I was posting on my blog today about TV Tommy IVO's four engine dragster,that ran from the 60s through the late 70s early 80s.

This thing was unbelievable to watch run down the track.Did anyone out here ever see this thing run back in the day besides me?

Here's a quick article about it. 1A Tony's Blog Four Engine Dragster

 

Never saw it run, but good stuff keeps turning up on Youtube.

It was actually a V16 per side and it had 4wd!

YouTube - Americas Car Collection - "Ivo Series" Showboat-How It Works

 

Thanks for posting that video. Mickey Thompson was a smart guy, he invented a ton of stuff.

I was watching a show one night on TV with Mickey Thompsons son Danny Thompson, and he said his father called him late one night, telling him to get down to the garage.

Danny said it was late he didn't want to leave the house,but his father said get down to the garage now I have something to show you.

He went down to Mickeys garage and he handed Danny a sledge hammer and said hit that 2 liter coke bottle filled with water.

Danny looked at him and said you called me all the way down here for this? Mickey said hit that bottle of water as hard as you can with the sledge hammer,so Danny did and Mickey said what did you feel,Danny said I didn't feel anything at all.

Mickey said EXACTLY....that was the birth of the water filled safer barriers you see at stuff like the road coarses and formula tracks.

He was a pretty interesting guy.

 

Little "interesting" pieces of information involving Tommy Ivo's 4 engine dragster:

- Originally, Tommy himself drove that car, until Disney found out. (He was a member of the original Mickey Mouse Club at the time). Tommy then hired a young hot shot driver by the name of Don Prudhomme to drive the car for him. I wonder what ever happenned to that Don guy (sarcasm).

- The car originally was a dragster, and was later fitted (to some extent) with a Buick station wagon body. IIRC, it was then called the "Wagonmaster" when it ran in that configuration.

- The original engines in the car were 401 cubic inch Buick "Nailhead" V8s that ran Iskenderian (Isky) "5 cycle" camshafts to produce a very interesting sounding idle. The engines also ran Hilborn injection.

Most of the above information came from an article in "Hot Rod" magazine when they did a biography of "TV Tommy" Ivo, and his cars, from the legendary Model T touring he had (Built by Norm Grabowski and later used in the movie "S*x Kittens Go to College"), to the 4 engine dragster. Unfortunately, I do not remember the month and year of that issue at the present time, but I do remember that the issue had a lot of information about that 4 engine dragster.

Thank you for reminding me about that wonderful piece of drag racing history.

 

I watch allot of late night TV...lol

I remembered watching cars run as a kid that I'd give anything to watch run again. If Disney called me and I was in his shoes I would have said,come on down and look at this thing....It's all Mickey Moused...

 

yep seen it as a wee one with my gramps and unk at drag city a " LONG "time ago in the near distant past of my childhood . i was constantly being subjected to the abuse and illicit influences of things that go fast .......................................

 

Sigh, even though I followed cars during the 60's I did NOT go out to the strip -- which has (of course) long since closed.

Some trivia that I read re Tommy Ivo
- He had a twin engine car that was supposedly quicker than the 4 engine one -- but probably not as much of a draw.

- He was one of the first to get appearance money


Here's a link to a French video shot at the Lion's drag strip that you might find interesting. The commentator is yammering in French, but you can hear a lot of motor sounds to go with an interesting mix of activities at the strip.

Vidéo Ina - Les dragsters, vidéo Les dragsters, vidéo Médias Entretiens - Archives vidéos Médias Entretiens : Ina.fr

(The original article was on Jalopnik, but I had to go to this site to see the vid)

 

i was at Englishtown NJ raceway park the one time that car ran there.
it was a very impressive sight.

 

I wonder how he has the ignition set up for all four engines.

 

looks like Vertex magnitos.

 

Wow!!!!!!! Thanks for shaking my memory!!!!
I remember the car and Tommy "TV" Ivo, and seeing the car on television, but, I don't remember seeing it in person.

There used to be a twin engined dragster or 'rail' called "The Freight-train" (sp??) that I've seen run several times, at Capitol Raceway, in Crofton, MD, years ago.
What a machine!

 

hey ranger thanx for the vid !!!!!!!!! dain thing got 4 miles to the gallon ??????? criminy my hipo briggs and stratton in my 53 only gets 8.5average and it don't go nowhere near as fast as that thing !!! i remeber the freight train myself ...... i'm not sure if it was the one from memory that ran two sbc's hooked together or not .i watch a lot of gasser and altered videos on the tube . like seeing images of the man whose image is forever burned into my memory ..... WILD ***** BORSCH & THE WINGED EXPRESS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! one hand on the wheel the other on the cage and slideways down the track !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

a few others i remember seeing run and up close were the hemi under glass cuda, and the little red wagon

 

The little red wagon always made an appearance at the drag strip up here too.

 

We had a strip about a mile from our farm, so we were regulars up there from about '63 to '69 when it closed, iirc. Don't recall Ivo ever making it to our area. (Arlington WA) The French film is from that era, I think I saw a '65 Chevelle at about 1:00, and a '66 Chevelle at 3:55, so I'm guessing it's late '66 or early '67. The top fuel record shown on one jacket was 7.78, and I know Arlington had the record briefly in '67 iirc at just under that.

That was the time when the tires improved. Note Goodyear tires are evident. They and M&H were in a "tire war" in '67.

Drag Racing History: The Mongoose Takes You Inside the 1967 Tire Wars | Drag Racer

They changed from 354s to 392s and speeds marched up and ETs down constantly.

Anyway, the other thing is the gas mileage. Ivo misspeaks at about 3:55 when he says "4 miles to the gallon". He has just said it took a gallon to make a run. A run = 1/4 mile, thus his car got 4 GALLONS to the mile.

Anyway, great posts and videos.