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This is the in-depth history of what I believe to be the greatest heavy duty truck of the second world war. The M26 tank retriever was a machine designed with armor, with an engine of 1,090ci, with brute strength, and above all, with loads of practical engineering built in.
The truck out-performed every other rig in this role worldwide and was just beyond cool. With nearly 1,400 produced between 1942 and 1945, many still exist today in the hands of collectors and more. Learn the fascinating story of the small forgotten company that designed it, the massive company that built it, and the fascinating engine company that powered it.
Mechanical history rules!
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It's a stunning thing to realize that Ford mass-produced an 1,100ci, dual overhead camshaft, alunimum block, flat plane crank V8 in the 1940s. Sill the largest mass produced V8 engine ever, it was just what Uncle Sam needed to power Sherman tanks.
But how did it come about? In this video we not only look at the awesome specs and mechanical feats that this engine is known for, we also look into its murky and wild history.
A history intertwined with international governments, shifty deal makers, and perhaps a little big of industrial espionage mixed in. Far more than just an engine, the GAA is a fascinating piece of American mechanical history which in some ways is still unrivaled more than 80 years later.
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This is the story of one of the greatest minds in the history of the sport of drag racing. Lew Russell Robinson known more widely as "Sneaky Pete" Robinson was an innovator without equal in the 1960s. He approached the sport as a trained engineer from Georgia Tech and took that education to speeds and performance unknown for his time.
He was the type of guy they write rules to slow down, to save from themselves and to prevent lesser talented people from trying to venture down avenues they have no business entering. Robinson's 10 year run in the sport both in top gas and top fuel place him among the greatest not just of his generation, but of any generation. His use of simplicity and light weight made him the Colin Chapman of drag racing.
His unique and off-the-wall ideas, rooted in aerospace engineering are the stuff of legend and don't seem real until you actually see them. Understand that had Pete Robinson not lost his life in a 1971 crash he would have gone one to likely be an incredible drag racing crew chief, innovator in open wheel racing, and the high performance aftermarket.
This is the story of drag racing's mad scientist, "Sneaky Pete" Robinson.
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The Indy 500 has long been recognized as one of the most amazing hot beds of racing innovation in history. The 1966 race saw a car that may well stand as one of the most unique, inventive, and downright odd of the era. The Stein-Valvoline Special was a twin Porsche engined, four wheel drive, California garage built machine from the mind of a former midget racing champion and his friends.
The story of this car, its driver, and their attempt to qualify at the insanely jam packed 1966 Indy 500 is one every hardcore racing fan should know.
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Every winter for 13 years between 1954 and 1966 the greatest sports cars as well as the greatest sports car drivers in the world would gather in the Bahamas for what may well have been the coolest racing event in history.
10 days of partying, racing, hanging out on the beach, and enjoying life with some of the world's greatest stars is just as awesome as you think it is. Racers like Stirling Moss, AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, Phil Hill, Masten Gregory, Roger Penske, Carrol Shelby and others showed up year in and year out to battle for the money and glory in the world's coolest cars.
The first ever 427 Cobra race car debuted at this event, Duntov brought the Gran Sport Corvettes, Ferrari, Porsche, and on and on it goes.
The history is interesting, led by a tyrant named Red Crise the event was his idea and with a unique combo of an iron fist on one side and a velvet gloved Baronet's hand on the other, he made magic.
This is the fantastic story of Bahamas Speed Week.
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During three winters in the 1960s, hot rodders in Chicago had the unique opportunity to do something no one has been able to do before or since. They went drag racing indoors. The didn't just do it once or twice, they did it weekly. How? Where? Why? Who put it together?
The story actually begins in the 1930s and the indoor drag strip followed go kart racing, midget car racing, even a road course indoors! The promoter, a man named Bill Schade is a story in and unto himself.
This is a story of the city of Chicago, a brilliant promoter, and a hot rodding culture starved for action in the winter. Enjoy!
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In early March of 1969, the single worst disaster in the history of American motorsports took place at a small, virtually unknown drag strip in rural Georgia. Yellow River Drag Strip was the scene of horror as a funny car flew off the racing surface and into the unprotected crowd. A dozen people died and scores were injured.
In this episode of the Dork-O-Motive podcast, we tell the story in every way possible. The history of the track, the history of the poeple involved, the immediate aftermath of the incident, how it changed motorsports in America, and so much more.
This is a bleak day for racing and one that carried with it very, very significant consequences.
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You think you know, but you have no idea. Stock car racing in the United States was born in the south, but not the south you are think of. On this episode of the Dork-O-Motive podcast, host Brian Lohnes tells the story of the first true stock car race as we know it in America, the 1934 Mines Field Gilmore Cup race.
The greatest stars of racing were gathered to compete against one another in "stock" automobiles. There was cheating, there was a wild promoter, and there was more star power in one place than the racing world had ever seen.
Learn the full story of how this race changed American motorsports and understand how deadly, daring, and downright dangerous auto racing was in this era. Loads of research, period materials, and information was gathered for this exhaustive look at a race that truly changed the world.
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What if I told you that the first Ferris wheel, built in 1893 was 265ft tall, powered by a 1,000hp steam engine, and carried 2,160 people at the same time! George Washington Gale Ferris is the man who engineered this marvel and the man who's name is synonymous with this ever-present attraction at fairs and amusement parks.
What if I told you that the machine simultaneously made Ferris a world-wide celebrity while destroying his life. This is a story with so many twists and turns you'll hardly believe it.
It is a fascinating look at the way engineering and the American spirit converged in the late 1800s to help the fledgling country arrive on the world stage and how anyone, even someone as smart as Ferris can become obsessed to the point of destruction in their personal and professional pursuits.
Did Ferris steal the idea? Where did it come from, anyway? How was it HIM that got the glory? All those questions and the amazing size of the machine are all covered here!
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The US Air Force Heavy Press program, executed between 1950 and 1957 is one of the most incredible industrial achievements in history. After identifying a huge technology gap at the end of WWII, the government worked with private industry to create the world's most extensive network of heavy press capability. The machines are insane, the work they do is even cooler, and the effort it took to create them is off the charts.
One of the most successful industrial programs ever, 8 of the 10 heavy presses of the 1950s are still working today, making parts for everything from cars to stealth aircraft. Here's the story told the Dork-O-Motive way!
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In 1992 Hot Rod Magazine gathered a collection of the fastest street cars in America for a showdown in Memphis, Tennessee. The reverberations of this event are still being felt today as it helped to rocket the movement of "fast street cars" into the hot rodding stratosphere. This is the story of that event, as told be the editors, racers, and fans that were there.
Some of the guests on this show remember the race fondly, some with regret, and some, frankly, with their teeth gritted together, even 30 years later. It is a story about an event that changed the course of drag racing, changed the course of lives, and ultimately created things like Drag Week, Sick Week, Rocky Mountain Race Week, and the entire genre of Drag-n-Drive competition.
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This is a wonderful story from the home front of WWII. The gumption of the American farmer, the strength of industry, and the inventive nature of government to solve a big problem. That issue? The largest wheat crop in the history of the United States was coming in and there wasn't enough men or machines to properly harvest it.
The answer? The Massey-Harris Harvest Brigade. This armada of 500 brand new combines swept from Texas to the Dakotas, nearly into Canada harvesting while a second team worked the fields of California and the Pacific Northwest. The relentless work and coordination resulted in a population of allied countries that were fed and armies that marched on full stomachs.
A perhaps long forgotten story of horsepower, work power, and patriotism, enjoy this telling of a tale that should make your heart swell.
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Imagine a racing event where 30 of the best drivers came from all corners of the world to clash at the nicest race track ever built. Imagine that half of them would be driving F1 cars and the other half would be driving small block V8 powered open wheeled machines with way less tech but more horsepower. Imagine it were 1971.
This was the premise behind the Questor Grand Prix, a race held at Ontario Motor Speedway with a massive prize fund and more importantly bragging rights on the line.
Who won and how it all went down is only half the story. There's all kinds of cool sub plots here and if you love racing history, you'll totally dig this deep dive into one of the coolest and weirdest one off races in history.
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The automotive headlight is not exactly the most exciting part of a car, right? Wrong. Back in the early 1900s not only were headlights new and exciting, they were explosive and deadly. This incredible look back at the early history of headlights is likely a topic you've never heard about or thought about before.
Because no suitable electric bulb for cars had been invented yet, brave entrepreneurs looked for a solution and found one in the form of acetylene gas. This cheap to produce and highly flammable gas burned bright enough to shame all other available light sources. There were problems, though. Like the fact that the Prest-O-Lite company had 15 plants explode between 1907 and 1917.
This episode of the Dork-O-Motive podcast looks back at these wild years, the technology behind it, how fortunes were made, buildings were leveled, and lives were lost. All to simply see a little bit better in the dark.
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The world's water speed record has been held by only 9 people since 1928. It has an 85% death rate in attempts and the current record has stood since 1978 with each successive attempt to unseat it resulting in the death of the driver.
This long form look back at the history of the water speed record is a blow by blow account of an activity that has captivated and killed many people over the years. The people and machines who have shot across bodies of water from Argentina to Italy to Australia are each unique in their own way but their vision was the same. To defy the laws of physics and end up on the right side of the game.
To our knowledge this is the most in-depth look back at the history of the record using research materials, newspapers, period audio, and personal interviews with the subjects at hand.
An amazing tale that once dominated the headlines of the 20th century and has now all but dropped off into obscurity. -
Imagine a single weapon of war with such vicious tactics that it nearly defeated an entire country. Such was the case with Germany's fleet of U-boats during WWI. As the U-boats sunk hundreds of ships per month, Britain was in danger of running short on food, war materials, and basic necessities of life. The mighty British Navy had no answer for these silent killers of the seas.
And then someone had an idea.
By creating a shadow Navy of secretly armed merchant ships, Britain created their first line of submarine defense and it was brilliant. They were called Q-ships and from the outside they looked like fishing trawlers, sailing ships, and simple tramp steamers, but they were manned by experienced gunnery crews and had powerful secrets hiding in plain sight.
Starting in 1915 when U-Boat captains surfaced to attack an unsuspecting merchant ship, they were at risk of they themselves becoming the victims of these awesome new weapons.
On this episode of the Dork-o-Motive podcast we examine the incredible history, bravery, and innovation that these oddball fighting ships brought to WWI and how they were a legit threat to U-boats and frustrated German commanders on the high seas. Wild history you never knew!
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In 1979 a promoter from Tennessee put on the first ever big rig super speedway race and it caused a national panic. The government, the trucking industry, the Teamsters, tire companies, and sponsors all tried to stop the event from happening. Only, they failed and it did happen. Predictions of the race being a "public suicide" or a "bloody spectacle" filled the nations newspapers. Truckers protesting the 55mph national speed limit and fuel shortages across the country were angry at the gross consumption of these 1,000hp diesel race trucks. It was crazy, it was bedlam, and it was the birth of a racing series that would run for nearly 20 years after its chaotic launch at Atlanta International Raceway in June of 1979.
Through vintage audio, interviews with Charlie Baker the winningest driver in the history of the series, Bobby Doerrer the announcer for the first several races, and a myriad of newspaper clippings from sources all over the country, we tell you the story of how a promoter used a tsunami of bad news and dire outlooks to propel his event into the history books of American racing.
14,5000lb trucks with 1,000hp on the high banks of Atlanta and the Indy of the West, Ontario Motor Speedway. It's so crazy that if we didn't have the proof you wouldn't believe the story!
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In July of 1944 the Allies had a problem. Having landed successfully in France and established a beachhead, they had been stalled for weeks. Thankfully a fortuitous victory over the Germans opened up the line and Allied troops roared across France, chasing the Nazis back to where they came from. This presented another problem.
With ports mangled, railroads destroyed, and all their stuff sitting on the beach war planners had to think fast to supply, feed, and fuel the armies fighting on the front lines. Their answer was one of the greatest single logistical feats in the history of war. They created the Red Ball Express and supplied multiple armies with more than 6,000 trucks working 24-hours a day on a closed loop highway system.
On this episode we tell the story of the Red Ball Express. How and why it was done, how it worked, how much stuff it managed to serve up, and why it was so key to the Allied successes in France during 1944. It is something that no other nation on Earth could have done at the time, but America did. This is an awesome story. Truckin' awesome if we may say so ourselves.
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For a span of about 25 years in America, the fastest racing venues in the country were not made of asphalt, concrete, or brick, but rather wooden boards. These tracks, which ranged from less than a half mile to two miles in length were quick and cheap to construct and drew fans by the tens of thousands. They also birthed the first generation of hero American race drivers that the country had ever seen.
Unfortunately, it killed the drivers about as fast as it made them legendary. Even worse, with banking angles that sometimes approached 50-degrees or more, the tracks killed spectators as well when cars and motorcycles would fly into the stands. The Motordromes were then called "Murderdromes" by the newspapers of the day.
From coast to coast, the tracks sprang up and the speeds grew and grew. The performances from drivers and motorcyclists are still nearly beyond belief today!
This show tells the story of why the tracks were built, how the tracks were built, who built them, and why this bizarre racing supernova flashed so semingly fas t across the American racing landscape. This is this a story of suicidal speed and splinters. The story of American board track racing.
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On July 23, 1983 a Canada Air 767 with 61 passengers and eight crew aboard ran out of fuel while flying over a remote area of Ontario, Canada at 41,000ft. The pilot and co-pilot were able to take the airplane and glide to to a harrowing but safe landing on a drag strip in Gimli, Manitoba, Canada. The outcome was less a miracle and more an amazing example of expert pilot work from Captain Robert Pearson and co-pilot Maurice Quintal. But how did this happen? How did a modern airliner run out of gas halfway through a flight? How did this impossible scenario come to pass?
A series of coincidental mistakes culminating with some bad math set the wheels in motion to produce the scenario that was and will forever be known as The Gimli Glider. This is the story about how some small breaks in communication, a mis-calculated math problem, and dauntless skill all combined to create one of the most fascinating stories in the history of modern aviation.
Think running out of gas in your car is annoying? Try it miles in the sky while trying to get hundreds of thousands of pounds safely to the ground!
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