Fuel Altered Files, Part 1

Text by Danny White

The El Toro was one of several Midwest fuel altereds that ran in the seventies on the short lived UDRA circuit. Bob Sweatt was the owner and builder of the show car, as well as the original driver. Sweatt turned over the reins of the car to hired drivers like Doug Gorden and Gary Algory. Gary got the El Toro to run a 7.22, 199 at ESTA Safety Park Dragstrip in 1976. The El Toro  raced as an AA/FA and as an AA/A in Pro Comp with moderate success. El Toro was much more successful on the show car circuit where it won many awards. The El Toro altered is still around today as the Taboo blown alcohol altered. For more information about El Toro, check out this link http://haze.wdgordon.com/eltoro.htm. (Photo by Thomas Nagy).

The Yoshioka & Graf Stone T began as an A/FA. The unblown fuel altereds of the day could run with the blown cars to a point. The Stone T ran 8.0's with an unblown Chrysler Hemi. When track owners finally dictated that the cars needed to be supercharged. Frank Graf and Mikio Yoshioka added a supercharger to the car. The Stone T ran a 7.06, 205 best in 1971 as a AA/FA before Yoshioka retired and Graf teamed with Dennis Geisler. (Photo by L&M Photos, courtesy of Bob Plumer and the Drag Race Memories collection).

Pops Marner had the first fuel altered in the state of Colorado, a state known for altereds like the High Heaven, Deliverance, and others.  Marner got dragster driver Lovell Baker to drive the wild Fiat Topolino. The team would be forced to race dragsters and was able to win a few rounds of racing. The 392 Chrysler powered car could run in the nines in the high altitude of Colorado. (Photo by Pete Garamone)

Nitro Madness was a low nitro percentage altered out of Iowa owned by Scott Gauthier. This is the second Nitro Madness altered to be run by the Gauthiers. The team picked up this one from Jim Stambauler. Scott put a Hemi/Lencodrive combination in the car and put fellow Iowan "Rapid" Randy Baker in the seat. Baker ran 6.34, 217 in the quarter and 4.07, 177 in the eighth. In 2008, Sean Belt took over the reins of the wild purple altered running a 4.16, 172 best. For more information go to www.nitromadness.com.  (Photo by Thomas Nagy)

Nobby Hills had the only fuel altered in Europe in the early 80's with the Hounddog. Hill took the Challenger body off his funny car chassis and had the 23 Ford T altered mounted instead. Owen Hayward drove the car in British action for a few years running a 6.83, 197 best. Those times would stand for years as the quickest altered in Europe. The team ran the car in Pro Fuel alongside dragsters and funny cars due to a shortage of nitro cars at that time in England. For more information go to http://www.houndogdragracing.co.uk/Gallery/fuel_altered_pics.htm . (Photo by Alan Currans and http://www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk/)

Former alcohol racer Bob Beatty stepped up to the nitro ranks with the American Flyer 23 Ford T owned by his wife Cathy Beatty.  The chassis was built by Ron Attebury and Mike Terry. The Hemi was tuned by fuel altered veteran Dan Geiger. Beatty ran a good 6.35, 224 pass in the patriotic machine at Fremont, California, in 1991. The American Flyer was later sold to Don Lane, and then Bob Vorian. The car met its demise when Vorian ran off the end of the track in Tulsa. (Photo by Larry Irwin)

The Easy Rider altered of Bellemeur, Bradford, and Burr slayed the giants in 1974 in winning the Fuel Altered Nationals at Tuscon. What makes the effort even more remarkable is that they did it on alcohol and with an automatic transmission.  The Easy Rider team of driver Greg Bellemeur and Jack Bradford raced a blown gas altered in Comp Eliminator where their claim to fame had been Greg running over the tree at Pomona. The team added famed letterer Jack Burr to the team and built this altered, switching over to alcohol in the process. The team ran fuel altered races as well as Pro Comp with the nimble little altered running a 7.16, 192.45 best in the process. In 1975 the team left the altered behind and built an AA/DA for Pro Comp action. (Photographer unknown, handout photo)

Gabby Bleeker was the toughest Midwest fuel altered racer of the sixties. Bleeker began racing his little Bantam coupe on gas with an Oldsmobile motor. As the decade prgoressed, Gabby contniued to update the machine. He was running a new chassis and a Chrysler Hemi on nitro by 1968. That year, Bleeker ran a best of 8.02, 201 at Rockford Dragway and beat Willie Borch at the U.S. Nationals for the AA/FA class trophy. Only two weeks after the win at Indy, Gabby retired from drag racing.  For more infomation about Bleeker, check out Bud De Boer's great tribute at http://www.draglist.com/artman2/publish/article_00592.shtml. (Photo from Glen Brown and glenpix@msn.com)

Jeff Bennett has raced the AA/FA class as long as any active racer, going back to 1987. Tht was the year Jeff converted this funny car chassis into a wild Fiat bodied AA/FA. Bennett had updated the car along the way and added the No Mercy name. Jeff got the No Mercy car to run great 5.64, 250 best numbers on separate passes. In 2009, Bennett and his son Chris are running a new Pure Heaven AA/FA and funny car. (Photo by Pete Gemar)

From Canada, the Bad to the Bone altered was around for a while before being converted into an AA/FA. Current NHRA star Jeff Arend drove the car on alcohol in Ontario match race action. In the new century, Ron Biehx revamped the car and added nitro to the mix. Biehx ran a 4.11, 185 on the eighth mile and 6.61 in the quarter mile on nitro. Ron converted the car back to alcohol and mounted a funny car body to continue racing. (Photo by Jorge Bolteho)