggins. Even though cash and cars were not in the cards from the manufacturer, parts were generally there for the asking. With Don going through transmissions and weak-link third members, it proved to be a beneficial arrangement.
At Indy in September for the NHRA Nationals, the Stockers ran Saturday afternoon and stealing the show were the cars in Optional Super Stock (O/SS). The category was created in 1961 and designed specifically for limited-production cars or cars featuring high-performance parts made available after June 1, 1961, by Detroit’s Big Three. Leading the way in O/SS was the 368-horse Pontiac of Mickey Thompson, driven by Hayden Proffitt. Proffitt held the low ET and top speed with a 13.07 at 112.21. Close behind was Don with a 13.25 at 110.29 mph. Opening day eliminations saw Proffitt defeat Dave Strickler’s Biscayne for honors. Proffitt ran a phenomenal 12.55 during the meet and walked into Sunday’s 50-car Mr. Stock Eliminator as the favorite.
In mid-1961, Chevrolet released a twin 4-barrel option for the 409, bringing the horsepower rating up to an even 409. As noted by the cutouts in the hood, Don was running the Chevy in Optional Super Stock at this point. Note the deep-groove generator pulley and additional crankcase breathers, as well the lack of a heater. (Photo ©TEN: The Enthusiast Network. All Rights Reserved.)
Don was ready to take on the world when he headed east in July. Prior to doing so, he won a Super Stock meet at Vaca Valley on July 8, setting the track record with a 13.21 at 108.42 mph. Don actually preferred to run a hose to the carbs rather than the Enderle scoop but was not allowed to do so at Indy. (Photo Courtesy Mike Strickler)
In an unorthodox semifinal’s move, precipitated by a burning desire to defeat his opponent, Al Eckstrand in the Ramchargers Dodge, Mickey Thompson replaced Proffitt behind the wheel of his Pontiac. Thompson and the Pontiac faithful’s hopes were dashed when the Pontiac got hung up in gear. The same thing happened the next round to Eckstrand when the 3-speed in his Dodge failed against Don. The final round came down to the O/SS cars of Dyno Don and the Passionate Poncho of Arnie “the Farmer” Beswick. Because of Eckstrand’s failed gear in the previous round, Don and Beswick agreed that the overall Stock Eliminator winner should come back to run in a best-of-three grudge race against the 413 Dodge. At the flag, Don and Beswick left bumper to bumper. On the top end, it was Don inching ahead for the win with a 13.37 at 108.69 mph. In the grudge race, Don lost the first round but came back to take the next two. As was usual, after the final race, the cars of both Beswick and Dyno Don were torn down for inspection. Both were disqualified.
Don’s reputation preceded him to the East Coast, and from day one the crowds began to gather. Seen here at Indy, fans wanted to know what made the baddest Chevy in the nation tick. As you can see, in 1961, the luxury of paved pits at Indy was still only a dream. (Photo Courtesy Mike Strickler)
As Don recalled, “They started picking on stuff. They pulled the valve springs off my heads. Took the shims from underneath and checked them in their little tester. They checked them at minimum height. I showed them how to check them at the stock height. Actually the springs were down on pressure because as the runs went on, they went away. The car started missing on me a little bit in the lights and was getting a little worse with each run. I was sure it was the valve springs going away. When we checked them, there was no problem. Then they started mic’ing the heads of the valves. I had never mic’d a head of a valve unless I was making a valve for something. I just pulled the valves out of the Chevrolet boxes and put them in the heads. There were some they found a few thousand over size. I was arguing with Farmer Dismuke, the tech inspector; Chevrolet didn’t say 111/16, +/- 10, or 15 thousand as Chrysler, Pontiac, and most others did. They just had the size, no plus or minus. The valves were sitting right out on the edge, which was the way I did a valve job. We got that squared away and then they said the intake was matched. The factory or whoever made the castings for them had used a die grinder to clean off the burrs as opposed to using a hand scraper. I told them it wasn’t matched as it was out a 1/4-inch in spots.” It all got very ridiculous with Farmer arguing that Don had received special parts. Chevrolet’s Paul Prior, who was there, got involved, arguing the point along with Don. In the end, the disqualification stood with no reason given, and no discussion allowed.
“As far as they were concerned, Beswick and I were just a couple of farm boys who didn’t know what we were doing and if we go out there and beat that big Mickey Thompson Pontiac, we must be cheating.” Don was prepared to sue but eventually cooled off and let it go. Beswick put it all down to politics. “They had their favorite.”
Rounding out Don’s trip was a match against the East Coast’s finest, Dave Strickler in the Old Reliable Chevy, at York US-30 on September 23. Also making an appearance was Arnie Beswick and his potent 389 Pontiac. It was quite a show put on by the three, with each reportedly making in the neighborhood of 20 runs by the end of the day. The hometown biased–news failed to report an overall winner, but you can be sure it wasn’t hometown favorite, Dave Strickler. Don was clearly the winner, running consistent 13.0s and low ET of the day with a 13.02. Strickler was close behind with a best of 13.05 and Beswick with a 13.09. Don had more than measured up to the best the east had to offer. To paraphrase Julius Caesar from long ago, Dyno Don came, he saw, and he conquered.
Don campaigned the Impala well into December while the finishing touches were being completed on his new 1962 Bel Air. In one of his last races in the Impala, Don won Stock Eliminator at Pomona on December 8. The Impala clocked a 12.74 at 112.64 mph for low ET and top speed in class. At the same event, Don also drove Dean Lowe’s A/SR in Competition but lost in the first round. At the end of the year, the Impala found a new owner in David Heath. Heath campaigned the car as the Kentucky Colonel, running S/S, B/Factory Experimental, and match racing the car through the next few seasons. The Impala seems to have disappeared after Heath sold it in 1965. It was last known to be in Muncie, Indiana, sporting blue paint.
Jerry Jardine
Jerry Jardine was a young teenager in the early 1950s with little more than cars on the brain. He had the ideal after-school job, working at Pearly’s Muffler Shop in Pasadena. It wasn’t long before the proprietor taught Jardine how to weld and he was forming exhaust work of his own.
Jardine had owned a few hot rods in his teens and by the time he finished high school he had saved enough for a new 1958 Impala powered by the all-new 315-horse 348. The cost was $400 dollars down and $88 dollars a month. On a trip to the dry lake of El Mirage with the Chevy, Jardine topped 140 mph. The first time out to the drags with the car was a trip to the old San Gabriel track, where Jardine defeated a number of the Les Ritchey Performance Unlimited cars, including the bored and stroked 354-ci Chevys disguised as injected 283s.