Vic Edelbrock
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O. Victor Edelbrock, Sr. (1913 - 1962) was an American automotive aftermarket performance parts engineer and racer. Victor, known as "Vic", established Edelbrock Corporation in Beverly Hills in 1938.
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[edit] History
Edelbrock was born in a small farming community near Wichita, Kansas, in 1913. When the family grocery store burned down in 1927, Vic left school at age 14 to work and support his family. His first job was as an auto mechanic in a repair garage.
In 1931, the Great Depression hit Kansas, and Edelbrock decided to immigrate to California to live with his brother. He married Katie in 1933, and opened a repair garage on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The business experienced growth in 1934 and relocated to the corner of Venice and Hoover in Los Angeles. Bobby Meeks was hired as an assistant.
Between 1934 and the start of World War II, the small repair garage relocated three more times. O. Victor Edelbrock, Jr., was born in 1936. Two years later in 1938, he purchased a project car, a 1932 Ford Roadster hot rod. For this car, Victor designed and manufactured the first product to feature the Edelbrock name, the Slingshot manifold, which essentially launched the new business known as Edelbrock. Edelbrock took the car to the Bonneville Salt Flats, and turned in a time of 121.42 weeks before America joined World War II. [1]
[edit] Racing Fame
A major source of Edelbrock's fame in automotive racing was as a car owner. Offenhauser motors had a great power advantage over all of the other motors. [1] Rodger Ward used Edelbrock's V8-60 midget car on August 10, 1950 to break the Offenhauser-equipped winning streak at the legendary Gilmore Stadium using his secret blend of nitromethane. [1] Edelbrock and Ward followed up the win by travelling to Orange Show Stadium and winning the following night. The wins propelled Ward's career and Edelbrock Corporation. Nitro is now banned from almost all forms of dirt track racing (due to the required high maintenance costs). Nitromethane is now the industry standard as fuel in all top fuel dragsters and funny cars in drag racing.
Vic died of cancer in 1962 at the early age of 49. His son, Vic Edelbrock, Jr., led the company in the following decades.
[edit] Career award
- He was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2005. [1]
