Wednesday, January 10, 2024

it's so cool to see a cool car you've liked show up on Facebook, or in a magazine. I found Paul's Gommi's 1932 panel truck at the 2012 GNRS, but seeing photos of it in sunlight are better




Like many kids in the 1950s and '60s, Paul came to appreciate cars, which led him to become a drag racerBuilding some road racing Lotus/Ford engines for a friend led to Paul getting a call from Carroll Shelby. He wanted Paul to build V8s for his Trans-Am Mustangs and to develop engines for the GT40s raced at Le Mans. 

After the Le Mans wins, Keith Black hired him to develop the 426ci engine for drag and boat racing; but he also built motors for the Miss Chrysler Crew, the Hawaiian dragsters, the Super Chief Funny Car, and more. Other notable accomplishments include designing the first three-disc clutch, the bottom oiler, and running the first fullsize rear wing on a dragster.

We also owe to him the first successful rear-engine dragster on the West Coast. That rail set track records at Irwindale, Seattle, Orange County International Raceway, and Lions. , starting with a small Austin Bantam roadster and quickly progressing to Top Fuel. He won no less than 30 meets at Eastern dragstrips in 1963-1964.

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