It goes without saying that the racing career of “Ohio George” Montgomery has been an illustrious one. This drag racing "King of the Gassers" legend started his NHRA record pursuit in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s with amateur racing activities. It was the very beginning of professional drag racing as we know it today.

As a young boy, George Montgomery liked mechanical stuff. His family had a Ford tractor they used for farming.  That was the first machine that George worked on. George worked as a mechanic at his uncle's Ford tractor dealership in Xenia, Ohio.  He also worked at Dayton Lawn Mower Company, mainly repairing and rebuilding lawnmower engines.  When George graduated from high school his dad got him a job at Delco Products in Dayton, Ohio.

George's first professional race activities began in the  1950’s in a hopped-up 1953 Cadillac. Later came a ’34 Ford five-window coupe with a flathead engine in it.  George had a friend who's dad had a Ford dealership (Stenger’s Ford in Dayton, Ohio) and in 1951 they towed his '34 Ford  to compete at the Bonneville Salt Flats in northwestern Utah. That Bonneville trip, as it turned out, was merely a prelude to his championship racing career. It wasn’t long until he swapped the five-window body for a three-window coupe body. By 1955 George had a blown Cadillac motor, a La Salle Transmission, and an early Ford rear end in the '34 Ford.  It was FAST. He won a pair of NHRA Safari tours and Top Eliminator, even beating all the dragsters with it.  During this time he was still working at Delco Products and making some trick stuff for the ‘34, stuff that wasn't available anywhere.  Amazingly, the ’34 Ford was a dual-function street/drag machine and was seen frequently on the streets around Dayton, Ohio. Even the ’34 Ford’s tow truck at the time, a supercharged 1955 (265 c.i. engine) Chevy Cameo Carrier, was raced from time to time.

By now, George started helping out a local speed shop in town by installing cams for $20 and doing valve jobs for $5. He figured he could make more money doing this then  he could earn just working at Delco for $1.05 an hour. Since his greatest asset was the knowledge and ability to make the things he needed, he opened “George’s Speed Shop” in 1950, two years before “Speedy” Bill Smith started Speedway Motors in Nebraska.

 
“Ohio George” Montgomery

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