Bob Forzley put down the torches long enough to bless the almighty Hemi

seems to have worked
same day - different car
Don Gilman in the very pretty local effort of Gilman, Nakamura and Willms
unfortunately...
this doesn't look too pretty

an exploding clutchflite transmission was the cause of all that commotion Don limped away having avoided most of the flyimg schrapnel
several weeks later the team returned only to have this misfortune on the top end




oiled in and on fire, Don wasn't terribly fussy as to where he parked the car emerging relatively unscathed again, Don and team debuted a new rear engined car a year, or so, later

Don Gilman and company with new ride California's Bob Meyer built the chassis

on the track in burnout mode

and further on in it's evolution, almost ready for paint

all prettied up and itchin' to go

dubbed "Desolation Row", car was campaigned locally and on the Mid West alcohol circuit
did Tom Hoover ever run a rear engined dragster, you ask?
yes, briefly car was soon to be known as the Ma and Pa Hoover fuel car as Tom moved on to funnycars

Bob Struksnes stepping up to a blown late model hemi powered altered

Tim Swank's homebuilt "Nasty" Hemi Dart

Hemi Dart getting a common competitor's view of Ken MacKenzie's traditional '55 photo courtesy of Jim L'Esperance

Rene Saulnier and another in his series of stock big block Percolators so now the question becomes was the photographer, Don Berthman, also of "Donut" air brushed T-shirt fame?
Brian Scott was not only a dragstrip employee
he was a client, as well

photo contributor, Don Fotti, was also a participant with his fine 428 powered Mustang

seen here at Bison, a justly proud Don still owns and competes with this same car today
being as how Mr. Fotti claims to have very few decent shots of his Mustang at Bison allow us this artsy rendering of one of his out-takes

with apologies

Jack Monroe and Braemer Automotive's '57 Chevrolet

Jerry Schinkus, near lane, and Div. 5 hard runner Lou Downing go at it in SS/D AMX's photo courtesy of Jim L'Esperance

local carburetor guru, Frank Schaeffer, and his unique Studebaker Lark well on in years, Frank could row a 4 speed with the best of 'em photo courtesy of Hugh Hanson
celebrating his 65th birthday, Frank, a true grass roots racer, was presented with a lifetime pass to the dragstrip and a plaque in recognition of his many contributions
we might add this was during a regular race day while he was still competing
Bill Balicky makes the presentation to Frank at the starting line Richard Wood caught the moment

and Frank gets back to business

an earlier photo of Frank running at Keystone

night racing was tried with limited success

Dunn at dusk





Paris Bros. unique rear engined twin gas dragster was one of the attractions

Jon Hansen, with a pair of blown big block Chevs up front, the other
injected nitro cars were great fun






Alberta's Gary Egbert holding on to tradition in our book, he gets full marks





where's Waldo?

the original White Bear Dodge Bill Schifsky and Tom Hoover waded into the funnycar waters together with this effort

funnycars were still running beefed passenger car automatic transmissions at the time the staging procedure with accompanying dry hops were something else, and sorely missed in this camp leave shows car torquing over quite nicely, we think sigh

same car / different owner Saskatoon's Kenny Achs with Black Sheep Boutique sponsorship White Bear / Black Sheep got that? we don't make this stuff up




a series of 70's funnycar images courtesy of Richie Campbell

the aforementioned Black Sheep Challenger of Kenny Achs



Tom Hoover's White Bear Dodge Charger

Indianapolis runner-up, Gordie Bonin, with the Pacemaker Auto Vega

Doc Halladay wheeling Bill Schifsky's Cox sponsored Pinto in near lane





Kenny Achs, again, in different colours our apologies if these images are chronologically in error

smokin'
the King Camaro story Readers' Digest version









and, from the ashes...
Dan Geare, Fred Totten and driver Dean LaPole soon returned better than ever innovative racer was one of the last pure Chevy funnycars on fuel utilizing a unique fuel system and dual plug heads it was one of the loudest as well

it's a plane, it's a bird, it's...

Frank Huff and Jack Brown's Super Vega


meanwhile, Bill Schifsky and company play with their 1 to 1 scale model
and as is oft the case, former partners become adversaries

if you missed it, it's not like you weren't invited BE THERE !
Roland Leong's legendary Hawaiian... sort of the popular owner used this stand in Charger to honor his commitments after his own car was stolen Gordie Bonin drove

Don Sargent's colourful GTO fuel funny

Jackie Price doing the honors with Redd's Auto Parts Challenger

and then it was yellow... Bill Schifsky's Pinto, that is

70's era fuel motor looks almost tame by today's standards note we said almost

Yo Bill, the sideburns ain't workin' too good she's still ignorin' us btw, who exactly is this Balicky dude, and why are we sitting on his car?

Doc Halladay in front of an appreciative crowd

Gary Beck and his back to back, 1972 and 1973, Indy winning car in the foreground look close at his opponent and you'll find that's not a Hemi powered car it is, in fact, Jim Bucher's pure Chevy NHRA Top Fuel record holder Bucher set the record at 6:07 in March '73 @ Gainesville and it was the last time anything other than a Chryler Hemi-based derivative held it

Gary Egbert continued his winning ways with the inevitable rear engined car

Bob Struksnes, that's with one s, had his moment in the sun with this top fuel car Back Door Bob was well known nationally for high mile an hour passes

current NHRA executive, Graham Light, was part of the Western Canada fuel contingent

if you wanted your nitro up close and personal pushing a fuel dragster back to the line after a burnout was THE job to have as the cars ran without the benefit of a reverse gear

this would appear to be Colorado's Jere Wilson wheeling the Green Angels fuel car Top Fuel was still contested at divisional meets in the 70's it also appears Jere was the reigning divisional champ

NHRA Division 6 and Division 7 running in Division 5 got that? note wildlife encroaching track surface Pacemaker car, in far lane from Edmonton, was also funded by an insurance company the irony here slays us your mileage may vary

the Dick Stahl owned fuel car with, likely, Tom Toler on the loud pedal pretty, ain't it?

Edmonton's Terry Capp and his Wheeler Dealer dragster a Canadian Motorsports Hall of Famer, Terry won Top Fuel @ Indy in 1980 the wheel fairings? some liked 'em, some hated 'em, NHRA banned 'em