Hie you all.

I have been trying to find some good pictures of old pusher trucks, both old and new pictures but I have come up with close to nothing.

The one I had in mind are the ones from high speed salt flat, drag racing styled pusher trucks. not the big rig pusher truck you find if you search on google pictures on (pusher trucks)

Keep em coming please. I have some idea to build my truck to someting in the pusher truck way

Thanks Jimmy

 

I had a push truck theme in my head for my F1. Basically a stock F1 with a couple inches lowering, some adornments, a built flathead v8 w/stock tranny, rear bumper with hidden class iii hitch for light towing, and front brackets mounted behind the front bumper that come up and over the bumper and hold the push bar. That way I can remove the bar to make it look stock when I want.

 

Here's a suggestion. Do a google image search of old dirt tracks in the southeastern U.S. and maybe some old sprint car/USAC races. You should see quite a few. I grew up watching dirt late models, modifieds, and good old bombers around here. When I was a small kid, the push trucks and the water trucks fascinated me. b

 

Yeap that´s right I can see it in front of me

 

Well I cant tell if it is a truck but it looks cool anyway

 

One more darksider

 

Used to use a 2"x10"x5' bolted to flat iron straps that were bent to drop over the bumper - The Old pushers were usually shop trucks, parts chasers, or racers themselves - They usually were as Scott showed and described above and they were hopped up work trucks not Hotrods - The only crusiers were customs

NOTE: The above descriptions do not apply to the Applachian Mtn areas as Trucks could be Work, Custom, and Hotrods all rolled into one with the addition of enough lights, chrome, flaps, dice,dingle-*****, and Hula Dancers. (Yes I was born in Central Pennsyltucky and spent alot of my wayward youth there and in Southern oHIa)

Check out some of the hreads on this google
http://www.google.com/search?q=old+s...rlz=1I7ACEW_en

 

It's Jo Coddington's old truck:

 

Great link. Now I will have something to read about for a while. Thanks

 

And as a quote to this I can only say....... aaahhhhhhhh

 

Here are a couple more....







I really like how Jo's looked... Heres another view

 

About a year or so ago, when I realized I'd never have the time or money to restore my dad's truck to my ideal rod, I started thinking about doing it up as a pusher.

I was inspired by photos in vintage Hot Rod magazines and my father's movies of him and his friends racing at Fremont Drag Strip circa 1962. That, in addition to the truck having a vintage rod appearance, accessories and patina, it seemed to make sense to go that route. I have asked a friend to mock up a speed shop logo in honor of my father to be painted on the doors and to mock up an old Fremont Drag Strip logo as well.

Anyways...great minds think alike; good luck!

 

I think you may have a romantic vision of what push vehicles were, looked like back in the day. To understand let me take you back to the 50's and 60's racing scene:
There were no "pro" racers back then, event wins "paid" a cheap plastic, metal and wood trophy and the larger events may have put up a couple hundred dollar top eliminator purse. There were no sponsors as such, you may be given a case of oil or a part to test out if you won a lot.
If you were a "Big Name" racer (you won your class at the Indy National Championship so your name and picture was in a national magazine like Hot Rod or Car Craft) the track promoter could use you showing up to attract spectators in their radio ads (SUNDAY!, SUNDAY!, SUNDAY!...) they may offer you a few bucks tow money to cover your gas bill (gas was < 0.50/gal then). Most race cars were owner/driver built in small back yard garages or gas stations out of their personal pockets. Most flat towed their race car with a towbar, few even had a flatbed trailer. Their tow vehicle was their daily driver during the week, or their parts getter. station wagons were popular since they could load their toolbox in the back and the drop down tailgate used as a workbench. Many overnighted in a small tent, in the back of the wagon or on the front seat. Helpers were rare, sometimes were the wife, son, or a neighbor racing buddy. Support teams were non existent. Many times the track announcer would ask for volunteers to use their own car as a chase vehicle to tow back a racer from the end of the track since they were there alone. I did this several times.
Push vehicles were only used for cars that were allowed push starting, typically dragsters. They would push the car ~ 1/2 way down the track, jump out and hand push it backwards to make a 3 point turn (they didn't have a transmission, so no reverse) until it was pointed back towards the starting line. The push vehicle would line up with his wooden push bumper against the push bar on the back of the dragster and at the driver's signal start pushing briskly, just before the start line the driver would let out the clutch and hit the magneto switch, firing the engine. They'd do the 3 point turn thing again, and pull up to the staging line. Many tracks still used a flagman starter rather than a xmas tree.
But even with the dragster teams the push vehicle was purely utilitarian, if the owner had any extra money or time it went into the race car, not the tow vehicle. They were not pristine vehicles with matching paintjobs and graphics, but usually several year old high mileage low cost drivers, chosen for their towing and carrying capacity, held together with baling wire and chewing gum. The only distinguishing feature was the chewed up 2x 12 bolted to the front bumper.

 

Added to what Axracer just said... I read that "pushers" became popular at the Salt Flats... That was when the were going for Land Speed Records, cars were geared so extreme, they had a hard time taking off by themself and were clocked between two flags, they would push the vehicle up the stagging line and then push them up to speed, when the car was able to power itself down the salts.

 

Exactly correct....

Nowadays most LSR push trucks are daily drivers or tow vehicles, but a few still use old trucks/cars for the fun of it. I recall a certain yellow '48-50 F-1 with an overhead camper on the back, it was a regular at Bonneville. Can't recall which race team that was offhand though.....