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 went 121.42 MPH weeks before America joined World War II. During the war, Vic's machinist skills were put to work welding in the Long Beach shipyards and hand fabricating aircraft parts. First Vic worked at the Todd Shipyards, then later Edelbrock went to work for Len Saulter, machining parts from newly developed exotic metals. This work was categorized as critical to the war effort and would keep Vic from being drafted for the remainder of the war. 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 engines. Rodger Ward used Edelbrock's V8-60 "shaker" midget car on August 10, 1950 to break the Offenhauser-equipped winning streak at the legendary Gilmore Stadium using his secret blend of nitromethane. Edelbrock and Ward followed up the win by travelling to Orange Show Stadium in San Bernardino and winning the following night. This feat was never duplicated in the history of midget racing. 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). However, nitromethane is now the industry standard as fuel in all top fuel dragsters and funny cars in drag racing. Manufacturing Vic achieved an industry first in 1958 by getting one horsepower per cubic inch from a 283 Chevy small-block with the new Cross Ram manifold. In 1962, cancer claimed the life of Vic at the age of 49. His son, Vic Jr., just 26 at the time, assumed the position of president of the company and held it until 2010. Career awards He was named to the SEMA hall of fame 1977. He was inducted in the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1994. He was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2005. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2012. See also Edelbrock Vic Edelbrock, Jr. References and further reading 1913 births 1962 deaths American manufacturing businesspeople Auto racing people American motorsport people 20th-century American businesspeople People from Eudora, Kansas ạ