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Drag Racing Stories
Jan 5, 2011


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70s Funny Cars: Round 56

Text by Danny White



The Chapman Automotive Camaro was based out of Des Plains, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. The Out Of Site 2 was a complete shop car; the Chapman guys built the chassis and the engine in house. West Coast fuel racer Hank Clark drove this version of the car to the finals of the Bakersfield March Meet. The Chapman Automotive team later raced Top Fuel and built the Chicago Patrol Mustang II AA/FC in the mid-seventies before retiring from racing. (Photo by Tom West/Replicas West; information from Draglist files)



Texas racer Ken Hare was one of the early funny car racers in the Lone Star State with his Ramblin' Rose Chevy II. Hare raced a series of Chevrolets through the sixties but in 1970 built this AMC Javelin. The car was built by the famed Logghe Bros. with a body by Dave Stuckey. The Chevy powered machine was a regular at Green Valley Race City, which was just minutes from Ken’s house. The little Javelin was destroyed in a crash in 1971, prompting Hare’s retirement from drag racing. (Handout photo; info from Dennis Doubleday and Draglist files)



Richard Kiesov began his drag racing career in the sportsman ranks in New Mexico. After moving to Texas in 1971, Richard bought the Mart Higginbotham-driven Nova from Mike Burkhart. Kiesov also took up shop on Dallas' Reeder Road where many famous Texas racers based their cars. Richard had the Nova rebuilt, refurbished, and dubbed the Texas Bandit. He match raced the car throughout 1971 mostly in the Southwest before selling the car to Ken Coursey. Kiesov moved to California and worked with famed racer Gene Beaver for the rest of the decade. He recently returned to racing back in Texas. (Info from Richard Kiesov)



Jerry Saar was a local match race legend from Iowa who began his funny car career in a home-built Mustang called the Mad Centaur. In 1971, Saar purchased the 1970 Rambunctious Dodge Challenger from Gene Snow (along with the use of the Rambunctious name). Jerry match raced the Challenger before selling it to the Lalagos Brothers, who renamed the car the Fortune Hunter. (Photo and info courtesy of Jerry Saar)



Stan Shiroma began his drag racing career in his home state of Hawaii where he raced several classes until he reached the Top Fuel category. Shiroma moved to California and got rides in Roland Leong's Hawaiian and Ed Wills' Mr. Ed top fuelers in 1969. In 1970, Shiroma and Ray Zeller built the first Midnight Skulker funny car. The name came from a character in Johnny Hart's B.C. comic strip (where one of the cave men dressed up as a Batman-like character). The first Midnight Skulker raced from 70 to 71.

In 1972, the team had John Buttera build the new Keith Black powered machine shown in the photo. The team was moderately successful with the car before splitting up. Stan went on to drive other funny cars like Pure Hell, Automatic Radio, and the Warlock in the seventies, but he is best known for the Lidtke and Shiroma Chevy Top Fueler. In 1977, Shiroma made history when he won the NHRA Fall Nationals -- the last Chevy powered racer to win an NHRA national event. (Photo by L&M Photos, courtesy of Bob Plumer/Drag Race Memories; info from Draglist files)   




Ernie Duckett was among a handful of match race funny cars that raced in the Southeast during the 1970’s. Duckett ran the likes of Ralph Bradford, Johnny Davis (in the photo in the far lane), and anybody else who would race on the small Southeast tracks that would book them. Duckett usually ran the narrowed Chevy Nova on alcohol, he built a nitro engine for the car that lasted all of one run ending Duckett’s nitro career. The car that Duckett ran was the former Bobby Woods Nova built by Don Hardy in the 1970 season. The body is now owned by Flyin’ Phil Elliot on a late model chassis. (Photo by Marty Johnson, courtesy of www.flyinphil.com; info from Flyin’ Phil Elliot and Dennis Doubleday)



The Ramsmoke AA/FC was among a handful of Midwest cars that match raced in the mid-seventies. The team of Bob McDonald & Lippert owned the yellow Duster, which featured a chassis by Dennis Rollain of R&B and a cast iron Keith Black Hemi with an Ed Pink blower. McDonald’s son said the team ran at tracks like US 30 in Gary, Indiana, and Union Grove, Wisconsin, hitting best times in the 6.70s at 200 MPH before burning it to the ground at Union in 1977. (Photo courtesy of Mike Sopko and www.quartermileclassics.com; info from Bob McDonald, Bret Kepner, and Draglist files)   



Northwest racer Larry Palmer began his nitro career in the late sixties with the Can-Am Scorpion Javelin. Palmer raced dragsters and funny cars throughout the early seventies, sticking mostly to Division Six and local match race action. Larry purchased this Mr. Ed Satellite, and using a cast iron 426 Chrysler for power, was a regular at funny car races at Seattle, Portland, Boise, and other Northwest tracks. The orange Plymouth became an econo altered after Palmer’s run and now rests on top of a sign outside of a business. (Photo and info courtesy of Phil Elliott)



Mike Martini is best known for driving the Dago Digger Top Fuel Dragster and the Sidney Foster’s King Cobra funny car. But in 1973, Martini built his own Challenger funny car, aptly named the Dry Martini. Mike match raced the car for a couple of years in the Texas and Louisiana area. Martini ran high sixes with the venerable car before retiring from racing. (Photo and info courtesy of Sal Cimino; additional info from Dennis Doubleday)



Roberta Schultz was only a teenager when she began racing Pro Stockers with her family in 1974. In 1976, her father Tex Schultz bought the Frantic Ford Mustang to race in BB/FC. Roberta drove and her brother Carl did the tuning. The team raced the Baby Imp Mustang on alcohol in BB/FC for the most part, but entered IHRA AA/FC races in 1977 on low doses of nitro. The Schultz family did not have much success in AA/FC, but the lovely Roberta was a huge match race draw in BB/FC. The Schultz family raced into the eighties when Roberta married fellow BB/FC racer Tod Mack, who also co-owned Maryland International Raceway. Roberta and Tod raced alcohol funny cars into the late eighties before retiring from drag racing. Carl Schultz took over the seat of the family's funny car for a while in the mid-eighties. (Photo by Charles Faulkner; info from Draglist files and Bret Kepner)

 

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