Woodward Garage -Daytona 88, Bill Wright archives. NEW LINK ADDED MORE INFO

[odcics2]

Bill Wright was the manager of the Woodward Garage, based in Huntsville, Alabama.
He was the man behind a lot of the innovation that took place there in 1969 and 1970.

The #88 Chrysler Engineering Daytona was based there, along with the Chrysler Engineering SuperBird.

This link will take you to the main page of documentation.  YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THE INFO HERE !      

http://www.billwrightdocumentarchive.com/

Many thanks to Ken Noffsinger and his site, aerowarriors.com, for getting all this published, so aerofolks can enjoy the background history.
Lot's of thanks also to Paul Wright for sharing his dad's archives and allowing it to be published, many decades after the fact.

I think Bill would be proud !!




Greg

[JB400]

Thanks for posting   I'll have to spend some time going over it

[birdsandbees]

Well that'll take some HOURS of reading! Thanks for the link Greg.

[tan top]

 wow this is  awesome ,  love reading about this kind of stuff ,  I know what I will be doing the weekend now       thanks for sharing the link ! Greg

[1969daytona]

Thank You!

[LilRedDave]

Wow, come across any connection or confirmation on the Gurney Superbird is the demise of Curious Blue yet? Great share Greg.

[Aero426]

Wow, come across any connection or confirmation on the Gurney Superbird is the demise of Curious Blue yet? Great share Greg.

It certainly helped connect some dots in my opinion.  

1.  If you read the monthly 1970 reports, mention is made of the engineering Plymouth being car 097.     The first Superbird built at Nichels was numbered P-97.     Just as Nichels DC-93 became engineering car 093,  it is not a stretch to say that  P-97 became engineering car 097.   As an aside, we know that car #43 was P-98 making it the second Superbird framed at Nichels.   So there is some numerical continuity.    We know Pettys cars likely came a little later as the deal was not signed until late.

2. The Gurney car was likely the only Superbird ready for pre-season testing.    Then there is the photo of the Gurney Bird at Nichels during the time of the Nichels open house in November 1969.    The December 4th, 1969 memo mentions both 093 and  the "first Superbird race car" to be available at Riverside.   I have a photo of the Gurney car running solo at Riverside with absolutely no contingencies.    It was probably not on a race weekend, but I can't say for sure.

3.  The Gurney car went back to Level Cross immediately after Riverside for work.    There are the photos that surfaced on Facebook of the well used car in shop for refurb.

4.  Bill Wright's reports make mention of an "ex-Petty Plymouth" being picked up at the proving grounds and being prepared for testing Talladega in spring.    Further down in the report, he lists car P-97 as being readied for testing at Talladega  in springtime.     The notation "ex-Petty Plymouth" would seem factually incorrect, although the car spent time there and was painted Petty Blue by he spring tests.    

If P-97/097  was the "first Superbird built", seen at Nichels in a November photo,  tested at Riverside in December,  raced at Riverside by Gurney in January, and shows up in numerous tests later in the year,  can anyone present evidence that these are not the same car?  

[odcics2]

Wow, come across any connection or confirmation on the Gurney Superbird is the demise of Curious Blue yet? Great share Greg.

It certainly helped connect some dots in my opinion.  

1.  If you read the monthly 1970 reports, mention is made of the engineering Plymouth being car 097.     The first Superbird built at Nichels was numbered P-97.     Just as Nichels DC-93 became engineering car 093,  it is not a stretch to say that  P-97 became engineering car 097.   As an aside, we know that car #43 was P-98 making it the second Superbird framed at Nichels.   So there is some numerical continuity.    We know Pettys cars likely came a little later as the deal was not signed until late.

2. The Gurney car was likely the only Superbird ready for pre-season testing.    Then there is the photo of the Gurney Bird at Nichels during the time of the Nichels open house in November 1969.    The December 4th, 1969 memo mentions both 093 and  the "first Superbird race car" to be available at Riverside.   I have a photo of the Gurney car running solo at Riverside with absolutely no contingencies.    It was probably not on a race weekend, but I can't say for sure.

3.  The Gurney car went back to Level Cross immediately after Riverside for work.    There are the photos that surfaced on Facebook of the well used car in shop for refurb.

4.  Bill Wright's reports make mention of an "ex-Petty Plymouth" being picked up at the proving grounds and being prepared for testing Talladega in spring.    Further down in the report, he lists car P-97 as being readied for testing at Talladega  in springtime.     The notation "ex-Petty Plymouth" would seem factually incorrect, although the car spent time there and was painted Petty Blue by he spring tests.    

If P-97/097  was the "first Superbird built", seen at Nichels in a November photo,  tested at Riverside in December,  raced at Riverside by Gurney in January, and shows up in numerous tests later in the year,  can anyone present evidence that these are not the same car?  

All you say sounds correct...

[Ghoste]

Wow!  There is a real wealth in that link.  Thanks.

[odcics2]

Wow!  There is a real wealth in that link.  Thanks.

Indeed there is...

Keep the site in mind for those cold winter days coming up.   Good, factual, reading material.
A lot of "firsts" came out of the Woodward Garage.   

[Mopar John]

Thanks to Bill for keeping his notes and his son Paul for sharing them with us!
A big thanks to all who helped put this together!
A great read for us AERO guys!
MJ

[odcics2]

Thanks to Bill for keeping his notes and his son Paul for sharing them with us!
A big thanks to all who helped put this together!
A great read for us AERO guys!
MJ

Indeed, good reading this time of year.

[Mopar John]

Any one know if Paul Wright will be joining us at the AERO WARRIOR reunion?
MJ

[odcics2]

Any one know if Paul Wright will be joining us at the AERO WARRIOR reunion?
MJ

He's not sure at this time.

[odcics2]

Heard that more info will be added.
I'll let you all know when.   

[odcics2]

This link will take you to the NEW information added by Ken Noffsinger -

http://www.billwrightdocumentarchive.com/TableOfContents.htm 

Tired of football?   Learn about racing wing cars, some trams am and drag cars too that the team at the Woodward Garage worked on.

There's a nice photo of Sam Posey driving the Woodward Garage SuperBird around the Huntsville Airport, testing a 727 auto trans for road racing.
Previously to that, DC-93 also ran drag coast down tests there with the prototype wing.  (that story also on aerowarriors.com)

DC-93 was numbered as 88 when it was also tested with a 727 at the Riverside road course with Dan Gurney and Bobby Isaac driving , December 1969.

[ae8i]

It was a pleasure to place Bill Wright's documents online. As aero car enthusiasts, we're very fortunate that brilliant people like Bill were recruited to do the work, and in Bill's case, that he had the foresight to save these documents. Now, 50 years later, we can get a bit of a sense of what was happening with the race cars when they were very much in their infancy. I have a particular interest in the racing versions of the cars, so that made this opportunity all the more rewarding.

I'd like to thank Greg Kwiatkowski for both trusting me with these very rare documents, as well as allowing me to post them. I also need to acknowledge Greg's great patience in waiting for me to place them online. In addition, thanks to the late Bill Wright for doing all that he did, as well as to his family members who were kind enough to make sure the documents ended up in Greg's hands.

Ken Noffsinger
ae8i

[Ghoste]

Thank you all. 

[tan top]

thanks for sharing  !!  awesome stuff 

[odcics2]

727 trans being tested.

[bannedbird]

Is that a headlight door open on passenger side? or an intake for trans cooling?

[odcics2]

Is that a headlight door open on passenger side? or an intake for trans cooling?

Thought you were going to ask if the wheels were the same ones used on #88 for the 200 run.
(answer is yes)

I haven't read all the documentation for the auto trans testing yet. The answer is probably there.

[Aero426]

Ken Noffsinger dated the photo as 6/24/70.   So that would make the driver Sam Posey behind the wheel.

There were three auto trans tests with the Plymouth in 1970:  June 23 and 24 with Sam Posey, July 13-16 with Roger McCluskey.   And a final test with Posey on October 13-15.   The last test was also to evaluate disk brakes.   The October test was intended to use an updated trans with a dry sump system to ensure a constant supply of trans fluid. 

[Aero426]

Is that a headlight door open on passenger side? or an intake for trans cooling?

The headlight openings were for road course brake cooling.   The trans cooler and engine oil coolers were ducted from the underside of the nose. 

[nascarxx29]

Ken Noffsinger dated the photo as 6/24/70.   So that would make the driver Sam Posey behind the wheel.

There were three auto trans tests with the Plymouth in 1970:  June 23 and 24 with Sam Posey, July 13-16 with Roger McCluskey.   And a final test with Posey on October 13-15.   The last test was also to evaluate disk brakes.   The October test was intended to use an updated trans with a dry sump system to ensure a constant supply of trans fluid.