The History of the "6 Pac"

I received a wonderful letter from Ronald Dearman this week and he would love to share it with you all.

Letter from Mr Dearman: Your Miss Chicken website is great ! It is filled with many memorable names and cars. I saw where Ray Cato was looking for the 6 "Pac". I don't know where it ended up but I do know where it started. The car has a history that most folks might not know or recognize. I would like to share it with you and everyone.

In 1963 a neighbor in Pearl came to me and said, he had an old sportsman body and frame with the roll cage intact. He wanted to know if I would give him $25.00 for it. I didn’t have the cash right then so I traded him a quarter inch drill for it.

It was painted spray-can black. I took it home and could see some impressions of numbers on the side. I took some thinner and wiped it off and there it was, #248 in red paint. I didn’t know which one of Chicken McComb’s cars it was. If you look at the botton picture of the #248 from 1960 on your website, you will see what I believe is the 6 Pac. Chicken recognized the car the first night we raced it Jackson Sports Arena in the 1964 season.

I wanted to run a flathead but the rules were clear, you had to have the same make of motor as the body. I think it was Chicken who said it was a ‘34 Pontiac. I knew it wasn't a Ford when I got it, so we put a ‘35 Chev PU grill on it and called it a Chevrolet. That meant it was a Chev Stovebolt 6 cyl or nothing for an engine.

I was working at Mills-Morris Automotive on State St. at the time. Most of the fellows in the machine shop helped make the homemade 26I CI Chev truck engine (not a GMC). We bored it to 3 7/8 and used 283 pistons with stock rods that lacked a 1/4inch coming to TDC. I built up the rod journals and Hudson Williams stroked the shaft. We had to notch the J C Whitney track grind cam because the rod bolts hit. I made a ram log intake out of 3 inch exhaust tubing and mounted a WW Stomberg Carburetor on it. We went racing with a homemade 3I2 CI Chev Stovebolt.

As you can see from the picture, I painted it yellow and blue with a red stripe. I didn’t want just a plain #6 for a number. One night Mac Scarbrough (owner of #709) came over and we were talking about numbers. Mac raised his beer and said, just name her 6 Pac. That was long before Mopar used it. That night the #248 started a new career as 6 "Pac". It certainly wouldn’t be as fast or as bad as it had been with Chicken and lval.

The first night we showed up at Jackson Sports Arena (JSA) Doc Bass was Pit Steward. He safety checked the Pac and said it was safe and Legal. When we got to the pits we drew a crowd of flathead boys who protested that it was THE old chicken McComb’s GMC car. I didn’t argue that because it was Chicken's old body but it wasn’t a GMC engine. They said they were going to get Doc or Bonner to protest and not let us run. About then Bill Steadman said let him run it. All the Morton boys joined in and the yellow and blue 6 “Pac'” started the 64 season at JSA with David Moore as driver. It ran the middle of the pack that season with a third place as our best finish.

The ‘65 season brought little change for the Pac except for some reason and I’ll never know why, I painted it maroon with silver letters. I never did like it with that color scheme. It just didn’t look like the Pac to me. David Moore drove the first few races. Lawrence “Roundman” Chambliss and I agreed the Pac should be running closer to the front.

One night we got Joe Hall to time it in for us. Joe said it was strong little car. The next week my wife was getting close to having a baby so I called Lawrence and told him that I wasn’t going to make it to the races. He was very disappointed because he had someone he wanted to put in the seat to see what she could do. I told him to take it and run it like it was his. He called me about 1:00 AM and told me I should have been there. Gene Newsome and the Pac won it all that night. Just my luck, the first time she won and I wasn’t even there.

The next week, I could not go either so Lawrence took her again. About Midnight he called and said he had some bad news. Gene was running strong again when the stovebolt, came apart like a two dollar watch.

The next day we checked it out and the only thing that could be saved was the head. My wife had given birth to our second child (Randy) so I told Lawrence that I couldn’t afford to start over. If he wanted too he could run her. He was running the white ‘34 Ford #00 so he said he couldn’t. I told him as much as I hate to, go ahead and try and sell her if he could. Lawrence called about a week later and said two fellows wanted to buy her. It was Wayne Buckner and a friend. They wanted to put a 292 CI 6 cyl in it and Gene Newsome was to drive for them.

I hated to take that $400. It was like selling part of the family. That was the last time I saw or heard of the "Pac". I didn’t know Ray Cato drove it until I saw it on your website. I hope Ray can find her.

It may sound as though I did it all by my self, but anyone who has ever built a race car of any kind knows you have to have help (friends). My Dad Bill Dearman, Lawrence (Roundman) Chambliss, David Moore, Mac Scarbrough and of course Chicken's #248 , and many others helped build the 6 "Pac".

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