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70s Funny Cars - Round 15
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70s Funny Cars - Round 17
70s Funny Cars - Round 18
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70s Funny Cars - Round 20
70s Funny Cars - Round 21
70s Funny Cars - Round 22
70s Funny Cars - Round 23
70s Funny Cars - Round 24
70s Funny Cars - Round 25
70s Funny Cars - Round 26
70s Funny Cars - Round 27
70s Funny Cars - Round 28
70s Funny Cars - Round 29
70s Funny Cars - Round 30
70s Funny Cars - Round 31
70s Funny Cars - Round 32
70s Funny Cars - Round 33
70s Funny Cars - Round 34
70s Funny Cars - Round 35
70s Funny Cars - Round 36
70s Funny Cars - Round 37
70s Funny Cars - Round 38
70s Funny Cars - Round 39
70s Funny Cars - Round 40
70s Funny Cars - Round 41
70s Funny Cars - Round 42
70s Funny Cars - Round 43
70s Funny Cars - Round 44
70s Funny Cars - Round 45
70s Funny Cars - Round 46
70s Funny Cars - Round 47
70s Funny Cars - Round 48
70s Funny Cars - Round 49
70s Funny Cars - Round 50
70s Funny Cars - Round 51
70s Funny Cars - Round 52
70s Funny Cars - Round 53
70s Funny Cars - Round 54
70s Funny Cars - Round 55
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Round 14: Featuring Arnie The Farmer Beswick, Abe Ayoub, Roger Guzman's Assassination, Pete's Lil' Demon, Sidney Foster, Steve Hodkinson, the Lonestar Longneck, Frank Pitt's Warlock, Jim Paoli, Shirley Muldowney, Animal Al Marshall, and Omar the Tentmaker Carrothers.


One of the true legends of drag racing, Arnie "the Farmer" Beswick ran the last blown Pontiac powered nitro funny car with the pictured "Boss Bird" from 1971. Arnie's relationship with Poncho power dated back to 1958 with S/S entries. In 68 Arnie had his first fliptop funny car... a front- hinging, rear opening GTO. 1969 saw "the Farmer" in the unique "Super Judge" GTO F/C (along with a Pro Stock version of the car). Pictured Firebird debuted in 71 along with a nearly identical companion Firebird flopper with Hemi motivation. 1971 also saw Beswick wheeling a leased ex-Ramchargers Challenger. In 72, Beswick retired following a disastrous fire on his farm that destroyed or badly damaged all his racing equipment. He returned in 87 driving Jake Howard's 63 Lemans and is still active today in nostalgia racing with his "Tameless Tiger." (Photo and info courtesy of Drag Racing Memories)


If this car looks familiar it's because it won the NHRA World Championship in 1971 with Phil Castronovo at the wheel! Fellow Utica, NY., resident Abe Ayoub purchased the car at the end of the 71 season. Ayoub ran the car in Division 1 in 72, called it quits at season's end to concentrate on "personal stuff." Prior to this ride, Ayoub's only other drag racing experience was in the early 60s with a D/S 55 Chevy!!!! According to a Funny Farm column in Dragbeat, Abe's Modus Operandi was "Brings race car to strip in dilapidated school bus so potential thieves and vandals who saw the thing saying "Valley Tremor" on it thought it was not a funny car, but in reality a Dodge shaped lawn mower." True or not, it's a humorous image! (Photo from Amalie Handout, photo and info courtesy of Abe Ayoub)


Roger Guzman's "Assassination" Duster photographed at the 1975 Div 5 WCS points meet at Denver Intl Raceway. F/C Assassination line began in 69 with the Dekker and Guzman Corvair which, along with the Kenz & Leslie entries, was the killer car in the Rocky Mountain region at the time. Div 5 winning Cuda followed in 70, held NHRA national record for a period at 6.81. Vega followed in 72 and by 76 Art Ward was teamed with Guzman on the Assassination F/C. In 77 Guzman teamed with Ron Kerchal on the Super Rat Monza and won the Div 5 title with Rob Williams driving. Williams driven Kerchal & Guzman Arrow followed, and in 79 Assassination name reappeared on Div 5 winning Arrow. Cars rarely ventured out of Div 5...  played the role of "local spoiler" when touring pros came to town. (Photo courtesy of John Bergener)


From Pete Everett's Chevron in So Cal came the "Lil' Demon" flopper from 73/74. Everett's early involvement with F/Cs dated to 67 with a semi-fliptop half steel/half fiberglass Firebird called the "New Breed." In 69 Everett purchased Dee Keaton's Cougar F/C, installed a blown 392 Chrysler and renamed the car "Wild Breed." First Demon bodied Lil' Demon followed in the early 70s with Dr Leroy Hales handling the team's driving chores. Following Hales departure Bob Pickett spent 3 years at wheel of the Lil' Demon prior to stepping into MT's Grand Am in 75, taking Larry Arnolds place when he moved over to the Demon. Final shoe was Dennis Geisler who drove the car through 76. Lil' Demon entries were So Cal regulars, could always be counted on to be in the hunt at local fuel shows. (Photo courtesy of Drag Racing Memories)


Flying the FOMOCO flag was the "King Cobra" Mustang of the Foster Bros, Gerald and Sidney. Sidney gained his early flopper experience driving Larry Coleman's Super Torino F/C in the late 60s (which was the first Ford bodied flopper to exceed 200mph) and did a stint at the wheel of the Super Cuda. When Coleman retired at the end of the 69 season, Sidney returned to Louisiana and with his brother Gerald's financial support the team built a SOHC powered, Grabber Orange Mustang flopper (which ironically enough was later sold to the "retired" Coleman). Following moderate success in the 70 season, team took 71 off and returned in 72 with the pictured Hemi powered Mustang. Following this ride, Sidney retired and the Mustang was sold to Tom Smallwood from TN. (Photo courtesy of Sidney Foster)


Oklahoma's Steve Hodkinson got his start wrenching Marvin Graham's Indy winning T/F effort in the mid-70s. Following a couple seasons with Graham, he moved on to nitro floppers with his own Donovan powered Monza and Vega, then purchased the ex- Dickie Williams "Spirit of 76" funny car pictured above in the late 70s. Hodkinson moved back to T/F cars in the early 80s. He drove the #2 TR-3 Resin Glaze car behind Lucille Lee, took runner up at 82 Southern Nationals in an all TR-3 final. Following loss of TR-3 sponsorship, Hodkinson went on to wheel Larry Coogle's "Sting" funny car, then ran a series of his own low buck independent F/Cs with limited success through the 80s. (Photo by Don Eckert)


Pictured doing a burnout in front of the Lone Star Brewery in San Antonio is the "Lone Star Longneck" Astre. Car debuted in 75, was originally owned and driven by Ken Mott. Write-up in Green Valley race paper said of the car "In the state of Texas, the expression "Lone Star Longneck" brings two things to mind; The finest beer sold in the state, and one of the most popular AA/Funny Cars in the Lone Star State." Car's performance with Chevy power was in the 6.80/215 range. In 76, Alamo Dragway owners the Martinez Bros took over the operation and the car became a mainstay in the track's frequent Texas based flopper shows. Driving chores were shared by Buddy Cortines (who in the 60s drove for CKC, Carroll Bros, etc) and Jon Barrett. Car disappeared in 77. (Photo from Lone Star Handout courtesy of Gary Osborn, info courtesy of Jim White)


Ex-AA/FA owner Frank Pitts' Warlock III Dodge Aspen at OCIR in 1978. Pitts debuted the ex-Bill Spevacek car as the "Warlock" at a Fremont match race early in 78, had previously run the car in partnership with Joe and Chuck Pacini of "Showdown" AA/GS Anglia fame. Team started running the car in late 76 with ex-owner Spevacek at the wheel, but in early 77 team split with Pitts going on to campaign the F/C solo. Car is pictured at OCIR with the ninth member of the Cragar T/F Five Second Club Pete Kalb at the helm. The guy in the back ground is the crew chief on the car, Jim Mac Monagle. He is currently announcing some NHRA events and just finished doing some shows with Big Daddy Don Garlits. Car only made sporadic appearances during the 78 season under Pitts ownership. Pitts was one of the later AA/FA converts to the flopper ranks; Dave Hough of Super Shops fame also switched to AA/FC about the same time period. Other fuel altered converts earlier in the 70s included Don Green and the Rat Trap, Bob Palmer and the Bad Habit, Willie Borsch, Leroy Chadderton moved to the Hawaiian then to the Chadderton & Okazaki Vega, the mid-west's John Schumacher with the Altered Ego Grand AM, Sush Matsubara, etc. (Photo by John Shanks)


Springfield, Illinois' Jim Paoli campaigned this "Yankee Packrat" Vega funny car in the 73ish time frame. Trivia fodder: this was Paoli's second flopper ride. He did a short stint at the wheel of the Ramchargers Demon F/C prior to building this Gilmore chassised, 480" Black powered car. Paoli had been a Division 3 T/F "strongman" in the early 70s, winning the division title in 71 with a Garlits built front engine "Yankee Packrat" car. In 72 he joined the rear engine T/F revolution while doing temporary duty with the Ramchargers, went full time flopper racing with this car in 73. Paoli later sold this car which was campaigned in the mid/late 70s as a BB/FC in the Midwest with same paint scheme, new owners names on side. (Photo by David Ray)


From 1972 comes funny car racing's most successful female shoe; Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney. Starting out in the 60s with gas dragsters, Shirley moved up to floppers in 71 with an ex-Kalitta Mustang, won her first national event with the car and became the first female flopper driver in the sixes. This Buttera built Stang followed in 72, but the car was lost to a fire and flip during the season. Ex-Schumacher Cuda was used to finish the season's obligations. A Logghe built Satellite followed in 73 which burned at the NHRA Nationals, the same year Shirley earned her T/F license at the wheel of Pancho Rendon's Frito Bandito T/F car. Shortly thereafter Shirley moved to T/F fulltime. (Photo from Amalie Handout courtesy of Randy McGinnis)


"Animal Al" Marshall started out in T/F in the late 60s, switched to funny cars in 1970... a ride in Don Schumacher's Stardust Barracuda came first followed by stints in Dale Creasy's Tyrant Torino and Mustang in the early-mid 70s (NHRA division 3 champion 1971 and 1972. Coca Cola Cavalcade of Stars 1974 and 1975). Following his job with the Creasys, Marshall struck out on his own with the pictured car which was a ex-Schumacher body on a Woody chassis he purchased from Don Wiley. Marshall confined his activities to match racing; car ran as fast as 6.40 at 240 mph in 1976. According to Marshall "Things got very expensive and I had no sponsor, and called it quits in face of extreme financial woes." Car was sold to an individual who made an alky flopper out of it. (Photo by Michael Beach, info courtesy of Al Marshall)


Photographed at Kansas City Intl Raceway in May 72 was Omar "the Tentmaker" Carrothers' Mustang. This car was his second flopper; earlier Cuda was destroyed at OCIR on one of it's maiden outings. Carrothers rebounded with this Gilmore chassised, Pink powered, Kirby sprayed, Youngblood lettered flopper. Omar was somewhat of an enigma; according to Drag Racing magazine, Circuit Riders, Jan 1990, "... It was rumored that "the Tentmaker" often climbed behind the wheel in an emotional condition and mental state best described as a scene from the movie "Altered States." In 72 National Dragster called Carrothers "Our traditional long shot….the Tentmaker is once again the meets dark horse" as the publication gave Omar 100-1 odds at Winternationals that year. Following the pictured ride, Carrothers drove Terry Ivey's Charger in AHRA competition in the mid-70s. Today he works on circle track dirt cars in Florida. (Photo courtesy of Brad Anderson)


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