So there I was, sinking back in my nice new Computer Pilot chair, digging on the quiet and these new surroundings... cold beer in hand, when the silence was shattered by the ringing of the phone.
"Hey Badco... you owe me a story!" the voice from the other side of the country said. And you know what? Webmaster-guru extraordinaire Bill Pratt was absolutely correct. I have been getting a lot of mileage out of this ‘I just moved to Texas' thing. But I could tell by the sound of Bill’s voice... he was serious this time.
Actually... I’ve owed him a story since way back last September from the Keystone Nationals (now, oddly enough, referred to as The Lucas Oil Nationals by the folks at the NHRA), when he got me Press Credentials and Starting Line Access. And I was fully intending on doing a story too. But then I kept remembering what Grandma used to tell me years ago... "If you can’t say anything nice...." Yeah, you know how the rest of it goes. And don’t forget, the weather was bad too. But really... drag racers are nice people.
But now it’s time to get caught up. Yep... gonna do a feature about Kenny Ellis and his stable of rather strange looking three wheel diggers. More specifically, the one he campaigned back in 1961. But first we’re gotta kick this thing off in our usual style and by now you all know the drill. So, turning to and consulting my vast library of musical facts, figures and statistics, to find out what was going on (musically speaking of course) back then, I soon came to the following conclusion... "What to hell WAS going on back then?"
A sampling of the #1 singles from the year 1961, in no particular order....
- "Wonderland By Night" - Bert Kaempfert and his Orchestra
- "Pony Time" - Chubby Checker
- "Wooden Heart" - Joe Dowell (Ironic? A guy named Dowell singing Wooden Heart? You decide)
- "Moody River" - Pat Boone
- "Michael Rowed The Boat Ashore" - The Highwaymen (Willie, Waylon, Kris, and Johnny’s first gig? Naaa... couldn’t be.)
- "Big Bad John" - Jimmy Dean
- "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - The Tokens
- "Calcutta" - Lawrence Welk and His Champagne Music Orchestra (Now we’re talking REAL classics!)
So there you have it. Hell, let’s skip 1961 and jump right over to ‘62 and find something else to write about, no? But then I got to thinking, Kenny Ellis was among the many participants at that year’s legendary March Meet... A.K.A... The U.S. Fuel and Gas Championship... the most prestigious event of the whole Drag Racing season. But, just like the noises coming out of the speaker of your old AM car radio, things were more than a little weird that weekend over there in Bakersfield too. So... let’s find out just what was going on back then, shall we?
Now The Smokers of Bakersfield (the club that ran this annual event) didn’t do things quite the way they’re done today and that’s one of the reasons the racing back then was so much more interesting from the spectator’s viewpoint. The different classes of racecars were run off in no particular order... as soon as they arrived in staging... and got paired up... they were sent down the push road to race. Which meant, you might watch three pairs of NITRO cars run, then a pair of Gas dragsters, maybe a few Competition Coupes or Modified Roadsters, then more NITRO cars, etc. Which also meant, you never wanted to leave your seat... no telling what you might miss during your absence. Best hit the Porta-Potties early and be done with it.
So, sometime early in Eliminations, here comes one of the first pairs of B/Gas Dragsters out onto the track. In one lane we have a rather conventional looking blown Chevy powered dragster. But over in the other? Not exactly what you’d refer to as ‘conventional’. Unless of course you prefer your dragsters with three wheels! Yep... just THREE wheels! Two in the back... one in the front. Bet even ol' "Thunder Lungs" himself (Jon Lundberg) was at a loss for words describing this one from behind the mike up in the timing tower. Well, maybe for a second or two anyway. You don’t see too many three wheeled dragsters out there, do ya Jon?
But by this point in time, as far as Kenny was concerned... this three-wheel approach was old hat. Kenny finished his first three wheeler digger in Nov. of ‘56, based on a well-used set of Model "T" Ford frame rails. Next Kenny had Cook’s Machine Works build a spindle for that lone front wheel... no camber and 30 degrees caster... and yes, it worked just fine. Keeping with the Ford theme, the digger was powered by a Scott blown Ford Flathead V8. After a few months the ol' flat motor was wearing down so a small Chevy was dropped between those Model T rails. Kenny, being one hell of a fabricator, built his own intake manifold for the 6:71 blower. Matter of fact, he was among the very first to run a GM 6:71 on a Chevy. Must have been a damn nice intake too.
At the time Kenny was working part time for Phil Weiand over at Weiand (say why-and) Speed Equipment and the folks there took a real interest in Kenny’s design. Matter of fact, they lifted the intake right off of Kenny’s engine, hardly tweaked it at all, and started mass producing it! No doubt Kenny was left with an endless supply of Weiand Chevy blower intakes?
But let’s jump back to those old Model T frame rails. Hell, here it was 1960 already and tubular chromoly steel was becoming the material of choice for dragster chassis ever since Kent Fuller left the airplane industry and brought some of those aircraft manufacturing secrets with him.
Another guy who had a lot of experience working with tubular steel was the late Scotty Fenn... the head man over at Chassis Research Co. Now ol' Scotty wasn’t exactly one to follow conventional thought either. He stuck with the tried and true mild tubular steel when the others were switching to chromoly. Matter of fact, he had a whole host of other non-conventional theories about drag racing. Including one that reasoned that the triangular wheel setup worked quite well on aircraft, so why wouldn’t the design make a land locked dragster a little more stable? So when Kenny approached him about a three wheeler, he was more than willing to re-design one of his K-88 chassis’ and have journeyman welder Bob Krause tack it together. A lot of time was spent developing the steering/suspension setup.
Now the way it was explained to me, the reasoning behind Scotty’s K-88 chassis designation was two fold. The "K"? No one seems to have a clue what it means. Perhaps it was just to confuse the competition? And the "88"? Now that referred to the spacing between the front and rear axles. Or as some would say... the wheelbase. Somewhere between 88 and 90 inches.
See, another theory ol' Scotty came up with was... the ideal wheelbase for a dragster would be the same as the circumference of the drag slick. In those days... about 88 inches. This is one of Scotty’s theories that didn’t wear well with the passing of time, but, everyone’s entitled to at least one miss. But don’t kid yourself... Scotty Fenn was one smart man. Most of his other theories have stood the test of time. His Chassis research Co. manufactured everything for a dragster from a complete assembled chassis to just about any component you might need. Chassis Research, along with Jim Nelson and Dode Martin’s ‘Dragmaster Inc.’ were about the first to mass-produce dragsters. Both companies enjoyed great success.
Oh, one other thing about Scotty that’s well worth passing along... he was a constant thorn in the side to the ‘High Sheriffs’ over at the NHRA Headquarters. That made him OK in a lot of people’s book.
Speaking of the NHRA... it seems their Rules Committee took one look at Kenny and new partner ‘Bubby’ Wilton’s trike, collectively shook their heads and said, "Not on our tracks!" So, the three wheel design was banned by the powers that be. Granted, it was unusual looking... some might even say scary looking... but it ran good. I’ve personally seen footage of it making passes at that ‘61 March Meet... it does an average wheelie, rebounds up and down a few times (like any other dragster of its day), then runs down the track straight as a string. Hell, they even beat the Steiner Brothers that weekend in the B/Gas Dragster class final and took home a trophy. The Smokers didn’t abide by the NHRA’s dictates... as could be surmised by the real name of their March Meet... The U.S. FUEL and Gas Championships. Bear in mind all of this was taking place during the fuel ban too.
One thing worth mentioning about the fuel ban. It was implemented in 1957 immediately following an unreal clocking of 166.97 MPH by the Cook and Bedwell dragster running on NITRO... and also on Chassis Research rails... early in February at Lions. Many people (myself included) always refer to the following ban on anything except pump gas in the tank as the ‘NHRA fuel ban’.
But au contraire, ladies and gentlemen... The fuel ban was actually initiated by a handful of Southern California track operators months before the official announcement in the June issue of Hot Rod Magazine (stating that anything but gasoline would be outlawed at any of the NHRA affiliated tracks [p. 5] and also at the upcoming National Championship in Oklahoma City [p.56]). Aw, jeez... now there’s one less reason we’ve got to kick the NHRA around.
But there is a silver lining to this cloud. The SoCal tracks lifted their NITRO bans long before the NHRA did. So I guess if some feel strongly enough about it... they can still refer to the whole deal as ‘The NHRA Fuel Ban’. Incidentally, the backside of the cover in that same June ‘57 issue of Hot Rod announcing the fuel ban, carried a full page Isky ad boasting that the 166.97 clocking was accomplished thanks to the ‘Isky 5 Cycle Hyperbolic Crossflow’ camshaft Cook and Bedwell were running. Kinda Zenlike, no?
Now, legendary track manager C.J. "Pappy" Hart was another one who ignored the dictates of the sanctioning bodies, and whichever track he was managing, the Ellis and Wilton ‘trike’ competed regularly. After all, this digger wasn’t unstable or unsafe... and ‘Pappy’ was famous for not tolerating dangerous cars or drivers at his tracks. But, that doesn’t mean it didn’t get Kenny into an occasional predicament.
Kenny related to me how this particular version of the ‘trike’ had just completed its maiden voyage at San Fernando (CA) when the brake handle broke off. Kenny had already shut it down before he realized there wasn’t gonna be any kind of braking action on this pass! So he left it shut off, slapped it back into gear, and let the laws of compression braking take over. It blub, blubbed to a stop no more than ten feet from a big drop off at the end of the track thanks to its ‘Jake Brake’. This dragster also competed regularly at San Gabriel and Fontana. At first, the car ran regularly at Long Beach (Lions), but after a while track manager Mickey Thompson started towing NHRA’s line and wouldn’t let it compete.
There were two more versions of the three wheeler after this one was parked. One ran for just one weekend at Bakersfield then was abandoned. Kenny never said exactly why, but that’s where the partnership with Wilton ended too. The next (and final) version ran a 292" Chevy and was the first NITRO burning Chevy to top 180 MPH at San Gabe... and they did it with only 10% in the tank. Then the Chevy was replaced with a 299" Chrysler Windsor with conventional Hemi heads and cranked out an impressive 192 MPH at Fontana.
We mentioned earlier the 1961 version of the March Meet was indeed a little on the weird side... could the music of the day have played a little part in this? See, I’ve got this picture in my mind of Lawrence Welk standing at the starter's spot.... while two fuelers sit ready to go. He looks both drivers right square in the eye, raises his baton and says.........
"A one, an a two-, an a three..."
Now here’s some even weirder stuff... in a strange sort of way the fuel ban for all practical intents and purposes could have been enforced at this particular race. "Why?" you ask. Maybe because Lawrence Welk was the starter? NO!!!
Because Top Eliminator is always a NITRO car, right? I mean that’s the natural order of things Drag Racing, is it not? Well... it wasn’t this year. The lilting sounds of Mr. Kaempfert’s "Wonderland by Night" might well have been slowly fading in the background when the screaming Lefty Mudersbach built and driven Herbert - Mudersbach twin Chevy powered gas dragster stole all of the marbles. Oh, the humanity!! And the "Wonder". Think about it! A gas dragster taking Top Eliminator! And at the March Meet! But, damn if it didn’t. Took out Jack Ewell driving the Ewell - Stecker - Kamboor NITRO burning Chrysler powered digger in the Final. Back in those days the winners of the Gas Dragster classes would meet the winners of the NITRO Dragster classes for Overall Top Eliminator. But the Gas Dragsters weren’t supposed to win (hey, it damn near wasn’t allowed). And they never did. Until now.
Now ol' Lefty was indeed another thorn in NHRA’s side. But after this weekend’s performance, he was a thorn in EVERYBODY’S side!! On the way to his AA/Gas Dragster victory Lefty took out Tom Ivo’s twin Buick powered dragster and Jack Chrisman in the Howard Cams Twin (Chevys) Bear car. This, at the start of the same season that Chrisman would win the coveted NHRA World Points Championship driving the Twin Bear.
To supplement his racing career, Kenny also made a career out of being a fireman over in Vernon. But remember his skills as a metal fabricator? Seems he also got into fabricating aluminum dragster bodies somewhere along the way. Kay Sissel (of GM six cylinder fame), The Gas House gang, and the legendary Gary "Mr. C" Cochran were among some of the SoCal diggers sporting Ellis bodies. Kenny quit Drag Racing after failing to qualify for the ‘75 Winternationals driving Bill Schultz’s Top Fueler but still continued to hammer out those beautiful body and interior panels.
Kenny retired from the Fire Department in ‘83 and now lives in Aztec, New Mexico where he runs a small dent and ding repair service. He’s also still doing custom aluminum work for local street rodders and racers.
So maybe next time you’re up in Aztec, and Kenny’s beating out a custom aluminum fuel tank for somebody... you can get him to describe for you the sensation of scooting along on three wheels with a NITRO burning Hemi in your face at 192. Or better yet, get him to describe Dwayne Lidtke’s twin Chevy powered Fueler he drove for a while as sort of a protest to the invasion of those damned rear engined dragsters.
Just whatever you do... don’t ask him to whistle his favorite tune from ‘61. It may be something you never heard before and will never want to again. Or worse yet, it might start off with... "A one, an a two, an a three..."
More old B.S. later.
Badco
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