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70s Funny Cars - Round 3
70s Funny Cars - Round 4
70s Funny Cars - Round 5
70s Funny Cars - Round 6
70s Funny Cars - Round 7
70s Funny Cars - Round 8
70s Funny Cars - Round 9
70s Funny Cars - Round 10
70s Funny Cars - Round 11
70s Funny Cars - Round 12
70s Funny Cars - Round 13
70s Funny Cars - Round 14
70s Funny Cars - Round 15
70s Funny Cars - Round 16
70s Funny Cars - Round 17
70s Funny Cars - Round 18
70s Funny Cars - Round 19
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 4: Featuring Billy Graham, Durachrome Bug, Boston Shaker, Nichols & Oxner, Hawaiian, Philadelphia Flyer, Flying Dutchman, Hounddog Duster (UK), Mr. Norm, Twig Zeigler, Frantic Ford, Roy Harris, and Frantic Fred Bickford.


Manhattan (no, not THAT Manhattan!) Kansas' Billy Graham (no, not THAT Billy Graham!) campaigned this Monza flopper in the late 70s which is pictured at the 78 AHRA Winternationals at Tucson. At the NHRA Nationals in 1978, Graham pitched the body off the car in qualifying after a wheelstand, thrashed all night, then made it into the program 10th with a then career best 6.17. Previous efforts included a T/F car in the mid-70s (75 AHRA Drag Nationals champ). Graham did well with the pictured car in AHRA competition; won the 77 Springnationals and 79 Gateway Nationals. Graham later went on to campaign a swoopy Mustang bodied Million Dollar Baby in the early 80s. (JW Last Photo)


From a rare early 70s handout comes the Warren Gunther owned/driven Durachrome Bug circa 1970. According to Warren "Durachrome was a Volkswagen accessory company in So Cal. I somehow got hold of their advertising honcho and took the car (brand new and unlettered) to their corporate offices. They went nuts!" Co-sponsored by Don Burns Volkswagen in Garden Grove, CA., the short wheelbase Chevy powered flopper is rumored to never have made a straight pass. Little remembered is that the car actually won a F/C show at Las Vegas in Nov 70 and runner upped to "Jungle" at a 32 car 5 rounder at New England in 71. Car later burned to the ground while on tour back east. Rumor has it Bug may have been first "computer" car; G-meter was installed which could develop strip chart of G's at any point on track. (Handout courtesy of the Greenberg Collection.)


Kosty Ivanof's Don Roberts shoed Boston Shaker during a parade lap at New England Dragway in October 73. Ivanof had previously driven the Tuff Enuff F/Cs, teamed with Terry Hedrick on the "Super Shaker" Vega in 72 and adopted the Boston Shaker handle after the team split. Ivanof was a Div 1 regular, ran Chevy bodied floppers (with one Satellite bodied car in the mid-70s) from the late 60s through the mid-80s. Career highlight was runner-up finish at 79 NHRA Nationals to Gordie Bonin with the ultimate jinx car, a green Corvette bodied Shaker. Note the airplane in the background...  apparently some folks flew into NED for races, used the track as a runway, turned off at the mid-track turnoff, and used the return road as a parking area! (Photo courtesy of Don Roberts, photographer unknown)


Nichols & Oxner's, Wayne Oxner driven, ex-Custom Body Mini-Charger, 1971. Car carried Phil Castronovo to inaugural Division 1 F/C championship in 1970 before being sold to N & O. Interestingly, right side of car was green rather than red on the billboard. Sept 71 Super Stock and Funny Cars magazine article described the paint scheme as "... the most original paint scheme ever seen...  mind-boggling no matter where you begin to describe it on the car." N & O ran several more Charger bodied floppers in Div 1 before calling it quits in the mid-70s. (JW Last Photo)


A funny car stalwart throughout the entire decade of the 70s was Roland Leong and the "Hawaiian" pictured at OCIR in the mid-70s. Leong was famous for the long list of drivers who drove his floppers including Larry Reyes, Pat Foster, Butch Maas, Bobby Rowe, Leroy Chadderton (shown here), Gordie Bonin, Mike Van Sant, Denny Savage, Norm Wilcox, Larry Arnold and Ron Colson. Colson was the longest employed, drove for Leong from 76 to 81 and recorded two NHRA event victories. Bright green Monza body later replaced Mopar shell, Corvette body followed in 79 before return to Dodge flopper in the 80s shoed by a young Mike Dunn. (Photo courtesy of Dave Milcarek)


The "Philadelphia Flyer" was originally built as an Alcohol Monza flopper for Joe Siti of PA which was later upgraded to AA/FC standards. Named by Franklin Amiano (AKA Franko) for the 2X Stanley Cup champs of the same era, Circus in Jersey did the paint from a Youngblood design. Monza was shoed by JJ's right-hand man, "Jungle" Joey Oster. Following a fire at Epping NH, Monza was mothballed for a couple seasons...  reemerged as pictured 79 Challenger driven by Arnie Swensen of Swensen & Lani fame. Car was later driven by ex-Wombat shoe George Johnson before Siti sold the act in the early 80s to Frank Kramberger who continued to campaign this car's namesakes into the late-80s. BTW, Siti reportedly charged $1,000 extra just for the name at the time of sale! (Info courtesy of Franko and Charles Hoopes, photo courtesy of Welsh Media Productions)


Al Vanderwoude ran some truly strange creations during his reign as the "Flying Dutchman." From his 66 Dart F/C with a 132 wheelbase, open cockpit and quarter roof, to this Charger III concept car (Chrysler's late 60s unbuilt answer to the Corvette) that looked like something out of Star Trek that he campaigned in 1970, his cars were often unconventional to say the least! However, by 1971 Woody had seen the light and joined the rest of the flopper crowd in conventionality dropping a Maverick shell on the Charger III chassis. Mustang followed the Maverick and a Mustang II took the "Dutchman" into the mid-70s. A legend in the sport, Woody's cars often end up on drag racing's "strangest" lists. Rumor has it this Charger III body still exists somewhere in the mid-west. ( Al Vanderwoude handout courtesy of Dave Fortenberry)


Some funny cars were shipped to Europe after their stints in the US were up. Ex-Paula Murphy STP Duster at Santa Pod Raceway in England in the mid-70s. Among the others shipped to England were the Stardust Cuda, Gene Snow's Monza and Arrow, Keeling & Clayton's "California Charger" Firebird and the Blue Max Mustang which became the Stardust Mustang (paint scheme patterned after the Cuda) in the early 80s. (Photo by Nick)


From Mr. Norm's Grand-Spaulding Dodge in Chicago came the Kenny Safford driven "Super Charger" shown at Amarillo in 1976. Through the mid-70s Safford and Gary Dyer swapped driving chores in the Mr. Norm cars... in the late 70s crew member John Pott took over the reigns of an Arrow bodied flopper. By 1980 car was known as "Mr. Norm's Sport Center" and the "Super Charger" moniker disappeared. Once the nation's largest performance car dealership, Mr. Norm relied heavily on the "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" philosophy. "Everything must go..." sale ad featuring Mr. Norm's entire flopper inventory (car, truck, spares, etc) was featured in late 1980 National Dragster. (Photo by John Pattison)


Twig Zeigler from the Pacific NW bought the burned out hulk of the Whipple and McCulloch Duster after a disastrous trailer fire and turned it into this beauty! Zeigler, a strong runner, is probably best remembered for his line of Pizza Haven sponsored floppers in the mid-70s. Car is pictured at OCIR in 71 at the Manufacturers Championship where ironically Zeigler qualified for the show, ex-owners W & McC didn't! Additionally, Zeigler was third quickest car at the event with a 6.72 ET. (Photo courtesy of Drag Racing Memories)


Sarge Arciero lines up against the Hemi Hunter T/F entry at Maple Grove in the short lived early 71 version of the K & G Speed Associates Frantic Ford. Car burned to the ground while the paint was still wet, was replaced by ex-Blue Max Mustang with Roy Harris driving. Frantic Ford was descended from the Frantic Four T/F entry of the 60s, team made the switch to floppers in 69 with a Ron Rivero driven Mach 1. In the mid-70s, East Coast T/F shoe Dodger Glenn took over the reins of a Mustang II based Frantic Ford. Cars where always Mustang bodied, always carried the sanitary yellow and black paint scheme. Although the car never won a national event, it was a popular, strong east coast performer. (JW Last Photo)


Roy Harris' version of the "Brutus" Mustang, circa 1978. Harris drove the Frantic Ford in the early 70s, ran JJ's #2 car for a couple years, then in 75 resurrected the "Brutus" name which he had purchased from Lew Arrington. First Harris owned Brutus Mustang II was destroyed at New England Dragway in 76, and later Harris returned with this car. In 79 Harris received the first Budweiser sponsorship and toured with the "Bud Man" T/A and later Arrow. After losing the "whole sponsorship enchilada" to Kenny Bernstein in 81, Harris return with a "Rapid Roy" Arrow flopper, later readopted the Brutus name on the Arrow and career closing Thunderbird. (Don Eckert Photo)


Mid-70s New England regular Fred Bickford begins a burnout at New England Dragway in his "Quarter Duster" flopper. Bickford's career began in gas dragsters, ran an injected Duster flopper, then graduated to this car. Never one to lift, Bickford is remembered for a tall starting line wheelstand one afternoon at NED which shed the body. Giving the crowd a thumbs up while still towing the body behind the car, he stabbed the throttle (which separated body & chassis), then legged the bodiless chassis through the lights! (Photos courtesy Fred Bickford, Jr.)


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