Dragon Snake

[RaceDeck]

Larry Miller brought down a few of his Shelby's to the local show: here is his "DRAGON SNAKE"

[RaceDeck]

Pic #2

[RaceDeck]

Pic # 3 ,

[PDHse]

Great pictures. Cool car.

[Atomsk]

The 289 dragsters were usually fitted with a hard top when they raced. Do you know of Dragonsnake's hard top is still with the car?

[Don]

Do not know the owner, but for the last few years there has been a Dragonsnake at the Fall AACA Hershey PA meet, with a hardtop

The AACA rules require all race cars that will be judged to be started and driven. On the day before the judging the race cars assemble at the stadium on the Hershey grounds and a take a few laps on the paved area around the outside of the football field. Great viewing in the stadium seats.

If you are ever at the Hershey meet, it's a great show watching the 30 to 40 race cars with the history of each announced on the PA system. Some of the drivers tend to push the limits, especially the historic dragsters. Starts around
10:00 on Friday, cars can be viewed up close, no barriers, in the stadium parking lot

[Jay Little]

Great!! Now my keyboard won't work from all of the droll in it!!!! Thanks for the great pics!!

[Cal Metal]

What is the CSX of this car?

[ItBites]

CAL,

In the first pic above there is a sign and it says either CSX 2036 or 2056 as far as I can make out?

Does that jive with known data?

[Cal Metal]

ItBites:

Thanks. I couldn't make it out. Eyes deteriorate with age. It is CSX 2036. Not an official DragonSnake according to the Registry. The owner's name did not ring a bell. This is a pretty small fraternity of cars.

According to the Registry:

....."the car's early history is a mystery, beyond noting that it was NOT, as suggested in the '82 Registry, a DragonSnake...."

...."the first know owner was Jeff Plitt (NY) who advertised it for sale in the mid '70s as "dark blue with black leather..."

...."unsold, 2036 was advertised in mid-'81 again by Plitt as "partially disassembled for restoration; all there except tach and door straps........

Successive owners were George Raterink (he used to own a Cheetah and lives in Longmont, Colorado), Bill Murray and then Rick Nagel who had Murray perform a resto with the DragonSnake lettering. After that, it went through three more owners (including Raterink, again) by the time the '97 Registry was written.

Looks like it was a street car converted to comp specs with DragonSnake paint.

[btsai]

CM -- Larry Miller's name doesn't ring a bell? I'm pretty sure he owns 3-4 originals as well as one of the coupes. Who is Larry Miller? Well, he owns the Utah Jazz, the Delta Center, I think a TV station and a radio station - and I'm guessing about 1/2 of Salt Lake City. He's a big time car dealer (multiple dealerships).

Ben

[Cal Metal]

Ben:

You have to remember that I live in rural Wisconsin. Very few forms of communication--lucky to have an AM radio and a station to go with it..........

"Ring a Bell" simply meant that, with regard to DragonSnakes, his name doesn't sound familiar. Now, names like Larson, Mason, Serb, Heimdal and Yeaggy I recognize. Like I said, it's a small fraternity.

[RaceDeck]

I think he has four original Shelby's? in his collection

[btsai]

Cal Metal -- no problem. He is pretty "big time" in the southwest. The Utah Jazz had a lot to do with that -- Karl Malone and John Stockton and all that.

I also happen to know one of his business partners (here in Phoenix). I keep reminding my friend that the next time he goes up to the track where the cars are kept that I could probably "force" myself to tag along. If I ever DO get invited, I'll see if I can get you invited too. (Don't hold your breath -- I think it's a pretty long shot.....).

Ben

[Nedsel]

I have to wonder who made up the sign. It indicates that the car is unrestored and the paint is original. Well, if the first 100 Cobras were all red, black, or blue, it would be pretty amazing for the 37th car to have Viking Blue paint. And since it started out as a red street car...I wonder where the Dragonsnake lettering came from? And we thought "The Twilight Zone" was no longer in syndication!

[Nedsel]

OK - Of course I should have said the first 100 cars were all red, black, or white, as the first blue car was 2104.

And the owner of the purple Dragonsnake who usually appears at the Hershey fall meet is Bruce Larson, who campaigned 2093 originally and repurchased it a few years ago.

[Cal Metal]

Hi Ned...thanks for checking in on this topic.

Here are a couple of pics of the Costilow car...

[Jim Doak]

I was at the Autorama helping to set-up the "Snake Pit" display where the pictures posted above were taken when Larry Miller's employees drove his cars into the building last Thursday evening. (He had two cars in the show, the Dragon Snake and a red 427.) His guys said that Mr. Miller owns several other original Cobras, as well as something like four GT-40s and an original Daytona coupe. It sounded like he has something to do with the Shelby museum in Boulder, CO.

[TERRY M KRYSTOFIAK]

NED,
THOUGHT THE CAR PICTURED WAS DREW SERBS. LAST YEAR AT THE NOR CAL MINI NATS HE AND RICH MASON HAD THEM PARKED NEXT TO EACH OTHER. DID THE COLOR SCHEME REMAIN THE SAME FOR TWO CARS? AM LOOKING FORWARD TO DRIVING CSX2427 (RICH'S) AT THUNDERHILL WEEKEND OF APRIL 17.
TERRY

[TERRY M KRYSTOFIAK]

NED,
ALSO, ON CHECKING THE WEBER SET UP, THE TYPE OF SUPPLY LINE DID NOT EXIST FOR WEBERS IN '63-64. THE CORRECT LINES WERE SPLIT INTO FOUR SEPERATE OFF A FUEL LOG IN FROUNT OF THE MANIFOLD??? PICTURES OF CSX2192, CSX2189, AND CSX2427 HAVE THIS SET UP. IF UNRESTORED, MUST BE AN "EXPERMINTAL" SET UP !!!???