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Some
A-1 History:
Around 1965, with his sights on a
national record, Marvin Ripes and his team hunted down a
1957 pickup with a four-speed Hydramatic transmission. (Powerglide-equipped
cars of the early days were limited by low stall speed
torque converters and two forward gears. Anyone racing
'55 to '57 Chevy's had to run the cars that way to
comply with the rules.) His team grafted a
4.56-gear passenger center section into the housing and
had the axles modified from their original C-clip
configuration to an axle-bearing style - they set the
record at 15.12
In 1968, John Barkley drove his A-1
equipped M/SA '57 Chevy to the stock title at the
Winternationals. Not completely satisfied and
continuing to struggle the 11" torque converters on the
cars of the time, Ripes learned of a new Opel Kadett
torque converter. Installing one of those in the
car quickly took the car from 14.40's the the 13.80's.
Soon, customers were waiting more than a year for the
converter.
Ripes later drove an I/SA 1957
Corvette to victory at the 1970 Supernationals, but the
list of customers at the transmission shop was growing.
He made the decision to go back to the shop and has
helped others win ever since. The list of former
champions who have used A-1 products include: Larry
Tores, Bill Maropulos, Bo Nickens, Andy Manna Jr., Don
Stratton Jr., Mike Ferderer, Richie Rosen, Dennis
Ferrara, Bobby Cross, Bobby Warren, Ray Cook, Jeff
Taylor, Jeff Cunningham, Charlie Taylor, Keith Lynch and
Tex Miller.
Today, Ripes is embracing new
technology at his Canoga Park, Ca. Shop. Recently
he worked with Dave Smith to develop the popular
three-speed Pro-Flite, which is enjoying tremendous
popularity in the Comp and Super Stock Modified ranks.
Information contained above is
paraphrased from the February8th 2002 NHRA magazine
article "Where are they now."
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