Hey, this is pretty neat! We got tipped off to the sale of a 1966 Ford Total Performance drag racing press kit on eBay by a reader. The hilarious thing is that the kit is being sold by our very oen Darr Hawthorne and he wasn’t the guy that tipped us off! The internets are fun. Anyway, this press kit if full of cool images and info of the racers that Ford had thrown their backing towards in ’66. The images you will see below are of two great drag racers of the era. The dude with the SOHC engine and a smile is “Sneaky” Pete Robinson. He was one of the sport’s first well know brilliant minds. He would later die in a violent crash, but as you can see in this photo, he was a dude who really loved the machinery. The sound of the SOHC engine on fuel must have really been something to behold. Note the absolutely bitchin’ Crane Racing Cams and Heads decal on the valve cover!
The tough looking square jawed guy in the second photo is none other than Rhode Island’s own Bill Lawton who drove the fearsome Tasca Ford Mustang. You can barely make out the name John Healey on the front fender of the car. Healey was the mechanical end of the combo and one of the best mechanics in the country. He had been involved in creating the Thunderbolt, and later would be involved with the creation of the Cobra Jet Mustang and other awesome creations. 1966 was a good year for the Tasca boys as they traveled the country running the car and notched a class win at the 1966 Nationals in A/Experimental Stock when they defeated Ronnie Sox in the finals on a redlight. The car you see below was running in the 8.60s by the end of that year with a cammer engine.
This press kit is awesome because it captures a moment in time when a huge car company basically handed its racing department a blank check and said, “Whatever you have to do to kick everyone’s ass….do it.” This was the era (albeit a little earlier) when the Mercury flip top funny cars showed up, cammer engines were found in lots of cars, and the worst thing a car maker like Ford could do was to look slow. It was an era of pandering to the youth market and what they liked to do, zoning in on what they paid attention to, then finally dominating said activity. Ford wasn’t 100% dominant on the strip but they were as competitive as any other brand and their racers were backed just as strongly as those supported by GM and Chrysler. Total Performance extended far from the drag strip and was a successful program in NASCAR racing as well as international sports car racing. There was some program called GT40-something? Does that sound right?
This press kit rules. Scroll down to see these photos and then hit the link for a ton more photos and info….oh, and to BID!
eBay Link: 1966 Ford Total Performance Drag Racing Press Kit
