History FAMILY DRAGSTER HISTORY....end of the FED...part 4

So i left off last in the end of the 1971 season....my grandparents had been to the White House, met Nixon before his scandal days, and ran a shit load of top fuel meets in the process.....

...By the beginning of the 1972 season, times were changin...the front engine fuel dragster was meeting its demise...new rear engined cars were being raced by Garlits, Don Moody, Diamond Jim Annin....

My grandparents sent their Don Long chassis car to Lousville Ky...to be lengthened from the motorplate back for a 2 speed and reverser set up. Billy Stebbins did the chassis work and replaced some body panels....the car was then sent up the road to outside Cincinnati Ohio and Bill "Shortround" Roell and Dauber painted and lettered the car in a similar yet more subtle paint job...canard wings were added as well....

Keep in mind, in a time of new rear engined cars running late model 426 chryslers and new block designs by Donovan and Black, my grandparents were still runnin hard with an iron block Ed Pink early model...a 392...

Seeing as they only ran this configuration for a season, pictures are hard to come by....so ill show what i have, feel free to add if anyone has any...


Heres Nanny in the seat on the return road...Maple Grove.'72



Indy nats...Buster in the background...



Note the Paris Bros. twin motored rear engined car pullin up in the background....







If any of you like the photography of Steve Reyes, heres a scan of the cover of his 2007 book "Slingshot Spectacular"...killer photog..and the car is on the cover!






So by the end of the 72 season, it was time to get one of them damn new fangled rear engined dragsters....no funny cars !!....

ill catch up next time with the new rear engined car...and the first ever (albeit unknown) ARMY sponsorship....(not Tony Schumacher)...





T.H.

 

Nice snaps. Keep them coming.

 

Great History!!!

 

i love FED's there the best!!!

 

AWESOME!!! Keep 'em comin'!

 

you know its a damn shame i cant find more pictures.....personally i loved this car maybe more then the Cerny paint job....maybe its an East Coast vs West Coast thing....
Anyways here one more i can identify...by the stickers on the windscreen.... from WDIFL.Com....Mr Raley himself....






T.H.

 

UPDATE UPDATE....from my grandparent's vault, a few more RARE pics...

Heres three from Indy in '72....







One from the Summernationals at Etown...



And the last two from Gainsville at the Gatornats...









T.H.

 

Is there a story behind their choice of "Great Expectations" as a name for the car ?

 

Good stuff Darnell...

J Shaw.

 

best set of threads on the hamb EVER!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!

 

Thanks for the great history.

 

Thanks Dante....

as for the "Great Expectations" moniker... there was the novel by Charles Dickens..wich made a lot of people at the time think they had trees of money growin on the cattle farm back home....according to the grandparents when they chose the name, it was just from them having high hopes being new in the Top Fuel game that they could have a great shot at it....and with setting the records and being Divisional champions, they got there...




T.H.

 

Great history of an awesome family drag racing experience. They were a class act then and still are. Thanks for taking the time to share them with us. Mike

 

great story and pics! what happened to all the chassis's do they know what happened to them are they around?

Paul

 

you are a lucky guy to have that family history!! thanks for sharing. would like you to come up with repop of that car.

 

Killer shit!!!

 

RICHCRAFT MIKE WHERE YOU BEEN ?!....gimme a call! MOKAN!


as for the chassis's, this particular car was the same from the previous thread (with the Cerny paint)....the original chassis was bought up by Brian Beattie, who was track photo man at Englishtown back in the good days....he has since had the car immaculately restored to exactly the way it was in its previous stage, which is probably the one most well recognized....it will debut sometime this fall hopefully....Bakersfield?....

As for all the others, including the rear engined cars, the wrecked ones are laying in the woods, the others were sold into eventual bracket racing hell...but thats where most ex fuel cars end up anyways...looking like playground equipment....

Personally, i would want to repo the original first Don Long chassis...the one that Westmoreland set the record with....THAT was a bitchin ass slingshot....



T.H.

 

Sad to hear of the fate of most of the cars. Bracket HELL. Sliced, diced and Julian fried to death. Only people like us can still see beauty under all the mis-fortion of "progress". I can , like I am shure you can too Tyler. Find love in almost every fed you see. Lookin at it , thinkin.,,," I t just needs this cut off, and this cut off and this cut off.". And then it will be the car we love.

Thanks for takin the time to post all of this. And thanks to your grandparents for doin' it in the day. And for lettin you share all this today. Brian Fox

 

Been a long time since I've posted here...growing up around E'Town for most of my life, I cherish the "good ol' days" of the FEDs. Now, as a grown man, I'd love to get one in my possession, preferably in "project" shape. Problem is, identifying something that has provenance after being in bracket hell isn't easy. Especially with the resurgence in nostalgia.

FWIW - I saw that Tony Nancy's Sizzler slingshot was just purchased for $85K... a relative bargain!

Kingchassis - Zorba's Ghost looks killer with the body work!

 

Didn't they johnny lightning slingshot series have this one. I remember the color scheme.

 

Check this out - here's the Jim and Allison Lee rear engined dragster at the 1977 Gatornationals...at approximately 4:44 of the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd9rsZr-RwI&feature=related

 

The Jim & Alison Lee car will be at Bakersfield

 

Wow! Unbelievable set of threads... Just awesome! Thanks for sharing all the pics and family history!

Ryan, thanks for making a spectacle outta this!

 

HAMB! So cool. Thanks so much. Slim

 

That is one BAD ASS Post, not to mention the shot of the redone car with my all time fav "The Beach City Chevrolet" in the backround. Todd.

 

Jim and Allison Lee, it's been a long time since I've heard there names. Thanks for the pictures, brings back memories of real drag racing. I was lucky enough to see there cars run. Thanks again.

 

Awesome set of threads!!! I just love all the history!!!

I am so jealous of your rich racing heritage! You are truley a lucky bastard!!!

 

Here is a shot of the restored car at Bakersfield this past October. In the seat is Art Marshall. Art dorve the Van Iderstine Top Fuel car(a former Don Prudhomme/Hot Wheels car) to the last ever NHRA national event win in a front engine car.

The car looks great, the pictures do not do it justice.

It is now back on the East Coast and will be out and about this summer.

 

Here is Art ready for a push start at the 72 Molson Grandnational