Record breaker has a need for speed
Vancouver-area drag enthusiast who builds his own engines has picked up many awards
Leap Day is unusual because it only happens once every four years.
But Feb. 29 was a tough day in the shop for Vancouver-area drag racing enthusiast Roger Manson.
That was the day his race car fell off a hoist and nearly ended his career.
The low-slung car, constructed with a tubular steel frame and roll cage and powered by a blown and injected 600-horsepower four-cylinder engine — was nine feet in the air as Manson worked on some steering parts. The car seemed to be perfectly balanced while suspended on the four arms of the hoist.
Manson slid one arm away from under the front frame so he could add non-skid material to the pad that was supporting the car — for safety.
He had positioned the rear arms of the hoist so they were on the heads of bolts holding the rear suspension in place.
And that is what gave way. Inertia created when the rear arm of the hoist slipped off the bolt caused the front of the race car to tip forward where it was unsupported.
“It fell so quickly that I didn’t have time to get out of the way,” he said later.
The car fell sideways off the hoist, nearly pinning him against the wall. He narrowly escaped with a cut on his head and some bruising. He was in shock for hours. It was a harsh lesson of garage safety and would require extensive and expensive repairs. He has since added adjustable safety bars to prevent the hoist arms from moving while in place.
The 77-year-old, who is well-known internationally for campaigning a dragster powered by a four-cylinder Pontiac Tempest engine from the 1960s, got his National Hot Rod Association drag racing licence at the age of 50 and his licence to race on the Bonneville Salt Flats at 65.
His fastest drag racing time was 152 mph (244.6 km/h), completing the standing quarter mile in 8.72 seconds. He continuously defied those who said it is not possible to do that with a four-cylinder engine.
Manson has received many engineering and innovation awards. When he and wife Marlene began campaigning their super competition race car on the Bonneville Salt Flats, his fastest officially timed speed was 195.4 mph (314.47 km/h). Unofficially, the car reached 206 mph (331.5 km/h). Manson was inducted by the Greater Vancouver Motorsport Pioneers Society in 2011. His drag racing and salt flats competition followed 28 years of off-road racing a 1950s Jeep powered by Pontiac four-cylinder engines.
They made 16 trips across the U.S., towing their race car and winning the sand nationals in Olympia, Wash., twice and hill climbs in Ohio six times. Not surprisingly, he goes through a lot of engines. He is running his 50th Pontiac four-cylinder engine in his dragster and has No. 51 built and ready for competition.
In high school, he installed a six-cylinder Vauxhall engine to replace the underpowered four-cylinder power plant in his 1950 Hillman.
He hand-built a three-carburetor manifold to provide extra horsepower. In his 20s, he installed a DeSoto Hemi engine in his 1941 Ford convertible. It was equipped with six carburetors with a homebuilt manifold.
He likes the sturdy Pontiac Tempest engines, which he beefs up by packing cement in the water passages of the engine block so it won’t break apart under the stress of racing.
“I am hoping Bonneville will be running again this year,” he says, referring to the annual salt flats racing season that begins in August. “I am determined to break the 200-milesper-hour barrier. I think I can do it this time.”