1001 Drag Racing Facts. Doug Boyce

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СКАЧАТЬ wheelbase, which was 2 inches shorter than a stock GTO, was built upon a drilled, boxed chassis supporting a blown injected 421, and a rear air-ride suspension. The owner-built headers expelled the gases up through tubes in the tinwork and expelled the fumes behind the driver. Dick had problems keeping the Pontiac mill together and later switched to a big-block Chevy.

      181 Jungle Jim was the first Funny Car owner to field two cars, doing so in 1968 with a pair of Chevy IIs. Clare Sanders was hired to drive the second car and overcame a 32-car field to win NHRA’s first national event Funny Car eliminator, which took place at the 1969 Winternationals. Jungle has been called the John Force of his generation and was always more interested in entertaining the fans. It wasn’t until the NHRA Summernationals in 1975 that he won his only national event.

      182 What might have been if drag racing hadn’t lost Jungle Jim in an auto accident on September 9, 1977? At the time of his death, he was talking with Dutch Irrgang about opening up their own shop to produce fiberglass Funny Car bodies. Earlier the same year, Jim had put together a new team of Jungle cars consisting of another flopper, driven by Jake Crimmins, and a Top Fuel car for Ron Attebury.

      183 Jungle Jim’s last drag race was at a 32-car Funny Car show at Englishtown in August 1977. Although Jim drove his orange Monza with fresh 7-Eleven sponsor logos, the deal with the convenience store wasn’t inked until race day. Although Jim failed to win the event, the show he put on convinced the executives in attendance to sign him. Jim died nine days later.

      184 Although Jim moved onto the big dragstrip in the sky, his orange 1977 Monza Funny Car lived on, thanks to his big brother, Bob. Bob gave the seat to Carl Ruth, who handled the controls through most of 1978. Ruth, who raced Funny-bodied cars well into the 1990s (remember his 1956 Ford Funny Car?), earned his nitro license in the Jungle car.

      185 Jim’s personal life was in shambles in his later years. By 1976, track-side attraction Pam Hardy had moved on. And some say just as well. An anonymous source close to Jim states, “When Jim was still married to Bobbie, she kept him in line and pretty much clean. When she left and Pam showed up, all bets were off and the drugs flowed freely.” In the end, the demons won out and drag racing lost one of its brightest stars.

      186 In 1968, Dave Zachary was on a mission to build the world’s fastest Cadillac Funny Car. With a total of zero Caddy Funnies in existence, it would be a pretty easy task. Working on a shoestring budget, Dave welded together his own 2x3 boxed frame and flimsy four-point roll bar. He covered it with a stripped all-steel Eldorado shell. Relying on a nitro-fed injected big-block Chevy for power, the behemoth hit its stride of 9.70 quarter-mile times. But this isn’t the end of the story. Zachary made the fateful decision to replace the Chevy with a blown and injected Hemi, which must have had double the car’s horsepower. Heading out to Bluegrass Raceway, neither the car nor Dave survived the first outing. Catching air in the lights, the Caddy flipped and disintegrated, spewing parts in every direction. The shoddy roll cage did nothing to protect Dave who did not live to see another day.

      187 On March 2, 1969, Huston Platt (in brother Hubert’s 1968 Camaro) left the starting line in Dixie Twister at Yellow River Dragstrip, in Covington, Georgia, in a match race against Frank Ogelsby in Dyno Don’s old Funny Cougar. What occurred next tragically altered many lives. As Platt came down the track, a spectator hopped over the fence to retrieve a beer and was instantly killed when Platt’s parachute opened into him. The car lost control and veered into the crowd, ultimately killing 12 people. Yellow River closed that day and Huston Platt, shaken so badly, ended his career.

       Dean Dillingham figured that if one is good, two must be better and set out to prove it with his Chevy Nova. According to 70sfunnycars.com, the twin small-block Chevys pushed the Hardy-chassisied car to 8.20 times.

      188 Working under the assumption that two are better than one, in 1970, Dean Dillingham built a twin-engine Chevy Nova Funny Car. The A&W-sponsored Don Hardy-chassisied car wasn’t the first twin for Don; he had previously run a twin dragster. Lewis Boyd of Boyd & Griffiths Top Fuel fame built the blown small-block Chevys for Don, which according to draglist.com, propelled the Nova to 8.23 at 177.51 mph.

      189 Arnie “the Farmer” Beswick should be considered Pontiac headstrong. He’s been running the big Chiefs since 1958, and as of this writing, still runs one. When the early 1960s altered-wheelbase cars morphed into Funny Cars in the mid-1960s, Arnie was there with his blown Pontiac-powered 1964 GTO running CC/F in NHRA competition. The Farmer stuck with Pontiac power until 1970, when he debuted a pair of Fiberglass Ltd. Logghe-chassis Firebirds, one of which was powered by a Chrysler Hemi. Dubbed Mr. B’s Hemi Tractor, the car was wheeled by Dave Bonkosky while Arnie drove the Pontiac-powered Boss Bird. The best time for the Pontiac ’Bird was a 6.94 at 215 mph. To this day, these times remain the quickest turned by a Pontiac mill.

      190 Beswick, who has been credited with starting the whole match-race craze in the late 1950s, was forced into early retirement in April 1972 after a large fire on his farm destroyed most of his race equipment and cars. Not until 1987 did Arnie return, taking the wheel of Jake Howard’s 1963 Tameless Tiger tribute.

      191 Beswick wasn’t the only one to try his hand in a Poncho-powered Funny. To support his growing business (Leader Automotive), Ferndale, Michigan’s George DeLorean built a low-slung 1969 GTO. The Fiberglass Ltd. body featured a 4-inch dropped top; from ground to roof, it measured no more than 47 inches. To gain additional clearance, the engine and hydro transmission were offset slightly to the right, opening up room so that the driver sat beside the drivetrain rather than over it as on most Funnies. Taking the Goat to 7.30s at close to 190 mph was a worked-over 428. Other unique features of DeLorean’s Funny were a homemade chassis and a quarter-elliptic sprung rear suspension.

      192 Other memorable Pontiac Funnies included Tom Nell’s Champion Automotive 1969 GTO Judge, Steve Montrelli’s 1968 Firebird, Ron and Don Gay’s line of ’Birds and Goats, Arnie Beswick’s GTOs, and the Royal Pontiac–sponsored 1970 Firebird of Harry Rossow and Fred Hargrave. And also Chuck Stolze in the K. S. Pittman S&S Race Team 1968 Firebird and Texas’ own Ellis and Faulkner 1970 Firebird. I guess those Pontiacs Funny Cars weren’t so rare after all. I do recall a few memorable Firebirds from the 1980s.

      193 If nothing else, Chicago’s Herman Lesmeister can lay claim to having the first flip-top Olds 442. Herm’s Super 442 was based on a 1970 Cutlass glass body and Farkonas chassis, and it was powered by a 392 Chrysler Hemi. It was at the U.S. 131 Dragway in Martin, Michigan, that the short-lived 442 met its demise in 1971. A top-end crash destroyed the car, but thanks to the well-constructed chassis, Herm was spared serious injury. Not the kind of excitement Herm pictured when he climbed behind the wheel of a Funny Car. The 442’s last ride was also Herm’s, as he never raced again.

       Herman Lesmeister’s one-of-one Super 442 Funny Car competed in 1970 and 1971. A Chrysler 392 Hemi, set in a John Farcona’s chassis, survived a 1971 a crash at the Popular Hot Rodding meet, which destroyed the body. (Photo Courtesy Rob Potter)

      194 As the 1970s wore on, Olds-bodied Funny Cars became more rare. One of the memorable cars was the BB/FC 1976 Starfire-bodied Karmic Debris, which Kevin Siebert built to sponsor his Shelbyville, Indiana, Olds dealership. According to СКАЧАТЬ