1981 Mint 400 Flareside Race Truck

[Rembrant]

Saw these pics posted on Facebook and had to share in case anybody didn't see them.
I know I'm a little Flareside biased, but that's one sexy lookin' truck.

[Gary Lewis]

Nice looking truck!  I count at least 4 shocks per front corner, but can't tell how many more are hiding.  Nor can I make out the name of the driver.  Wonder what the engine was?

[Rembrant]

The names on the door are Curt Wilender? And Bill Lind under it.

The guy that posted the pics said Curt Willender I think, with two "L".

[Gary Lewis]

I can't find any hits for either spelling of Curt's name and Mint 400, nor Bill Lind.  Oddly enough, a 35 year old William Lind drove a Toyota in the 2018 Mint 400.  I wonder if there's a link there?

[reamer]

It sits very "healthy" I like it!

[Rembrant]

It looks like a jacked up 2wd no? Can you tell?

I know nothing about desert race trucks...but it doesn't look like it has 4x4 hubs up front.

[Gary Lewis]

I agree - no 4wd hubs.

[1986F150Six]

Judging from the clothing, hair styles and 35mm camera, I am guessing this photo was taken in the early to mid '80s.

[Rembrant]

1986F150Six wrote

Judging from the clothing, hair styles and 35mm camera, I am guessing this photo was taken in the early to mid '80s.

Most definitely. The caption was 1981 Mint 400...but I don't know if that was the year of the race, the year of the truck, or both.

[1986F150Six]

Thanks. I missed the caption... the truck does look to be new!

[Rembrant]

More Bullnose Flareside desert race truck stuff. Swiss Cheese frame failure perhaps...

[Rembrant]

There are a lot of cool Bullnose pictures on this Facebook page for anybody that likes to follow this stuff. I'm really diggin' the vintage pics. It's the 80-96 Ford Truck Racing.

[Rembrant]

Catching some air.

[1986F150Six]

Nice work, Cory!

[Dyn Blin]

I really enjoyed these, thanks for posting them.

[Rembrant]

These are just a few of the pics that caught my eye. I love vintage photographs like these. There are a whole bunch on there on that Ivan Stewart Black Flareside. It's all very interesting (and new) for me, as I really know very little about this southwest style desert racing. I knew who Ivan Stewart was, but I associated his name with Toyota trucks...not Ford.

 

[Rembrant]

1983 Parker 400. Nice truck;).

[Gary Lewis]

It is interesting that most of the pics we've seen show a Flareside.  I wonder if they knew that the Styleside actually weighs less than the Flareside?

Also, I'm surprised that they are running the aluminum "bullet hole" wheels on that truck.  They do weigh a lot less, but I would have thought they are more likely to be damaged than a steel wheel.  But, that's just my guess.

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

It is interesting that most of the pics we've seen show a Flareside.  I wonder if they knew that the Styleside actually weighs less than the Flareside?

Are you serious about that Gary?...Wow, I would never have thought.

Maybe it's because stripped down, the Flareside bed was easier/lighter to deal with? There'd be no tailgate, and the wooden floor is likely removed. Not much weight left after that.

[Gary Lewis]

Serious.  I haven't found the actual weight again, like I did last week, but I do remember seeing that.  However, go to the 1983 dealer facts book, turn to the Vehicles and then the F-Series 4x2 tabs and scroll down to Page 16.  Note that the payload for the 4700 GVW trucks is 1430 lbs for a Flareside and 1460 lbs for a Syleside.