HTC= Hank The Crank=

[AB195]

Going back in time here a tad-bit, I was at Orlando Speed World on a Friday Night in May of 1984.

The Original All-Pro Series got rained out, and ran their Hank-The-Crank Twin 125's on Sunday Afternoon.
Remember all the regulars, including Tommy Duckworth in his blue & yellow machine, Richard Till, Bigley, local Rodgers, and all the best from that era.

Anyone remember that race?. And what the heck was Hank-The-Crank?
An auto parts store?
Just can't remember why it was called this: sponser was who?

Still searching for that old lost program from that weekend, I know I have it somewhere.

[Osmosis Jones]

I remember ads in some of my old SCR's for a crankshaft company in California....I can only assume the owners name was Henry......

Nobody really called my Dad that until a couple years before he died. I was building cars back then and a guy I built a Modified mini for had to move away and needed to sell the car. I told Dad he could offer the guy like half of what he paid me for it but he went ahead and gave him what he paid. Well he got it and we finished it out and he started winning races with it. It was a whole lot of fun for him and me both. He had stopped racing a long time before that to help me get started and it felt good to see him have some fun.

Anyway, when my sister was lettering it up she asked what to put on the side of it. I told her to put HTC on the side and let people ask what it meant.
He won a lot of races those last two years at Desoto and down at Charlotte. He actually won his Heat and Feature the night he passed away at Desoto. Pretty cool way to go out, don't ya think? For a racer, anyways.

So when I signed up for the Karnac board I decided to use HTC for my tag.

I know that's not what you asked for but I had a little time to kill, so....

As far as the race in Orlando, that's the first I'd heard of a race called something like that. Maybe they had a guy named Hank they were honoring with a memorial.
One time at the old Circle Track Magazine trade show in Daytona, I had Linda Vaughn sign a poster to "Hank the Crank" and she started asking me if I was this other guys son and how he came to a lot of shows she was at......didn't know what the hell she was talking about but I enjoyed the view while we chatted.

[AB195]

Linda Vaughn, huh?
--hmmmmm

Remember that "image" well.

Still do.

[carolwicks]

WOW! Richard Till...

a wonderful man, a wonderful friend, a sensational racer... sure have missed him...
OZ

[Egoracing]

Hank the Crank is/was a crankshaft mfg. I tried to look for his web site but did not find it. He had one a few years ago. They sold a billet steel small block Chevy crank that was guaranteed not to bust in a regularly aspirated engine. They had that in the mid to late 70's that I know of. A LOT of Cup teams used his crankshafts.

[AB195]

Guess that answers that
Thanks for the info--
Roger

[Speedweeks junkie]

I was there at those races. I was 13 years old! If I remember correctly, David rogers won the first 125, but I don't remember who won the other one.

I used to go to a lot of the all pro races with my grandfather growing up. Some of the other regulars I saw were Gary Balough, Bobby Gill, Rick Wilson, Freddie Query, Freddie Fryar, Sidney Minton, Hal Goodson, Tony Raines, Jody Ridley, Charlie Bradberry, Clay Rogers, Eddie Mercer, Pete Willoughby. (some of those guys may have been a little later) those are some great memories.

[Edm]

Hank the Crank Bechtloff is the man when it comes to crankshafts. Strong, VERY lightweight and STOCK. That is if this is the same Hank.

[AB195]

For SpeedweeksJunkie---

How you doing, you long lasting Speedweek-Junkie, friend of the Raceways?

In respondig to your post about a 1/4 century Race-Ago, the Hank-The-Crank
Twin 125's at Orlando Speed World,
you are correct, sir----David Rogers did win the First race, and the other race was won by.....

Darrell Brown, I think---in the #58 machine.
A white machine, purple/gold #58.

I'm OK with that answer, until someone proves anything different.
In the meantime, Darrell Brown was the winner of the 2'nd Leg of it.
Rog.

[Speedweeks junkie]

Darrel Brown huh? lol, If you say so, I will believe you, I have no clue.

[C. Ed Wright]

HTC=Hank The Crank=

I just found this forum, hence the belated response.

Hank The Crank used to be a HiPo components manufacturer, obviously specializing in things involving crankshafts, especially before auto companies got into production big blocks, racing, and street-strip HiPo in general and most of what we find familiar in recent decades was utterly unknown.

Back in the day (1970s, for me, anyway) I had a car buddy that used to run a 1969-1/2 Ford Maverick that originally only came with a straight 6 -- the small V8 came just a little later -- that he improvise-swapped for a 289-2bbl. then 4bbl. then a Boss 302 which he was loath to wind past about 5500 despite the fact that Boss 302s don't wake up until 6500. The reason turned out to be that he'd had a terrifying experience with a long-past shade-tree project street-racing rod based on a 40 Ford (probably chopped & channeled as most were by then) back when he lived in Illinois. (We were in N.J.) That state (and I suppose many others too) had a requirement that such cars (ALL cars) had the engine fully enclosed by hood and engine compartment which in such cars was a set of side panels. He told me the only block that fit was some Olds 330 if I remember right, that everyone back then (and there) with a 40 Ford would bore out and stroke (using grossly oversize pistons, sleeves, and special crankshaft & rods (FROM HANK THE CRANK) to 538 cubic inch displacement. This required boring the original cylinder sleeves completely away and inserting the new cylinder sleeves in the HTC kit, then assembling the engine with the rest of the bore-and-stroke-kit; but this necessarily weakened the block somewhat, but worked okay if you didn't overrev the finished motor past redline, maybe 9,000 RPM if that? -- back then everyone ran dual quads on a Jimmy blower, 300+degree roller cams, etc., etc., all the stuff you only see pictures of nowadays.

Well, truth be told, this onetime car buddy of mine simply can't shift to save his own life, then or way back then or probably even now. Some folks simply need to recognize and accept their own limitations no matter what. Anyway, one fine summer day he took his semifragile AA-blown-gas 538 HTC bored & stroked monster rod out for a ride, which wouldn't get "off-the-line" under any circumstances without leaving some 20' of rubber minimum, and instead of just getting going from a stoplight, whether racing someone or just goofing off -- I just don't recall that detail now -- he wound out First, then missed Second. This is probably the only human being on the planet that can miss second slamming a Hurst at Redline on a Ford Top Loader!!! What he distinctly remembers is, he went to shift into Second, there was an earth-shaking peal of thunder and a brilliant orange fireball, then utter silence for a second before the severed frame rails fell down to grind to a halt in a shower of sparks against the newly-gouged blacktop pavement, during which he had absolutely no steering control whatsoever since the entire chassis including steering gear & linkage forward of the grenaded engine was completely severed by the explosion and nowhere in sight much less available for use. The mechanical tach had its needle bent around the 12,000 RPM limit-pin. He was lucky to survive.

You just can't make this stuff up.

Anyway, Hank The Crank made among other things Bore & Stroke Kits for all sorts of specialized applications, before the auto companies began their own more-or-less-comprehensive racing parts programs. Nowadays we find complete factory crate engine stroker versions of their regular standard production engines, such as Mopar's 410 Magnum and 440 [cid] Super Commando small blocks, which started life as the production 340, enlarged from the production 318, itself enlarged from the earlier production 273.

[ancrdave]

May 6, 1984 and I was there too... David Rogers did win the first race and the second one was one by Mr. Gary "Hot Shoe" Balough...

[Jimmy McKinley]

I have photos from a 1986 All-Pro race at Pensacola - the Hank the Crank 250. Dad and my brother were working with Donnie Strickland out of Vero at the time.

[AB195]

thanks--

for clearing that one up--An old thread from 4 years to-the-day.Jan. 15 2008 was the original post, and thanks for extending a reply, or three or four. A long lost thread from the past, and forgottten by all.

Who is going back 4-5 years ago to old threads? It's OK, and all, but geezus.

[MTC]

Worked for Hank for many years and were at all of those races. We did cranks for a number of those racers. Bigley, Balough, Hanley, Trickle. This list goes on. Ro Mogonigal is in the process of an article about Hank for his latest magazine. Elapsed Times. Quarterly publication and should be in the next few issues.

M