History Putting a Face with a Name: Cars and Drivers in the 1950s

In my mind, I can picture what Don Garlits or The Greek looked like when they started drag racing in the 1950s. But there are other pioneers from that formative time period that I couldn't pick out of a police lineup, yet I can picture what their cars looked like. I can't picture what Cyr & Hopper, Bobby Langley, Junior Thompson, Rodney Singer, Frank Bradley, Jack Moss, or a host of others looked like back in their prime in that '50s decade. Most of these racers are no longer with us. We can visualize their cars, but not them--as people say, back in the day. To that end, I'm starting this thread--to put a face with a name. The format of an entry on this thread should be as follows: 1) photo of the car with some brief context (i.e., major wins, class, car/engine, etc.) and 2) individual photo(s) of the driver, owners, or crew chief from that time period. It would be frosting on the cake to have a little bio info, too. This will help us remember not just the cars, but the people who did what they did to make their cars so memorable to us.

 

Cyr and Hopper



1958 was a big year for Ted Cyr and Bill Hopper. They won top eliminator at the U.S. Nationals at Oklahoma City in September. They towed two dragsters back to Oklahoma. The first dragster was their old tried-and-true "Old Blue Machine." It was an unblown carbureted 454ci Chrysler that they basically brought along to try and sell. On the cowling of this old dragster, they had painted "For Sale." This car was almost unbeatable at SoCal drag strips in the early months of 1958. But they could see that blown motors and lightweight, but strong, frames were the wave of the future. So after a few months they began building a new car. But they won top eliminator at the U.S. Nationals with this "Old Blue Machine" when their newer dragster lost in an early elimination round.

Cyr and Hopper began building their new dragster in about mid-year, hoping that it might be another winner, like their "Old Blue Machine." Painted a dusty orange, the big blown Chrysler Hemi, built by Hopper, was dropped into a Scotty Fenn T-440 chassis. But this Cyr and Hopper car's greatness was delayed until 1959. In that year, Chassis Research ads touted it as the "Fastest Single Engine Car in the World."

Ted Cyr


Ted Cyr was short (5'6") and balding when he won top eliminator honors in 1958. He was 29 years old and hailed from Escondido, California.

Bill Hopper


Bill Hopper, also from Escondido, was the brains behind the engines in the Cyr & Hopper dragsters.

 

1958
Hello,

In the early days, there were chassis makers for each driver’s choice. Some looked very cool as the bodies covered the bare chassis. The head protection was almost nil, but close enough to be considered race cars. But as the designs changed and safety was the important thing for all concerned. Then only a few companies stood out. Chassis Research Co. was front and center in the popularity of the full head clearing roll cage for FED racers.
THANKS, @296ardun
Cyr & Hopper, Riverside, May 1959...Doug Peterson photo
Cyr and Hopper

With a title like in the advertisement, what is next in the line of race cars for this team? Every weekend we would read about the Ted Cyr and Bill Hopper team using the famed Chassis Research frame and components winning some title of sorts. Top eliminator was the most seen in titles from So Cal to the Northwest and even out of the comfort of So Cal dragstrips. To meet new challenges, the Chassis Research FED went just about everywhere to race against all comers in their class.
1959 Riverside Raceway Pits

1959 Riverside Raceway VS Colburn Glaze Competition Coupe

Cyr and Hopper FED on this race. Power, dirt, smoking tires all made for an exciting race.
Yes, we all got a mouthful of small rocks, standing at the edge of the dragstrip!!! This was one of the most exciting races of the day.

The guy in the dark blue nylon jacket outlined as a shadow was my brother. We were standing several feet from the starting line for a ring side seat, as it were...


Ted Cyr Riverside Raceway 1959 on a single time trial run…



Jnaki

Then, several months later: March 1960:

Then they went from the world’s fastest Hemi to the world’s fastest SBC powered FED.



Cyr and Hopper, Dragmaster Chassis, World’s Fastest Chevy powered FED. DRAG NEWS 1960


The new challenge was a Potvin styled 671 in front of an SBC motor, in a lighter, Dragmaster frame. Instantly, it became known as the “Worlds Fastest Chevy.”

at :31

 

Junior Thompson and His Studebaker Gasser


Some credit Junior Thompson winning Little Eliminator at the 1958 Nationals in his '41 Studebaker Champion as the beginning of the Gasser Wars match races. He could really wind this small block Chevy-powered sedan up and generally cleaned house.

Junior Thompson


Junior Thompson was 23 years old in 1958 when he won the Little Eliminator title at the Nationals. He was involved in drag racing for 60-plus years, so my mental image of him is when he was much older. In 1958, he was just a young pup, sporting kind of a Surfer Joe, curly blond-haired appearance. He died in 2016 at the age of 81.

 

Those dates and ages don't add up!

 

Buck and Bohls Roadster


The Buck & Bohls roadster was featured in a Hot Rod Magazine article entitled "Texas Rocket" in March 1958. The roadster began racing life as a SoCal lakester built by Art Tremaine. Art sold the car to T. W. Buck, Roger Bohls, and Frank Miller in 1957. The Austin, Texas, trio raced it at the 1957 and 1958 U.S. Nationals. The roadster got runner-up in the A/R class at the '58 Nationals, losing to Californian Jerry Norek. Their time was 13.36 at 109.42 mph. In recognition of its exceptionally clean construction, they received a special Safety Award. The 1929 Model A roadster was powered by a '57 403ci Olds engine and painted Fiesta Red.

Roger Bohls


Roger Bohls, an Austin, Texas, native, was 31 years old when he raced the roadster in the 1958 Nationals. He was employed by the telephone company as a switchman. He was a Navy veteran from World War II. Sadly, he died in 1964, only 36 years old, survived by his wife and daughter.

 

You are so right. I changed it from 1981 to his correct death year: 2016. Chalk it up to jet lag from just getting back from Scandinavia--or simply, poor math skills. I did flunk college algebra as a college freshman. Not too good with numbers.

 

Singer-Miller A Gas Dragster


The Singer-Miller home-built dragster was top eliminator at the 1959 Nationals held in Detroit. The dragster was powered by a 430ci blown Lincoln engine. It was the first time in history that a supercharged engine had powered a dragster to a top eliminator win at the Nationals. Rodney Singer, from Houston, drove the dragster to the winner's circle with a string of 9.70s. His best speed at the meet was 152 mph. The Singer-Miller duo took home a new El Camino as a part of their prize winnings.

Rodney Singer


Rod Singer was an aw-shucks, big personality kind of guy from Houston. Just 24 years old when he won the 1959 Nationals, he was care-free and fun-loving. He was 44 years old when he died in 1980.

Karol Miller


Karol Miller, crew chief, was the genius behind the Lincoln engine in the Singer-Miller dragster. He was also from Houston, and a personable guy. He was a regular racer for a decade or more at the Bonneville Salt Flats where he amazed other racers with some mind-blowing speeds in a '56 Ford Victoria. He died at age 95 in 2024.

 

Ernie Hashim's Fuel Dragster



Ernie Hashim fielded this blown Chrysler A/FD in 1959. Howard Reese Hylton, a water driller in Bakersfield, opened his wallet for Ernie to build the car. Ernie opted to have Bill Crossley drive the dragster for him in 1959. At Bakersfield's inaugural March Meet, Crossley turned a blistering 8.74 at 175.23 mph. Two weeks later, Crossley got low ET at the Pacific Coast Invitational drag race at Kingdon on March 14-15 with 8.98 at 175 mph. The Hashim-Hylton-Crossley car was beaten in eliminations by Don Garlits. In a widely balleyhooed match race against arch rival Tony Waters at Vaca Valley Raceway on May 10, a broken rocker arm put the dragster out of commission after making some smoking 171 mph passes. Waters won by default in his super quick fuel modified roadster.

Ernie Hashim


Ernie and his wife, Leona, look like they are out for a nice Sunday drive in Ernie's C Fuel 1927 Model T modified roadster that he raced in 1950-51. In 1951, he was 27 years old, had been married for a year, and was working as a machinist at Lord's Speed Shop in Bakersfield. In 1950, he was timed at 130.24 mph at El Mirage Dry Lake. Ernie spent about $2,100 building his little Sunday driver roadster. It was powered by a '41 Mercury flathead, fueled by three carburetors, sporting Evans heads, Winfield cam, and Kong ignition. He mixed the methanol and nitro in a four parts to one ratio. In late October 1951, he turned 104.15 mph at the drag races at Fresno.

 

Bernie Partridge's Roadster


Bernie Partridge competed at the '59 U.S. Nationals, driving this '52 De Soto-powered B/MR. He called the roadster "Miss Fortune." He was 26 years old. With co-owner, Gus Leighton, they raced primarily at Inyokern with other members of the Dust Devils car club. They began the year at Inyokern, turning the meet's top time of 12.53 at 102.27 mph. In March at Inyokern, they won the B/MR class with 12.10 at 111.11 mph. They also competed with the roadster in the 1960 season.

Bernie Partridge


Bernie Partridge is mostly remembered for being one of NHRA's national event announcers for over two decades. Nicknamed "The Bird," Partridge bubbled over with enthusiasm and was a big personality. As an announcer, some compared him with longtime baseball announcer Vin Scully in being able to paint a picture of what was happening. He was a true believer in the sport of drag racing and preached its gospel to anyone and everyone. Many considered him one of the sport's most important promoters during drag racing's infancy. He died at age 79 in 2012.

 

George Montgomery's Gasser


"Ohio George" Montgomery made his first appearance at an NHRA national event at the 1959 U.S. Nationals in Detroit. He won the A/G class (11.94 at 124.65 mph) and Little Eliminator honors. For his win, he took home $800 in merchandise prizes and a four-foot tall trophy. After that, his powder blue '33 Willys was a staple on the national scene. At the '59 Nationals, his Willys was powered by a blown '59 390ci Cadillac engine.

George Montgomery


From Dayton, Ohio, Montgomery opened George's Speed Shop in 1950. He was 26 years old when he made such a splash at the Detroit Nationals. When he was interviewed after his '59 Nationals victory, he said he got a big thrill out of driving the Willys. "The hardest part of the run is getting started," he said. "It's a lot like driving on ice." In November 1959, George set a new national record (132.92 mph) at Chester Airport in South Carolina at the ITA Championships. What is amazing that he set the record and won Little Eliminator honors while his engine belabored with a cracked cylinder wall. Montgomery went on to win seven national titles. He died in 2023 at age 90.

 

Darrell Zimmerman's B Gas Dragster


Darrell Zimmerman and his crew won the award for the best appearing car and crew at the 1959 U. S. Nationals at Detroit. Zim's crew included Kenny Arnold, Bob Buettenback, and LaVerne Walline. They were garbed in white shirts, green ball caps, and green trousers. They hauled their dragster on a white trailer with a green tow car. Named "Zim-Go," it ran in the B/D class. Zim generally raced his dragster in those early years at the drag strip at Julesburg, Colorado. In May 1959, he was running it there in the C/D class when he won Little Eliminator honors with a time of 13.13 at 101.60 mph. In September at Julesburg, he was running in the D/D class, which he won with a time of 13.67 at 98.03 mph.

Darrell Zimmerman


Zimmerman lived in Big Springs, Nebraska, when he and his crew towed their dragster to Detroit in 1959. He was 26 years old when he drove his dragster at the '59 Nationals. He served as a regional director for NHRA's West Central Division 5 for thirty-five years until he retired in 1994. He died in 2020 at age 86.

 

Otie Smith's Roadster


Otis "Otie" Smith, from Akron, Ohio, won Middle Eliminator at the 1959 Nationals at Detroit. His '23 Model T A/R was powered by a blown '57 Chevy engine. His top time was 10.61 at 148.27 mph.

Otie Smith


Otie operated Otie's Automotive Specialties speed shop in Akron for 33 years. He began racing in 1953 with a '32 Ford roadster at the Akron airport strip. He was 39 years old when he won big-time at the '59 Nationals. He raced competitively for 13 years. "I raced all over the nation," he said, "from Texas to Florida, Maine, Michigan, California." He died in 2014 at age 94.

 

I have been lucky to meet Ted Cyr, Ernie Hashim, knew Junior Thompson from my time in A/GS.

 

Cool thread.

 

Henslee & Cook's Modified Roadster





Paul Schieffer built this car for dry lake racing with an engine in the front. He then reconfigured the car with the engine in the rear of the '27 Model T roadster body. In 1955, Bob "Red" Henslee bought it and raced it in 1955-56. Henslee drove it, but also engaged Bob Sanders and Dale Martinson to help drive it in 1955 and Emery Cook in 1956-57. The top photo shows what the car looked like when Henslee partnered with Wright in mid-1955, shortly after Henslee acquired the car. They ran a Merc flathead in it at that time--and a high gear-only setup--more on that later. The second photo shows what the car looked like when Henslee raced it at the Arizona State Championships at Perryville in November 1955. At that time, the car was called the Crower Special and Henslee had Holly Hedrich as a partner. They ran a 331ci Chrysler in the car at the Arizona meet. The third photo shows what the roadster looked like during the Henslee-Cook partnership before they repainted it red and white under the Jerauld's Automotive speed shop sponsorship. The last photo shows what the roadster looked like when Albert Jerauld's speed shop sponsored it. The high gear-only setup happened accidentally. Dave Sorenson remembered the story this way: "Apparently they broke second gear in their Ford trans, and Henslee suggested that they try high gear only as they calculated that [they] might bog on the line. As it turned out, they turned top time of the meet." Sorenson's memory was really good because Drag News (7/8/55) recounted when and how it happened, very much like what Sorenson recalled. The occasion was the Pomona Valley Timing Association's annual Southern California Championship Drags on July 4, 1955, at Pomona Drag Strip. "The fastest record-breaking time was turned in by the sensational modified roadster of Henslee & Wright, from San Diego," Drag News reported. "After dropping 2nd gear early in the meet these boys continued on undaunted and eventually cracked the class record by turning 136.98 using high gear only!" In that way, they became the pioneers of direct drive and running high gear only--by accident. When Henslee ran at the big race in Arizona in November 1955, he buzzed the course in 10.95 at 146.81 mph to win top eliminator honors. But 1956 was the big year for Henslee's roadster. The drag racing world was astounded (Drag News said it was "stunned") when Cook ran 152.19 mph at Santa Ana on July 22, 1956 in the A/FMR. It was the first time that a non-dragster car had broken the 150 mph barrier. At the Pacific Southwest Championship held at Paradise Mesa on August 4-5, they upped their world record to 152.29 mph. On August 11 at Lions, they set a new world's record with 157.06 mph. The next day at Santa Ana on August 12, Cook again set another new world's record with a phenomenal 157.15 mph run. Setting new records at almost every outing, they set a new strip record at Santa Ana on August 19 with 9.87 and a top speed of 154.37 mph. At the Drag Racers, Inc. World Championships at Lions on September 3, Cook notched the meet's top times with 9.98 at 155.44 mph. This car did nothing but live in the rarified air above 150 mph. Howard Cams advertisements touted that the ET and top speed records had never before "been combined into one car." It was the world's fastest unblown car of any body type. It was smashing world and track records right and left. On September 9 at Santa Ana, Henslee let C. J. Hart drive the car. Hart set the meet's top time with 10.03 at 156.13 mph. Old timers recall that this car had one of the most awesome engine sounds of any car that ever ran at the SoCal drag strips. Drag News (9/7/56) reported that the car "has an exhaust note unequalled during the last half of the quarter mile." Sadly, the car was totally demolished in an accident at a race at Paradise Mesa on September 23. Prior to its destruction, the car set the meet's top times with 9.93 at 152.28 mph. There are stories attesting that Emery Cook was driving the car when it was wrecked, but they are mistaken. He wasn't. The driver was George Boulette, a 19-year-old resident of Chula Vista. He worked as a mechanic in Albert Jerauld's speed shop. Drag News (10/5/56) reported: "The car was totally demolished when driver George Boulette was unable to stop in time to avoid hitting a spectator's car entering at the far end of the strip. Boulette sustained injuries requiring hospitalization, but the driver of the other car was reported unhurt." Albert Jerauld thought that young Boulette "may have forgotten where the brake was after he lost control at top speed." Boulette stayed in the hospital for several months recuperating. Several car clubs held benefit dances to help pay for his hospital costs. Paradise Mesa also held a benefit drag race to help him with his health care expenses. Although Drag News reported that the car was totally destroyed, the Chula Vista Star-News (9/27/56) stated that "inspectors reported after the accident that the fibreglass car was in good mechanical condition." So, was the car destroyed or not? Dave Sorenson wondered if the Henslee roadster might have been salvaged to become the modified roadster run by Holly Hedrich and Bob McClure in 1958. Sorenson said, "Holly Hedrich worked for Paul Scheiffer, was once a partner in the Henslee and Cook roadster [in 1955]." That part of the story remains a mystery. A short while after the wreck, the engine was salvaged and put into the Lord's Club's Tucson-based dragster. That dragster was built and run by Don Maynard, Lyle Fisher, and Red Greth--the renowned Speed Sport trio. With that new engine, their dragster ran faster than it had ever run before. At its first outing at Perryville with the new engine at the Arizona State Championships on November 3-4, 1956, it ran 142.86 mph. Another story circulates about why Cook wasn't driving the car in the latter part of the year. Remember that Cook drove it on September 3 at Lions, but at the car's next outings, both at Santa Ana, the roadster was driven by C. J. Hart (September 9) and George Boulette (September 23). Why? Don Garlits tells a story offering a possible reason. "He [Cook] and Red Henslee were running their roadster at Santa Ana one day, and the two speed Ford transmission they were using broke," said Garlits. "When it got time for top eliminator, Cook said he didn't want to give up a shot at the trophy, plus a possible $25 for winning. He told Henslee, 'Let's just go up there and run it in high gear, and maybe the other guy will leave too soon or break or who knows what.' Cook got up to the line, revved it up, and spun the tires, and sonavabitch, if he didn't set top speed of the meet and win! So they knew then that just running in high gear could work. The crowd was going crazy, and down at the far end, Henslee was so excited that he told Cook he wanted to be behind the wheel of the car as it was pushed back down the return road. But something goofy happened as they were coming back. They must have accidentally started it, and Henslee crashed. Cook was so mad when Henslee crashed their roadster that the partnership was over for good." That story doesn't make sense because the Henslee-Cook roadster was running high gear-only when Cook set the world record of 152.19 mph at Santa Ana on July 22, 1956. The partnership was hardly severed, as Cook was the car's driver at every outing from that date until September 3. Research hasn't been able to unravel these conflicting stories.

Red Henslee


Bob "Red" Henslee was 30 years old in 1955 when he bought the rear-engined roadster that would make such a splash in the drag racing world in 1956. After the roadster crashed at Paradise Mesa in September 1956, he left the sport of drag racing. His star shined brightly in the drag racing realm for just a brief time. And just three years later, in 1959, his star flickered out when he lost his life in an industrial accident. He was an electrician and had been installing some wiring at the Star Rocks Products plant in Santa Ana Canyon when he was accidentally electrocuted. Prior to working for an electrical company, he had led a peripatetic life, spending the winter months each year in Phoenix and the rest of the time in San Diego. In Arizona, he operated greyhound dog racing lures at dog racing tracks in Phoenix and Tucson. He also hopped around to dog racing tracks in Southern California when the call came for his services. After he got out of the Navy in 1944, he designed and built automatic timers and mechanical lures that were used at dog racing tracks. The greyhounds would chase his lures around the track and his timers would post the electronically-timed results. This provided him and his family an income for almost a decade. His drag racing was just something that occupied his time when he wasn't working at dog tracks.

Emery Cook


Emery Cook, from San Diego, began racing at least as early as 1952 at Paradise Mesa. He was a member of the Carlsbad Oilers car club. He was Joaquin Arnett's (Bean Bandits) brother-in-law. His wife, Noralund Arnett, was Joaquin's sister. His first car was a '32 Ford that he and Wayne Finley raced in the B modified coupe class. When he was setting all the strip and world records in 1956, he was 29 years old. During his career, Emery held six world records and 46 individual track records. He died in 1982 at age 55.

 

Hello,

There are only a few photos of the very early 41 Willys Coupe from the Pittman-Edwards Team in 1958-59. Doug Peterson captured the street legal look of the early edition to qualify under the rules for hot rod builds, mufflers, working headlights/taillights, DMV licensed, in addition to a scatter shield. A car that can be driven on the streets to work, school and weekend enjoyment cruising around.

and, perhaps a set of real slicks for the dragstrip racing.

K.S. Pittman-John Edwards had their fast Willys Coupe at Lion’s Dragstrip by the time we arrived to start our journey. It was our first encounter with a Willys Coupe. A normal hot rod built for the street class and included whitewall tires to boot.

In the pits on a slightly moist day at Lion's Dragstrip. The Pittman-Edwards 41 Willys Coupe in the Lion's Dragstrip Pits. John Edwards was the other half of the winning Willys Coupe build.


From the first time we saw this red Willys Coupe in the pits, it was all we could do to admire the build and the results every time we were trying to do our thing in the A/Stock class.

The far left red blur taking off from the starting line...

Pittman-Edwards making a blasting run, while we were staging our 1958 Impala for the next runs in our class time trials at Lion’s Dragstrip.

Jnaki

The first encounter allowed us to see how fast the top racers were going, what they were using for power and how their set up was built. We were totally impressed as we looked at the red Willys Coupe going through its changes to set the Standard 1320 records during this time period. Perhaps, it was an inclination of our future to come in our own build… YRMV

The neat thing was, as we fired up our 292 SBC motor with the new Isky-Gilmer 671 supercharger drive, it made some noise. In the pits, it drew the attention of a lot of folks, including the Pittman-Edwards folks… There were only two 671 supercharged SBC motors racing in the gas classes at the time. . We were #2.

Note:

There were some lofty goals we needed to finish as we raced each weekend. A couple of teenagers versus the “big names,” in the Gas Coupe and Sedan Classes.

John Edwards Of Pittman-Edwards Team at :22

 

Jiggs Shamblin & Dale Hartong and Their Race Cars



The top photo shows the Shamblin-Hartong A/D that competed in the 1958 Nationals. They called the dragster "Transfusion," powered by an injected '53 402ci Chrysler Hemi, with a Chassis Research TE-440 frame. They received a 5-foot tall trophy for winning top eliminator at the 1958 Ohio State Drag Race Championships held at Mansfield Municipal Airport on September 13-14. The duo won top eliminator at the Westhampton Drag Strip on Long Island, New York, on October 12. They turned 10.08 at 150 mph. Jiggs and Dale went separate ways after the 1958 season, with Jiggs taking the TE-440 frame without the engine.

The bottom photo shows the car that Shamblin drove in 1959--the '38 Bantam Panel Truck-bodied A Competition Coupe owned by Joe, Pete (called Butch), and Frank Hollish, of Akron, Ohio. The car was named "Miscalculation No. 2." But Art Chrisman gave this car a nickname that stuck with it during the ensuing years: "The Flying Outhouse." It was a marriage of Jiggs' Chassis Research dragster frame and the Hollish brothers potent blown 345ci Olds engine, coupled with the bright yellow Bantam coupe body. It did well at the 1959 Nationals at Detroit, getting runner-up in the top eliminator finals to winner Rod Singer. It won its class and set a new national record with 142.85 mph. Two weeks later, at the Fuel and Gas invitational in Montgomery, New York, the Hollish Bros. coupe ran a 9.63. That was the last time this car was run. After that, Joe was drafted and Jiggs sold the chassis to someone who put a Hemi in it.

Jiggs Shamblin


Jiggs Shamblin, from Akron, Ohio, had his best years racing in 1958-59. He was 24 years old when he competed in the 1959 Nationals. He died in 2020 at age 86.

Dale Hartong


Dale Hartong, from Akron, Ohio. He was 23 years old when he competed in the 1958 Nationals. He died in 2014 at age 79.

The Hollish Brothers


The Hollish brothers--Frank (age 22), Joe (age 21), and Pete (age 18)--load their coupe back on the trailer. Those were their ages in 1959, when they raced this wicked-looking coupe.

In 1958, the Hollish brothers built this competition coupe to make their first foray to a national race--the 1958 U.S. Nationals at Oklahoma City. Butch bought a '31 Ford Model A in 1956, when he was 14, for $55 with money that he earned on his paper-route. In time, Butch and Joe decided to chop the top to give it that cool look. However, they went way too far and couldn't see to drive. To solve that issue, they decided to put the driver where the engine was and put the engine behind him. Da-duh, problem solved. They bought an Olds-powered pickup from a local Akron speed shop guy. They then built their own super-light chassis, plucked the engine from the pickup and stuck it in their frame within the confines of the Model A body. They built a dapper looking driver's compartment from a WWII belly tank, situating it in the front. Lots of good visibility. The boys painted it school-bus yellow with red lettering and gave it the name "Miscalculation" because of the substantial roof chop that made the guys go mid-engine. At the Oklahoma City, they were awed by the other competition coupes, especially Mackey and Veselka's wild Bantam-bodied competition coupe. Although they made a few practice runs in the 120s, they left Oklahoma with stars in their eyes and ideas for a new car to run at the 1959 Nationals.

 

Carl Grimes and His Altereds




Carl Grimes's first competitive race car was the Wild Wagon, seen in the top photo. He fitted a modified '48 Crosley body onto a '41 DeSoto frame, creating a unique-looking race car like no other. He first raced this B/A car in early 1955, using a '53 Cadillac engine. He eventually replaced the Cad motor with a Buick engine, then followed by an Olds engine. At his first outing in February 1955, he turned 96.03 mph on the old airstrip at Perryville, Arizona. In March, he set the strip record for gas-powered cars with 103.45 mph. Encouraged by his performance, he drove the car to San Diego to run at the 2-day 3rd annual Pacific Southwest Championship drag races at Paradise Mesa on July 9-10. He turned 103 mph before transmission troubles brought his racing to a halt. He became the first entrant to register for the U.S. Nationals at Great Bend, being given number 1 for his racing number. He had installed the Buick for that inaugural Nationals event.
The second photo shows the '48 Fiat bodied altered that Grimes started racing in August 1956. He named it "Grimes 57 Varieties," because of all the parts from different cars that were used in its construction. He spent ten months building the car. It had a flip-top body, hinged at the rear axle. He debuted the car with a '56 Buick engine and two-speed transmission, running in A/A class. With the new car, he set out on a national tour, intending to race at big events in Texas and Illinois before finishing up at the Nationals in Kansas City. He was the first drag racer to employ a hinged body and a narrowed rear axle, designed to give the car greater stability. At the Southwest Regional Championships at Amarillo on August 19, Carl had trouble handling the shifty car. Jack Moss had blown his engine, so Grimes asked Moss to try his hand at driving the car. Moss drove it to a new national record of 116.88 mph right out of the gate. Competing at the World Series of Drag Racing at Lawrenceville, Illinois, on August 22-26, Grimes got Bert Kessler to drive for him. He won the A/A class with a speed of 117.63 mph. At the Nationals at Kansas City, Grimes won the A/A class and set a new national record of 118.26 mph. All in all, it was an auspicious first year for the Fiat. He continued to race the car all over the country through 1960.
The third photo shows the transporter Carl built out of a Studebaker school bus, powered by a Pontiac engine. He used it to transport his Fiat race car to travel to races throughout the country. It was fitted so that his family and crew could sleep in it on long jaunts. He modified the rear to open up to load the Fiat up a ramp.

Carl Grimes


Carl Grimes, from Phoenix, was a master hot rod craftsman, using a conglomeration of different car parts to create one beautiful whole race car. When rain forced cancellation of the top eliminator portion of the 1955 Nationals, it was principally Grimes who convinced NHRA officials to hold the runoff race during the Southwest Regional Championships in Arizona on November 19-20. He was 44 years old when he started racing in 1955. Carl built his race cars at his machine shop and repair garage in Phoenix. His last year actively drag racing was 1961. He died in 1988 at age 77.

 

The Famous Glass Slipper Dragster from the 1950s


The Glass Slipper, regarded as the world's most beautiful dragster in the 1950s, was restored to perfection in the 1980s and ran periodically in nostalgia drag races.

The Glass Slipper has reposed in the NHRA museum in Pomona since the museum's opening in 1999.

This photo shows the Glass Slipper at the Bonneville Salt Flats. "We first intended to drag race it," said Ed, "but we ran it at Bonneville and ran a record 181 mph in 1955."


These two photos show Ed Cortopassi tucked into the driver's compartment of the dragster when it was equipped with the flathead engine. They towed the dragster to the U.S. Nationals in Kansas City in 1956 where it turned 141 mph. They lost in the first round of eliminations to Kenny Lindley's dragster driven by Bob Alsenz.

This photo shows what happened to the car after it caught fire at Kingdon in 1958. It ran as a B/FD on alcohol. It would be a year before it was repaired and returned to racing again--with Ed Cortopassi as driver.


These two photos show the Glass Slipper after it was repaired in 1960, with the addition of a GMC supercharger and Hilborn injectors. With this set-up, the B/FD was able to turn best times of 8.93 and 172.08 mph.

History of the Glass Slipper

If a poll were taken, the Glass Slipper dragster might easily be regarded as among the most important cars in the history of drag racing. It was the first dragster to sport a streamlined body, aluminum frame, and enclosed canopy. At the 1957 Oakland Roadster Show, it was awarded the prize of America's Most Beautiful Competition Car. It was built by Sacramento brothers, Roy and Ed Cortopassi. The Cortopassi brothers were fresh out of high school, making a living as tile setters. They had been racing for some time, but decided to build a new car out of completely new material never seen in the racing hot rod world. It was built with aluminum frame rails, the roll cage was homemade, the full fiberglass body was made in the garage by hand and they even made the formed plexiglass canopy. The Glass Slipper was the first hot rod to be made out of fiberglass, and the Cortopassi brothers didn't exactly know what they were doing. The brothers started building the car in 1954 and finished it in 1955. They had to make a mold of the car out of plaster and chicken wire so they had something to shape the fiberglass around. The car was built in an old shed in the brothers' spare time after work. "Every time you touched it, the fibers made you itch, and every time you sanded it, it made you itch," said Roy. The whole car cost something like $800. It originally was built with a 274ci Mercury flathead, then a 306-inch small-block Chevy that ran in the nines, and finally a blown fuel 364-inch Chevy that went 8.92 and 164 mph. Although there was a 1954 MGM movie starring Michael Wilding and Leslie Caron that was called "The Glass Slipper," the dragster's name came from its unique shape and fiberglass body. "My wife said, 'What are you going to name it?'" recalled Roy Cortopassi. "She said, 'It's got to be the Glass Slipper because it looks like a slipper and it's made out of glass.'" After their successful outing at Bonneville, they started racing at drag strips--and winning. "We got so many trophies," said Doug Butler, "we decided not to take the trophies and just take the money." They made a name for themselves and began touring the country and overseas to Hawaii in 1957. At the race in Hawaii, they turned 160.59 mph. Old timers who remember seeing the Slipper run in the '50s recall how friendly and nicely-outfitted the crew was in purple duds. Wally Parks selected the Glass Slipper and Calvin Rice's dragster to compete for FIA International Acceleration Records at March Air Force Base in Riverside, California, in 1958. It clocked 168.85 mph in the standing kilometer, a new FIA Class C world record. This was accomplished with an unblown 302-cid small-block Chevy. This earned it recognition as the world's fastest Chevy-powered dragster. Sadly, the Glass Slipper caught on fire when a fuel line came loose at Kingdon in May, 1958, severely burning driver, Doug Butler. He received first and second degree burns on his back and legs. That was it for Doug; he decided he didn't want to drive any more. They repaired it and in early 1959, Ed Cortopassi took over the driving duties. When they repaired it, they installed a GMC supercharger and Hilborn injectors. Ed Cortopassi raced it until 1963, when he retired and put the dragster in a corner of his garage. One other recognition of note came in 1972, when Ed was asked to bring the Slipper out of moth balls and make some passes at Orange County International Raceway in honor of Hot Rod Magazine's 25th anniversary. One race car magazine writer said, “This was arguably the impetus of the drag racing nostalgia movement.” The Slipper made occasional appearances at nostalgia events all the way up to 2009. It now reposes in the NHRA Museum in Pomona.

The Glass Slipper's Builders, Owners, and Drivers

Ed and Roy Cortopassi


Ed Cortopassi was 19 years old when he began building the dragster in 1954. It was quite an accomplishment for a couple of youngsters to build such a car. It was the epitome of a show and go car. Ed died in 2014 at the age of 79.

The Cortopassi brothers, Roy (left) and Ed (right), were novices with using fiberglass. Here they stand next to the newly-formed mold in their backyard shop garage, circa 1954.

Roy and Ed lay fiberglass sheets over the mold of their car. "We built the car in our back yard," said Ed. "There weren't any chassis building shops in those days and everyone built their own."

Doug Butler


Doug Butler is all smiles in the driver's seat while Ed Cortopassi stands approvingly next to the dragster. There are newspaper reports that stated that John Fernandez and Buck Davis of Sacramento were part-owners of the car in 1956. If so, they were not in the picture in 1957 when Doug Butler joined as a co-owner.

This cartoon appeared in the Sacramento Bee (2/27/59) promoting a charity
drag race at the California State Fairgrounds 1/8th-mile drag strip on March 1, 1959.

This grainy newspaper photo shows Doug Butler and Ed Cortopassi standing next to their dragster in 1960.

NHRA awarded Doug Butler a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 for his contributions in connection with the Glass Slipper. In this photo, he sits in his home in Pleasant Valley, California, next to the tall silver trophy.

Roy Cortopassi and Doug Butler sit for an interview in 2019, recounting some memories of their iconic dragster.

 

Jay Cheatham and the Pearson Olds World Record-Beating Dragster



The Pearson Olds dragster was built by Cheatham over the winter, being readied in time for the 1957 season. It was powered by a fuel-injected 461ci Olds engine, running on gas, with a Scotty Fenn chassis. It debuted at Bakersfield on February 9, Cheatham taking the A/OG class with 140.84 mph. The next week, he ran at Kingdon on February 16, turning 9.81 seconds and a speed of 145.17 mph. This was only two miles per hour shy of the world's record on gasoline. On August 10 at Half Moon Bay, he set a new world ET record for unblown gas cars of 9.56. At Half Moon Bay on August 24, he upped his world record for both time and speed with 9.48 seconds and 150.50 mph. This was the first time an unblown gas-burning car had broken the 150 mph barrier. With these results (and travel expenses paid by Lions Drag Strip), he towed the dragster to Oklahoma City for the U.S. Nationals held on August 29-September 1, full of optimism. The only thing that kept him from winning absolutely everything was Cyr and Hopper's "Old Blue Machine," that won top eliminator. En route to runner-up honors in the top eliminator finals, he beat Jack Moss's twin-engined dragster, Ralph Gonzalez's blown Cad dragster, Art Arfons's Green Monster, and Ted Cyr's new big blown Chrysler orange dragster. Cheatham had indeed been a giant killer, but came up short against the old Cyr & Hopper carbureted dragster. He towed his car to Camp White in Southern Oregon for the Northwest Gas Championships on September 6-7. He took top eliminator with best times of 9.97 and 144.46 mph. At Half Moon Bay on October 12, he set a new world ET record for gas dragsters of 9.40 seconds. He just kept beating world records, sometimes even his own old records. When the 1959 season, optimism and hope for more wins and records seemed assured. It looked that way when he rolled to a couple of victories at Kingdon. But things went sideways at the Bakersfield March Meet. He died at that event.

This was Jay's car before his jump to dragsters. He jumped around in racing several cars, competing in stock, gas coupes, and altered classes. He ran this '34 Ford Coupe, with a 331ci Cadillac engine. He liked to call it a Fordillac. On August 7, 1955, he set a strip record in B/A class at Kingdon with 101.67 mph. In 1956, he ran a '40 Ford with a 360ci '52 Cadillac engine in A/G class. But his '34 Ford was his bread and butter car. At the 3-day Drag Racers, Inc. World Championships at Lions on September 1-3, 1956, he won the B/A class with 12.11 at 112.50 mph. He won the B/A class with his '34 Ford at the Central California State Championships at Madera on September 8-9, 1956, running 109.01 mph. He was the national record holder in B/A in 1956.

Cheatham's Cad-engined dragster appeared on the cover of Drag News on July 13, 1957. He fielded this new Cad-engined dragster for the first time at Kingdon on November 18, 1956. He began making the rounds with this Howard-cammed, Cad-motored 1,400-pound dragster to strips in Northern and Southern California in 1957. On his first visit to Lions on July 6, he took top eliminator honors, defeating Art Chrisman with 10.84 at 125.87 mph. The next day at Pomona, he took top eliminator at the strip's 5th annual Southern California Championships. He waded through eliminations against a stout field of racers including Don Little at the wheel of Ken Lindley's world record-holding blown gas Chrysler dragster. Returning the next week to Northern California, on July 14, he set a new world top speed record with his dragster of 149.00 mph at 10.80 seconds at Half Moon Bay. It was the fastest speed ever run by a gas-burning car. He blew two head gaskets during that run, but still managed later to run a 10.63 in winning top eliminator honors. On August 4 at Kingdon, he took top gas eliminator honors with 125.00 mph. On September 15, he set a new strip record at Little Bonneville Drag Strip in San Jose with 134.12 mph in his A/OG dragster. Running in B/OG at Vacaville on September 22, he clicked off a speed of 132.40 mph for the class win. On October 6, he swapped out his Cad motor for an Olds engine in the race at Half Moon Bay. He won his class and took top eliminator with 10.73 at 128.38 mph. He took another top eliminator win in the Olds dragster at Half Moon Bay on October 27 with 11.01 at 126.21 mph. On November 3 at the San Jose Airport, he turned 132.15 mph to take top eliminator honors for the fifth straight time at the bi-weekly races at the Little Bonneville strip. At the Central California Regional Championships at Madera on November 10-11, he drove away with a record collection of four trophies. He had the top gas speed of 130.13 mph and won top gas eliminator honors.

Jay Cheatham


Jay Cheatham, who lived in Sunnyvale, California, ran an automobile repair service. He first began drag racing in 1955, running principally at Kingdon Drag Strip. The Oakland Tribune (7/21/57) called him a "racer's racer," since he was one of a select successful few who built, modified, and drove their own dragsters. Sadly, he died in a racing accident with his dragster at the Bakersfield March Meet on March 1, 1959. He was 34 years old, survived by his wife and a teenage son and daughter.

 

Drag Racing's First Dragster--"The Bug"


Dick Kraft's "The Bug" is widely credited as being drag racing's first dragster. As a footnote to this, it must be mentioned that a rail job with Howard Johansen's 4-banger track roadster engine showed up at the first drag race at Goleta in '48. But the acclaimed "Bug," built and driven by Dick Kraft, is more widely recognized as the first forerunner of today's dragsters. Like many of the dragster-type vehicles in the early 1950s, it was a bit short on safety equipment. In its report of the drag race at Santa Ana on July 30, 1950, the Santa Ana Register stated: "Dick Craft [sic] of Anaheim drove a 'modified' hot rod 103.18 mph for the second fastest mark." The fastest time of the meet, 103.42 mph, had been run by Al Keyes of Santa Ana, on a motorcycle. Dick began racing regularly at Santa Ana--and winning in the modified roadster class. There wasn't a class for dragsters at that time, so C. J. Hart called his car a modified roadster, or simply, a modified. At the race on August 20 to determine who got fastest car of the day honors, Kraft beat Santa Monica's Tom Cobb with a speed of 109 mph. On September 17, he got the fastest-time-of-the-day honors with a speed of 109.09 mph. The next week on September 24, he repeated for the fastest time with 112.50 mph. On October 15, he got the meet's fastest speed with 113.92 mph. He was regularly the fastest car on the track. He turned 114 mph for the meet's fastest speed on October 22. Other competitors saw that stripping the body off a car was a recipe for faster speeds. They started doing it, giving Dick competition that abruptly ended his weekly winning.

Dick helped out on his parent's ranch, working in their orange grove. As one story goes, he used a Model A as a weed-sprayer in their citrus grove. He then took the Model A, added his flathead, and went racing. The converted weed-sprayer ran a number of times at Santa Ana with both a roadster body and a coupe body before it was stripped to the bone. He decided that he might improve his speed if he stripped off the body. So, one Sunday he showed up at the track in a contraption that consisted of little more than four wheels, a motor, and a seat. As the story goes, C. J. Hart looked at it, scratched his head, and said, "It doesn't look safe." He said he'd need at least a roll bar before he'd let it race. So, Dick came back with a roll bar built out of electrical conduit. After C. J. bent it with his hands, he sent Kraft back home again to do better. When he returned and got C. J.'s approval to run, The Bug sported a flimsy roll bar (made of 3/4" galvanized pipe), that would do little more than maybe protect his shoulders. But please notice, he wore a seat belt (he'll be fine). Racing helmets weren't necessary. Well, maybe they were important from a safety standpoint, but they weren't required. Just strap on a pair of goggles and let 'er rip. This was 1950. Drag racing was in its infancy. Sanctioning bodies, safety rules, and uniform classification guidelines were being talked about, but were slow to develop.

Dick, fresh out of high school, clocked 121 mph at Muroc Dry Lake in 1941. This car was his entry into the world of hot rods and dry lakes racing. "Some dang fool gave me a roadster when I was 14 and ruined my whole cotton-pickin' life," Kraft said of his hot rod beginnings. "Then, I had a '29 Model A with Kelseys and a Winfield head that I paid for by working on the family ranches. I wasn't getting anywhere with the four-banger, so I bought a '32 roadster with side mounts and 18-inch wheels for $200. I ran the '32 only one time at the lakes and turned 98 mph."

The war and Dick's service in the Merchant Marines interrupted his racing on the dry lakes. Dick had two things on his mind during the war: staying alive and racing. He had his friend, Jack McGrath, build him a racing engine. He recalled how, with a few days leave, he, McGrath, and some friends built what looked like a cross between a kayak and a Soap Box Derby racer. "I bailed off the ship on Friday and went home. I had the engine that McGrath built and I wanted to get going on a car. I only had two or three days before I had to be back on the ship. I built the frame out of 2x2 box tubing. All I had was a gas welder, so we welded the tubing together with that. We didn't have any springs, so we welded the front end and the rear end to the axles. We sent somebody to steal a Coca-Cola sign to make the body out of. We didn't have any rivets, so we screwed the halves together with stove bolts. By Saturday, we finished the thing and I took it to El Mirage on Sunday and ran 135 mph. After seeing the guys at the lakes and having my new motor, I decided I'd had enough of Marine life and signed off that bucket of bolts for good."

While working for George Barris, Dick built a show-and-go '27 Model T track roadster that is still acclaimed by purists as one of the best examples of a hot rod roadster of its time. Dick always referred to this blue hot rod sports car as the "wire-wheel car." Dick said, "I did the frame, the front end, the rear end, the transmission, and the motor, and my friend, Art Ingles, did the body." He entered it in the first Oakland Roadster Show in 1950.

He also raced the blue "wire-wheel car" at El Mirage where it turned 122 mph.

In 1951, he built a second Model T track hot rod sports car, the Kraft Special, that he displayed at the '51 Oakland show. This one was painted red.

"I built cars to drag race, street race, and run at the dry lakes, not to look at. I built cars to drive; I put 60,000 miles on that car and won 20 trophies at Santa Ana," says Dick. "I bought the '24 T from a relative who had it on a chicken ranch in Orange for a hundred bucks and drove it home."

He followed up his two T-track roadsters with one of the most beautiful Frank Kurtis Indianapolis 500 roadster-inspired street rods ever built. This hot rod sports car, sporting Rudge wire wheels, graced the cover of Hot Rod Magazine in October 1954. George Barris did the paint and interior. It was a trophy winner at Oakland, Indianapolis, and the L. A. Motorama.

Dick Kraft


Dick enlisted in the Merchant Marines in 1943, staying in until 1947. The siren call of dry lakes racing was too strong for him, so he opted to leave the service.

After leaving the service, he continued to work on his parents' ranch and began working part-time for George Barris. He enjoyed working for Barris, putting his skills into building hot rods and custom cars. But that didn't hold a candle to his love of racing, which he continued to do.

Dick wasn't particularly fond of car shows, even though he built show winners. As he said, "he couldn't race at 'em."

Dick Kraft was 29 years old when he first raced at Santa Ana. This picture accompanied a front page article in the Anaheim Register (7/21/75). Dick was 54 years old when the newspaper interviewed him in 1975. He related the story of The Bug. He said that he paid a $2 entry fee to enter his dry lakes roadster at the drag races being held at the Orange County Airport in Santa Ana. He remembered turning 103 mph in his lakes car at his first visit to the airport strip in July 1950. He recalled that the lakes roadster was the only car that topped the century mark. After that first outing, he got an idea that he might improve his speed if he were to lighten the car by removing the body. "The first week we took the body off of the roadster and got up to 106 mph," said Kraft. "Then we took off the radiator and ran it with alcohol and got a little faster. In the first month, by eliminating one thing after another, we got the car's weight down to 1,200 pounds with 200 horsepower." He attended Anaheim High School, graduating in 1940. In high school, his shop teacher, Mr. Booth, helped the boys build hot rods. "In high school, we had a car club called the Plutocrats. Every Saturday night, we would street race to hold onto our number-one status." The police tried in vain to stop it, and Dick accumulated a lot of tickets for street racing. "Before you were 18, if you got tickets, you had to go to traffic school on Saturday in Santa Ana. I went to traffic school from the time I was 16 'til I was 18 without a Saturday morning off." After Dick graduated from high school, Mr. Booth encouraged him to go to night school to learn a trade. He learned to work with machine tools and equipment, building manifolds and headers. When the war broke out, Dick decided to join the Merchant Marines. He stayed in the Merchant Marines after the war, racing on the dry lakes when he had shore leave. He decided to quit the Merchant Marines in 1947. The revered father of the dragster died in 2009 at age 88.

There are two copies of The Bug residing in museums today. This one is at the NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California.

The other is at Don Garlits' Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Florida. Each rail job was made up from parts from the original.

 

Beavertail, thanks for your stories on our early hot rod pioneers. Keep 'em coming.
However I believe this T was the Proulx brothers car, did Dick Kraft have anything to do with this one?

Mick

 

Mousie Marcellus and Willie Borsch--Before the Winged Express



The Winged Express was a race car whose image resides in the mental picture files of every person who has ever seen it either on a race track or in a photo in a hot rod magazine. It is unforgettable. It just shouts out--this is what drag racing is all about and why we love it! The above two photos depict two characteristics of Wild Willie Borsch when driving the Winged Express. In the first photo, we see his right hand held onto the steering wheel while his ever-present relaxed left hand is astride the cockpit railing. It was a patented look. So Willie. So cool. Maximum cool. The second photo was taken by Bob McClurg, atop a ladder at the 1970 Winternationals. No matter how bent out of shape the Winged Express got off the line, Willie always seemed to be able rein it back in safely. And he did it with such an air of--"ho-hum, what's she doing now?"--attitude of bland calmness in his demeanor. Total nonchalance. The man just exuded an aura of peacefulness when all hell seemed to be breaking loose. But this isn't about the Winged Express that we all remember fondly--it's about what Mousie and Willie built and raced before the Winged Express--and about Mousie and Willie.

Mousie Marcellus recounted the story about the first hot rod (above) that he and Willie Borsch built: "Willie and I built a flathead-powered, channeled ’29 Model A roadster. We went out street racing with that car. That’s the car I almost killed myself in. That was in 1951. I was about to race the Peterson brothers’ chopped ’32 sedan. I had my lakes gears in the car, and I had to run the car out to about 60 in low before I could jump on it. I had the door to my roadster open on the passenger side, and I was talking to Bob Peterson about whether it would be OK to do a running start. Suddenly I turned around, and there was this cop parked alongside of my roadster with a big old gun pointed straight at me! It just scared the hell out of me. About two weeks before, the cops had shot and killed a guy who was street racing. That flashed through my mind, and I took off like a scared jack rabbit. I was quickly approaching this red light at a pretty busy intersection, so I made a hard right turn and kind of fish-tailed around the corner. I hit some double dips, and both myself and the roadster went about 35 feet in the air and landed about 100 feet down the road. The car hit a palm tree, and I was thrown another 50-100 feet. When the car hit the tree, it pushed the engine, transmission, and rear-end 3 feet into the car. It’s lucky I was thrown out, because I would have surely been cut in half. Somebody called an ambulance, and the cops intercepted the call. They gave me a ticket that wouldn’t quit! Since I was laid up in the hospital in a body cast, I couldn’t appear in court, so it cost me $118. Back in 1951, $118 was a lot of money! I had broken my hip and severely fractured both my legs and ankles. That pretty much ended my driving career. After the Model A got destroyed, Willie got himself a ’35 Ford and started racing it."

"After I got out of the body cast and went back to work," said Mousie, "we built a ’29 Model A highboy on ’32 ’rails." Willie drove this (above), or a version of this, for at least six years before the Winged Express was built. It was called the "Red Hot Roadster" in a 2-page feature article in Drag News (6/15/57). It started out with a carbureted '51 354ci Chrysler before being blown and then fueled. Mousie also drove this '29 Ford Model A a couple of times at San Fernando in 1955. On September 11, he set a strip record in the street roadster class with this car on gas at San Fernando in 1955. Running a Mercury flathead engine, he turned 101.46 mph. On November 20, he won his class with 102.38 mph. In 1956, at Lions, Mousie took a B/SR class win on May 20 with 100.22 mph in the Model A. He also raced at the 2-day Grand National Challenge Drags at Bakersfield on November 3-4, 1956, but was beaten by the Safford & Shores roadster. At Santa Ana in 1957, Mousie took an A/SR win on February 24 with 101.50 mph. At Lions at the 2-day Drag News Invitational on June 15-16, 1957, he won the B/SR class with 101.58 mph. He was living in Gardena in 1957.

"Eventually we put Willie’s Chrysler engine (out of my old Model A highboy street roadster) in the car, and once again, Willie drove," said Mousie. "That was one of the first Altered roadsters to run a solid-mount rear-end, and it just kicked butt. We raced it until about [1959]. We ran a best of [139.00] mph using high gear only. It ran under the Harrell Engines banner. Willie decided that the car was too heavy, so we started building the Winged Express." Don Reynolds shared in the driving duties with Willie. In the above photo, you can see the eight Stromberg 48s atop the 6-71 GMC blower peeking out of the engine cavity. On August 1, 1959, at Lions, Borsch set a Drag News 1320 record in A/R in this car, turning 139.96 mph in 11.06 seconds.

This is an even better look at the blown 354ci Chrysler Hemi engine in the revamped '29 Model A. That engine was initially put into the first rendition of the Winged Express.

This picture shows the Winged Express, before it got a wing, in 1961 at Riverside. Mousie recounted how the car evolved: "The original Winged Express was built at Harrell Engines [aka Jim’s Auto Parts] in Los Angeles. It was started in about 1959, and was a joint effort between about six or seven fellows who hung out there. Willie and Phil Johnson did all the welding on the car at night. They would mark up what it was we had to do, and I would cut and dovetail the tubing. Then they would weld it up the following night. It was a real community project. The car was originally campaigned under the Jim’s Auto Parts banner and later the Harrell Engines name. At that time, I was involved as sort of a silent partner, but then I found out that Harrell Engines was charging us list price for our parts. I dropped out of the picture and started hanging out at Howard Johansen’s shop. Besides me and Willie, Jim Harrell, Don Reynolds, Phil Johnson, Dale Young, and Jerry Hyatt were the main helpers on the project. You know that car was the very first Altered to use a Cal Automotive fiberglass T-bucket body? I remember the fiberglass was so thick that you could sit on the side rails and it wouldn’t even budge. At that point, Don Reynolds became the money man, but he also eventually dropped out for the same reasons. Then John Muse joined the team and it became the Harrell, Borsch & Muse Altered. Then Muse got tired of putting money into the car and quit."

Al and Willie are all smiles at the way their new fuel roadster was performing, prior to getting its wing, circa 1962. Mousie related how the car evolved into the Winged Express: "Somewhere around early 1965, the folks at Harrell Engines told Willie that they figured that it was their car, and that they were going to sell it. Howard and Liz Johansen suggested that I buy the car and go back into partnership with Willie. They said that they would give us a hand. So in late 1965, I negotiated a deal with Harrell Engines and took the car home." He told how the car actually became the Winged Express, because it an, uh, wing on it: "The wing was an idea that Al Barnes, who was the chief cam grinder at Howard’s Cams, came up with because the car was so squirrelly. Al had worked as chief mechanic on a lot of sprint cars, and he said that they worked really well on them. He gave us the design and we added a few improvements along the way. Phil Johnson and Bob Sorrel taught us a lot about aerodynamics and downforce. We made the wing out of fiberglassed plywood. It was more or less flat on the top with a slight radius at the back. The end pieces were made out of aluminum. We tried the wing over the motor first, and that didn’t work. Then we mounted it solidly to the roll-cage, and that seemed to work pretty good. Then someone started messing with some old valve-springs and shock absorbers. With the wing fully sprung, we got to where it would load the chassis and give us the much-needed traction on the top end, which kept the car from skating around. After we added the wing, we started knocking down the really big numbers."

Mousie Marcellus


Mousie and Willie formed a friendship as schoolmates at the 66th Street Elementary School in South Central Los Angeles. Their friendship would endure for their whole lives. In the above photo, Dean Lowe identified this as H. L. "Jim" Harrell's first roadster and the blondish-coifed teen standing on the right as Mousie. Is the tall teen on the left possibly Willie (with hair)? Don't know. Dave Sorenson thought it was probably Willie. In mid-1958, Mousie joined with the Greico-Smith Olds-engined '32 A/R from Norwalk for a bit of racing. Mousie died in 2020 at age 89.


Alvin "Mousie" Marcellus lived a long, full life. He was a friendly guy to anyone and everyone.

Willie Borsch

William Bowen Borsch, better known as Wild Willie, moved in to live with Mousie's family after his parents died. Willie was a little hellion of a lad--even into his young adult years. When he was 22, he was arrested by L.A. police, in a crackdown on street racing in 1952. There were seventeen arrested in the raid, including eleven teenagers--and Willie. Willie suffered from narcolepsy--a chronic sleep disorder that brought on sleep attacks in daytime--even if he was sitting in the Winged Express in the staging lanes. "We used to give Willie a nudge with the push bar," remembered Mousie, "and he would wake up as fresh as a daisy." Mousie recounted how Willie developed his one-handed driving technique: "Believe it or not, Willie didn’t even know he was driving with one hand. One day I asked him, 'How come you’re hanging onto the door, Willie?' He said, 'I ain’t hanging onto the door!' That’s when one of you photographers came up and showed us a picture of him hanging onto the door. By then the drag racing papers were calling him Wild Willie Borsch, the one-armed fuel altered driver."


Willie died in 1991 at age 61.

 

Thank you for catching that. I'm deleting that photo because, as you say, it is the Proulx brother's car. I'm also going to delete the photo of the #3 Street Roadster because I'm just not confident that either Kraft drove/built/owned it.

 

Hello,

My brother and I had some fascinating choices for drag racing cars. Some of them were from other parts of the country that we had never seen before, other than photos or in magazines. The story behind the Tennessee Bo-Weevil Modified roadster was amazing and heartfelt.

Like the Competition Coupe Class builds, the modified roadster class was open for much discussion and build techniques. It was in most cases, a full FED dragster with a coupe or roadster body placed on the chassis.


After reading about the Modified Roadster build, my brother was looking ahead to building one of those roadsters for class racing. The 292 cubic inch SBC motor modified to 671 blower specs would be sufficient to power the chassis and body.


Jnaki

The story of Ray Godman has been written in many magazines and the Drag News Weekly. Despite not seeing the Modified Roadster in action, it was one of those builds that stays with every mention of drag racing, its fun, excitement and perils. YRMV

 

The Indomitable Tony Waters


Tony ran a GMC engine in his roadster in the early 1950s. Dave Sanderson is fairly certain that this photo shows Tony running at Saugus. Sanderson said, "the V8-60 axle, the white roll bar, and the GMC are pretty close." In 1952, he was a trophy winner at Fresno with 88.49 mph on July 27. The next year in 1953, he improved his speed to 117.64 mph to take top speed of the meet at Fresno on June 28. When the Smokers got the Famoso Road strip established in December 1952, Waters was able to race regularly close to his home in Bakersfield. On December 6, 1953, he turned 120.777 mph. He clocked the fastest time trophy at Famoso on February 7, 1954, with 121.26 mph.


In almost every photo of a Waters' race car, Tony is never standing around. He's always doing something to the car. Same in this photo taken of his '32 roadster in 1958. Normally he ran this car at Bonneville, but occasionally he brought it out to the Bakersfield strip. He would put slicks on it, do a gear change, and run it down the quarter mile. Tony built this '32 roadster with Chuck Edwards, Jim Sughrue, and Jerry Smith. This was the first highboy roadster to go over 200 mph at Bonneville. He ran a blown Chrysler in it on the Salt Flats. In 1957, he drove this '32 Ford Hi-Boy roadster at Bonneville, becoming the first roadster to exceed 200 mph - establishing a two-way record of 202 mph. The following year, Tony returned to Bonneville and set the record at 209.249 mph. The SCTA "D-class" number on the side designated the engine size of the race car. Bigger engines got lower alphabet letters.



In 1954, Tony built a crankshaft driven supercharged DeSoto and put it into his '25 Model T track roadster, which came to be known as the "Giant Killer." He initially ran a 302ci GMC engine on fuel in his Kern Body Works Special roadster. On June 6, 1954, he took his fifth straight top eliminator win at the Famoso Road airstrip, north of Bakersfield with 125 mph. The fastest speed run in the GMC-engined roadster was 130.26 mph, recorded on February 12, 1956, at Bakersfield.


At the 2-day NHRA regional event at Santa Maria on June 12-13, 1954, he took top eliminator honors with 121.95 mph. In this grainy newspaper photo from the Santa Maria Times (6/19/54), the Bakersfield contingent that accompanied Tony to the Santa Maria mid-June event flank the roadster. Standing behind it from left to right are: Kenny Loewen, Jack Delaney, Hut Watkins, Tony Waters, Gary Guinn, Don Swan, Pete Willis, and Ernie Hashim. The newspaper stated that Hashim was the owner. In 1955-56, the roadster was called the Waters & Hahn Kern Body Works Special. Harold Hahn was a member of the Smokers. Hahn was still listed as a partner when the Waters & Hahn A/FMR took a top eliminator win with 128.42 mph at Bakersfield on July 1, 1956. News reports stated they were running a Mercury flathead engine in the car. That was the only time news reports listed his roadster running something other than a GMC engine during this time period before the DeSoto engine was installed. In mid-summer, Tony began towing his car to Southern California strips with other Bakersfield racers. He ran at Lions on July 14, 1956, winning the A/FMR class with 124.65 mph. Tony was listed as the sole owner when he ran the GMC-engined fuel roadster at San Fernando on July 15, 1956 (129.62 mph) and July 22, 1956 (129.57 mph). Drag News (7/27/56) reported that Tony was running an 80% load of nitro at those events. He competed at the 3-day Drag Racers, Inc. World Championships at Lions on September 1-3, 1956, with his GMC-powered roadster. He lost to Emery Cook and Red Henslee's fuel roadster in the A/FMR finals, but that was nothing to be embarrassed about because Cook had set the meet's top speed with 155.44 mph. The Waters-Hahn GMC car took a class win at Bakersfield on September 9, 1956, with 126.82 mph.


Tony Waters, in the GMC modified roadster on the far side, goes off against the Pape brothers flathead modified roadster at Bakersfield in 1955.


Tony came out of the gate swinging when he replaced the GMC engine with a new blown DeSoto engine in the latter part of 1956. At the 2-day Grand National Challenge Drags at Bakersfield on November 3-4, he won the A/FMR class with 137.40 mph. On December 2, he set a new strip record with 140.62 mph at Santa Maria. Waters & Sughrue had a successful outing at San Gabriel on December 9, winning a trophy in the A/FMR and top eliminator. His best times were 10.43 and 138.46 mph. Making the rounds of the SoCal strips, on December 16, he turned 10.34 and 139.65 before having to call it a day after mechanical difficulties prevented him from further competition. In this photo, Tony Waters has his eye on the next round with his blown DeSoto-powered fuel roadster at Bakersfield. But this photo dates to probably mid-1958, when it ran Moon discs all the way around and Bruce 8-inch slicks. The highly polished front-mounted, crank-driven 4:71 GMC blower gleams in this photo. The white-painted tubular axle came from a '38 Ford pick-up.


In 1957, there were a few highlight events for Waters. He made the cover of Drag News (3/9/57) for winning top eliminator at Inyokern on February 17. He won a $50 US Savings Bond for chalking up a new A/FMR strip record, with a speed of 138.46 mph. In this photo he was receiving an award of one of the largest trophies ever given in drag racing--a 63-inch tall monster--for the top eliminator win. The trophy was valued at over $250. There was a period of time in the 1950s when tall trophies were all the vogue among drag strip promoters. After getting a roomful of trophies, most racers would have probably preferred to have gotten a pile of cash for winning rather than a trophy.


At a 2-day race meet on June 15-16 at Half Moon Bay, he got top eliminator with 9.9 seconds at 150 mph. On November 9-10 at the 2-day Central California Drag Championships at Madera, he took a class win and set a strip record with 150.25 mph. He took top eliminator at San Luis Obispo on November 17 with 148.76 mph. Tony ran a small 292ci DeSoto engine at Madera and San Luis Obispo. This grainy newspaper photo was taken at the Madera meet.


In 1958, it was more of the same. On August 3, Drag News ran a 2-page feature article on the Waters-Sughrue-Guinn fuel roadster in their August 23, 1958 issue. It mentioned that the car was painted Regency Purple and was sponsored by general contractor Irv Guinn and the Hydro Precision Bearing Company, both of Bakersfield. Although they ran a small 292-inch '52 engine in it in 1957, they switched to a larger 359ci '57 DeSoto engine in 1958. At Kingdon on November 16, he got the meet's top time with 9.93 at 149.50 mph. This photo was taken at Bakersfield probably in about 1958. It looks like the boys have just arrived in the pits for a day of racing. That is probably Tony diving into his tool box in the back of their station wagon. That might be Jim Sughrue on the left (back to the camera). The fellow with the dark glasses and jacket could be Bob Hammond.


In a tune-up meet held on February 1, 1959, before the first U.S. Fuel and Gas Championships at Bakersfield, Waters turned an astounding 8.99 at 173.07 mph to become drag racing’s quickest and fastest production-bodied machine. This photo shows Waters running against Art Chrisman in the top eliminator finals at the first Bakersfield March Meet in 1959. Tony waded through a stout field of race cars to face Art Chrisman's "Hustler I" in the top eliminator finals in near darkness. Tony was quicker off the line, but got all wiggly-squiggly down the track and had to back off. In 2018, Dave Wallace wrote about what happened on this after-sunset showdown between Tony and Art. These details, not mentioned in contemporary newspaper reports, came out later as the drivers spoke about their race. It was a scary driving situation, not only because of the near-darkness, but the overflow spectators lined the length of the track on both sides. Kenny Loewen, who served as the flagman starter at the '59 March Meet. “We had so many people, we couldn’t control the crowds,” Loewen said. “I bet we had 30,000 people and no bleachers and no fences.” All they had were ropes to try to keep the crowd a safe distance from the race track, and those were only at the starting line. The drivers needed to make flawless, straight-as-an-arrow runs for the safety of the bystanders. Chrisman was highly favored to win, having been the first car on the West Coast to break 180 mph. It was fuel dragster against a slower fuel roadster. "Unbeknownst to anyone, Chrisman had found main-bearing damage between rounds and planned to stage, launch softly, and shut off once the cause was lost," Wallace wrote. "His only hope was for a red-flag start by a slower opponent. The Hemi-powered T left right on time and opened up such an early lead that Art was reaching for his kill switch when Waters drove over some liquid, veered hard to the outside, then intentionally spun out to miss spectators leaning in to see. Art idled past for his biggest, luckiest, slowest, and admittedly scariest win ever ("At the finish line, it looked like I was driving into a dark tunnel of people"). He often speculated that a harder run with what proved to be a cracked crankshaft could've been catastrophic for himself, for countless bystanders, and for the March Meet itself."


Fred Beindorff snapped this wonderful photo of Tony, waiting for his crew to finish prepping the roadster at the starting line, prior to making a run at the first March Meet.


Tony is laser-focused as he launches from the line on an all-out run in his fuel roadster at the '59 March Meet. His crew is equally intent in observing his start. Wayne King, a longtime top fuel driver and member of the Smokers, identified the individuals behind his car. The fellow in the white T-shirt on the left with his arms crossed could very well be Jim Shugrue, but Wayne failed to identify him. Fred Beindorff, photographer.


After his close-to-winning-it-all success at the '59 March Meet, Hot Rod Magazine did a feature on the fuel roadster in the May 1959 issue. This photo shows Tony, shielded from the ever-present Bakersfield heat by a cowboy hat. It was one of eight photos that accompanied the article.


In this photo, Tony is ready to take care of business and do what he does best--win races. The Waters-Sughrue-Guinn A/FMR set a national record at Vaca Valley Raceway on April 12, 1959, with a time of 8.82. On May 10 at Vaca Valley, they ran 175.78 mph, but it wasn't recognized as a world record. But two weeks later they did establish an officially-recognized world record at Half Moon Bay on May 24, 1959, with 8.73 at 174.41 mph. That record held firm for close to a year until Speed Sport broke it with a 175.78 mph blast on April 10, 1960, at Fremont.


This photo shows the Waters-Sughrue-Guinn lavender '25 Ford A/FMR, "Little Giant Killer" roadster all buttoned up and ready to take on its next victim. The panel striping on the '25 Model T roadster adds a nice touch. Note too, that the heavy motorcycle-style front wheels have been replaced with the lighter spoke wheels. They were running the heavier motorcycle front wheels when they lost to Art Chrisman at the March Meet in 1959, so this photo shows the roadster post-March '59.


Tony Waters is all set to go. What's holding up the show?


We have Jungi Nakamura (Jnaki) to thank for film footage of Tony Waters that he took at Riverside on December 20, 1959. Here Tony is focused on some little detail that absolutely needed his attention.


Here is another photo taken from a frame of Jnaki's film footage of the "Giant Killer" at Riverside in 1959. The fellow with the red racing jacket with his back to the camera is not Tony. He is too young, has too much hair, and is wearing glasses. His jacket reads: "Half Moon Bay . . . World Record Holder." That attests to the date of May 24, 1959, when Tony set a new record of 8.73 at 174.41 mph. I'm going to hazard a guess that this fellow is either Bob Hammond or Jim Sughrue, more likely the latter.


Now we're cooking. Tony sets off on another speedy run. Note the bulge in the cowling and the cut-out opening to accommodate the blower, injectors, and air scoop. It also had undergone a narrowed rear end and a beautiful, new pearl paint job. That was a new look after Tony suffered a blower explosion at the second Bakersfield March Meet on March 3-4, 1960. Of this incident, Dean Lowe said: "If the front mounted blower's plenum had not exploded at the 1000 foot in the TE final, Tony would have won the 1960 March Meet. I know that because I was one of the fans dodging the shrapnel!" Dean is accurate on every count except the business about it being the "TE final." It was not the top eliminator finals, it was the finals of the A/FMR class between Tony and Speed Sport. Drag News (3/12/60) recounted what happened: "On their run for class elimination with Tony Waters, Speed Sport came out of the chute first and held the lead all the way. About 3/4 of the way down, Tony Waters's blower exploded and caught fire, but he was not hurt."


In the beginning of 1964, Tony drove the Hashim Automotive Special AA/FD. He appeared at the March Meet, but failed to get out of the first round. The Rod Stuckey car was powered by a blown 392-inch Chrysler Hemi. He took runner-up top eliminator honors to Jack Williams in the Crossley-Williams-Swan dragster at the 1st annual Hot Rod Magazine meet at Riverside. He fouled off the line, allowing Williams to coast to an easy win.


In 1966 (not 1964, as stated in his obituary), Tony and his partner, Neil Brandon, built a blown 392-inch Chrysler AA/FD, driven by John Edmunds. It was called "The Black Knight." They started making the rounds of strips in Northern California in April 1966. In one of its first outings at Fresno on April 17, they got the meet's top time with 201.34 mph. On April 24 at Fremont, they got runner-up honors in top eliminator to Don Cook. On May 1 at Half Moon Bay, he notched another runner-up to Jim Dunn in a squeaker in the top eliminator finals. On May 8 at Fresno Dragway at Raisin City, he got his first top eliminator win with 199.54 mph. At the 3rd annual Hot Rod Magazine Drag Championships at Riverside, he qualified in the 11th spot with 7.63 at 203.60 mph. That was the highlight, as it went downhill from there. While notching wins infrequently, he was making steady progress with his times, clocking a best of 7.53 and 211.67 mph. At the AHRA Summer Nationals at Lions on August 6-7, he upset a field of 58 fuel dragsters to win top fuel eliminator honors. He beat Tom McEwen in the finals with a time of 7.37 at 208.88 mph. He pocketed $3,000 for the win. McEwen beat Don Garlits, but John Emunds knocked off Chris Karamesines, Frank Pedregon, and James Warren before taking out McEwen. On August 27, Edmunds took the top time at the 1st annual Fremont Drag Festival with 7.55 at 208.80 mph. Heading south to Irwindale on September 17, he made it through the first round of eliminations, beating Tommy Allen with 7.70 at 206.42 mph. But he had to shut it down in the second round because his oil pressure was zilch. He lost two straight runs in a match race against J. D. Zink, at the wheel of Romeo Palamides's "Untouchable" jet dragster at Fremont on October 8. At Fresno on October 23, he snagged runner-up in top eliminator with a best clocking of 7.50 and 200.88 mph.


Sporting a new body on the dragster, he appeared for the first time with his new look at Fresno Dragways on October 23, 1966. He got low ET of the meet at 7.50. He was runner-up to Claude Stark, driving the Berry Brothers AA/FD. Edmunds had 7.64 at 207.84 mph in a losing effort. After such a successful season, the team hoped for good things to continue in 1967. At the Bakersfield March Meet, Edmunds qualified in the #18 spot with a 7.33, but lost to Gerry Glenn in the first round when his front wheels went skyward. On April 1-2 at the Winter Race of Champions at Fresno Dragways in Raisin City, he set a new strip record during qualifying of 214.28 mph. He took top eliminator honors and set the meet's low ET with 7.26. At the 4th annual Hot Rod Magazine Drag Championships at Riverside on April 8-9, he lost in the quarterfinals to eventual winner, Mike Snively. He took top eliminator honors at Raisin City on April 16 with 7.20 at 218.96 mph. At Irwindale on April 29, he got the meet's top speed with 222.76 mph, good for a new strip record. The next day, he got the fastest speed of the meet at Raisin City with 215.68 mph. At Carlsbad on May 7, Edmunds set new NHRA national speed record of 226.12 mph. Sadly, the season ended horribly. Mike Sorokin sat in for Edmunds at the wheel of Tony's car at OCIR on December 30. They were just learning the art and science of slipper clutches. Basically the clutch let go on the top end, severing the car, during the first round of eliminations. It was a horrific fatal accident. After the terrible fatal accident and destruction of his dragster at the end of 1967, Tony salvaged his engine and parts that he could to field another top fuel dragster in 1968. He got Wayne King, a fellow Bakersfield and Smokers member to drive for him.


Wayne King was Tony's driver in 1968. At the 2-day Speed Tournament at OCIR on March 2-3, the Waters & King fueler qualified 23rd with 7.130. At Fremont at the 2-day West Coast Championships on March 16-17, he lost in an elimination round to eventual winner Kenny Safford. In an interview done shortly before he passed away, Wayne King said, "Tony Waters was a master of different types of fuel [including hydrazine]. Go-fast juice, he called it." At Tony's memorial service, Wayne told a few personal stories about Tony. "I first met Tony in 1958 at Bakersfield Air Park," said Wayne. "I was out there with one of the old Bakersfield guys by the name of Charlie Brown. He [Charlie] was trying to get a blown flathead to run and not doing too good. Tony and Jim Sughrue walked out and Charlie introduced them to me. I'd seen Tony run 200 at Bonneville. My folks, we were on vacation and we ended up there because I liked hot rods. I didn't know much about them, but that's the first nitro I got to sniff was in Art Chrisman's coupe. I can still remember standing behind it and smelling that thing he was running. My God, I never dreamed I'd be doing it as long as I did. We all enjoyed Tony's Model T with the six cylinder GMC that ran so good at the drags. Tony had a '51 Chevy convertible that he painted burgundy and chopped the top himself. It had a GMC six in it also. It ran as good as it looked. The evolution of the roadster from the black primer to Smoker purple, ended up with pearl white. A story could be written about Tony's love affair with DeSoto, making horsepower, and going fast. Along with partners Jim Sughrue, brothers Irv and Gary Guinn, he run up against Art Chrisman at the first Smoker March Meet. I do remember that. I think all of you racers will never forget that. Tony's driving style with the head looking down. Tony was up in Washington and we went on my boat for a week. We drank a lot of whiskey and had a good time. No, Tony drank cranberry juice and vodka. I said, 'Tony, what the hell is that looking-down deal?' Well, he said, I have something to tell you. Well, I need to tell you the truth so that you can understand it. In those days we had a flagman and the flagman would point at one guy and then point to the other guy. Art kind of did this, too. I remember him doing it. What Tony would be doing, he would act like he wasn't really ready. He would be looking down, but he was still looking at the starter. Tony wasn't late too many times. He looked down to appear like he was checking something in the cockpit. He was watching the starter, not checking anything. The starter would flinch and Tony was gone. As he told me this with that wide-eared grin. He was a cagy old fart, wan't he. Tony and I and Ralph Edmunds and Baby Huey drove thousands of miles together. Funny stuff. Transmission trouble in Texas. You're going to love this one. We raced at Green Valley, Texas, and we were leaving town Monday morning. We just got on the highway and all of a sudden, we look back and it looks like we're doing a burnout. Busted the transmission. We pulled over by the side of the highway. Couldn't go any farther. You know, Tony, he's always got a plan. So, we unhitched the trailer. Now, this is on a freeway in Texas. We unhitched the car. We put the trailer across this ditch, to go across this ditch. To work on the car, right? So we get the car pushed on the top of it [the ditch]. We're under it. Baby Huey's got a picture of that deal. We're starting to tear it apart and a few kids come by and they were drag racing fans. 'Hell, we know where we can get you a transmission.' So, Tony took off with them and come back with a transmission and oil. Huey and I just about had the thing out. About this time a Texas State Trooper come by and he says, 'What are you guys doing?' 'Transmission. What's it look like.' He said, 'You know, there's a hell of a storm coming.' Now the ditch was about four feet deep. Perfect for working on cars, just like it was up on a ramp. 'Now,' he said, 'this ditch is going to be full of water soon.' 'Yeah, dad.' So we kept going. We could almost stand up to work on it. Everything's going good. Then it started to rain. It really rains in Texas, almost like Washington. By the time we were done, we had water up to our ass. We put the last bolts in the transmission and the water was unbelievably fast. You couldn't imagine how fast it took a ditch like that to fill up. We got back on the road and got our first taste of those wonderful White Castle burgers. I think they were six for a dollar, and you only needed one. A lot has been written about Tony Waters' horsepower and his involvement in so many cars." Wayne closed with his feelings about Tony's passing: "I miss my friend, Tony, so much. Bakersfield without Tony Waters [he shakes his head]. As Tony said more than once, 'Wayne, we all get our turn.'" Tony fabricated another full body for the front of the dragster in time to race at Raisin City at the Golden National Invitational Marathon on May 5. Wayne King was pitted against three other AA fuelers in a three-round race running four cars abreast. At Lions on June 22, King captured top eliminator honors with 7.20 at 211.76 mph. The next day, he took top fuel eliminator at San Fernando with 7.73 at 203.60 mph. On July 14 at San Fernando, he notched another top eliminator win. On October 5 at Irwindale, he got the meet's low ET with 7.00 seconds. And that was about it for 1968, but in 1969, Tony either drove his own car or got someone to drive for him. Wayne King, aka "The Perigrine," was off elsewhere doing his own thing for other car owners. As Wayne said, "I was kind of a hired gun guy." And 1969 was about it for Tony until he got into nostalgia racing.

Tony Waters


This senior graduation photo of Tony appeared in his 1947 high school yearbook.


Tony graduated from Bakersfield High School in 1947. His first race car was a '40 Plymouth with a cam and dual carburetors. In 1949, he bought a new Chevrolet convertible, installed a 270ci GMC engine with three carburetors. He did his share of street racing. But when Fresno and Saugus opened in 1950, he started racing there. He would drive his '49 Chevy to the strip, replace the three carburetors with a five carburetor set up, and run it on 50% nitromethane. A founding member of the Smokers car club of Bakersfield, Tony and his partner Jim Sughrue, became the guys to beat at the tracks around the west coast. With help from Irv Guinn of Bakersfield, Tony dominated the roadster class and ended up as the runner-up in the 1st "March Meet" in 1959. He raced his fuel roadster until about 1964. After that, he campaigned a couple of dragsters until about 1970. When nostalgia drag racing became popular, he got involved again with an A/FD, driven by his son, Darrell Waters. Tony and his racing partner, Jim Sughrue, were inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2003. Tony died in 2012 at age 84.

Jim Sughrue


Bob Hammond joined Tony Waters and Jim Sughrue as a co-owner and partner in the "Giant Killer" roadster operation in 1959. This 1959 newspaper photo is pretty grainy, but there aren't too many photos of Hammond or Sughrue at this time period. Waters is kneeling on the left, Hammond is standing behind him and Sughrue is on the right.


Jim Sughrue was about 28 years old when he teamed up with Tony to form a fabulous drag racing partnership. Sughrue was the treasurer of the Smokers. He co-partnered with Waters at least as early as early December 1956, if not earlier. Drag News (12/15/56) reported that the Waters & Sughrue A/FMR took a top eliminator and class win at San Gabriel on December 9, 1956. He was 73 years old when he died in 2000.

Irv Guinn

Irv Guinn got involved as a sponsor of the car at least as early as February 1958, if not before. Drag News (2/22/58) reported that the Waters-Seghrue-Guinn-Hydro won the A/FMR class with 145.60 mph at Bakersfield on February 9. That was the first time that Guinn had been linked with Tony's car in printed racing results. He founded his construction company in Bakersfield in 1952. Irv was a member of the Smokers and a friend of Tony's. He helped Tony with sponsorship money. His brother, Gary, was also a member of the Smokers. Gary ran a '33 coupe with a blown Chev motor in 1957-58. Irv died in 1985 at age 74. Although Guinn is no longer alive, the construction company that he founded is still a viable business today.

 

“Tony suffered a blower explosion at the second Bakersfield March Meet on March 3-4, 1960. Of this incident, Dean Lowe said: "If the front mounted blower's plenum had not exploded at the 1000 foot in the TE final, Tony would have won the 1960 March Meet. I know that because I was one of the fans dodging the shrapnel!" Dean is accurate on every count except the business about it being the "TE final." It was not the top eliminator finals, it was the finals of the A/FMR class between Tony and Speed Sport. Drag News (3/12/60) recounted what happened: "On their run for class elimination with Tony Waters, Speed Sport came out of the chute first and held the lead all the way. About 3/4 of the way down, Tony Waters's blower exploded and caught fire, but he was not hurt."



Hello,

Thanks for the memory. Yes, my brother and our teenage friends were at the December 1959 Riverside Raceway drags. it was the biggest Westcoast drag race event up to that point in drag racing. It started the cross country road trips for a lot of the biggest names in drag racing. No, it was not the nationals, but what most were calling it an East vs West drag meet.

It was supposed to be the first of its kind. Why? No one had toured the USA for drag racing until this event. The top racers in each division, in each area, usually stayed at home and raced familiar faces. But, once a year, they gathered at the Nationals held in various big cities from the beginning. For most, it was racing against the other racers locally.

This race event was advertised as the Who’s Who of drag racing all gathering in So Cal’s city of Riverside.

Needless to say, it was a cold morning that got to T-shirt weather by 9 00 am and then late in the afternoon, started to get to jacket weather for the events closing and long trip home. I was designated to go around the whole complex of race cars, the pits and staging areas to film those visiting racers and the hot locals.

It was an eye opener and I still have memories of walking around taking various films of the racers I liked, whether they came from outside of So Cal or the fast locals ready for some action.

Jnaki

Then, 3 months later in March of 1960, we decided to do a long road trip to Bakersfield for the next big event, the 2nd annual Bakersfield Smokers' March Meet. It was just as exciting as this was "the" drag race that brought the best of the best to race each other.

Here is the race at Bakersfield to call it “the match race of the year.” It was the most anticipated race of that time period. The famed Speed Sport Roadster versus the purple flash from Bakersfield Smokers Club.

“Drag News (3/12/60) recounted what happened: "On their run for class elimination with Tony Waters, Speed Sport came out of the chute first and held the lead all the way. About 3/4 of the way down, Tony Waters's blower exploded and caught fire, but he was not hurt."

Speed Sport Roadster VS. Tony Waters at Bakersfield 1960 at :16

 

Waters and Murray: A Match Made in Hot Rod Heaven

When Mike Waters and Dean Murray teamed up, they coupled their love of drag racing to build a heaven-sent hot rod. Mike was the first to get bit by the racing bug. "I suppose I was one of the lucky kids, born and raised in Los Angeles just at the time when the hot rod movement was coming on so strong," he recalled in a 2008 interview. "I graduated from high school in '52, but even before that I had been out to the dry lakes to watch the racing, and also to Santa Ana to the drags. When I was still in high school, I got my hands on a Model A coupe and built a hopped-up four-cylinder for it which I ran at the early Santa Ana drags in '51." After he graduated from high school, he met Dean Murray--and a match made in hot rod heaven commenced. "After graduating from school, Dean Murray and I built a roadster with a hot flathead, the same as everybody else was running at the time. The standard lakes flathead was 296 cubic inches, three or four Stromberg 48s on methanol; or maybe nitromethane if you knew enough to handle it. Harman and Collins magneto, Edelbrock intake manifold, Winfield cam and aluminum heads." That was the recipe that Waters, Murray, and every other hard-bit hot rodder followed."


Mike Waters and Dean Murray teamed up to build this '29 Ford Model A roadster. "We started with methanol and by '53 ran 131 mph in C roadster at Bonneville," Mike said. "In early '54 we ventured into nitro, and ran 151 on 33%. That was pretty good. Then we went to 50%, but were too lean and burned four pistons, which got me a faceful of oil that blew out the breather! We ended up in fifth place that year at Bonneville, but by then the overheads were out in force and the record went up to 174 mph." They won their first trophy at Santa Ana on September 20, 1953, turning 103.89 mph. It was a steep learning curve as that was their only trophy at Santa Ana in 1953-55. They also raced at Pomona. On December 6, 1953, they won the A/R class with 110.00 mph. They raced this car at drag strips in 1955. "We ran the same car at the drags, and it did 117 in the quarter on 50%. Presently one of the older guys loaned us his three carbs that were set up for 100%, and our speed jumped up to 123! There was a body of lore then about modifying your Strombergs to run nitro, basically increasing the flow volume of everything from the float chamber to the jets and dump tubes. We were very young then, and this was a steep learning curve, but the older fellows coached us. Pretty soon we could run 100% nitro with a dab of Benzole reliably. We had a racing fuel tank with a hand pump. You'd pump up the pressure in the tank just before a run, and maybe a time or two going down the course. We used to buy our parts at C.T. Automotive. Don Clark and Clem TeBow sold a lot of flathead stroker kits in those days. But you had to get your own block. Don and Clem were still in their 20s, I think, just a few years older than Dean and myself." Mike recalled the setup they used for their gearbox and clutch: "The Ford floorshift box, starting in second gear, and a hopped-up stock clutch that could take the beating (sometimes!). This was pretty good, but you'd break the gears or an axle on occasion. I imagine that our 296 flathead on 100% nitro would have given 400 horsepower on a dyno, had it been tested. But, we never did, so I honestly do not know how much power we had." At the Drag Racers, Inc., race at Saugus on February 6, they took the best looking car award. They also won the fuel roadster class with 127.64 mph. At Bakersfield on March 6, they won the Hot Roadster class with 121.33 mph. At the SCTA meet at Colton on April 3, they ran on gas and won the C/R class with 116.55 mph.

In 1956, they raced at the various strips scattered around the SoCal Southland. They also began experimenting with running different engines in the car. At the Drag Racers, Inc.. Championships at Saugus on March 11, they were running their 296ci Merc flathead. They lost in the class finals to Hut Watkins in the Watkins & Loewen entry. At the Drag News Invitational at Lions on April 15, they ran with a 353ci Chrysler engine. They teamed up with Leland Kolb at that race and won the A/R class on gas, turning 122.44 mph. They were awarded a trophy for the best appearing car. The car was featured in an article in the June 1956 issue of Rod & Custom. At the SCTA meet at El Mirage on June 26, the Waters-Murray-Saterup Merc flathead-engined roadster took the B Gas Coupe-Sedan class with a record speed of 121.62 mph. At Saugus on July 16, they won the modified fuel roadster class with 124.70 mph. They returned to Saugus on July 23 and set a new strip fuel roadster record with 122.47 mph. They installed a new '55 318ci Chev racing engine in the roadster in August. "We heard that there would soon be a new Chevy V8," Mike recalled. "One of the wiser heads, Howard Johansen of Howard Cams, told us this was going to be BIG and we had better get into it. So we nosed around, and before long we heard that a local Chevy dealer had pulled a defect engine out of a new '55 V8 car. This was in mid-'55. I went over there, and bought it for $25. That was the beginning of the love affair with the small-block Chevy. It seemed like the speed-parts people were jumping right on this new V8. It was inexpensive and light, and looked very promising. In no time, we had our 265 bored and a welded-stroker crank in it for 318 inches. We used domed Forged True pistons for 10 to 1 compression (not that it mattered with the nitro!), a Weiand manifold for three Strombergs, stock rods, ported heads, Vertex mag and a Howard M-8 flat-tappet cam." On September 2 at Lions, they won the B/FR class with 132.15 mph. Drag Racers, Inc. sponsored a 3-day second annual World Championships of Drag Racing at Lions on September 1-3. They set a new NHRA national record with 131.77 mph and a low ET of 10.871. They were running a Howard cam and the cam maker took advantage of their record setting win in ads to proclaim them the "World's Fastest Chev V-8 Roadster." They took a class win in A/HR at Lions on September 29 with 131.77 mph, equalling their national record speed that they turned earlier in the month. At Santa Ana on September 30, they set a new strip elapsed time record for B/FR with 11.12 at 128.28 mph. At the Grand National Challenge Drags on November 3-4 at Bakersfield, they took a narrow B/FR class win against Joe San Chez & Clark Cagle's fuel roadster with a speed of 137.40 mph. That was the last time they raced that car. They hadn't been entirely satisfied with its handling for some time. They'd been thinking about building a new car, similar to this car, but with improved handling. So they removed the Chev motor, which they liked, and re-installed the Merc flathead and sold it to Bob Consani of Santa Rosa. They used the money from the sale to build a second drag race Model A roadster--the fabled blue "555" car.



They spent the winter building their new fuel roadster. "In '56 Dean and I built a new roadster," said Mike. "That was the "Triple Nickle" #555 car." They put their 318ci '55 Chevy motor that they had run in the latter part of 1956, into their new '29 Model A fuel roadster. "We put this engine on the dyno and it gave 475 horsepower on 50%," Mike said. "But we never ran it that way in the car. We weren't bashful, and just went right to 100%. Tony Capanna of Wil-Cap was the 'nitro king' at that time; selling it and teaching people how to use it. He had a dyno at his shop and let us put our engine on it. You know there were all kinds of development issues with the first Chevys. Pressed-in rocker studs pulling out, valve springs were weak, lots of things. We had plenty of small problems, but never blew up the engine. We used to take it completely apart after every outing just to check things. I might mention that we used a LaSalle sideshift gearbox and an open rear axle in this car. The box had big gears and bearings in it. We just ran second and top gears and this was a very tough setup."


When finished in early 1957, they were ready to go racing. "At first, Dean and I took turns driving. But we soon realized that to do well, we had to let one of us drive all the time to get the feel of it. Dean let me go for it," said Mike. On February 3 at Lions, they won the A/HR class with 11.26 at 132.54 mph. Drag News ran a 2-page feature article on the car in the March 9, 1957 issue. The article was entitled "T-Bar Roadster," as one of the unique features on the car was the torsion bar rear suspension. Other interesting features were a rearward-facing engine and radiator in the trunk. The car also sported a double roll bar safety set-up. The chrome moly roll bar was in the usual place behind the driver while the other was located on the engine side of the firewall. At the time the Drag News article had been written, the best time had been a very quick 10.76. "We ran a 10.78 at 137 mph at the Long Beach drag strip with eight-inch slicks," Mike said. "This was a really fast ET for a roadster in those days." All these good vibes in early 1957 came to a screeching halt when Mike Waters was drafted into the army. "In '57 I was drafted into the Army for a two-year hitch," said Mike. "Before I left, we sold the car for $3500 to a fellow in Wichita, Kansas." Before leaving for his stint in the service, they sold their beautiful roadster to Jim Earp, a Wichita, Kansas, car dealer.


Earp, nicknamed "The Marshall," wasted no time enjoying his new car. He painted his name on the side of the cowl, but retained the blue color and the "555" number on the side door. He reportedly ran the unofficial fastest time in Kansas (140.52 mph) within months of buying the car. That speed seems a bit iffy since most of his racing in Kansas and Oklahoma in the summer of 1957 was done in a '56 Ford C/G, running speeds barely over 90 mph. This roadster was a big step up for him. He went from a car that went 89-92 mph to one that could go over 140 mph. But he may have been getting accustomed to the car, racing it here and there, and just not getting much attention in the press. He reportedly became the Kansas state champion in 1957, clocking a speed of 137.40 mph. The engine in the car at this point was reported to be a 341 cubic inch Chevy.


After getting his feet wet in 1957, Earp had a pleasant surprise when Mike Waters was stationed at a nearby army base. "As it happened, in '58 when I was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, about 100 miles from Wichita, the new owner, Jim Earp, invited me to come over and drive the car at a big meet. I drove the car all that summer of '58 and then was transferred out of Kansas." That "big meet" was on May 25 at Schilling AFB in Salina, where Waters set a world record for A Hot Roadster with 141.73 mph. Before Waters started driving the car in eliminations, Earp turned 136 mph on alcohol during time trials. At Salina on June 22, Waters again handled the driving, but the roadster had mag troubles. Waters still managed to win the A/HR class, but mechanical difficulties held his speed down to 133.57 mph. On Oct. 12 at the Kansas State Championships at Schilling, Earp won the A/HR class with 128.57 mph.


Earp sold the roadster in 1958 to Bob Johnson and Don Morgan, from Amarillo.


Hot Rod Magazine ran a 2-page feature article on the roadster when it was owned by Johnson and Morgan in the January 1963 issue entitled "The Triple Nickle." The article mistakenly stated that the car was "originally owned by Tony Waters." Like a bad penny, that bit of incorrect information seemed to follow this car and Tony Waters in later years. But it was another fuel roadster pilot whose last name was Waters, not Tony, who drove this car--Mickey Waters. Understandably, it could be a bit confusing.

Mike Waters


In February 1955, the Central Valley Timing Association staged its first car show at the Panorama City Shopping Center parking lot. Three members of the Sidewinders car club received trophies. Wayne Paris (left) received second place in the street coupes and sedans class. Dean Murray (center) and Mike Waters (left) were awarded first place in the competition roadsters class.


Mike was the flagman/starter at San Fernando in 1955.


Shortly after returning from his army stint, Mike began working for the L.A. Fire Department. He retired from it in 1994. Mike was involved in boat racing at Long Beach Marine Stadium for a number of years, but returned to Bonneville and dry lakes racing with partner, Dana Wilson. In this photo, Dana (left) and Mike (right) are all smiles at one of their favorite places on earth--the Bonneville Salt Flats during Speed Week. He was 78 years old when he passed away in 2013.

Dean Murray


He died in 2018 at age 85.


Dean Murray was the editor of Rod & Custom. The December 1956 issue, with their fuel roadster on the cover, featured a 5-page article about their car. On the color cover, Mike Waters (left) smooths out the tonneau cover while Dean Murray (right) lifts the ramp to secure the front left wheel. The '29 Model A Highboy was painted peacock blue. Both Waters and Murray owned pickup trucks and painted each of them peacock blue to match the roadster.

 

EVERY one of these stories is better than the last one-thanks so much for the tales!!