One of the great ones would have to be Charles "Boogie" Scott. He is in the NHRA hall of fame as a builder. He chassis are a work of art.
X2, I vote Scotty also because he build reliable chassis' that the masses could afford, and because he was an innovator. But so was Fuller, while us plain folks just thought of a chassis as something to hold the engine and stuff, Fuller saw it in motion, all the torque effects and, most of all, how to design a roll cage that would keep the driver's head much safer than before (that was the problem with Scotty cars, the centrifical force in a roll stretched the belts and the driver's head came outside of the roll bar until Fuller put the bar over the head (well, sort of, some photos of Fuller cars show the driver sort of ahead of the top bar)...still, it saved lives...
How do you choose? I love them all. Scotty Fenn, Dode Martin & Jim Nelson, Jim Davis, Kent Fuller, John Buttera, Pat Foster... the list goes on.
LOGGHE STAMPING COMPANY They brought dragster building from a black art to a science with manufacturing techniques akin to the Big Three.
I still see Boogie at a few local cruise nights driving his hand built aluminum track roadster type T. He drives it from the North shore, across the causeway (24 miles) to Metairie.
What about Garlits would he be considered just because he only did his own cars Just wondering! I saw some beautiful cars in his museum not just his but others . How did they do that kinda fab work back then without the tooling available now Body's on those cars were unreal!
I Don't know shit, but dig Don Long stuff. Rooman's hard core into this stuff too. Here's a cool Don Long resto link; http://cacklefest.com/Great-Expectations.shtml
Lots of contenders, but I've always thought Woody cars just had a beauty and flow to them that some others lacked. 1 vote for Woody Gilmore...
I don't think you can really answer this objectively. I think you can ask "who is your favorite chassis builder" and get credible answers, but what's the yardstick to define best? You would have to pick a period of time, then tally up what chassis won the most during that time period. Even then, there are a ton of other variables. For current FED chassis builders, I'm partial to Brian Fox and King chassis, but I've also seen Bruce Dyda's stuff and loved it because his was the first digger I ever saw with all new pipe that met the safety standards and still looked like it was from 1968. Dave Tuttle and Rooman build a good chassis too, even if they aren't as vintage looking as Dyda's or King Chassis. With the builders from the golden age, I pretty much like 'em all - from Fenn to Dode and Martin, to Fuller, Tuttle Sr., Huzar, Long, and my local guys John Shoemaker and Jim Davis. I'm sure there are plenty of others that I forget.
OK lets make it non active builders anymore The ones now like Roo and Brian now are great don't know of many active ones now. I know some don't like the newer styles I like them all myself. I am building one to bracket race lotsa new looks with some old thrown in also.
Thanx for the nod, But Don Long is by far the most technicly correct chassie builder out there. A reason for everthing and can explain it to you. Being next door to him for all those years i can tell you this--- On all the cars he built, every tube for the frame was cut and fitted with a hacksaw and just touched up with a belt sander. On his later R/E cars he would build the wheelbase at 300.25 because he knew that after welding the car would shrink .250
Looks like the FED market was like the RED car market now just think what coulda been done then with the technology today. Some of them were perfectionist back then simply amazing.
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