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Round 7: Featuring
Sam Miller, Simon Menzies, Al Bergler/Bobby Wood, Bruce Larson,
Pabst Blue Ribbon Charger, Dee Simmons, Bill Dee, Kelly Chadwick,
Ken Poffenberger, Kings Ransom Monza, King & Marshall, Earl
Phillips Baltimore Bandit, and Kenny Bernstein's Chelsea King.
New
Jersey's "Slammin Sammy" Miller's Buttera built 72 Mustang.
Car was preceded by an identically painted Duster that carried
Miller to his only NHRA National event victory at the inaugural
(71) Grandnationals in Canada. Pictured car caught fire at the
72 NHRA Nationals and left Miller with serious burns. In 74 Miller
returned with a Mustang II bodied F/C but following a pass in
the Pollution Packer rocket, he sold the flopper and went to work
building his own rocket F/C. According to SS&DI, Feb 76, Miller
envisioned rocket floppers as a way for "... professional
funny car racers... to ply their trade in a safer manner, much
less expensively... There's no breakage, no fire, no explosions."
Although the R/FC craze didn't catch on save for a handful of
nitro converts, Miller continued to run rocket powered cars through
the remainder of the 70s, perhaps the best known being his "Vanishing
Point" entries. (JW Last photo)
 Bakersfield
79 winner Simon Menzies at the wheel of Jim Jackson's new-for-79
Challenger. Menzies spent several years wheeling his own BB/FC
Cuda flopper and Jackson's highly successful BB/FC Corvette (occasionally
ran the car on alcohol in nitro shows at AHRA/local events) before
the team stepped up to nitro in 79 with this ride. Shortly after
Bakersfield car also won the #2 Division 7 race and seemed to
be off to a great start, then faded mid-season. Performance picked
up again at season's end as demonstrated by a 6.09 pass at Fremont,
CA. In 1980 Menzies moved on to shoe the Arias powered Arrow of
Leslie and Bergens. (Photo by John Shanks, used with permission)
 Two
popular Vega bodied F/Cs lock horns at York US 30 in 72. Funny
car aluminum interior builder Al Bergler's "Motown Shaker"
entries where noted to be very sanitary floppers; car's were always
in show ready condition. After running a killer AA/C dragster
in the 60s, Bergler stepped up and raced "Motown Shaker"
floppers throughout the decade of the 70s. Bergler occasionally
hired drivers, this entry was driven by Butch Maas. Bobby Wood
was one of the original funny car racers from the deep south,
ran a Rat motored, Hardy built Nova in the late 60s and held the
NHRA National record for a period at 7.61. Another Hemi powered
Nova preceded the pictured Vega in 71. Both Bergler and Wood were
"part time" regulars on the Coke Cavalcade circuit in
the early/mid-70s. (Photo courtesy of Drag Racing Memories)
From
PA came drag racing's "Mr. Clean," Bruce Larson. Larson's
first fliptop F/C was a Logghe chassised Chevy powered Camaro
(which he still owns) in 68 which set the world on fire with a
then unheard of 7.41 ET. In 72, Larson's then new mini-Camaro
F/C burned to the ground; mindful of the ever present specter
of fire, he retreated to the Pro Stock ranks through 75. Larson
returned with an ex-JJ Monza to the alcohol ranks in 75, upgrading
back to the nitro ranks in 76. Pictured Vette was debuted in 79
(sporting it's infamous "USA-1 Survives TMI" 3-Mile
Island rear window mural) and continued to run as shown through
1982 when this shot was taken. Larson went on to become NHRA F/C
World Champ in 1989... a well deserved and popular victory! (Photo
by David Hapgood)
 The
car generally credited with starting the "beer wars"
was Charlie Proite's "Pabst Blue Ribbon Charger" driven
by 20 year old Russell Long. Evolved from the Telstar T/F and
F/Cs that Proite ran from his Wisconsin home into the early 70s,
this car debuted in 73 and ran through 75. SS&DI (May 73)
reported that Proite was involved in negotiations with racing
buff Augie Pabst for nearly 6 months in order to get the brewery
sponsorship. In 76 Vic Cecelia replaced Long in the drivers seat,
and the car returned to it's "Telstar" roots while maintaining
the same paint scheme minus the Pabst emblem and "Charger"
billboard. Arrow bodied "Telstar" flopper driven Doc
Halladay closed out the decade. Cecelia moved on to chauffeur
the "Image Maker" BB/FC Mustang in 79. (From Pabst Handout,
courtesy of Rick Covington)
 Photographed
at Warner-Robbins, GA in the early 70s is "Mr. Soul"
Dee Simmons' Camaro. Simmons was known as a very nice guy who
ran the act "out of his pocket". This car was a 427
Chevy (on nitro) with a Torque-Flite(!). His later cars were called
"Big Black Go-Rilla", a name that probably wouldn't
make it in this politically correct era. Simmons, a high school
teacher from NC, was a Div 2 regular throughout the entire 70s
with Chevy bodied floppers; started the 70s with the "Thunder
Road" topless Corvette and closed out the decade at the wheel
of a 76 Monza. Simmons represented a "dying breed" of
F/C racers as smaller fields at WWCS level by the close of the
70s had only 5 cars showing for the Div 2 opener in 79, 4 for
the Div 3 opener, 3 for the Div 5 opener and 1 for the #2 Div
2 race. By 1981, NHRA had dropped nitro cars at the Division level
and split Pro Comp into Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car which
became the "big dogs" at the divisional level. (Photo
by Franko)
 Bill
Dee from Connecticut spent 3 seasons teamed with Al Hanna on the
Eastern Raider Pinto/Mustang in the mid-70s before striking out
on his own with the "Nor'easter" Mustang II in 78. Car
was a former "Frantic Ford" with an S&W chassis
and paint by Circus. Driver was Bob Beaulieu, who prior to this
ride, ran the short-lived "Eastern Raider" top fuel
dragster which was the stable mate to Al Hanna's flopper of the
same name. Nor'easter was a "middle of the pack" competitor,
limited appearances to Division 1 and by 79 was only being sporadically
campaigned. Car didn't reappear in 1980. (Photo courtesy of Dave
Milcarek)
 High
school teacher turned full-time racer "The Professor"
Kelly Chadwick never wavered in his loyalty to Chevy powerplants
throughout his funny car career from the mid-60s to the early-70s.
Pictured is Chadwick's last flopper from the 72 season before
he made the move to Pro Stock in 1973. According to Pop Hot Rodding,
Feb 70, "The Professor" started racing funny cars "before
it was called anything but super stock cheating." Chadwick was one of the charter members
of the popular Coke Cavalcade circuit, won the season title in
1970 and became the quickest Chevy powered flopper in the land
by clocking a 6.73 at the 71 OCIR Manufacturers Championship,
better than most Hemi powered cars had run up to that time! (Photo
from 72 Chadwick handout, courtesy of the Greenberg Collection)
 New
Jersey's Ken Poffenberger's 72 Cuda bodied flopper at York US
30. Previous "Poff's Super Puffer" efforts included
a Chevy powered Corvair in the late 60s and the ex-Prudhomme 70
Cuda flopper (original Hot Wheels car) which was initially driven
Sam Miller before Miller left to field his own Duster F/C. Ex-Hot
Wheels car was destroyed at an 1/8 mile track at Utica, NY, with
Poffenberger at the helm in July 71 when the throttle stuck and
Poff took a wild end-over-end ride off the end of the track. Following
the above pictured effort, Poffenberger went on to team with Sam
Miller on the "Sprint of 76" rocket powered Mustang
II flopper in 75. (Photo courtesy of Drag Racing Memories)
Mr.
Norm employee and Chicago resident John Pott drove the "Kings
Ransom" Monza throughout the Midwest in the mid-late 70s.
Thought of as a "match race special," car was competitive
and consistent, could run in the 6.50 zone all day with a "parts
saving" stock stroke motor. Car was also a regular at Detroit
Dragway's 1976 "World Championship Funny Car Series"
which ran every Saturday night during the summer/early fall and
featured a $2.95 (about $9 in 2000 dollars) spectator admission
tab! Pott took over the reins of the Mr. Norm "Super Charger"
and "Sport Center" Arrow entries from Pro Comp champ
Dave Settles in the late 70s then went on to drive Larry Coogle's
Sting Firebird in the early 80s. (Photo courtesy of Rob Potter)
Don
Roberts in the Winner's Circle at the Labor Day Funny Car program
at New England Dragway, September 71, where he shoed the King
& Marshall Duster to a 6.96 210 to beat Mart Higginbotham in the Drag On Vega in the final. This car was a match race only
car, with a Don Long 130 inch wheelbase (the NHRA legal WB then
was 115") with power from a 392 Chrysler with direct drive.
In Don's words "This car was a great car... but I didn't fit
in this car worth a damn. I'm 5'8" and King is 5'3"
and it was built for HIM only... I didn't drive this car very much,
maybe 3 or 4 times after that into the 1972 season." Later
K&M efforts included more conventional Satellite and Monza
bodied F/Cs. Pictured car was put out to pasture as the mid-70s
approached then came out of retirement in 1980 and burned to the
ground at NED with Jimmy King at the wheel. (Photo courtesy of
Don Roberts by Paul Wasilewski Jr.)
 Earl
Phillips and the Baltimore Bandit were mid-Atlantic regulars in
the late 60s and early 70s. Starting out as an injected gas
flopper on a local circuit, car was upgraded in 1970 to nitro
flopper status and was a popular regular on the Div 1 Pro Funny
Car circuit and at division events. Team also ran a Pro Stock
Duster (Baltimore Bandit, Jr.) during the same period. One thing
about this car... it proved if you couldn't decide what paint scheme
to put on a car, put 'em all on! Car was later sold, went on to
become the "Wild Heritage" injected flopper on the east
coast for a short period with an even crazier (read more difficult
to appreciate with red lace over tan covering the Baltimore Bandit
billboard and the red flames) paint scheme. (Photo courtesy of
Drag Racing Memories)
 Kenny
Bernstein's comeback 78 Chelsea King Arrow was one of the prettiest
floppers of the decade. Bernstein spent the late 60s/early 70s
kicking around with Texas TF efforts, went on to drive Ray Alley's
Engine Master's Cougar and Charger (took runner-up at 73 NHRA
Winternationals) and the LA Hooker II Mustang before "retiring."
Bernstein remerged at the 78 NHRA Summernationals with this car
and took home the "Best Appearing Car" award. Bernstein
envisioned and modeled this effort after the Barry Setzer Vega
of the early 70s, even ran the car directly out of Ed Pink's shop
ala Setzer. First NHRA win came at 79 Cajun Nationals over a broken
John Force. Chelsea King name disappeared in 1980 and was replaced
by "Bud Arrow" effort. (Photo courtesy of Dave Milcarek)
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