1001 Drag Racing Facts. Doug Boyce

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СКАЧАТЬ Debris was powered by a Donovan Hemi, had a Hal Canode chassis, and clocked a best of 6.74 at 212.26 mph in 1977. The Starfire featured magnificent eye-popping paint over a low-slung body that featured bulging pontoons covering the top half of the slicks.

      195 Dickie “Mr. Chevrolet” Harrell can lay claim to being the first to propel a Chevy-powered Funny Car over 200 mph when he hit the mark with his Camaro during an AHRA Grand American race at Green Valley in 1969. Further accolades came for Dick when he was voted AHRA’s Man of the Year in 1969 and AHRA’s Person of The Decade in 1970.

      196 Terry Hedrick clocked a 6.97 early in 1970 with his Super Shaker Nova, the first Chevy-powered Funny into the 6s. Hedrick purchased the 427-powered car from Pete Seaton in 1968 with a Corvair shell and in 1969, he installed a Nova body over the 118-inch Logghe chassis. No Chevy-powered Funny Car ever broke into the 5s.

      197 Marc Susman of Garden Grove, California, joined the Funny Car ranks late in 1969, building himself a 392-powered Nova. According to 70sfunnycars.com, Marc joined the Jungle Jim team, driving Jungle’s third team car. The story goes that Jungle Jim had plans to switch his cars from Chevy to Hemi power and wanted to gain Hemi experience. In 1970, Jungle’s new Camaro was Hemi powered. Marc retired from drag racing at the end of the 1970 season.

      198 Talk about a dry spell. Legendary Chevrolet Funny Car pilot Bruce Larson won the 1969 Super Stock Nationals with his USA-1, 1968 Camaro Funny Car. He didn’t win his first national event, the NHRA Cajun Nationals, until 1985. Bruce came back and owned 1989: He drove his Maynard Yingst–crewed Oldsmobile to six national event wins and five runner-up finishes. Bruce led the points standings throughout the season and brought his only world championship home to Pennsylvania.

       Marc Susman’s West Coast–based Jungle Jim Nova was Hemi powered. Some say Jim brought Marc on board because Jim was going to make the switch to Hemi power in his own cars and needed some experience. (Photo Courtesy James Handy)

      199 Bruce was the first to debut a 1970½ Camaro Funny Car, wasting little time in having Fiberglass Ltd. lay up a shell in May 1970. A unique feature of the car was the functional driver’s door. Bruce’s Camaro was Chevy through and through and ran a 427 mounted in a 118-inch Logghe chassis.

      200 I’m sure you’ve heard about the bad luck Corvette Funny Cars have experienced over the years. As aerodynamic as the Corvettes have appeared, Funny Car racers avoided them for years due to their reputation. In 1970 alone, Don Kirby’s Beach City Corvette went up in flames at Irwindale, Glenn Solarno’s Invader burned at Byron, Bob Harris’ Super Shaker burned at Dallas, and Vic Morse in the Mister T–sponsored Corvette crashed on the top end of Lions. Tom Hoover lost his first Showtime Corvette in 1978 before seemingly breaking the curse with a new Corvette-bodied Funny.

      201 And let’s not forget the Corvette that started it all: the Mako Shark of Don Cullinan and Jim Wetton. Theirs was the first third-generation Corvette Funny Car built and featured a 120-inch Ron Scrima chassis, a glass body by J&D Corvette, and S&R Fiber Metal with initial power coming by way of a blown 450-inch Chevy. Debuting in the spring of 1968, Mako Shark, which featured a blue-to-white fade paint (from top to bottom), saw its first body destroyed in a top-end crash at Lions during the summer of 1969. According to 70sfunnycars.com, the best times turned by the Shark were 7.68 at 191.08 mph. Believe it or not, this is one Funny Corvette that has survived and is restored.

      202 Rapid Ronnie Runyan was reportedly the first to make use of the Vega body for Funny Car action, and one of the last Funny Cars to make use of an all-Chevy driveline. Ronnie debuted his car in early 1971, having replaced his Corvair shell with the Vega (which he ran through 1973). His final race with the car was at Kansas City International where he faced and defeated the Pisano & Matsubura Hemi Vega with a 6.70 time.

      203 The Phoenix, Arizona–based King Camaro of Fred Totten was a unique piece, and not because of its Exhibition Engineering chassis or the colorful Nat Quick paint, but because of its Dean LaPole twin plugs per cylinder big-block Chevy. The 427 featured both a front-mounted distributor and a stock-located distributor. The additional eight plugs were tapped into aluminum plates, which were sandwiched between the block and heads. The plates created a large open-combustion chamber and a booming exhaust note. To this day, the Camaro holds the record for the fastest Chevy-powered Funny Car. Dean LaPole drove it to 6.40 at 228 mph. In 1973, a set of prototype Arias Hemi heads were bolted on the 427, and shortly after, the bottom end fell out of the engine.

      204 One of the more unusual Funny Cars was Don Hampton’s Corvette, which was powered by two small-block Chevys. This was Don’s second twin-engine car, having previously run the Too Bad Competition Coupe, which he raced into 1968. The 350-inch Chevy engines were blown, ran alcohol, and pushed the car to times of 180 mph in the mid-7s. The twin Chevys were set up similar to Ivo’s early twin-engine rail: One engine ran in reverse and the two were joined at the flywheel. Don raced the Corvette into 1974 before it met its fate like so many Corvettes before it.

      205 Funnies have come in all shapes and sizes with the early 1970s being a period of great experimentation. Gary Gabelich’s four-wheel-drive Vega Kamback panel is a good example. Gary is probably best remembered for his flying-mile land-speed record of 622.407, which he set in 1970 with the rocket-powered Blue Flame. His unorthodox Vega made one attempted pass at Orange County early in 1972. Gary was to perform a short smoky burnout for the cameras, but instead, kept his foot on it. Big mistake! The car launched itself into the guardrail and tumbled numerous times. When it finally came to rest, it was a wreck and Gary was nearly killed. He spent months in rehab, having a hand reattached and numerous deep lacerations taken care of. His recovery kept him out of action for close to a year. Gary later died in a horrific motorcycle crash in 1984. At the time, he was working on a vehicle with partner Tom Daniel, which they had hoped would reach 800 mph.

      206 Out of 1973 came a pair of Wonder Bread–sponsored Wonder Wagon Vega Kamback wagons. As cool as the two Lil’ John Buttera–built cars looked, they didn’t handle worth beans. The recipients of the two cars were Glenn Way and Kelly Brown. Brown crashed his wagon, and shortly after, Don Schumacher took the reins. The death knell for the wagon body came soon; it was replaced by the far more aerodynamic body of Schumacher’s old 1971 Stardust ’Cuda, which was repainted in the Wonder Bread bubble paint scheme. Don earned a win at the 1973 NHRA Winternationals after replacing the ’Cuda body with a 1972 Vega shell.

      207 As the 1970s wore on, Funny Cars continued to get funnier and funnier. One car that was instrumental in the Funny Car evolution was Schumacher’s Wonder Wagon 1973 Vega sedan. With its Lil’ John chassis, the yellow Vega featured a ground-hugging body, bubbled fenders for tire clearance, air ducting on the hood to relieve lift and drag, and wheel disc covers to smooth the air. The Vega body was updated in 1974 with a slant nose and new paint and was runner-up at the NHRA Gatornationals.

       Dave Bowman in California Stud earned runner-up at the 1973 OCIR Hang Ten Funny Car 500. Dave’s mid-engine Vega managed low-7-second times with a cast-iron Hemi. The car later became a hit in sand drags. (Photo Courtesy Peter Quinn)

      208 And speaking of unorthodox Vega Kamback Funny Cars. How СКАЧАТЬ