Fuel Altered Files, Part 10

Text by Danny White

The late Lefty Mudersbach tried his hand at driving a fuel altered in the Warden & Cole 23 Ford T in 1963. The team of Warden & Cole was from Santa Ana, California, and their mouse powered altered was one of the first modern lightweight cars. In the early sixties, tube framed cars with fiberglass bodies replaced the steel bodied cars built on factory frames. Mudersbach might have been on to something when he built this car with a low center of gravity unlike the short and tall altereds of the era. Lefty ran a good 9.17, 178.63 before giving up altereds altogether for diggers. Mudersbach died in a crash in 1967 at Irwindale. (Photo by Steve Gibbs)

The Pipins & Green AA/FA was the first fuel altered for a man who made his name in fuel altereds, Don Green. The little Ford T Bucket was driven by partner Butch Pipins in the very tough So-Cal wars of the late sixties. The team was one of the first altereds to run a front end spoiler, taking a different approach than Mousie Marcellus and Wild Willie Borsch’s application of a huge rear wing on their machine. In 1968, Pipins ran a known best of 8.29 at 189.86. This was before the advent of the slider clutch, which enabled times to drop into the sevens overnight and catapulted speeds over the 200 MPH barrier. The Pipins & Green AA/FA was reborn as The Trip in 1969 when Don Green built his first Rat Trap Bantam. (L&M Photo courtesy of Bob Plumer, Drag Race Memories)

The Bad News fuel altered had a sporadic history in the So-Cal fuel altered wars in the sixties. This was the final edition of the famed Fiat Topolino, caught in 1968 at Irwindale. The car dates back to at least 1960, when a very short version of the car (under 90 inches of wheelbase) made its debut with Bob Sidebotham doing the driving. The steel bodied car raced off and on through out the sixties with various drivers such as Sidebotham, Troy Delmar, Lyle Webster, and Gary Southern all taking rides. Gary Southern ran the machine’s known best with a run of 8.17 at 178.92 in 1969.

Bowers, Paris & Reed’s Mother-In-Law might have been just one of the many fuel altereds that raced in the So-Cal area in the late sixties and early seventies, but it was one of the first to run 200 MPH. The little Bantam roadster was driven to success by team member Red Paris. According to drag racing historian Bill Duke, the basic car debuted in 1964 as a steel bodied, blown fuel altered Fiat. The chassis and motor were retained for years, with refinements being made year to year. A fiberglass Bantam body eventually replaced the heavy all steel Fiat body. The car ran competitive 7.60s at 200 MPH but got little recognition. (L&M Photo courtesy of Bob Plumer, Drag Race Memories; Additional text by Bill Duke)

In 1973, John Schumacher laid down one of the greatest fuel altered runs of all time with an amazing 6.60 at 218.97 at the U.S. Nationals while racing in Comp Eliminator. The Altered Ego car was built with the latest tricks of the trade, including a Logghe Bros. chassis and a Ramchargers built Hemi. The car was owned and tuned by Stan Rosen and was light years from the team’s original SOHC powered AA/A. That run by Schumacher stood for years as the quickest AA/FA pass until Dave Hough topped it later in the decade. By 1974, the team had rebuilt the car as a funny car called the Ego Trip. (Photo by Tom Kasch)

In 1974, many racers flocked to the new Pro Comp class and Don Scott was one of them. Scott had one of the toughest gas powered A/A’s in the country in 1973, hitting sub-record runs including a 7.90 known best. Don added a nitro powered hemi to his Fiat and a large spoiler over the cage. This seemed to be a good idea on paper, but the A/FA car was not suited for running a nitro engine. The car was prone to wheelstands and runs hairy enough to scare even the most hardened racer. As a result, the car’s stint in Pro Comp was very short lived. (Photo by Norm Newgord, courtesy Gary Newgord)

Famed Aussie racer Ian Splatt built the Bounty Hunter fuel altered in the seventies. Splatt built the car with an injected Chevrolet to race in A/A, but in 1971, added a dose of nitro. Ian raced the car for several years until he built a modern alky powered AA/A to race in Pro Comp in 1978. Splatt later raced a low buck Top Fueler with his daughter Rachel at the wheel. Rachel went on to race in the U.S., and became the first woman fuel racer over 300 mph. (Photo by Steve Thomas)

The High Plains Drifter of Bill Ranney was one of a handful of fuel altereds that raced out of the state of Colorado. Ranney began racing fuel altereds in the mid seventies with this low slung Chevy powered 23 Ford T. Bill participated in match race action and like other fuel altered racers of the day, made the annual trip to Tucson for the Fuel Altered Nationals. In 1979, Ranney ran a known best of 7.29 at 208 on the dusty desert track. Like many other racers, Bill eventually built a funny car and let his son take over the driver’s seat. The Ranney family continued to race into the nineties after switching to the Top Fuel class. (Racer handout, courtesy of Jim White; info from Rod Hynes)

Jim Broome and Mike Savage ran in the CIFCA funny car series before building the Old Glory fuel altered in the early 2000s. The Old Glory was one of a handful of nostalgia style AA/FA altereds that ran with small blowers and fuel pumps on the West Coast. Savage ran a known best of 6.80 at 200 plus with the patriotic car. The team eventually went back to the funny car wars with a new nostalgia funny car. (Photo by Auto Imagery)

This little fuel altered was run very seldom in 2008 before disappearing from the Texas Outlaw Fuel Altered scene. Roy Sanchez had previously had driven a blown Top Sportsman Chevy II before building the Nitro Coupe Fiat Topolino. The car used a Chevy for power with a large dose of nitro to fuel the fire. Sanchez ran a 4.69 best on the eighth mile at North Star Dragway. There was more left in the combination, but Roy soon retired from fuel altered racing. (Photo by Gena White)