Vic Edelbrock Sr.
The Edelbrock name has been associated with high performance since the 1930s, when a young mechanic began setting records on the dry lakes outside Los Angeles. Vic Edelbrock was already experimenting with dual-car intake manifolds of his own design and modifying cast-iron “Denver” heads. During World War II, government contract work gave Vic the foundry and machine shop experience that led to the production of his first high-compression, aluminum cylinder heads for Ford V8s. While Vic was enjoying postwar success as a midget car owner, Edelbrock-equipped flatheads dominated the dry lakes, salt flats, oval tracks, and early drag strips. Together with longtime sidekick Bobby Meeks and driver Fran Hernandez, Vic was among the first racers to experiment with nitromethane. A nitro-burning, 3/8″ by 3/8″ Edelbrock combination powered Fran’s fenderless Deuce Coupe to victory in the October 1949 gathering at Goleta, California, that many regard as history’s first organized drag race. Vic Edelbrock Sr. died at the age of 49 from cancer.