Fuel Altered Files, Part 5

Text by Danny White

The Pure Heaven II is of the most famous and successful fuel altereds of all time. Leon Fitzgerald along with partners Richard Rockman and RT Reed ran the Pure Heaven II from 1966 to 1969. It was a threat to win whenever it raced. In 1968, Fitzgerald organized the US Fuel Altered Tour which took altereds to places they had never been seen. The tours were successful for Fitzgerald and the Pure Heaven II. Leon got the Pure Heaven to run sevens by 1969. He replaced the famous red, white, and blue Bantam with a new car in 1970. Bob Nylander came and restored the Pure Heaven II altered to its original condition in the mid-eighties with several drivers taking turns behind the wheel of the little Bantam. Howard Haight ran a great 7.10 in the Pure Heaven as its best ever run to date. In 2008, Fitzgerald teamed with Jeff and Chris Bennett to race the Pure Heaven V, a late model altered. (Photo by L&M Photos, courtesy of Bob Plumer of Drag Race Memories)  



The Bandido altered was not raced for very long but it was a beauty.  The Bill Finnacle Bandido Bantam was originally the Beebe Bros and Sixt car once driven by John Mulligan in late 64.  J&M Speed Center of Riverside, California was the sponsor.  In its background is a rare shot of the orange 32 Highboy of Conway and Hicks, dubbed the Super Carrot.  It ran both injected A/FA and blown AA/FA circuit Bill Finnacle raced the small block Chevrolet powered Bantam from 1967 to 1968. In 1968, the Bandido received a more powerful 392 Chrysler Hemi to replace the outdated small block Chevy. It was during this time in drag racing that slipper clutches were made popular and fuel altered times dropped by almost a second overnight. This made the small blocks and injected cars more susceptible to the blown big block Hemis and Chevys. (Photo by L&M Photos, courtesy of Bob Plumer of Drag Race Memories; Additional text by Bill Duke)  



The Stone Crude Bantam was owned by Martha Lippard and driven by Dave Christensen. The car was part of the four car East Coast injected fuel altered circuit called Fuel Altereds Unlimited. Phil and Martha Lippard also owned a second Stone Crude machine that was raced by Don Settle, and the Mean As Hell A/FA that was raced by Pudge Tarbett. The Maryland-based circuit raced from 1970 to 1972 all along the East Coast. Phil and Martha's son Greg races the Wild Rat blown alcohol altered out of Tennessee today. The Wild Rat was the name of another altered on the Fuel Altereds Unlimited circuit. (Photo courtesy of Bob Plumer of Drag Race Memories)  



The Magic Muffler was one of the longest running altereds of the sixties into the seventies. Jim Miles owned the Magic Muffler team that began with a Fiat and eventually morphed into this Bantam altered. The car in the photo had been a Fiat-bodied car that former driver Gary Essman complained he could not see the 'Tree' out of so the change to a roadster was made but so was a driver changed. In this photo is the driver, Paul Cox (in the car), Jim Miles (sort of bent over the back of the engine) and to his right with the sunglasses on is Bill Frontuto. Paul Cox was attempting to license in the car. The most famous run of this version of the car was a wild, wild wheelstand at Lions. It did not make many runs in this form.  The car was replaced by the Black Magic AA/FA. (Photo courtesy of Big Bob Snyder and www.vintagedragclub.com: additional text by Rod Hynes)



The Sneaky T was part of the Santa Pod stable of race cars owned by Roy Phelps. The Sneaky T was one of several fuel altereds run in England in the mid seventies. Phil Elson drove the Sneaky T for Phelps through many changes including chassis updates and other small changes. Elson ran a known best of 8.99, 158 in the car before it was permanently changed into a funny car where it continued to run into the eighties with different owners. (Photo by Alan Currans and www.accelerationarchieve.co.uk)  



Bob Dunn is a legend in the Australian drag racing world. In the seventies Dunn raced this beautiful blue altered with 392 Chrysler Hemi power facing off with archrival Graeme Cowin and others. Dunn ran in the seven second range before going funny car racing. The race track promoters in Australia, like England, wanted funny cars not fuel altereds. Bob Dunn continued his rivalry with Cowin in funny cars before retiring from drag racing. (Photo courtesy of David Cook)



Dennis Geisler was one of great altered racers of the seventies. Geisler and partner Buddy Frankel had this Instant T built by RCS in 1973. First powered by a 417 Donovan Hemi, the car ran a 6.99 known best. In 1976, Geisler got a Keith Black Hemi (block number 8, to be exact!), stretched the chassis, and added famed photographer Dave Kommel of Auto Imagery as a partner. Dennis got the car to run a 6.70, 218 known best by 1977. The Instant T was one of the most competitive Fuel Altereds of the 70s, but like many others, Geisler left the altereds to build a funny car. (Photo by Big Bob Snyder and Vintage Drag Club; Info courtesy of Dave Kommel and Auto Imagery)



In 2001, Eric Eoff began his nitro career in his Ford Probe AA/FC. Eoff got his funny car license and added this Bantam body for some fuel altered action with the Outlaw Fuel Altered Association. The Bionic Bitch Bantam AA/FA was loaded for bear. Eric never laid down a big number in OFAA action before retiring from racing in 2003. (Photo courtesy of Chris Graves and www.maxcacklephotos.com)



Some fuel altereds were built but never made it to the drag strip. Fred Farndon and the Nitrogeezers AA/FA is a good example. In 2006, the nitro veteran built this Fiat Topolino AA/FA to run in match race action. The car was a Steve Plueger chassis with a TFX Hemi and a Fiat body. Farndon moved back to Oklahoma and resumed his Top Fuel career. (Photo courtesy of Steven Justice)   



The Chicago Fire AA/FA of Mike Faser was built as funny car by Romeo Palamides for Dick Bourgeois in 1975. Faser bought the car, switching over to alcohol at first before running nitro later. The car went through several funny car bodies before getting a Fiat Topolino body in 1995. Faser has continued to update the Chicago Fire AA/FA, replacing the Fiat with a Prowler and finally with this 23 Ford T body. Faser has run a known best of 5.81 in the Chicago Fire AA/FA to date, while hired driver Rick Kraft ran a 5.74, 248 at the Cordova World Series in 2005. The Fire is still burning as of 2009! (Photo by Bob Wenzelberger)