Arlen Vanke

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"Akron" Arlen Vanke is a well known and very successful drag racer out of Akron Ohio, and for a long time sponsored by Jegs. He enjoyed most of his success driving Mopars, but he also drove Chevrolets and Pontiacs.

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Akron Arlen Vanke

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History

Arlen first began drag racing right after he received his drivers' license. Akron airport opened the first drag strip east of the Mississippi in 1951. It remained in operation until 1959. It was here that Arlen got his first taste of racing. He had a 1940 Ford 2 door sedan with a flathead V-8 and tricarbs. His car would run 14.80 at 87 MPH. In the summer of 1953 he raced every weekend in B/Gas. He was usually successful until he had to race against George Montgomery who always beat him driving a 1934 Ford coupe with a Cadillac engine.

In the fall of 1961 Arlen walked into the parts department at Knafel Pontiac to order some parts for a customer's car. He noticed a "Super Duty" 421 engine on a stand and inquired about the engine. Bill Knafel's office was next to the parts department, and he heard the conversation about the engine. He invited Arlen into his office to discuss the new 1962 Pontiac "Super Duty". Arlen was always on the lookout for a faster stock car so he ordered a new red 1962 Pontiac Catalina "Super Duty". The car arrived a few weeks later and Arlen prepped it and began racing. Bill Knafel noticed that Arlen was having a great deal of success with the car at many local tracks. He met with Arlen and offered him a job as a salesman at Knafel Pontiac and the chance to drive under the sponsorship of Knafel Pontiac. Thus began an eight year relationship with Knafel Pontiac.

His first Mopar was a 1963 Plymouth Max Wedge Savoy that he called "Old Brownie". He drove it to the NHRA Super Stock Championships in C Class in the mid-'60s at the Pomona Winternationals. Later, it was a 1965 Plymouth Hemi Belvedere I that Vanke piloted to set the Super Stock C class record in 1969. It happened at National Trails Raceway in Columbus, Ohio running a quarter-mile time of 10.64. Vanke said, "I set the record on the final run for the NHRA Divisional Championship. Vanke also acquired a S/S Hemi Plymouth, and the rest, as they say, is history. The personable Ohio native went on to become one of the most successful Super Stock and Pro Stock drivers ever associated with Plymouth, holding numerous national records along the way.

In fact, Chrysler hired Vanke to test their performance technology. In 1967, Arlen modified the RO23 Hemi intake manifold for racing. "NHRA rules allowed racers to modify the intake manifold, so I made the stock manifold into a plenum chamber manifold, " he said.

Vanke always had preferred a 4-speed, but Chrylser wanted him to run against the Chevy's that had been winning in the SS/C automatic class. He won the Eliminator at the Divisional Championship again in 1970.

In 1966 Vanke won three classes at the NHRA Spring Nationals with three different cars. In the Stock Eliminator race he literally ran against himself because he owned both cars in the final.

Vanke's Hemi, along with the Sox & Martin team, gave Mopars so many victories in the late '60s that they dominated the scene in Super Stocks. In 1968 he won the Nationals in August at Indy running SS/B with his 1968 Plymouth Hemi Cuda. He reset the record again with a 10.61 at 140 miles per hour in the Cuda in SS/A at the Winternationals in Pomona, California.

In 1971, Vanke was a member of the United States Racing Team, an organization that included all the top names in Pro Stock racing. "Somebody came up with the idea to take it on the road, have our own tech inspections and run exhibitions for the fans across the country," Vanke explained. The team ran in 1971 and 1972, and along with Vanke included such names as Ronnie Sox, Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, Dick Landy, Don Nicholson, Dave Strickler, Don Carlton, Wally Booth and Herb McCandless.

Epilogue

One of the cars that Vanke built to run Nostalgia Super Stocks is a1965 Plymouth Hemi Belvedere I, built the way Arlen would have back in the '60s, and featuring his yellow and black paint scheme. Vanke talked to us this week from his home in New Mexico. He told us that he borrowed this car in 1998 from Tony Depilo of Dayton, Ohio. He made the car lighter, replacing the glass windows with lexan and getting rid of the window regulaters, ("reduced the weight of the doors by 150 pounds," he told us.) He also rebuilt the Hemi engine, and went through the transmission ... reversed the valve body and changed the power pressure. For the next two years, 1998 and 1999, Vanke campaigned this Hemi Belvedere in Nostalgia drags all over the country. He said he remembered running it at Milan, Mid-Michigan Motorplex, Quaker City, Dragway 42, Cecil County and Merton raceways. And his best run was 10.13 at 130 miles per hour at Norwalk.

In January of 2013 -- Arlen was living in New Mexico taking care of his mother.

In July of 2013, Arlen had a serious stroke and was recuperating at a facility on Las Cruces, NM

Reference

• Street Machine Club
• Indian
• Hall of Fame

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