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Round
8: The Chevys
By
Danny White
Mike
Burkhart was one of the largest funny car racers of all time, but he made up for
the extra weight with extra horsepower. The Camaro in the photo was Burkhart’s
second funny car. Mike teamed with Harry Schmidt in 1967 on this machine, which
Don Hardy built in his Floydada, Texas shop. The car was raced with an injected
engine in ’67. In 1968, in order to keep with the increasing pace in racing, a
supercharger was added. Dallas new car dealer, Doran Chevrolet, came on board as
the team’s sponsor in 1968. The little Camaro ran times in the seven-second
zone with a best of 7.69 at 180. By 1969, Burkhart and Schmidt split up with
Burkhart still running Chevys. Schmidt had Don Hardy build the first "Blue
Max" with a Ramchargers Hemi for power. (Leonard Maxwell photo courtesy of
Bob Plumer and Drag Race Memories; info from Draglist.com files)
The
"CKC" funny car team was the most well known fuel team to come out of
San Antonio. "CKC" did not start in funny cars; they began in
dragsters with Buddy Cortines driving the little small block Chevy powered
dragster. J.E. Kristek did the tuning while Fritz Callier provided most of the
money. The team jumped on the funny car wagon with a rare Bill Thomas built Nova
in 1965 and Fritz Callier took over the driving. Cortines went on to drive other
Texas Top Fuelers. The “CKC” machine became one of the best match racers in
the Texas area. In 1967, they ordered a new Camaro from famed chassis builder
Don Hardy. The team joined the AHRA tour as one of its feature performers,
running a best of 7.66 under Chevy power. The team had great success on the
match race trail, as well. "CKC" later switched to Hemis and raced
into the mid seventies. (Leonard Maxwell photo courtesy of Bob Plumer and Drag
Race Memories; info from Draglist.com files)
Ronnie
Runyan was a die-hard Chevy funny car racer. Runyan began his funny car career
with a gasser style ‘63 Corvette in Southern California. Ronnie kept updating
the Corvette until it was time for a new car. He had Dick Fletcher build the
"Blue Hell" Corvair, which was much lighter than his stock based
Corvette. Runyan raced on the West Coast and in match races, running both cars
at some races! Success on the match race scene enabled Ronnie to move to
Missouri. The move allowed him to be closer to more races and more money. The
"Blue Hell" Corvair proved to be his best-known race car. It ran 7.83
at 187 before being replaced. (Leonard Maxwell photo courtesy of Bob Plumer and
Drag Race Memories; info from Draglist.com files)
Doug
Thorley had a charmed racing season in 1967. A 7.69 elapsed time and a win at
Indy set the wheels in motion for the 1968 season. Thorley sold the winning
Corvair to Joe Pisano, then built two funny cars in 1968. One was a rear engine
Javelin sponsored by American Motors. Doug also built a new Corvair that was
lighter than the original steel bodied Chevy. Thorley concentrated on his
growing header business and the Javelin, and Dick Bourgeois and Earl Wade took
the new Corvair on tour. Dick Bourgeois had raced blown gassers before getting
into the funny car wars. Earl Wade was the legendary tuner for Don Nicholson.
Bourgeois & Wade did not have the same success with the Corvair in 1968 that
Thorley did in 1967. The team did okay in match races across the country. The
team came back to California and took over Thorley’s AMC sponsorship,
replacing the Corvair body with a Javelin. (Leonard Maxwell photo courtesy of
Bob Plumer and Drag Race Memories; info from Draglist.com files)
Roger
Guzman was the premier funny car team owner in Colorado for almost twenty years.
The pictured Corvair was his first funny car. Guzman and driver Art Ward had
previously raced a very successful MG in the AA/MSP class. They built the
Corvair in 1968. The Corvair, like all of Guzman’s machines, was well polished
and clean, and the car’s performance matched its appearance. Guzman & Ward
could outrun almost any team in the high elevation of the Rocky Mountains. The
car ran 7.58 at 190 at sea level with Ward at the wheel, but John Dekker also
drove the Corvair. (Leonard Maxwell photo courtesy of Bob Plumer and Drag Race
Memories; info from Draglist.com files)
Jim
Maybeck entered the funny car scene in 1967. Maybeck purchased Bruce Larson’s
all-fiberglass "USA-1" Chevelle and renamed it the "Patriot.”
In 1968, Jim built an all-new Corvair funny car built to replace the outdated
Chevelle. Maybeck kept Chevy power in the new funny car, and named it the
"Screaming Eagle," keeping the patriotic theme. The "Screaming
Eagle" was a regular in AHRA events and match races, achieving moderate
success. Jim may have had the quickest Corvair with a 7.32, 194 clocking to his
credit. (Leonard Maxwell photo courtesy of Bob Plumer and Drag Race Memories;
info from Draglist.com files)
The
late Gene Mooneyham moved from his Southern California home to Southern
Louisiana. The reason for the move was to run the Car Shop Inc. business. In
1967, the Car Shop team built this little Camaro funny car with genuine
Chevrolet power. The car’s trademark was its Charger style roof, making it
stand out in a crowd and easy to identify. Frank Huff and Henry Garcia both
drove the golden Camaro to mid pack performances. The team’s most famous run
was at Detroit Dragway. Harry Garcia stood the car on its bumper and brought it
back down safely. Thankfully, the car lived to race another day and ran a best
of 7.51 at 189. The Car Shop, Inc. eventually went under. Mooneyham moved back
to SoCal and opened his successful supercharger business. (Photo courtesy of
Mike Ditty; info from Draglist.com files)
"Just
4 Chevy Lovers" was Tom Sturm’s calling card to drag racing. Sturm drove
the cars himself or used a hired gun. The Sturm & Fischer "Just 4 Chevy
Lovers" Corvair was no different, being handled by Clyde Morgan, Bob Smith,
Mark Bullet, and Sturm himself. Driver Bullet had built the car, but it was Bob
Smith who coaxed the best times out of it with a 7.68, 179 pass. Most runs were
in the low 8-second range. A unique feature of this Corvair was that it sported
a vinyl top! (Leonard Maxwell photo courtesy of Bob Plumer and Drag Race
Memories; info from Draglist.com files)
In
1969, Larry Christopherson came from Arizona obscurity to national prominence.
He went on tour with a super sano Chevy Nova that could win car shows as well as
drag races. The Nova was a prime example of the era’s psychedelic style paint
jobs. Christopherson took Mike Hamby on tour. Hamby sometimes drove the Nova, as
did famed “King Camaro" driver Dean LaPole. The Nova ran times in the
seven-second range with a best of 7.49. (Photo courtesy of Mike Ditty; info from
Draglist.com Files)
Nobody
that can argue that Randy Walls is not a true blue Chevy racer. This Nova was
his third funny car and his first fliptop. Bob Thomas built it to replace a
crashed Corvair. The Nova ran a Chevy on 60 percent nitro with an automatic
transmission. Randy took the yellow Nova on national tour and ran times in the
7.50 range. Walls returned in the new millennium to race a vintage Chevy powered
Nova on the Goodguys circuit. In fact, he was the 2004 series champion and the
first to be crowned. Randy is said to have built an all new Nova and it's almost
ready to race. (Photo courtesy of Mike Ditty: info from Draglist.com files)
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