semi-elliptic springs.
Nelson, of course, didn't
invent quarter-elliptical springs,
but he was the first to put
them to practical use in off-
road racing. It was genius.
They would go on to become
ubiquitous in off-road racing
and have only recently been
supplanted in popularity by
easier-to-tune coil-over setups.
The leaf spring innovation
wasn't Nelson's only creative
interpretation of the rules.
When it came to the shocks,
for example, he mounted
them in the stock location, per
regulations. The rule book didn't
stipulate was the placement of
the front springs, so he moved
them rearward to make room
for larger Rancho shocks. And
because the rules simply stated
the engine had to be mounted in
the stock location, Nelson used
the mounting location for the
smaller, Windsor-family engines,
which was several inches
farther back on the chassis than
the larger, heavier "FE"-family
engines also offered in the truck.
There's another theory that
Nelson's selection of the '66
Ford was very deliberate, too,
and not simply the folksy, "let's
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