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70s
Funny Cars: Round 42
By
Danny White
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Johnny West is one
of the smartest people in drag racing, no doubt. Not only is he one of the most
sought after crew chiefs, but he also did engineering work for the United States
government on several high priority projects. Before that, West was a low buck
racer from
Arizonawith his Plan A series of race cars. Johnny worked his way through the
sportsman ranks until he built an A/FA Bantam powered by a big block Chevy. West
later bought Joe Boone's Warpath AA/A 23 T, added a blower to his nitro engine,
and dropped it between the frame rails. West raced the car for a couple of years
with a best of 7.20. Johnny soon made the jump to nitro funny cars like his
brother Jim did with his own car. The unique flopper had the rear of a Chevy
Monza, but the front of a Plymouth Arrow. The name Plan A referred to West’s
unique and cost effective method of running the car. He would do a burnout and a
dry hop on alcohol, and then turn on the nitro to stage and complete the run.
This judicious use of nitro saved money and parts. West ran in the six second
zone with the Rodeck Chevy powered machine. He completed independently until
1985, when joined Roland Leong as the latest driver of the Hawaiian. That
arrangement lasted for a while and then West went solo again, diving for himself
and using a couple of hired shoes. Johnny became a well regarded tuner, known
for consistency. He is currently tuning for the Clay Millican-driven Skull Shine
dragster of Evan Knoll. (Photo Courtesy of Auto Imagery; info from Draglist
files)
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Glen Hyder was one
of the true die-hard racers from Southern California. He built a unique turtle back 27 Ford T in the sixties that was different
looking from the other altereds of the era. Eventually, like many other AA/FA
racers, Hyder built a funny car. The Hyder's Outrage Corvette was the result,
but the car was destroyed in a clutch explosion. Glen then had Southern California
-based RCS build this Camaro, powered by a 392 Chrysler Hemi with Heads by
Fudge. Hyder debuted the machine in 1972 and raced on nitro through the 1973
season. He used drivers like Gary Southern and Rod Phelps, but ran infrequently
due to the cost of running the car on nitro. Hyder converted the car to alcohol
and ran the new Pro Comp class in 1974. He later retired from racing and moved
to the Carolinas. Glen returned to racing to help his son run a blown 23 Ford T altered in match
race action before he passed away. (Handout Photo Courtesy of Jim White; info
courtesy of the late Glen Hyder and Draglist files)
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Being stricken
with polio and relying on crutches did not stop Joe Winter from his dream of
being a fuel racer. Joe raced a fueler in the sixties, first using hired
drivers, but later taking over the driving chores. In 1970, Winter built a new
Duster funny car for the Southern California
funny car wars. The machine set an unofficial record of the wrong kind at
Fremont. The Duster body came off and flew higher than any funny car body ever had! The
Mustang body shown in the photo replaced the ruined Duster body in 1971. The car
featured a 392 Chrysler Hemi, which pushed it to a 7.15 at
Fremontand 199.11 at OCIR. The high mounted bodied funny car was raced until the end
of 1972 when Joe retired from racing. (Photo by L&M Photos, Courtesy of Bob
Plumer and Drag Race Memories; info from Dennis Doubleday and Draglist files)
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Randy Walls was
one of the founding fathers of funny cars in the sixties. The first Super Nova
was a scary, high-riding match basher that ran low eights. Walls raced a series
of funny cars throughout the sixties, and then built a new, narrowed chassis
machine in 1970. Randy missed a few dates while building the new car, which
reportedly hurt him with booking agents across the country. Walls kept close to
home with the new car, but took the Chevy powered machine to a known best of
6.90. Randy retired from racing in 1971 only to return in the early 21st century
with a new Chevy powered Super Nova. The new car was painted similar to the car
in the photo but featured a modern chassis. (Photo by L&M Photos, Courtesy
of Bob Plumer and Drag Race Memories; info from George Crittenden of
nitrogeezers.com, Dennis Doubleday, and Draglist files)
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Charlie Wilson was
one of the first funny car racers in
California, fielding
the Vicious Vette 1958 Corvette. At the time,
Wilsonused hired drivers like young Dale Pulde, Jim Adolph, and Clyde Morgan. Pulde
said
Wilsonwas a great painter, especially when it came to painting candy colors, and was
a great cook, to boot. By the time the seventies rolled around,
Wilsonwas doing all the driving and had moved back east. The Vicious Too Camaro was
built by Ronnie Scrima and also featured Chevy power. It ran 7.50 in 1971 and
190.67 in 1972.
Wilsonpassed away during a run in 1973. It was said he suffered a heart attack.
(Photo from Bob Plumer/Drag Racing Memories; info from Dale Pulde, Bill Duke,
Dennis Doubleday, and Draglist files)
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Smokey Joe Lee was
one of the toughest independent funny car racers from Southern California
in the seventies. A tester for Leonard Abbott's Lenco Transmission Company all
during his racing career, Lee had raced dragsters before running funny cars.
Joe’s most remembered car is probably this Hemi powered, Mr. Ed bodied
Charger. Theban Diego
based machine ran solid six-second runs with a known best of 6.56, 215.31 at
Ontario1973. Lee continued to race with moderate success until the late seventies in a
Vega. (Photo from Tom West/Replicas West; info from Tom West, Dennis Doubleday,
and Draglist files)
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Bob Bedell's
brightly painted Wild Thing Camaro stood out in a crowd for sure. The
Washington-based racer built the car himself in 1968, and ran the 392 Chrysler
Hemi powered machine into the early 1970 season. Bob ran a known best of 7.56 at
181 in the Camaro during West Coast match races. Bedell sold the car in early
1970 to Gary Matranga, who raced it as the Day Glo Express. Bedell sometimes
drove the Bad Bascomb's Ghost Nova in addition to his own car. He retired from
racing in 1970. (Photo from Bob Plumer/Drag Racing Memories; info from Dennis
Doubleday and Draglist files)
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Don Wiley's Plum
Crazy was one of the truly forgotten funny cars of the seventies. The
Texas-based racer began his fuel funny car career with this home built Charger. Wiley
and partner W.C. Beck crossed the country in match race action. Wiley built the
chassis and mounted a mini Charger on the car based on the Chi Town Hustler
body. The 426 Chrysler Hemi was backed by a Torqueflite transmission built by
Beck. Don ran best times in the mid sevens with this car. Wiley eventually sold
this car and replaced it with a new Cuda, but sold that car to Animal Al
Marshall. Don later left the nitro ranks to run a BB/FC on the All American
Funny Car Circuit. He returned in the 90s to race an A/FD for a short time, and
now is set to return again with a new funny car. (Handout photo from Randy Baker
and info from Don Wiley/Draglist files)
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Ken Mott’s Super
Vega was one of the many funny cars of the seventies that used “Super” as
part of its moniker. There also were the Super Cuda, Super Charger, Super
Camaro, Super Nova, and even another unrelated Super Vega. The cast iron Chevy
powered Super Vega was not raced for long, but recorded a best of 5.02 on the
eighth mile at Sharon, PA. Note the early use of blower restraint straps on the
car. Prior to the Super Vega, Mott got his start in a flip top AA/GS Vega for
Hart Automotive in
Ohio. Ken eventually drove the Lonestar Longneck Pontiac Astre in
Texasbeginning in 1974 and achieved some match race success. (Photo from Gary
Hojnacki; info from Draglist files)
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Linn and Magnuson
had one of the first funny cars in
Minnesota. The Mind Sticker Camaro was built in 1969 with the injected Chevrolet shown
here, although a National Dragster article cited the team’s desire to add a
blower later (it is unknown if they did). Like many Midwest
cars of the day, the machine was built by Chapman Automotive. Bill Linn drove
the Chevy, shown here in a rare out of state appearance. (Photo by L&M
Photos/Courtesy of Bob Plumer/Drag Race Memories; info from Dennis Doubleday and
Draglist files)
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