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Roger Lee: Man on a Mission, Part 2
By Bud De Boer
March Meet 2012 was the 49th Anniversary of the Masters & Richter Special attending one of the oldest drag race events in the sports history as Roger brought his recreation of the M&R Special to the meet in raw metal form. It was complete to the point where it could almost race for the fans to enjoy its construction.
Reactions from young and old were overwhelming. The overall look of this State of the Art 1963 Top Fuel Dragster exuded speed from its form and functional components. To those fans who saw it race back in the day, it brought back many memories of their youth when speed was King.
Sid Masters, Rick Richter, crew members and family were all smiles when the M&R Special set a new Top Speed record of 196.92 at Fremont on February 17, 1963.
In conversations with Sid Master’s wife Edna (94 years young), Rick Richter’s two daughters, Betty and Shelia, and the main crew member Lefty Hay, Sid and Rick wanted a Top Fueler that not only looked good, but also performed with the best speed parts available. Their drivers, Big Bob Haines and Donn Blount, would go on to set many Top Speed of the Meet and Track Records in the M&R Special in 1963 and early in 1964.
All during the construction, emails and phone calls kept the Masters and Richter family members up to date with progress reports. Four generations were reliving and learning about the history of their M&R Special. The stories that were told to Roger only added enthusiasm to the effort. Time had come to put the finishing touches on the M&R Special replica.
The goal was to have the M&R Special finished for the 2012 NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion. With the help of longtime friend, Ken Riley, the finishing phase began along with working 60 hours a week.
The M&R Special was completely taken apart. All component hardware was bagged and marked. Components were organized around the inside of Roger’s house as well as in his garage.
The replica Kent Fuller chassis received its preparation for painting. With four spray cans of gloss black paint, two experienced old car model builders applied the paint. Powder coating was an option, but the decision to spray paint the chassis was more authentic since powder coating wasn’t used in 1963. After drying, the chassis was rubbed out and polished.
While the chassis was drying for the next four weeks, the steering assembly, driveline, and front axle components were finished and polished. There are no chromed parts on this replica except the valve covers.
Roger had constructed all the body panels and seat. Dave Tuttle Race Cars formed the chute pack tail, the belly pan, and seat bottom to replicate the Wayne Ewing originals. Dave blended in all the seams and edges. Beautiful work.
The body was taken over to Kustom Kurves Auto Body and Paint in Lodi, Ca. Doug Rose metal finished it all and no body filler was needed. The shade of yellow was chosen and painted. John Neal of Lodi, Ca., applied the lettering and striping on the cowl and then Doug Rose clear coated all the body panels.
The seat was taken to Rojas Upholstery in Stockton, Ca., for the tan leather interior. They have been in business for 50 years and do a great job.
The Nitro motor construction of the long block was the work of Dexter “Pop” Bradford. The hemi block that was going to be used was cracked in the two front mains. So after searching for a month, a standard bore and crankshaft was located by Roger’s friend Pizza Ted Hilton along with a pair of race ready heads.
Someone must be looking over Roger. A set of brand new Howard aluminum connection rods were traded for. They were still in the original Howard box and never numbered.
A roller camshaft was next. Donnie Johansen (Howard Johansen’s son) ground the camshaft. The roller lifters came from Doug Peterson to go with the Smith Bros. heat-treated 4130 push rods. Keeping everything in time is a Donovan Gear Drive and front cover. It is a Hemi with Howard parts, just like the original.
Back in 1963, only stock hemi rocker arms were used. To protect Roger’s motor investment, John Dearmore of DRE Racing Components provided the set of aluminum roller rocker arms and stands.
ARP head studs and main cap hardware were used. All the hardware used on Roger’s motor is new Grade 8 type.
Arias coated pistons with Total Seal rings filled the eight holes. A new 360 Chrysler oil pump with adapter sucks up the 50 wt. Kendall oil set at 80 psi out of the new stock rear sump oil pan. Roger made the adapter block plate for the remote System One Oil Filter.
The polished Littlefield Nitro blower sits on a Cragar manifold at 28% overdrive. The 2’’ blower pulley assembly was made from 3’’ drive pulleys. The idler pulley mount was replicated by Roger.
The 90% Nitro is filled into a new 3.5-gallon Moon tank which flows through an Enderle filter and fuel pump. The Enderle Barndoor injectors & scoop came from Norm Weekly of the Frantic Four.
A Vertex Magneto was purchased, but was later found to be the wrong type. Just to get it fired, a Tom Cirello maintenance Scheifer magneto was installed with Packard 440 spark plug wire firing Autolite plugs. M&R used one of these magnetos in late 1963.
The driveline consists of an L&T 2-disc slider clutch inside a welded aluminum Donovan clutch can. Roger had a .090’’ heat-treated 4130 steel liner made. The driveline disconnect unit was made by Don Ross Fabrication as required for cackle cars.
Driving the 10.50-16 M&H RACEMASTER slicks were 10 x16’’ American Magnesium wheels from Doug Peterson, polished by Roger, and mounted on a Logghe Bros. built nickel-plated Chrysler 8 ¾’’ rear end with spooled 4.30 gears. Stopping power is provided with Airheart disc brakes and a Wilwood master cylinder.
The 3 x 18’’ front wheels are from Hayden Enterprises that duplicate the original Borrani rims and roll on new Avon 3.00-18 tires. The Kent Fuller modified Anglia spindles and Fuller built front axle keep the chassis off the ground.
The 3/16’’ thick aluminum front air dam plate is mounted to the front axle with two 1 ½’’ muffler clamps. The original air dam was made by Howard Johansen.
When Masters & Richter would race in Southern California, their first stop was to visit Howard Johansen and family and then go to the races together. As the story goes, the car was lifting the front end up mid track even with 110 pounds of steel bars clamped to the front of the chassis.
So, Howard sends Jerry to get two muffler clamps at the auto parts store and goes into the shop. Out he comes with this plate of aluminum and places it on the front axle. He marks with a grease pencil a few spots. Jerry gets back with the clamps and hands them to his Dad who goes back in the shop.
A few minutes later Howard comes out with the plate, clamps, and a wrench. He bolts the plate on the front axle and says, “Lets Go Racing!“ Problem solved.
Turn the clock forward 49 years. One day Roger posts a picture and receives an email from Debbie Lewis Masters. Debbie is the daughter of Russ Lewis, who last drove the Masters & Richter Special and is married to Dusty Masters, grandson of Sid & Edna Masters.
Debbie had showed the picture to her Dad and Russ said, “I got that.“
“You got what?‘’ asked Debbie.
‘’That front air dam in that picture!’’
It was like finding gold.
The next day Roger called Russ. Within one hour, Roger met with Russ and held THE AIRDAM. The remnants of the Howard Cams decal still could be seen. Four hours after visiting with Russ, Roger matched up the mounting holes to a 1 ½’’ muffler clamp for a perfect fit.
The air dam that Roger made is a copy of the original one, as he did not want to alter the original. A historic piece from Masters & Richter Special that made many passes over 190 mph will stay as is.
The first thing to do in the final assembly was to put the chassis on wheels and make it steerable. With the chassis on wheels, Ken and Roger worked from the front of the car to the rear. Next was to go up to Pop Bradford’s to mount the motor in the chassis.
The little details like all the decals were done by Eddie Buck at Eureka Signs. A lot of the masters came from a collection Pete Burkholder had been saving for years. Pete had passed away, but Harry Burkholder (AA/FA fame) still had them. The sizing and reproductions came out perfect.
Time was growing short and there were concerns that the M&R Special would not be finished in time for CHRR 2012. The old ‘’take two steps forward and one step back’’ was getting old.
Roger & Ken kept after it. With two weekends to go, the motor came to life. The fuel system faced challenges that were critical. On Tuesday of the week of the California Hot Rod Reunion, the fuel system was close enough to start it safely.
During the final week, Lefty Hay and Donn Blount kept Roger’s spirits up and the M&R Special was finally done. The first person Roger called to tell of the good news was Edna Masters and then the Richter girls, Betty and Shelia.
Thursday morning the team arrived at Famoso Raceway. The M&R Special was back short of 50 years earlier when it set Top Speed of the Meet at 194.88 mph at the U.S. Fuel & Gas Championships in March 1963.
The M&R Special was rolled out into the morning sun under clear skies. The early bird crowds kept coming and growing. The first day was a success as more history was brought back to Famoso.
Friday was the big day. Steve Gibbs had told Roger that the M&R Special had a standing open invitation for the Friday night reception fire up at the Double Tree Hotel over a year ago. Today was the day.
It was warm up time to get some heat into the motor for tonight’s hotel cackle fire ups. What Roger had thought had been cured at home reappeared. Raw fuel coming out of the front pipes and there were now new fuel leaks occurring.
Fuel was coming out of the barrel valve seal areas and the fuel pump was leaking out of the rear seal. Racers to the rescue! Stormy Byrd had O-ring seals for the barrel valve and John Ewald loaned Roger his spare fuel pump. Stuff happens, even to new parts, with less than 10 minutes of use at the wrong time.
Steve Gibbs kept checking to see if we were going to make it to the hotel. The cutoff time was 6 pm. Roger kept working to cure the raw fuel coming out of the weed burner headers. At 4:45 pm, they made one more try.
The motor fired and the pipes were clean. There was a small drip coming from the barrel valve shaft, but very minor. At 5:00 p.m., the M&R Special was out of the pit gate heading toward the hotel.
Being Friday at that time of day, commuter traffic slowed up their trip to the hotel. With five minutes to spare before 6:00 p.m., they pulled into the parking lot of the Double Tree hotel.
For the next three hours, Roger & friends greeted the who’s who of drag racing along with many onlookers checking out Roger’s recreation. Roy Miersch came over and handed Roger a Howards Cam Tee Shirt to add to the era correct look. Jimmy Scott and Rod McCarrell loaned Roger a Tony Nancy fire mask and black helmet to complete the rest of the package.
With Steve Gibbs doing the introductions, the M&R Special was the first one to start the night’s fire ups. Roger took the seat in the M&R Special.
The first piece of tubing was on the chassis jig on April 1, 2011, and here the M&R Special was ready to put on a show. The crowds at the hotel surrounding the ropes were huge!
Steve Gibbs gave them the go-ahead and fire up. Ken squirted some gas in the injectors and hit the starter. The M&R Special came to life with flames out of the pipes. All was good!
This part of the Mission may be over, but there’s more to come for Roger “Riceman” Lee and the Masters & Richter Special.
A fitting tribute to a legendary racecar.
Photos by Ralph Reiter, Tom West, Steve Thomas, and from the Roger Lee collection.
Read Part One
HERE.
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