Post by jeff on Jun 14, 2013 11:58:04 GMT -5
I'm a writer working on a story about the search for Don Miller’s “Big Noise II,” and I’m hoping one of you might be able to help. The search began a few years back and received a lot of attention at the time, but nothing came of it. So I’m taking a crack at it. Maybe I'll luck out and help Mr. Miller find the car.
In case you are not aware of the details, I will share what I know…
Don Miller was Roger Penske’s right-hand man for decades, but prior to teaming up with Penske, he was a drag racer. He has been trying to locate one of his competition cars, a 1962 Chevy II Nova that he called “Big Noise II." The car raced on the United Drag Racers Association (UDRA) circuit in the ’60s (mostly in the Midwest) and had a lot of success before it was retired in 1969. Miller’s book, “Miller’s Time: A Lifetime of Speed,” offers these details:
It started off in B/FX with a 352-cubic-inch small block, topped with Hilborn fuel injection, on gasoline. Before we were done, it had a 509-cubic-inch Carolina Mountain Motor, as we called it, an injected Chevrolet based on an overbored 454 block with a stroker crank, usually on gas. It would run in the high 9s. I ended up selling the car, less the engine, to a guy in Saint Louis, and sold the engine to Dickie Harrell. He had that engine in his match-race car when he was killed in Canada in 1971. That same engine then went, I think, to Harry Kalwei, who was on Dickie’s drag team. I never saw it again after I sold it.
According to Miller’s website, www.findbignoise.com, “When I sold it, the car had a Dana 60 rear axle assembly from a Hemi Barracuda. The rear suspension was all hand fabricated by Don Warren and me, and it is an exact 31-inch square tube duplicate of the Ford Thunderbirds from the mid-60s.”
A search for the car was originally launched in July 2010, when Miller’s book was published, but its whereabouts are still unknown. According to Miller, “The last known sighting of the car was by Steve Klosterhof at a nostalgia drag race at Mid-America Raceway in Wentzville, Mo., in either 1999 or 2000.”
I would appreciate any help/information that you can give me. It sure would be fun to locate the car.
Thank you!
In case you are not aware of the details, I will share what I know…
Don Miller was Roger Penske’s right-hand man for decades, but prior to teaming up with Penske, he was a drag racer. He has been trying to locate one of his competition cars, a 1962 Chevy II Nova that he called “Big Noise II." The car raced on the United Drag Racers Association (UDRA) circuit in the ’60s (mostly in the Midwest) and had a lot of success before it was retired in 1969. Miller’s book, “Miller’s Time: A Lifetime of Speed,” offers these details:
It started off in B/FX with a 352-cubic-inch small block, topped with Hilborn fuel injection, on gasoline. Before we were done, it had a 509-cubic-inch Carolina Mountain Motor, as we called it, an injected Chevrolet based on an overbored 454 block with a stroker crank, usually on gas. It would run in the high 9s. I ended up selling the car, less the engine, to a guy in Saint Louis, and sold the engine to Dickie Harrell. He had that engine in his match-race car when he was killed in Canada in 1971. That same engine then went, I think, to Harry Kalwei, who was on Dickie’s drag team. I never saw it again after I sold it.
According to Miller’s website, www.findbignoise.com, “When I sold it, the car had a Dana 60 rear axle assembly from a Hemi Barracuda. The rear suspension was all hand fabricated by Don Warren and me, and it is an exact 31-inch square tube duplicate of the Ford Thunderbirds from the mid-60s.”
A search for the car was originally launched in July 2010, when Miller’s book was published, but its whereabouts are still unknown. According to Miller, “The last known sighting of the car was by Steve Klosterhof at a nostalgia drag race at Mid-America Raceway in Wentzville, Mo., in either 1999 or 2000.”
I would appreciate any help/information that you can give me. It sure would be fun to locate the car.
Thank you!
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