Ron Cooper
Firing up that Z11- "The Old Reliable IV"- 1963 at U.S. Nationals-Indy. See the II in A/Stock trim.
Maybe it looks like an overexposed photo, but it isn't. That's oil smoke coming from the 1963 car after the engine was fired. I've heard that those Z-11 engines were built so loose, with really wide piston-ring tolerances for reduced friction, that most of them really smoked. I can remember that Wally Bell's New York Shaker Z-11 Chevrolet always smoked like a chimney. This was 1963, remember, and they did a lot of stuff that would be considered to be primitive today. In this case, it could be oil smoke, or it could also be that Jenkins might have been tinkering with the carbs and they were loaded up with gas when the engine was first started. This is in the pit area at IRP during the U.S. Nationals, and they're jammed as far as you can see. The 1963 version of the Old Reliable is an A/FX car, while the 1962 bubbletop is running in A/Stock. "
