108 In 1971, Allison Lee’s proven abilities were rewarded when she won the coveted Car Craft all-star team award for top crew chief. Allison was the first woman to hold a crew chief position.
A trip to the White House in September 1971 saw the Lees’ Great Expectations II draw the eye of President Nixon and Mario Andretti. (Photo Courtesy Brian Beattie)
109 Garlits debuted his rear-engine dragster on December 27, 1970, at the Sunshine Dragstrip in St. Petersburg, Florida. The 215-inch-wheelbase dragster really started the wave for the current design when it won its first national event, the 1971 NHRA Winternationals. Initial times in less-than-ideal conditions were a promising 6.80 at 220 mph. By the end of the 1971 season, Garlits owned both the AHRA and NHRA elapsed time record and was crowned the AHRA world champion.
110 The front-engine dragster made its last stand in 1971 at the NHRA World Finals where Gerry Glenn defeated Don Garlits’ rear-engine car. Garlits had been coming on strong with the new ride since its runner-up debut at the AHRA winter meet. He followed his NHRA Winternationals win with a victory at the Springnationals. At the season-ending World Finals, Garlits was ready to take his place as champion, or so he thought. Gerry Glenn, driving the car of Bill Schultz, had run a best of 6.72 to reach the finals and knew the odds were not in his favor. Garlits’ previous round-low ET had earned him lane choice, and if it weren’t for that nasty red light . . . Glenn took the easy win and world championship with a 6.59.
The evolution of the dragster was showcased around 1970. Schultz & Glenn had a different spin on the sling-shot design. (Photo Courtesy Roger Phillips)
111 The Schultz & Glenn front-engine dragster differed drastically from any front-engine car before it. Although almost everyone jumped onto the rear-engine dragster design after Garlits’ successful debut, Bill Schultz chose to stick with the front-engine layout, taking it to the next and final step of its evolution. Bill went to work designing a chassis that placed the engine 46 inches forward of the then-current practice. California Chassis Engineering built the chassis and completed the project in four months. When the car debuted in June 1971, driver Glenn stunned the troops at Lions after running back-to-back record 6.41 times.
112 Talk about unique. The Best Engineered Car at the 1971 running of the NHRA Winternationals was Jim Busby’s dragster. The Junior Fueler was powered by twin Ford Indy engines that Jim picked up for a song after USAC rule changes made the 255-inchers obsolete. Can you imagine the headache of tuning these engines with their 8 cams and 64 valves? Driven by Hank Westmoreland, the rail cranked out a best of 8.27 at 186.12 mph, on 50-percent nitro. With a change once again in USAC rules, the Ford engines were back in. Jim sold the engines, along with spares, back to the same people he had purchased them from and made a healthy profit.
This twin proved to be worth more parted out than as a competition car. It lasted just one event. (Photo Courtesy James Handy)
113 Tragedy struck the Top Fuel ranks once again when Sneaky Pete Robinson lost his life at the 1971 NHRA Winternationals. One of the sport’s true innovators, Pete had bolted on a new undercar wing, which was supposed to aid traction. Driver Bud Daubler, “not feeling it” that day, gave the seat to Robinson. Photos by Jere Alhadeff show that at speed, the passenger-side front tire separated from the rim and the radius rod bent; this is most likely why the car veered into the guardrail. Pete died later that Saturday evening due to head and internal injuries. Sadly, Pete’s death wasn’t the only fatality at the Winternationals. In a pit incident, the wife of Top Fuel pilot Dave Russell also lost her life because of a Fuel Altered with a stuck throttle.
114 Is it obvious, that I love the unique? Apparently so did John Pulver, who built an A/FD in 1971 powered by twin 301 Chevys mounted side by side and tilted 45 degrees. It was similar in design to Ivo’s old twin-engine rail. Pulver’s Double or Nothing ran meshed aluminum flywheels with the left engine running in reverse and the right engine delivering the power directly to the rear end. Injected on fuel, the side-by-side design benefitted over the tandem-twin design because it placed more weight over the rear of the dragster, John figured. Pete Tropeano built the 200-inch chassis with the total package weighing 1,600 pounds. Although recorded times are unknown, the car probably wasn’t competitive because it didn’t last, and John soon found himself behind the wheel of a Hemi AA/FD.
115 Jim King and Don Marshall were popular pros running their Don Long car out of New England from 1969 through 1971. Always on the verge of bigger things, they were responsible for many East Coast track records. They accomplished plenty of firsts, including what may be the first blowover after driver Don Roberts set the car on its lid at Indy in 1970. It’s believed the team was also the first to use blower-restraint belts. Their final year in T/F proved to be an expensive one. It was reported in Drag News that King and Marshall received the New England hard-luck award due to the fact that by season’s end they had “lunched” at least a dozen Hemis. Having stripped their money tree, they dropped out of T/F after 1971 and focused their attention on a match-race Duster Funny Car.
116 Possibly the most memorable front-engine versus rear-engine dragster race is the burn-down at Indy in 1971 between Don Garlits and Steve Carbone. A burn-down generally happens when one driver refuses to stage before the other. The ensuing waiting game can lead to overheating or frayed nerves. The burn-down is usually instigated by the slower car, hoping to gain an advantage because the driver has nothing to lose. The Garlits-Carbone feud had been boiling for some time, going back to Indy in 1968 when Carbone lost to Garlits after he felt Garlits took too long to stage.
Two weeks prior to Indy in 1971, the pair met up at the Popular Hot Rodding (PHR) race where Garlits defeated Carbone in the final (6.38 to a 6.63). If that weren’t enough, Garlits again defeated Carbone at an AHRA Funny Car show the week before Indy. At Indy, Garlits had the field covered with 6.20 times and once again faced Carbone in the final. Carbone’s run to the final round came pretty easily, having won three rounds after opponents drew the red light. He had made only one full pass of 6.39. In Garlits’ book, Big Daddy, he describes Carbone winning the coin toss for lane choice and how he (Garlits) offered to toss a coin to see who would stage first. Carbone refused, stating they didn’t need to because Garlits was going to stage first. Of course, no one was going to tell Garlits what he was going to do. So after each car was fired, they each prestaged . . . and there they sat, for two minutes, each waiting for the other to stage. Finally, Garlits crew chief T. C. Lemons waved him forward and Carbone immediately followed. In a flash, the race was on . . . and over. Garlits, having built too much heat, smoked the tires off the line and Carbone was gone, winning the race with a 6.48 to Garlits’ 6.65. Afterward, Carbone said, “Garlits played right into my hands.” It seems Carbone had added extra water to his block prior to the run. Talk about keeping your cool!
117 The most famous Top Gas dragster must be John Peters’ Freight Train. John never drove the car himself, instead leaving that responsibility to others. Many