Shelby was a legend. RIP.
Here is another not so well known legend . Jimmy Stewart was a lifelong friend of mine and I miss him dearly.
http://www.nhra.com/blog/nhra-notebook/
James ?J.T.? Stewart, a manufacturer and veteran nitro racer, passed away on Wednesday, May 9.
The Phoenix native was a highly respected machinist and fabricator who built innovative parts, fixtures, and systems that are widely used in Top Fuel and Funny Car entries at his company, Dynamic Machine. He helped countless teams at the track and spent his later years with Jim Head?s Funny Car team.
Stewart got his start during the early years of the sport. He began driving a six-cylinder Ford in 1953. In 1958, he teamed with friend Bill Gibson and put a 490-cid Oldsmobile in a dragster that was light-years ahead of its time: It was a rear-engine car with a direct-drive transmission, double clutch, and live axle. (Rear-engine dragsters didn't become popularized until 1971.) The car ran a competitive 9.71.
In the early 1960s, Stewart had a Scotty Fern chassis that featured more innovations. His blown, alcohol-burning Olds engine used aluminum rods in a time when almost all connecting rods were steel, and it had a one-of-a-kind aluminum girdle that supported the mains and rods. He campaigned a more conventional setup from 1964 to 1966 with the front-engine Chrysler-powered Stewart-Estes-Little Big Red Top Fuel entries. He took time off to establish his business and returned, albeit briefly, in 1971 when he built and ran a unique sidewinder dragster that crashed that season and prompted his 16-year hiatus from the sport.
?I built a sidewinder in 1971,? he said in the July 14, 1995, issue of National DRAGSTER. ?Naturally, it was rear-engined with the clutch sitting alongside the engine. The car was gear-driven through the engine to the clutch and from the clutch to the rear axle. The car was crashed after a few months, and I figured I had had enough.?
He returned to the sport in 1987 at the prompting of his friend Dave Settles, who was working on Billy Meyer?s 7-Eleven Funny Car. When Meyer stopped racing at the end of the season, he moved on to the Gunite Express dragster driven by Frank Cook and the Valvoline dragster driven by Earl Whiting. In 1990, he joined Settles and Lance Larsen in getting Chris ?the Greek? Karamesines to two final-round appearances. He then helped Eddie Hill (pictured, above, in 1995) and later a variety of other teams. He helped Doug Herbert win the 2001 Pep Boys 50th Anniversary Nationals in Pomona (pictured, right).
On any team he was associated with, Stewart was a tuner?s best friend. He could analyze a car?s performance like the crew chief could, and he would dream up and manufacture new or improved parts to solve problems.
?To design and make quality parts, you have to know engines and clutches,? he told ND. ?Over the years, I've learned a lot. I'm not a tuner like [Dale] Armstrong or Settles, but I've worked on these cars long enough to form an educated opinion in a problem area.?
Stewart was a professional machinist for nearly 50 years. He formed Nasca Machine with Chauvin Emmons in 1963 and founded Dynamic Machine in 1967. He has made several drag racing components throughout the years, and his company makes the clutch and fuel-management systems that most Top Fuel and Funny Car teams utilize today. He became widely known for fuel systems early on after being instrumental in the development of Settles? ?nuclear? pump but quickly showed that his prowess wasn?t limited to one aspect of a race car. He manufactured countless clutch and fuel-system components along with other parts, such as wrist pins and valvetrain products, that he felt he could make better.
Drag racing was a passion of Stewart's, though it was only a small part of the business done at his 29,000-square-foot facility. Dynamic Machine manufactures parts for a variety of large industries, such as aircraft/aerospace, military/defense, semiconductor, oil-tool, commercial-equipment, and automotive. The shop also served as a home away from home for his racing friends when they were racing out west. He gave them space to work and entertained them with his impressive collection of machines, cars, race car parts, guns, motorcycles, and bicycles.
?I don't know anyone who loved drag racing more than J.T.,? said Jim Head. ?I'm serious; he had a passion for it like I've got. It had nothing to do with making any money. He?d been real sick over the last couple years, especially the last two, but I talked to him last week, and he was planning on coming to the next race. He was going to get a portable dialysis machine and keep on going. He was unstoppable. The last race he went to was Las Vegas, where he drove up with Johnny West, and before that he drove up to the March Meet in Bakersfield [Calif.] by himself. The man was unbelievable.
?He was almost finished restoring his sidewinder with a 392 and the whole bit. I was going to drive it. There?s not a fuel car out there that doesn't run something that J.T. makes. The scope of what he makes and does is mind-boggling.?
