Walt Knoch raced at Detroit Dragway
Walt and his Hot Rods were always fun to watch at the double D.
There is a lot of information about Walt & his achievements all over the web. The below information is from
Wikipedia.
Walt’s Puffer II is a FIAT Topolino powered by Walt’s Puffer II is a FIAT Topolino powered a fuel-injected 392 Hemi, driven by Walt Knoch, Jr.[1]
Construction of the car began in 1959. Using a 1939 Fiat body, it was built by Walt Knoch, Sr., and a family friend, for Walt, Jr.[1] It originally had a Latham supercharger.[1] It debuted at Detroit Dragway.[1] It routinely turned in passes with 10-second e.t.s and speeds of 150 mph (240 km/h).[1]
Knoch Jr. approached Ed Iskendarian and Stuart Hilborn for equipment to improve the 392’s performance.[1] After switching to Hilborn injection, Knoch set an A/Altered record pass at the 1959 Nationals, with a trap speed of 138.67 mph (223.17 km/h).[1]
The car lost the Altereds title at the 1960 U.S. Nationals to the Oldsmobile-powered Ratican-Jackson-Stearns Fiat.[1]
In 1961, the car’s top was chopped, and it was dubbed Walt’s Puffer II It routinely turned in passes with 10-second e.t.s and speeds of 150 mph (240 km/h).[1] It again lost to the Ratican-Jackson-Stearns Topolino at the 1961 Nationals
The next year, the car won A/Altered at the NHRA U.S. Nationals, and only failed to face the Knochs’ other car, the A/Roadster Walt’s Puffer Too, for Junior Eliminator due to rain.[1] When NHRA realigned divisions in 1963, it required Knoch to change the car’s number to 385. He refused, and Wally Parks and Ed Eaton banned him. The car would not run again.[1]
Walt’s Puffer II was taken out of storage in 1999 and given a complete restoration by Knoch and Jerry Dotson.
I talked to Walt at a Detroit Dragway® reunion at Milan a few years ago. I showed him a movie clip from an 8 mm movie I have of the 1962 Nationals at Indy. This showed Walt racing, he told me the whole story behind that day. Very inserting.
Here are a few photos from that day at Milan Dragway. The first photo is a still from the 62 Inday movie. You can click the photos to see a larger image.
