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From Mr. Lawrences site, by way of Mar-Car from Shane Carson

Maybe not, this is from '86

Patrick Prescott did drive that Gambler on the 1/4 mile wingless , he use to park by Charley Ford when you could still park open wheel cars along the front row at OKC, then he moved up to the Sprints and got that U Haul Sponsorship, I think the frame that Paul Martens has is Tommy Holders ol Gambler which Jack Claxton bought for him to drive and he purchased it from Gene Whitaker and I believe Whitaker got it from Riney, if I remember correctly.

David , I got a question when you all ran those Streaker wheels did you all have issues with them cracking, I heard that Outlaw guys back then were having lots of issues with them cracking as well as just breaking the centers out , just curious?

Hey JD, Andy Hillenburg drove one during his Champ Car days. Kyle Forsythe drove one in the Super Modified class of the early '90'x. The first one was a sprint car chassis converted to a 100" car with the downtubes, if I remember correctly.

That is Mike Stewart of Car and Fleet, fyi (no relation).

To All,

In '85 the 1st CD Gambler we picked up shortly after the Spring Nationals at the Bowl. Gambler had it on display at that event and Tom Sanders had been talking to Shorty about running it if he could get a deal put together with The Old Man, which he did. We made a couple of trips over there to make some changes in the car to work with our motor pkg. This car was a one off car, none of the other Gamblers were built exactly like it. It was lighter in the tubing and the bracing was differant, the frame weighed 150/155 lbs. We had some issues with the dry sump system (tank under seat) and had a couple of motor problems right off the bat but finally we put the tank on the RS like the Rich Car and then we started winning alot, of all the Gamblers this car is my favorite, it is the car that we won Hutch with in '85, I don't remember the exact amount of races it won (Shorty would) out of like 42/45 races it won 32/35 and never ran worse then 3rd unless we DNF'd which we did 3 times with those oil tank problems. Even though Hutch was my favorite win with this car it might not have been it's best race, late in the year we ran an NCRA race at Tulsa we burned a piston in Hot Laps and had to change motors, in the heat Shorty was leading and we burned another piston and had to change motors again and run the B-Fea. which we won and just as Shorty took the check's it went up in smoke again, as he rolled up in the pits oil was pouring out of the breathers and the front of the motor but Shorty said it didn't blow up, what had happened was after the 2nd burned piston and all of the oil that blew out we didn't have any more air filters left so we just took the breathers off and ran the stacks with some half ass wire over them and it swallowed a rock on #3 cylinder which beat the ring land down and pressured up the crank case blowing the front seal out of the timing chain cover. I had to pull everything off the front of the motor and was able to drive the seal back in and stake the hell out of it plus alot of silicone. We had decided we would just pull the pushrods out of that cylinder and the spark plug and start the race and run a couple laps and pull in, well with all the time it took to get the seal back in I didn't have time to do that so I told Shorty F--- It were only going to run a couple laps any way. Well on the green it smoked a little but it was running good and Shorty was passing cars, big problem nobody put fuel in it cause we're only running a couple laps right!! Well about the 10th/12th lap there was a Red and we're running about 7th/8th off the back, when we get to the car FLY started pouring fuel to her and Shorty says what do you think, I told him F--- It your going to win it don't stop no matter what and by this time it had almost quit smoking at all. On the restart it took all of about 3 laps to get the lead and Shorty went on to win by a straight and lapped up to 4th, now it was slick and shiny and you didn't need a ton of power the car worked good, it had great brakes which you needed at that place and Shorty drove the hell out of it, I think it was his best drive in this car and thats stout cause that drive off the back at Hutch was awesome!! When we got home I thought the Old Man was going to kick our ass, he didn't get to make that trip because of health issues, however thats one thing you could have brought it back in a basket and he didn't care as long as you got the win!! Specially against those NCRA guys at Tulsa!! Oh and the motor we pulled the head off and cleaned up the dings in the chamber dropped another piston in it and put it back in the truck. Put a fresh motor in the car and Pat went to work fixing the other 2 motors, which leads up to another story I'll tell later.

Gamblers: We sold the black car to Rick Barksdale, and got the 2nd Gambler (Red Frame), at the end of '85 Pat's health was shaky and he told Shorty and I he was going to have to cut back but he helped us with motors and parts and alittle money but we pretty well were on our own, I started to work for Wolley at his Gambler shop, shortly after I started Greg got what would be the 3rd actual Gambler CD Frame and he would start running it some when he wasn't running his sprint car. Bill & Donnie Bishop would get the 4th frame, it did not use all of the Gambler parts, as you all know my Brother in law is quite the machinst and he built his own clutch system which used the stock GM bell housing, it was a very beautiful car and damn fast it had a premium Boyd Motor, I know Danny Shouse drove it some and maybe Larry Allen also, after this car I couldn't tell you exactly how they fell out, BJ had one, Andy had one at the start of '86 and he was the first one who actually figured out that the first car was differant then the others, Shorty would dominate the '86 NCRA season and win the USAC/NCRA race at OKC and then sell this car to Bob Prescott, then get the Silver Bullett Gambler, G&W Jeff would get one and run it at OKC as a Super Modified with Barksdale,Peters & Shorty, later I believe Charles Riney would get the G&W car and run it, seems like I remember Bobby Telford might have had one also, it may have been Andy's. I know Billy Turner had one but I'm not 100% sure that it was a new one, I think there were only 10/12 100" CD Gambler frames built. If Tommy Sanders is still alive and I think he is he would know for sure. The Gambler that Kyle Forsythe had I believe is in James Perry's barn, I know Mike Bickel has one, Paul Martins has one, and the 91 that Trammel has, the rest who knows!!!!!!!!

 

JD,

The Streaker wheels were VERY LIGHT even by todays standards and yes they did crack, they cracked at the beads, they cracked at the centers. The way the halves were welded together with them being so thin they would crack at the weld, they would get wavy in the drum from the torque that was put on them.

Brain your getting close the RR were shorter then the Rich Car they were STD Gambler sprint parts, I always wanted to put longer RR on these cars but never did. The motor placement is one of the big key difference in the first car, the CSH is a 1/2 inch lower and the CSA was 2.75% if you look at the header tube location you can see these differances. All the other cars were built with 0% CSA.

To All,

In '85 the 1st CD Gambler we picked up shortly after the Spring Nationals at the Bowl. Gambler had it on display at that event and Tom Sanders had been talking to Shorty about running it if he could get a deal put together with The Old Man, which he did. We made a couple of trips over there to make some changes in the car to work with our motor pkg. This car was a one off car, none of the other Gamblers were built exactly like it. It was lighter in the tubing and the bracing was differant, the frame weighed 150/155 lbs. We had some issues with the dry sump system (tank under seat) and had a couple of motor problems right off the bat but finally we put the tank on the RS like the Rich Car and then we started winning alot, of all the Gamblers this car is my favorite, it is the car that we won Hutch with in '85, I don't remember the exact amount of races it won (Shorty would) out of like 42/45 races it won 32/35 and never ran worse then 3rd unless we DNF'd which we did 3 times with those oil tank problems. Even though Hutch was my favorite win with this car it might not have been it's best race, late in the year we ran an NCRA race at Tulsa we burned a piston in Hot Laps and had to change motors, in the heat Shorty was leading and we burned another piston and had to change motors again and run the B-Fea. which we won and just as Shorty took the check's it went up in smoke again, as he rolled up in the pits oil was pouring out of the breathers and the front of the motor but Shorty said it didn't blow up, what had happened was after the 2nd burned piston and all of the oil that blew out we didn't have any more air filters left so we just took the breathers off and ran the stacks with some half ass wire over them and it swallowed a rock on #3 cylinder which beat the ring land down and pressured up the crank case blowing the front seal out of the timing chain cover. I had to pull everything off the front of the motor and was able to drive the seal back in and stake the hell out of it plus alot of silicone. We had decided we would just pull the pushrods out of that cylinder and the spark plug and start the race and run a couple laps and pull in, well with all the time it took to get the seal back in I didn't have time to do that so I told Shorty F--- It were only going to run a couple laps any way. Well on the green it smoked a little but it was running good and Shorty was passing cars, big problem nobody put fuel in it cause we're only running a couple laps right!! Well about the 10th/12th lap there was a Red and we're running about 7th/8th off the back, when we get to the car FLY started pouring fuel to her and Shorty says what do you think, I told him F--- It your going to win it don't stop no matter what and by this time it had almost quit smoking at all. On the restart it took all of about 3 laps to get the lead and Shorty went on to win by a straight and lapped up to 4th, now it was slick and shiny and you didn't need a ton of power the car worked good, it had great brakes which you needed at that place and Shorty drove the hell out of it, I think it was his best drive in this car and thats stout cause that drive off the back at Hutch was awesome!! When we got home I thought the Old Man was going to kick our ass, he didn't get to make that trip because of health issues, however thats one thing you could have brought it back in a basket and he didn't care as long as you got the win!! Specially against those NCRA guys at Tulsa!! Oh and the motor we pulled the head off and cleaned up the dings in the chamber dropped another piston in it and put it back in the truck. Put a fresh motor in the car and Pat went to work fixing the other 2 motors, which leads up to another story I'll tell later.

Gamblers: We sold the black car to Rick Barksdale, and got the 2nd Gambler (Red Frame), at the end of '85 Pat's health was shaky and he told Shorty and I he was going to have to cut back but he helped us with motors and parts and alittle money but we pretty well were on our own, I started to work for Wolley at his Gambler shop, shortly after I started Greg got what would be the 3rd actual Gambler CD Frame and he would start running it some when he wasn't running his sprint car. Bill & Donnie Bishop would get the 4th frame, it did not use all of the Gambler parts, as you all know my Brother in law is quite the machinst and he built his own clutch system which used the stock GM bell housing, it was a very beautiful car and damn fast it had a premium Boyd Motor, I know Danny Shouse drove it some and maybe Larry Allen also, after this car I couldn't tell you exactly how they fell out, BJ had one, Andy had one at the start of '86 and he was the first one who actually figured out that the first car was differant then the others, Shorty would dominate the '86 NCRA season and win the USAC/NCRA race at OKC and then sell this car to Bob Prescott, then get the Silver Bullett Gambler, G&W Jeff would get one and run it at OKC as a Super Modified with Barksdale,Peters & Shorty, later I believe Charles Riney would get the G&W car and run it, seems like I remember Bobby Telford might have had one also, it may have been Andy's. I know Billy Turner had one but I'm not 100% sure that it was a new one, I think there were only 10/12 100" CD Gambler frames built. If Tommy Sanders is still alive and I think he is he would know for sure. The Gambler that Kyle Forsythe had I believe is in James Perry's barn, I know Mike Bickel has one, Paul Martins has one, and the 91 that Trammel has, the rest who knows!!!!!!!!

 

David, great story. Is this the car that you ran at the 1985 NCRA/USAC race at OKC?

Ray

Ray,

Yes, the black frame (1st Gambler) was the car we ran at the '85 USAC/NCRA race. We ran 2nd to Pete Fraizer on the Friday night weekly show. Then won our qualifing race on Saturday. In the A-FEA we dropped back a little at first to about 6th but after a few laps Shorty moved back up to 4th it was a real tight race until about 10 laps to go, Shorty hooked the guard rail coming off turn 4 and knocked about 1/2 the bead lock bolts off thr RR tire, he kept going and with 2 laps to go you could tell the RR was going flat and Shorty passed Ewell and almost won it at the end, on the front straight the RR went flat so we had to air it back up, you could hear and feel the air leaking around the ring at first everything was alright so we went back to the pits for inspection we took the RR off and gave it back to CM as it was a test tire, we weighed and USAC checked the motor 339 cu in right on the money and said your good to go, well about this time Rollie Beale came up and tells us we're DQ because the RR had a bleeder in it, now before we went out there tech guy looked at the wheel and we had a screw in it locked down and he put his little sticker on it, same guy checked it on the front straight and after he saw that the bolt was in the bleeder with his little seal and it was leaking around the ring he ok'd it again. Beale came up with this DQ'd deal about 45/50 minutes later, Bobby Kraft had looked at the wheel and he says he didn't take the screw out and I believe him, however he was moaning about it haveing that bleeder in it period so he got Rollie over there to ck it and I personally think that dick head took it out and DQ'd us, those USAC guys didn't like the NCRA guys and for sure a WOO guy, they gave us crap all the time. You know the win in '86 for me was more justice for F--king us in '85 and beating Vogler and the rest of those USAC guys was just gravy on the steak!!!!!!

Ray,

Yes, the black frame (1st Gambler) was the car we ran at the '85 USAC/NCRA race. We ran 2nd to Pete Fraizer on the Friday night weekly show. Then won our qualifing race on Saturday. In the A-FEA we dropped back a little at first to about 6th but after a few laps Shorty moved back up to 4th it was a real tight race until about 10 laps to go, Shorty hooked the guard rail coming off turn 4 and knocked about 1/2 the bead lock bolts off thr RR tire, he kept going and with 2 laps to go you could tell the RR was going flat and Shorty passed Ewell and almost won it at the end, on the front straight the RR went flat so we had to air it back up, you could hear and feel the air leaking around the ring at first everything was alright so we went back to the pits for inspection we took the RR off and gave it back to CM as it was a test tire, we weighed and USAC checked the motor 339 cu in right on the money and said your good to go, well about this time Rollie Beale came up and tells us we're DQ because the RR had a bleeder in it, now before we went out there tech guy looked at the wheel and we had a screw in it locked down and he put his little sticker on it, same guy checked it on the front straight and after he saw that the bolt was in the bleeder with his little seal and it was leaking around the ring he ok'd it again. Beale came up with this DQ'd deal about 45/50 minutes later, Bobby Kraft had looked at the wheel and he says he didn't take the screw out and I believe him, however he was moaning about it haveing that bleeder in it period so he got Rollie over there to ck it and I personally think that dick head took it out and DQ'd us, those USAC guys didn't like the NCRA guys and for sure a WOO guy, they gave us crap all the time. You know the win in '86 for me was more justice for F--king us in '85 and beating Vogler and the rest of those USAC guys was just gravy on the steak!!!!!!

David , That was a great race/series for several short years , to bad that could not have continued, it would have been even a bigger race over the years than it already was with USAC/NCRA and all the rivalries it created in just a few short years but circumstances prevented that.

You know I was thinking the other day about the last series that ran 100" cars and was really successful and in 87/88 ,there was the MSCA series ran by racers/owners.( Modified Sprint Car Series), Riney,G&W Trucking Gillam , Charley Ford and McClelland and Lemmons from Tulsa , that deal was really a good deal I thought and seemed to be a good thing,$1,000 to win shows , remember going to Enid and they had 67 Super Mods there at that show , most 100" frames I ever seen at one place and had a really big crowd and lots of excitement. it was quite a deal and had like 8 heats and 3 B mains and the A.

I know that MAPS series Stan Durrett came in with at that time as well and stayed in it after the MSCA kind of went away because of issues that came up amongst folks , but it did not ever seem to catch on like the other one did.

I have said this before , not sure why maybe economy or other issues but seems no race or series really has it all today, Big Crowds , Lots of Cars , I have even heard that races that are still BIG like the Knoxville Nat. (I personally have never been) but people who go all the time say that it has lost some of it's luster and does not sell out anymore , about the only thing I can say is quite big this day and time is the Chili Bowl.

Engine sits maybe an 1"-2" lower in 1985?

I know Bromme was playnig with engine heights in '87 on a Gambler setup out west, which led to his leaving Nance for Gambler chassis.