|
Round 15: Featuring
Jim Terry's Mustang, Hill Bros, Speed Racer Vega, Bluegrass Shaker
Monza, Huckster Mustang, CKC Vega, Oly Smoker Vega, Mike Mitchell's Hippie Cuda, Bobby Steakley's Camaro, Meyer &
Rogers Camaro, Ric The Underdog Deschner's Monza,
Chris Berg's Texas Yankee, and Della Woods' Challenger.
SoCal's
Jim Terry's Mustang debuted in early 74 with Gordon Swearingen
at the wheel. Terry had been partners with Mike Thermos on the
Sopwith Camel Cuda prior to this effort, moved on after two seasons
to field Plueger built flopper. Car was the first F/C to run a
Danekas 8-71 blower, showed up at the 75 AHRA Winternationals
with the combo and dominated the field, setting low ET at 6.32
with a #1 qualifying effort, but lost a traction plagued final
to Shirl Greer's new Mustang II. Waterman Racing Engines shop
foreman Neil Leffler later took over the reins of the car after
Swearingen retired to devote more time to his family. Bakersfield
76 was the first outing for Terry's Gary Cochran driven yellow
and black Buick Skylark. Car ran through 77... last hurrah was
at 77 NHRA Fallnationals where car was #4 qualifier (6.28), went
to semi's, lost to eventual winner Billy Meyer. (Photo and info
courtesy of Gordy Swearingen)
 From the state that
probably boasted more funny cars per capita than any other, Rhode
Island, came the "Rapid Transit" Satellite of the Hill
Bros. Following a bad blown AA/Gas Willys in the late 60s, Pete
and Bill Hill built their first Rapid Transit funny car in 1970
in the form of a Cuda. A newer Tropeano built "Hill Bros"
Cuda followed in 71 that was unique in that it actually had working
headlights! Brothers were northeast regulars throughout the 70s
with their Plymouth bodied entries; took 77 off due to business
commitments, reemerged with the pictured car for the 78 season.
Other 70s entries from the nation's smallest state included King
& Marshall, Frank Federici's Shark Corvette, John Roderiques'
Light My Fire Corvette, Mel Perry's Super Hugger Camaro, and Dick
Pintos Super Hustler Camaro! (Photo courtesy of David Hapgood)
 In 76 Steve Harris debuted
chassis builder Mike Kase's "Speed Racer" Vega at the
OCIR annual Manufacturers Meet. In 77, following an injury to
Harris, Tom Anderson, who had been racing his own Vega and "Wild
Thing" Mustang II F/C took over the reins. By 78 team was
on a roll, winning the Div 3 title, taking runner up at Cajun
Nationals and finishing 6th in NHRA points. However, lady luck
didn't smile on the team in 79 as they seemed to just miss qualifying
at most NHRA national events. Speed Racer closed out the decade
as an Omni bodied car and in early 1980, Anderson left the team
to crew chief on Len Imbrogno's Centurion Trans Am and "AA/Dale"
Armstrong took over driving chores. In 81 Armstrong became the
6th member of the Cragar 5 Second Club with a 5.98 at the Gatornationals.
Anderson later went on to drive for Jim Wemett. (Photo by John
Shanks)
In
the mid-70s the Bluegrass Shaker of Turner and Commes was billed
as the only AA/FC from Kentucky. In 75 Jackie Price at wheel of
Bluegrass Shaker Vega won the Div 3 flopper title. Pictured Monza
debuted in 76 driven by ex-Tommy Ivo crew chief and Hot Tuna T/F
driver John "Tarzan" Austin. Car finished 2nd in Div
3 that season behind Stan Bowman... then didn't reappear in 77.
Monza was one of the many "Shaker" cars of the era;
others included the Kosty Ivanof's Boston Shaker, Bill Schifsky's
Beartown Shaker, Brian Lengle's Sno-Town Shaker, Al Bergler's Motown Shaker, Terry
Hedrick's Super Shaker, Jim Robbins Bayou Shaker from TX, etc, etc, etc. (Photo by Ted Pappacena)
 From
the Garden State, New Jersey, came the "Huckster" Mustang
initially owned by John Burnett. Stang was a Woody chassised,
Circus painted car that ran canards for a period. Using a steel
426 with a Lenco 2-speed, it ran a best of 6.41/227 in 73. Car
was driven by Bobby Martindale whose previous flopper experience
came running the "Tonka" Mustang A/FC on the East Coast
Fuel Funny Car Circuit. Team only ran the car a few times over
2 years and then sold it to John Perotti from south Jersey, who
ran the car in Division 1 through 76. Car then disappeared... although
Arnie Swensen (of Swensen & Lani fame) remembers seeing the
Mustang body behind the Gateway Motel on Rt. 22 in Somerville
NJ for a couple of years following the end of the car's career.
(Photo by Dave Milcarek, info courtesy of Franklin Amiano)
From
San Antonio came the CKC Vega of Fritz Callier and JE Kristek.
Callier drove the car while Kristek turned the wrenches. Second
"C" originally belonged to Buddy Cortines who left the
team well prior to this 72 Vega and continued to drive other Texas
based nitro entries through the late 70s. After campaigning a
B/Fuel Dragster in the early 60s team was among the first to jump
into flopper competition way back in 65, was AHRA's first Funny
Car event champion at a Green Valley TX race. Hardy built Camaro
and Nova preceded the pictured Vega, switch was made in late 70
with the Nova from a Rat motor to a Ramchargers built Hemi which
also powered the pictured Vega. Team was NHRA, AHRA and IHRA regulars... in
fact Drag Racing USA (Mar 72) stated that after switching to funny
cars CKC had never failed to qualify for an event they entered!
(Photo from CKC Handout courtesy of Randy McGinnis)
 One
of the charter and less heralded "beer war" cars of
the era was the "Oly Smoker" Vega owned by Ron Salisbury
from Oregon and campaigned mostly in the Midwest, circa 1975.
During the mid 70s Olympia was busy has they sponsored Herm Peterson's
TF from the NW, the highly successful Oly Roller alcohol floppers
of Vern Moats and the pictured car. Oly Smoker name was originally
attached to a John Dekker driven Vega owned by he and Roger Guzman
in 73 before Salisbury got the sponsorship nod; later Prudhomme
got the Olympia sponsorship on Army Monza. Pictured car had various
drivers during it's existence including Jim White, Johnny White,
Tripp Shumake and whatever driver was attached to the competition
number 480... any ideas? (Photo by John
Bergener)
Billed
as the "Worlds Fastest Hippie" San Francisco's Mike
Mitchell ran "The Hippie" Cuda in the early 70s. Following
stints with a AA/GS Willys and the flip top "Revolution"
Corvette pseudo F/C AA/GS in the late 60s, Mitchell turned his
efforts to nitro. Famous for it's "Impeach Nixon" rear
spoiler, Mitchell's flopper was show quality as evidenced by it's
annexing Best Appearing Car at the 73 Sacramento WCS meet (despite
hitting the Christmas Tree at same event). Mitchell faded away
in the mid-70s after the pictured car burned to the ground at
Irwindale, returned in 79 to drive the "bad guys" dragster
in the movie "More American Graffiti." In 1980 he remerged
with the "A&E Motors" Corvette F/C; during retirement
Mitchell spent time on the road crew for Jefferson Starship. During
his hiatus
the Cuda
was in storage, showed up for sale in National Dragster in 80.
Following his brief return, Corvette showed up for sale in early
81. (Photo courtesy of John Shanks)
 From
Waco Texas came Bobby Steakley and the Steakley Chevrolet sponsored
"Stinger Camaro" in 1970. The Hardy built Rat motored
flopper was wrenched by David Ray who took over the driving chores
when in his words "[Steakley] calls me... and says he has
a big 32 car race in Hollywood FL that weekend (end of Jan 70) and... his father wouldn't let him go, because of big business
doings at the dealership. So I go, and win the race... It turned
out that Bobby's father was planning to make him quit by the end
of the year. His father was fixing to retire, and turn the dealership
over to him in two years... Bobby only drove 4 more races that
year (in Texas). I drove about 50 dates, got on the Coke circuit
in June..." Fellow Wacoan Grover Rogers took over the driving
chores when Ray departed for a ride in the Stone, Woods and Cooke
Pinto. (Photo and info courtesy of David Ray)
 By
71 the Steakley car pictured above was rebodied and owned by Grover
Rogers and a young up-start from Waco named Billy Meyer. Meyer,
at the tender age of 15, got his first opportunity to drive a
flopper (at an airstrip!) while the car was still cloaked in the
69 Camaro shell... but eventually licensed in the car after the
71 body was mounted. Rogers did most of the driving while Meyer
acted as an occasional fill-in. Following a non-drag racing accident,
Rogers vacated the driver's seat to Meyer fulltime. Team later
campaigned a Meyer driven Mustang bodied funny car which eventually
became the "Motivation" Mustang that "The Waco
Kid" won the 72 OCIR Manufacturers Race with after buying
Rogers out and becoming sole owner/operator of the flopper. (Photo
courtesy of Jerry Finley)
 Maybe
the ultimate "little guy" fuel racer of all time is
(then NY's, now South Carolina's) Ric "The Underdog"
Deschner. In fact, the pictured funny car may be the longest continuously
campaigned, one owner flopper in history. Deschner started construction
on this car in 1970, finally ran it for the first time in primer
in 75, finally had the $$$ to paint the car in 76. Deschner built
the Rat motivated car himself (except the body) and campaigned
the car in Div 1, match racing and IHRA events through 1992. Among
his accomplishments were a top 5 finish in Div 1, 3rd in NHRA
Regional Points and a top 10 IHRA finish. When IHRA dropped nitro
floppers, Deschner was left without a "competitive"
place to race so he continued to make "exhibition passes"
with the car. Today, Deschner
is prepared to dust the cobwebs off and enter the burgeoning nostalgia
funny car wars. (Photo by Michael Beach, info courtesy of Ric Deschner)
 The
"Texas Yankee," Chris Berg, was from Schertz, TX., just
outside San Antonio where he ran True Performance Inc. Berg's
resume included rides in the Texas based Hired Gun TF & FC
entries, the Lonestar Longneck AA/FC, and his own Texas Yankee
AA/FC 78 Challenger from 78-86. In keeping with the Texas theme,
the chassis was built in the Dallas based shop of T-Bar Chassis.
Berg rebodied the car in mid-86 with a Corvette shell, ran a best
ever 6.05 at the first annual Chief Auto Parts Nationals at the
Texas Motorplex in late 86 before retiring to outside the US as
a scuba diving instructor in the Caribbean (or some such thing).
Berg pretty much confined his racing activities to Texas, matched
race (even in Mexico) and ran divisional events. (Photo by Jim
White, info courtesy of Bill Duke)
 One of the trio of female
flopper drivers in the early 70s (the others being Paula Murphy
and Shirley Muldowney) was Michigan's Della Woods. Teamed with
her brother Bernie, the team ran "Bernella's Funny Honey"
Charger in the late 60s before debuting this car in 70. Team ran
the car through 71, then retired when Bernie moved from MI to
AZ. Woods returned to funny car racing in 1981 at the wheel of
the ex-Dick Rosberg "Fighting Irish" Firebird, her only
non-Dodge bodied flopper. Woods followed that up with several
Mopar bodied funny cars in the mid/late 80s. Trivia fodder: Della
was the first women to enter a Pro Class race, the 69 NHRA Winternationals
where she failed to qualify for the funny car field. (Photo from
Della Woods handout courtesy of Jim White)
[ Back ] [ Home ] [ Next ]
|
