Joe Allread, whose engine-building skills ranged from preparing small-block Chevrolets for Junior Stock to Chrysler Hemis for Pro Stock, died Nov. 11 after a battle with cancer.

Allread initially gained fame as one of the elite Junior Stock racers who emerged from the West Coast during the mid- to late 1960s and were known as the “Valley Boys.” His contemporaries from the Southern California region included John Barkley, John Dianna, Marv Ripes, Bob Lambeck, Willard Wright, Gary Glover, Ramon Lowe, Keith Berg, and Jay Hamilton. He campaigned a variety of vehicles throughout the years but was best known for his K/S’57 Chevrolet station wagon that was featured on the cover of Car Craft magazine in 1968.

Allread later built the Hemi engine for Bagshaw’s then-revolutionary ’70 Dodge Challenger, which was the first Pro Stocker constructed by noted chassis builder Ron Butler and won Best Engineered Car honors at the 1970 U.S. Nationals. Allread also prepared the Hemis for the Mopar Pro Stock entries of Butch Leal and Bob Lambeck.

More recently, Allread had been building Hemi powerplants for the SS/AH Hemi Barracudas of California Car Cover Co. team owner Jim DeFrank Sr. Rick Houser drove one of DeFrank’s Allread-powered Barracudas to the Mopar Hemi Challenge title at the 2007 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil.

Barkley, who had met Allread at the old San Fernando Dragstrip in 1964, said, “We were partners in 1967 running Joe’s small block in my H/SA ’57 Chevy, and took turns driving. Joe drove it at the NHRA Finals that year and made it to the semi’s before losing to eventual winner George Cureton, who had the only car that could run the number besides ours. He later let me use the fuel-injected 283 from is K/S ’57 Chevy wagon, and that powered my M/SA ’57 Chevy to Stock wins at the Winternationals and Hot Rod Magazine race in 1968. Joe was a great guy with more patience than anyone I ever knew. He took forever to build a motor, but when it was done it was a work of art.” (Bill Holland photo)