Mid-1930s

Mid-1940s

Mid-1960s

Mid-1950s

HARRELL ENGINES & RACINGEQUIPMENT

 

Jim (White) Harrell & Nick Harrelltake the reader on a thirty year journey from dry lake racing in the 1930s to drag racing during the 1960s. The four photos above illustrate their four decades of racing. Jim’s modifiedwith a Chevy four-banger in the 1930s; his modified running a flathead Ford V-8 in the '40s; their 1929 roadster with Chrysler OHV engine in the '50s; and their“Winged Express” in the 1960s.

 

In addition to this web site, wehave a book thatdescribes the racing activities of the Harrell brothers.The following image is the book's front cover showing Jim (White) Harrell's straight eight Hudson powered modified on a record breaking run at Muroc dry lake in 1941.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next image is theback cover of the book showing Jim (on the right) and Nick Harrell at the Harrell Engines shop with the Harrell Special around 1950.

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ReviewbyKen Gross

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in the December 10, 2009 issue of:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Cars, Weekly News & Market Place

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Harrell Engines & Racing Equipment:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jim (White) Harrell & Nick Harrell"

 

"Jim and Nick Harrell were active Los Angeles hot rodders for more than 30 years. Innovative intake manifolds and finned high-compression heads from Harrell Engines were used by a number of record-setters. Beginning in the ’30s, Jim Harrell raced everything from four-bangers to flatheads, and with his brother Nick, he advanced to Chrysler Hemi engines. Jim’s first speed shop opened on San Pedro Street in 1933. The Harrells were Albata Club founding members and they helped and competed with all the historic names: Tony Capanna; Vic Edelbrock, Sr.; Bob Rufi; Bob Noble; “Wild Willie” Borsch; and a slew of others pioneers. The rare, faded black-and-white photos in this book are a treat. Many were simply taken as snapshots at the dry lakes, but they depict historic cars and give readers a sense of a simpler time, when you drove or flat-towed your roadster up to the dry lakes, stripped it of any remaining non-essentials and ran the clocks. This book tells it the way it was."

Jim (White) Harrell & Nick Harrell

A Customer Review

 

 

Posted on amazon.com by B. "SoCal Woodworker

 

A Nostalgic Look back

 

"The Harrell Engines book is a nostalgic look back on the pioneers of the sport of racing. This book starts with the 'roots' of drag racing and how drag racing grew. The book explains the connection between the Harrell brothers and the young racers. The magic came with their engine building. The 'need for speed' was the mantra of every racer that 'hung out' at the Harrell shop where the exchange of ideas and experiments would take place. In so many words this shop-talk was the meeting of the 'hot rod' minds. The book gave me a blizzard of memories. The Harrell brothers were in a sense true alchemists when it came to racing engines. They like so many of the drag racing pioneers, took the dream of drag racing to a whole new level and made the sport of drag racing the spectacle it is today. I highly recommend this book!"