Any enthusiast who has ever uttered the phrase “duration at fifty” has a connection to Harvey Crane, Jr. The founder of Crane Cams in 1953, Harvey was an innovator in the truest sense of the word and passed away on Friday, May 31 at the age of 81. Many of today’s camshaft masters have built their knowledge on the foundations that Harvey Crane established.

Paul Norwood choked up while talking about Willie Robinson. It was understandable; their 46-year close friendship had come to an abrupt end when "Big Willie" died May, 2012, at age 69. The pain was still fresh, and the memories were beginning to be recognized as that—memories. No new ones would ever be made. Not for Paul, not for Willie's other friends, and not for countless drag racers. Yet those memories contribute to how he will be remembered: as a part of history.

One of the most iconic names in automotive history, Shelby became an international star in the 1950s as a race car driver, earning Sports Illustrated's "Sports Car Driver of the Year" honors in 1956 and 1957, then winning the 1959 24 Hours of LeMans in an Aston Martin with co-driver Roy Salvadori. A hereditary heart condition put an end to Shelby's driving career in 1960, but the lessons learned while driving world-renowned sports cars gave him the idea to build his own car using an AC Ace body and a small-block Ford V-8 engine. The result was the Cobra, a name that Shelby said came to him in a dream, and a company called Shelby American.

We'd like to introduce you to Nikki Phillips, June Cochran (Playmate of the Year, 1963), and, of course, Linda Vaughn on the far right. This was shot by either Pat Brollier or Gerry Stiles at the NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis in September 1971 and unearthed by archivist Thomas Voehringer. Since we are geeks, we first noticed the cart, the Schiefer clutch, and the Hurst stickers. Then we wondered if it was a Cushman and who smashed the headlight and how. Finally, we ogled the on-board munchables. There is something wrong with our priorities.

Remember slot cars? In the dark ages before simulators, video games, and even personal computers, there was hardly a boy in America who didn't race slot cars. Set up on the living room floor, a dining room table, or in a corner of the garage, a slot car track was the closest thing to real racing available to young, aspiring champions. Car magazines featured slot car buildups and race reports alongside articles on fullsize hot rods-until the slot car craze died.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait-don't turn the page. Yeah, we know what you're thinking: This is probably one of those stories about contacting my congressman. Booooring. And we know those types of articles sorta make your eyes glaze over like a 5 a.m., fresh-from-the-oven, Original Glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut. Speaking of, mmmm doughnut.

When Customs Were King
We have to go way back for this archive photo. It was taken in the early days of Car Craft when it was as much a custom car book as it was "The Show How Magazine." Among the kings of the kustomizers in 1955 was the man himself, George Barris (left). Then-current Editor Dick Day (right) thought customs were what would grow this fledgling title, as at that point CC was barely two years old. Later, Car Craft would survive an escapade with karting and finally find a home with drag racing in the mid-'60s. While these may have been the CC offices, the small photos pinned to the wall are stills from the then-popular Dragnet TV show starring Jack Webb as Joe Friday. In this particular episode called the "The Big Rod," Friday and his partner, Frank Smith, investigate the theft of four hot rods. Friday got help from the NHRA on his way to busting the bad guys, and our sister book Hot Rod did a story. The board on the far left lists all the story assignments for the Oct. '55 issue, which had the cover theme "Build a Fiberglass Car," and the tech column back then was called "What's Your Problem?" The classics never go out of style.

Cops and Racer Game
Car Craft has always had a reputation for being a raconteur. Never was this more prevalent than in the late '60s through the early '70s with a young, audacious staff collected in an office located on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of where it was all happening in Los Angeles. In fact, the Car Craft offices were mere doors down from the so-called Riot Hyatt hotel that was the raucous on-the-road stop for famous rock 'n' roll bands such as the Doors and Led Zeppelin. It should not be surprising then that this profuse style would find its way onto the pages of this magazine.

DIAMOND BAR, CA - Full-time students in the United States and Canada pursuing a career in the automotive industry may be eligible for financial assistance through the SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund (SMSF).Over the past two decades, SEMA scholarships have supported over 700 students with more than $1,000,000 in scholarship awards. The program rewards the best and brightest students engaged in studies leading to careers in the automotive aftermarket or related fields. The application deadline for the upcoming year is April 1, 2009. SEMA will offer four-year, two-year, graduate, loan forgiveness and member/dependent scholarships.

Oppose Federal "Cash for Clunkers" Program

Cover Section: Build a Better Daily Driver

25 Ways to Build a Better Daily Driver Tips and tricks to make your daily commuter more commutable

Special Section: 35th Anniversary Car Craft All-Star Drag Racing Team

35 Years of Drag Racing Machines We look back at the evolution of Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock

Dominant Dixon Larry Dixon Jr. has set the Top Fuel world on fire this year driving the Miller Lite dragster

35th Anniversary Commemorative Poster

All-Star Team: The Early Years Drag racing pioneers look back at the impact the award had on their careers

Tech

Testing the StealthRAM Holley's new EFI system for small-block Chevys is super-trick

How to Rebuild a Posi Useful tech if you've wasted yours doing burnouts

Project SuperNova, Part IV Disc brakes stop good

Lashing for Power This dyno test is yet another compelling reason to step up to a solid-lifter cam

Buttoning Up the 'Bu Our '78 Malibu gets some final tweaks and an exhaust system and makes a trip to the chassis dyno

A Look at Gauges "Mechanical or electric?"--it's the burning question

Features

David's Slingshot Big power in a small package makes a giant-killing combination

GM's '03 New Car Preview The General's serving rice for dinner

Super Sport Redux A race car with street/strip roots

Departments

Point of View

Readers' Pages

Straight Scoop

Heads Up News

Speed Shop

Tech Talk

Hot rodding and racing lost one of its luminaries this past weekend when John Buttera passed away from complications of a brain tumor. "Lil John," as he was known to the industry, was 67 at the time of his passing.

Renowned hot rod builder and HOT ROD Magazine's 1988 "Man of the Year" Boyd Coddington died early Wednesday at the age of 63. The cause of death has not yet been released.

GLENDORA, Calif. (Sept. 28, 2007) - Wally Parks, the driving force behind the formation of NHRA, has died at the age of 94. It was Parks' vision, goals and unconditional commitment to the need for speed and side-by-side racing in a safer, more controlled environment that created what is today the world's largest motorsports governing body.

On the morning of March 16, 1988 Mickey and Trudy Thompson were murderedin front of their home in California's San Gabriel Mountains. The doublemurder went unsolved for 18 years until today when, in a Pasadenacourthouse, Thompson's ex-business partner Michael Goodwin was convictedfor the killings.

For all you readers who dug our junkyard tour of Curboy's Auto Wreckingin the June '05 issue, here's a tour of another great salvage yard thatspecializes in vintage and classic machinery. But unlike Curboy's, whosedamp Massachusetts location contributes to astonishing levels of rust,Desert Valley Auto Parts is located in super-arid Phoenix, Arizona, soits inventory of 5,000-plus (yes, 5,000) pre-'80 cars is mostlyrock-solid.

Make no mistake, Ford wanted to create a little buzz when it introduced the GT40 concept car three years ago at the Detroit auto show. That buzz has turned into a roaring boom with its 21st century version of the legendary four-time Le Mans-winning GT40 race cars from the '60s. Aesthetically speaking, the new GT virtually mimics the contours of the original GT40s, however unlike the original, you can expect a plush interior that's ergonomically designed for comfort rather than the flat aluminum panels of a purpose-built race car.

There's nothing better than wandering around boneyards looking for diamonds in the rubble. Now imagine those diamonds are GTO Judges and Shaker hoods. And it's real. On a recent winter trip to the East Coast, we visited Curboy's Auto Wrecking in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and were blown away by the astonishing assortment of rare muscle on the premises. Curboy's has been family owned for three generations and has a thriving late-model parts division. But the guys also have a soft spot for vintage tin and have been stashing it away for over four decades.

American racing has always been dominated by the drag and circle track varieties. After all, the U.S. is an enormous place where many (if not most) of the roads are arrow-straight and virtually every one of the country's 3,141 counties has a fairground with an oval horse track. So it was only natural for us to race ... well ... there. It's Europe that's filled with twisty roads up the sides of mountains and former goat paths through vineyards--they're the ones who came up with road racing.

The steady flow of Stupid Gearhead Stories from our readers proves thatthe trials and tribulations of hapless hot rodders never cease, and thedeath-defying antics of our readers never cease to amaze us. But otherthan a few bumps and bruises, our luckless readers always come away withnothing worse than a fractured ego and a funny story. -Matt King

Oldsmobile and Cadillac had already made it to market with overhead-valve V-8s by the dawn of the '50s, but in 1951 Chrysler introduced an amazing engine-the Hemi V-8. The new engine was based around combustion chamber technology that had been partially developed during the war for aircraft and tank engines. The core of this architecture was the hemispherical-shaped combustion chambers that placed the valves in a stacked configuration at opposing angles. This design increased the efficiency of combustion and allowed for bigger valves, centrally located spark plugs, and more direct routing of the intake ports. By the time the Hemi made it to production for the '51 Chryslers, it sported 331 ci and compression that cranked out an astounding-for-the-day 180 hp.

Oldsmobile and Cadillac had already made it to market with overhead-valve V-8s by the dawn of the '50s, but in 1951 Chrysler introduced an amazing engine-the Hemi V-8. The new engine was based around combustion chamber technology that had been partially developed during the war for aircraft and tank engines. The core of this architecture was the hemispherical-shaped combustion chambers that placed the valves in a stacked configuration at opposing angles. This design increased the efficiency of combustion and allowed for bigger valves, centrally located spark plugs, and more direct routing of the intake ports. By the time the Hemi made it to production for the '51 Chryslers, it sported 331 ci and compression that cranked out an astounding-for-the-day 180 hp.

It's the marvel of electronics! You have successfully loaded the CC URL from the magazine into your browser, and now you're free to peruse the three preview stories. You'll also be able to look back at the cover and the Table of Contents for issues you may have missed. Enjoy!

carcraft.com Facts:

Did you know can upload your own photos and a description of your car in the Readers’ Rides section? Click on Cars & Events in the left navigation bar, then select Readers’ Rides from the drop-down menu. Click on the Submit Photo button on the lower right of the screen. Be sure to follow the directions--particularly regarding photo sizes and formats--otherwise your photos will be distorted.

Any time you wish to return to the home page, just click on the Car Craft logo. It’s available from anywhere on the site!

To narrow down the list of articles in any index (such as Tech Articles or How-To found on the within the navigation bar), click on the Make, Model & Year drop-down (which will intially say "All Makes."). For example, click on the All Makes text to reveal the list of Makes. Select the one you want to view, and the Model list for that make will appear. Then select the Model, and a list of Years will appear. When you have selected the items you want, click on the "Go!" button.

You can click on the "Go!" button at any stage of the process. Thus, if you wish to see all Ford stories--but only Ford--click on "Go!" after selecting Ford from the Make drop-down. If you wish to see all Ford Mustang stories, click on "Go!" after selecting your Make and Model. To see only 1999 Ford Mustangs, click on "Go!" after selecting from all three drop-downs. This function allows you to also see stories from our sister sites, such as hotrod.com or fourwheeler.com.

Ask anyone who's worked around hot rod magazines long enough to have a valid answer what the most elaborate magazine cover shoot of all time was, and you'll probably get the same response: the time Car Craft talked General Motors into shutting down its Van Nuys, California, assembly plant for a photo shoot.

Much like man’s rise up from his cave-dwelling, knuckle-dragging beginnings, three pro classes of the NHRA—Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock—have evolved from rather rudimentary foundations. In commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the Car Craft Magazine All-Star Drag Racing Team, we’ll look at some of the most prominent technological advances that have taken place since the inception of the All-Star awards in 1967, beginning with the biggest dog in NHRA drag racing’s pound—Top Fuel. For added perspective, we also interviewed a prominent drag racing legend from each class to get his take on the subject. So sit back, imagine the smell of nitro, and enjoy the history lesson contained in the sidebars below.