The History of Old Yeller 2

Lester Nehamkin was a Hollywood Studio photographer who loved hanging around Hollywood Motors and he chronicled the history of the Old Yeller race-cars for Max and Ina. Lester was to have "coined" the name Old Yeller I for the Morgensen Special and the new yellow paint soon followed for the car. The Old Yeller was the title of the 1959 Disney movie based on the novel by Fred Gipson. Dorothy McGuire and Fess Parker starred in the popular movie and the drama was set in the post Civil War wilderness. The story of Old Yeller is that of a stray mongrel, loyal, faithful dog that attacked a rabid wolf to save the family that resulted in the shooting of the Old Yeller by the older brother. There was "nary a dry eye" in the movie theater whenever the movie was shown. Journalists would often misinterpret the name and use the phonetic Ol' or Ole' or Yaller for the race-car. Max and Ina along, with ever-faithful Golden Retriever - "Ted" were found at the now very busy Hollywood Motors as job orders expanded. Max was known for having a network of some of the most creative and skilled fabricators and machinists in Southern California.

Max was on a learning curve with every race-car he raced including street racing. He focused on every element of the racing car as an important component. From the modified Studebaker street racer he learned that the "hot car" did not have to be a Ford or "Chevy" and he selected the Studebaker Champion solid rear end (wider selection of gear ratios) for the Old Yeller II. The '32' channeled Ford Bu-Ford Special showed that with potent power Max could race to the front, but the hampering factor was the poor brakes and high center of gravity. The Doretti Buick had too short of a wheel base car with difficult steering and front suspension. Max favored the Morris Minor for the quick steering as it was used by all Road Racing Special builders.

The Morgensen Special, AKA Old Yeller I, had a very low center of gravity and a custom-tube frame chassis (1610 lbs total car weight)" but was under powered (DeSoto Six) for Max. Changing to a Buick engine and Buick aluminum drum brakes created an incredible combination that would soon lead to many wins in major races and GPs. In 1958, Max broke the Santa Barbara Road Race track lap record that was held by Lance Reventlow and the well designed no-costs-spared Scarab. It became a defining moment for Max and Ina. They were convinced that it did not take mega bucks and a ton of engineers to be competitive in major Sports Car racing.

Max was the Buick "Guru" of the day, but not without disappointments and frustrations with the "Nailhead" engine. Lou Blaney was the master of OHV Caddy" Gene Adams could do magic with the Oldsmobile Micky Thompson pumped the Pontiacs and Max could make magical Buick motors for Dragsters to potent Power Boats.

In 1953, Buick replaced the straight 8 with the newer ohv V8. The Buick 364 cid engine brought great torque with performance and the later 1959 Buick 401 Buick Nailhead was even more impressive with huge low- end torque. The Buick motors had the unique radical pentroof design with an inverted V shape, dome-top piston and valves on one side of the V. Because of the high turbulence and short flame travel, Buick used a higher compression ratio without need for higher octane. The "Nailhead" nickname came because the valves were situated straight up and down (with horizontal intake ports) which also brought out the designs shortcoming, valve diameter increases were strictly limited. Buick worked around the problem by purposely using small valves and ports to keep gas velocities high for optimum torque through radical valve timing with long duration and healthy lift, employing a very light valve gear (rpm peaking at 5300 stock).

There were many letters to Buick Motor Division over the racing years as Max singularly promoted the mighty Buick motor with legions of Hot Rod, Drag Racing and Sports Car racing fans. There were unmarked crates of Buick motors delivered to Hollywood Motors and the crates were stamped…”For Industrial Use”. The constant problem with the ‘Nailhead’ motor was the overheating problem. In a letter to Mr. John Burnside, Service engineer for Buick Motor Division at Flint, Michagan, Max stated…”You are no doubt aware of the heat problem in the cylinder head… and after porting and sawing it in sections, there are places of only .150” thickness around the exhaust”. He continued to mention to John Burnside, “ …for the first five laps or so, the big Ferraris and Maseratis cannot touch me, either in acceleration or straightaway speeds… as the temperature increases and the horsepower falls off, I can lose 200-300 rpms on the straightaway… this is 5-8 MPH or one half second a lap”.

His concerns and letters to Buick included comments about Maserati and Ferrari building engines of a larger size, 5.7 liter and up. Both manufacturers were highly insulted by Max'x practically stock engine beating their cars with engines costing from $9,000.00.

Balchowsky always had the special tricks for Buick with the use of loose valve settings and the biggest radiator that can be put into the race-car. The Buick ‘heads’ cannot be modified much due to the design and the most critical factor was that Max relied on Ed Winfield to design and cut camshafts just for all of the “Balchowsky” motors for Road Racing. Once asked in 1960 if he would be interested in building something with a smaller engine… Max replied “I can’t find an inexpensive small engine with any possibilities”. Max was quoted in a magazine that…”The only substitute for cubic inches is more cubic inches”. The 1950s brought much testing with tires, as Max was one of the first with a durometer to check Shore hardness of the tires. Max worked with Gardner-Reynolds Inc. for special cured “re-caps” as he had the re-caps removed from curing 5- 10 minutes short of the suggested required time to get a softer racing tire. The number of laps was critical and there were times that the Old Yeller would “throw” the tread during the experimentation of tires.


1959 Balchowsky Buick Special