By Bud De Boer

Photos courtesy of Gary Cochran, Les Welch, Bob Plumer, Bud De Boer

1965-66... Gary commissioned Ray Standoff of Bellflower Automotive Center to build him a new 23T roadster. The car began its early outings with an injected 390 Ford power plant on fuel that clicked off times of 8.40 at 174 mph. Enter engine builder Howard Rapp and a blown 427 Ford cross-bolt motor. Again burning fuel, "Mr. C" soon was running E.T.s of 8.14 and his speeds climbed to 189 mph. As he put it, "Now I was hooked on blown engines."

1967-1968… In June of ‘67, Cochran felt it was time to start competing with the "big boys" and he bought the SPE chassised "Gas House Gang" top gas dragster from Bob Eldridge. With the help of the late John Carpenter and Chris Kielich, Gary put together a blown 392 Hemi power plant that would wreak havoc on the class for the next two years.

Sponsored by Honda of Wilmington, car and crew visited the winner’s circle at several events. The 1968 AHRA Winternationals in Phoenix, AZ, was one of those events when they defeated Schultz & Jones for the honors. Then in December of that same year, car and driver were involved in a fire while competing at Irwindale Raceway. Though Cochran escaped virtually unscathed, the car was badly damaged. It was decision time for the team. Should they rebuild the car to again run Top Gas, or since the popularity of that class was on the decline, should they move up a level and enter the Top Fuel wars? Never afraid of a challenge, it was decided that nitro would again be their fuel of choice.

1969… It didn’t take long to convert the former Top Gas entry into a fuel car and from its initial outing on March 1^st at Bakersfield that year, it had "winner" written all over it. With Cochran at the helm and Chris Kielich and Ron Price turning the wrenches, they took on and defeated the likes of Kenny Safford and Connie Kalitta before losing to Dave Babler in the final. A month later at Lions, with the car still unpainted, they clicked off a 6.70 E.T. for a new track record and made it to the winner’s circle after downing Crossley, Lee, and Stewart in the final.

At a light 1080 lbs. battle ready, the car went on to win four out of five "King of the Hill" races between May and August at Irwindale that year. But again, bad luck would befall the team. This time not at the track, but in a road accident while traveling to Indy for the Nationals. Luckily, no one was seriously injured, but the race car was destroyed and the trailer was in need of repair to make it road worthy again. A new car would have to be built. Roy Fjasted of SPE completed it in time for a December race at Irwindale. Like its predecessor, it was a winner from the get go, taking Top Fuel honors at its very first outing.

1970... It started where 1969 had left off... in the winner’s circle. "Mr. C" took the All Pro Series title at Orange County in February and March, narrowly defeating John Weibe in a four race shootout. For the remainder of the year, victories were commonplace for the Fountain Valley, CA, speedster with wins at Irwindale, Lions, Orange County, and Fremont. Cochran sent well known teams packing, teams like Kuhl & Olson, Warren & Coburn, Abbott & Lee, Schultz & Glenn, Cerney, Lins, Moody, and "Big Jim" Dunn.

A week later, "Mr. C" got behind the wheel of Carl Casper’s "Young American," again defeating Garlits in the final round of the All Pro Series at Orange County with a record setting 6.56 to Big Daddy’s losing 6.62. Soon after that, again at the controls of the "Young American," Cochran proceeded to trailer Marvin Schwartz, Fred Farndon, Dave Russell, and Don Ewald before defeating Chris Karamesines in the final to win the AHRA Winternationals with a 6.74-217.96 pass. For the remainder of 1971 and all of 1972, the team decided to run as many AHRA point series races as finances would allow. By the end of ‘72, however, it became apparent that if you wanted to stay competitive in the sport, a rear engined car was a must.

With that in mind, Cochran had the folks at SPE build him a new car. Gary spent much of the winter of 1973 sorting out a combination for his Donovan powered racer. But sometimes things are easier said than done. With the expenses involved in running a top fuel car, especially if you are unsponsored, there comes a time when one has to say, "enough is enough." It was a tough decision to make, but "Mr. C" decided to park the car, eventually selling in the mid 1970s. It would be the last car he would build, own, and tune.

With Gary’s superb driving talents, however, he was rarely at a loss for a ride. Car owners and machines like Dave McKenzie’s "Goodyear Blue Streak Special," Service Center’s "Peanuts" funny car, Blanchard & Montgomery’s top fueler, Jim Thomas’ "Genuine Suspension" top fueler, and Jim Terry’s funny car all benefited from having the talented "Mr. C" at the helm.

Gary Cochran’s last ride was in 1984 at the wheel of Bob Melville’s funny car. The event was the opening race at the Texas Motorplex. After failing to qualify, Gary hung up his firesuit for good, as competing against the sport’s new wave of well financed teams would only be a venture in frustration.