1001 Drag Racing Facts. Doug Boyce

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 about the Dave Bowman’s California Stud ex-AA/FA pilot that debuted in 1972? The panel wagon featured a mid-mounted cast-iron Hemi in a space-age frame. As unusual and poor handling as it was, Dave was actually fairly successful with the car and reportedly won a PDA race at Orange County. The Vega hit a best of 7.20 at 190 mph in 1973 before Dave was forced to retire after crashing his 18-wheeler. The Vega passed to Pat Parkhurst, who went sand dragging with it.

      209 John Force, the winningest man in drag racing, gained Funny Car experience behind the wheel of a used 1974 Vega. Although lacking any real experience, or even a competition license, John sweet talked a deal where he toured Australia, competing against Gary Densham’s ’Cuda. The brief tour was a flop and John won only one race. Reportedly, Densham helped him keep the car running after Force blew his two engines. According to Hemmings Daily.com, Gary was convinced that Force had no future in drag racing.

      210 “Broadway Freddie” DeName’s short line of Funny Cars were anything but killers, but that doesn’t mean that Freddie wasn’t. Freddie’s interest in drag racing started in the late 1960s and ended in 1978. His line of Funnies (a Camaro, Mustang, Duster, and Monza) never won a major race, and outside the familiar photo of his Camaro doing a smoky burnout down Coney Island, the cars were all but forgettable. The stories of Freddie’s trackside antics and his pet chimp are endless, but it was Freddie’s well-known connection to New York’s DeMeo crime family that eventually drew the headlines. According to the book Murder Machine by Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci, Fredrick grew up on the poor side of Long Island’s Canarsie Boulevard and hung out in the same sleazy bar as DeMeo and company.

       Freddie’s specialty was car theft (including Don Schumacher’s Duster), which eventually worked up to murder, and then lots of murders. In 1985, he turned over evidence against the family and went into the witness protection program. His life ended in 1986 when he was found hanging in his Emerald Valley, Texas, home.

      211 Billy Meyer’s career accomplishments seem to be lost in the IHRA Texas Motorplex debacle of the mid-1980s. As many recall, Billy purchased the IHRA with dreams of merging it with the NHRA. The NHRA had no interest, and the flailing IHRA sank in a pool of bad luck and bad decisions. But Billy is a success story. At the age of 16, he became the youngest licensed Funny Car pilot, earning his ticket behind the wheel of Bob Steakley’s first-generation Camaro. By 1972, piloting his own car, Billy defeated the favored Chi-Town Hustler at a World Championship Series (WCS) points meet at Orange County. At 18 years old, he won the 1974 NHRA Springnationals, becoming the youngest person to win a national event. Eventually Billy won 13 national events before retiring from racing in 1987.

      212 Like most professional drag racers, Meyer’s time behind the wheel wasn’t without incident. By the end of 1976, he was considered to be in the top echelon of NHRA Funny Car and no doubt his first world championship had to be just around the corner. With high hopes, Meyer debuted his all-new Motivator Camaro at the 1977 Winternationals. Well, the hopes of any success with the car quickly disappeared. Running the car into the pits, Meyer’s foot slipped off the gas and wedged between the pedal and bellhousing. With the throttle stuck in the wide-open position, the car took off like a rocket. It launched itself into his van and then over it and into a second truck before coming to a stop. The car was a write-off and Meyer ended up in the hospital with a concussion and broken collar bone. Surprisingly, at the end of the season, he was bridesmaid in the points standings.

      213 One of drag racing’s most memorable and emotional moments came during the 1978 NHRA Indy Nationals when Tom McEwen defeated longtime rival Don Prudhomme. Just two weeks before the event, McEwen’s 14-year-old son Jamie died from leukemia. After talking it over with his wife, Tom decided to run Indy. McEwen qualified fifth in his Corvette and followed Prudhomme step for step to the final. Having set low ET in the semis, Prudhomme had lane choice and picked the seemingly better right lane. At the green, Prudhomme got the jump on McEwen, but he began to smoke the tires. Mongoose had a good grip and was on his way, thundering by the Snake to take the win with a 6.05 to 6.33. The emotional scene at the finish is played out in the 2013 movie Snake and Mongoose.

      214 Underdog. It was an appropriate tag for Ric Deschner’s big-block Chevy-powered AA/FC Monza in 1975. The last of a dying breed, Ric was an independent in every sense of the word. Outside of the fancy paint by Circus, Ric built his own cast-iron 427 Chevy engines and fabricated his own chassis. He ran the nitro Monza into the early 1990s, turning 6.50 at 218 mph in 1978 on 45 percent. This is the fastest time turned for a cast-iron Chevy Funny Car. With no sponsor and no budget, Ric managed to do what few of the megadollar operations were doing at the time and that was having fun on his own dime.

      215 Dale Pulde has been referred to as the busiest man in drag racing, having piloted at least 64 different cars throughout his career. All but a few have been AA/Funny Cars. Dale has captured three IHRA world championships (in 1977, 1982, and 1985), and has won 20 IHRA national events in conjunction with the six NHRA wins.