Jimmie:
My Name is John Troutner, Your Dad & i went out & played at the Drag strips quite a bit, some times along with your uncle Jim. Your dad & I were both drafted into the army July 28th of 1964 (my birthday), & ended up in fort Sam Houston Texas. When we got discharged, i returned to California & became a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff,. I am not sure about some of the accuracy of some of the information that some of the folks have given you, but that first Dumbo was bought from "Dick Landys" automotive research,it was a used race car & your dad raced it for a while with Landys's lettering on it til he could afford to have "Dumbo" painted on it. Most of the time i just went along & helped but at times your dad would let me make a few passes with dumbo, the first Dumbo was a 1964 dodge dart flip top with an acid dip body, i went home many times from breathing fumes after spending the day spraying fuel down the injector tubes & spraying what your dad called "BUG JUICE" on the slicks, your dad made his living working on automatic transmissions, he used a lot of clay smith stuff, we used to go down to the junk yards on Alameda Street in south central LA & buy Hemi's, your dad had an old dodge flat bed with a crank up cable crane. we would wheel & deal & get 4 hemi's for $100.00. with a torch, a couple cold chisels, and some wrenches we would be gone in an hour + with 4 hemi's before one of those boys could change their minds & want more $$$, we would break them down in your dads garage, have them magna-fluxed , keep the good blocks punch them out into the water jackets sleeve them & call them 392's
we broke a lot of those motors, but if they held together they were quick with the help of some methanol.
I was one of the pall bearers at your dad's funeral i guess his death shook your uncle Jim so hard that he went back to college & became a dentist, we had a side joke that when your uncle Jim drove dumbo his "ET's" were quicker on the return lane than through the traps. Shortly after you dads death i lost touch with your mom Delores "DEE" I am not sure how much information you want but i will do my best if you want? You can call 907-745-2652 or my "E" Mail is
ak56crownvic@hotmail.com i live in Alaska: you can see our web-site at akstreetrodders.com. i am looking forward to hearing from you, if i don't i will understand. John Troutner