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Vintage Desert Racing Blazer
- Thread starter ntsqd
- Start date
bigyellowjimmy
1/2 ton status
Cool, gotta love the slotted mags and spinners. 
Some related info that just turned up:
I had a very nice conversation with Bob Gordon at the LDC last year about the Blazer he drove back in the late 70's early 80's. He said Chevy built 4 aluminum block motors and gave 2 to Mickey Thompson and 1 to Scoop (Frank Vessels) and the other to him. He "claims" they would do 140mph on the hwy. Driving them was "a lot of fun" but they weren’t very forgiving in the rough stuff. The wing on the top of the Blazer would come in handy when the Blazer would kick at high speeds, the wind grabbing the Blazer when it was nose heavy and forcing the rear back down IN MID AIR. The smile on his face when he told the story made it that much more believable. I don't care if it's true or not, a great story (I believed it).
--- rory ward
-After looking at Scoops Blazer... it sure looks light weight. Not a lot of cage, fiberglass body? Any idea of the weight? Same goes for Big Oly.-
No weights for either the Blazers or Oly that I could find in any of my literature but I'm guessing between 3000-3500 lbs. Answered some of the questions I've always had about the Blazers this morning when I was digging around in the magazines making copies of articles for folks. I am easily distracted when I start looking at the old stuff.....
Parnelli had two different Blazers and had very little success with either. The first one was a 92" wheelbase unit and was probably built in '75. Raced it with very little success and then had another one built in '77? that had a 100" wheelbase but looked almost identical. Difference in lengths is discernable between the back of the main roll cage hoop and the rear wheel-inches added there. I found the 92" wb on the first one interesting because that's the wb of an early Bronco. And since Big Oly and the Blazers were all designed and built by the same guy (Dick Russell), there's probably more than a little coincidence in the wheelbase choice. The 100" wb truck may have just been raced once? before PJ disbanded the team and sold the trucks. One article I read mentioned the second one was built specifically for Riverside competition and when it didn't win the first time out, PJ parked it. Looking at Kash's pictures, it's obvious that the later unit (100" wb) is the one his dad drove. I also have an article here that shows Scoop in the truck after winning Parker with it. They mention how PJ had little success with the trucks but how Gordon and Vessels had much more success with them. Good stuff.
Also found a neat-o article about a 2WD Blazer that Rod Hall and Steve Mizel drove in a rally in Africa in 1980. Nice truck-predated their Ramcharger efforts by several years on that continent. Never knew Rod drove a Blazer. Have some pics too of him driving the Maverick in an early 1000 too.
--TZ
I had a very nice conversation with Bob Gordon at the LDC last year about the Blazer he drove back in the late 70's early 80's. He said Chevy built 4 aluminum block motors and gave 2 to Mickey Thompson and 1 to Scoop (Frank Vessels) and the other to him. He "claims" they would do 140mph on the hwy. Driving them was "a lot of fun" but they weren’t very forgiving in the rough stuff. The wing on the top of the Blazer would come in handy when the Blazer would kick at high speeds, the wind grabbing the Blazer when it was nose heavy and forcing the rear back down IN MID AIR. The smile on his face when he told the story made it that much more believable. I don't care if it's true or not, a great story (I believed it).
--- rory ward
-After looking at Scoops Blazer... it sure looks light weight. Not a lot of cage, fiberglass body? Any idea of the weight? Same goes for Big Oly.-
No weights for either the Blazers or Oly that I could find in any of my literature but I'm guessing between 3000-3500 lbs. Answered some of the questions I've always had about the Blazers this morning when I was digging around in the magazines making copies of articles for folks. I am easily distracted when I start looking at the old stuff.....
Parnelli had two different Blazers and had very little success with either. The first one was a 92" wheelbase unit and was probably built in '75. Raced it with very little success and then had another one built in '77? that had a 100" wheelbase but looked almost identical. Difference in lengths is discernable between the back of the main roll cage hoop and the rear wheel-inches added there. I found the 92" wb on the first one interesting because that's the wb of an early Bronco. And since Big Oly and the Blazers were all designed and built by the same guy (Dick Russell), there's probably more than a little coincidence in the wheelbase choice. The 100" wb truck may have just been raced once? before PJ disbanded the team and sold the trucks. One article I read mentioned the second one was built specifically for Riverside competition and when it didn't win the first time out, PJ parked it. Looking at Kash's pictures, it's obvious that the later unit (100" wb) is the one his dad drove. I also have an article here that shows Scoop in the truck after winning Parker with it. They mention how PJ had little success with the trucks but how Gordon and Vessels had much more success with them. Good stuff.
Also found a neat-o article about a 2WD Blazer that Rod Hall and Steve Mizel drove in a rally in Africa in 1980. Nice truck-predated their Ramcharger efforts by several years on that continent. Never knew Rod drove a Blazer. Have some pics too of him driving the Maverick in an early 1000 too.
--TZ
Bubba Ray Boudreaux
1 ton status
Holy old school Batman.
When I saw the wing, I was thinking "Big Oly" and with the story, it makes sense.
Cool post
When I saw the wing, I was thinking "Big Oly" and with the story, it makes sense.
Cool post
Nice post! 
surpip
1 ton status
man i love the old school racing, of any kind, those guys kicked ass with nothing to go on but "hey let try this out, this might work" now a days we have all their experance to thank for all the tech. we take for granted.
that stuff rocks!!!!
that stuff rocks!!!!
darkshadow
1 ton status
thats cool , glory days of wenching
got to love those mags!
got to love those mags!
