Who Built the First Narrow Chassis Funny Car..?

Ok HAMB History Experts & Drag Race fans,

Who Built the first Narrow Chassis - Dragster Roll Cage - Funny Car chassis...?

When was it built..??

Who drove it...???

 

bttt

 

Nevermind, red light!

 

My guess is around 1969 with the Mickey Thompson Mustangs that Danny Ongias and Pat Foster drove. Not sure, just a decent guess. Do you know and are quizzing us? or do you not know yourself?

Steve
Hosting-
Sunday April 11, 2010 8th annual Nostalgic Show & Go! Phoenix www.nostalgicshowandgo.org

 

eddie pauling??

 

Lil John?

 

Ok, I'll try,
Builder-Bill Stoupe
Driver-Jack Chrisman
year-1966ish
Body-mercury comet.

God, I love Funny cars.

 

I think Pat Foster and Little John Buttera both worked for Thompson and built the two 69 Mustangs

 

By Jim Hill​

The early '66 Logghe cars (beginning with Nicholson and Schartman's first unblown SOHC powered Logghe cars) were a major, no make that SUPER-MAJOR step forward in driver safety, handling, weight transfer, traction, etc.

They caused a revolution in chassis design that went from basic stock-frame cars, narrowed, braced, "x-ed," bracketed, crossmembered, and anything else the early FC guys could do to make the cars stronger and more rigid to withstand the HP of nitro and blower motors.

Modern, narrow cars are significantly better now, thanks to an ongoing program of late '60s, early '70s chassis improvements that began when folks like Don Hardy, Logghe, John Buttera, and of course, chassis building master Pat Foster (there were notable others, too!) began exploring the outside of the envelope that the early Logghe cars established. I guess Hardy could be tagged with the title "Henry Ford of Funny Cars," as his shop turned out loads of them.

At one time, there was talk of retaining the basic stock frame, or for unibody cars, allowing "reinforcements." Some wanted to "liberalize" chassis rules to allow such "improvements" as rectangular-tube-only, but fortunately, cooler, wiser heads prevailed. When speeds went above 160 mph, the sanctioning body tech experts wisely decided in favor of tube cars with sophisticated driver protection. Lots of drivers have since been able to retire rather than ending their careers as a line in an obit list because of these advancements.

Chrysler's early chassis development efforts - triangulated, engineered designs, chromemoly steel tubing, coil-over shocks, adjustable links, etc., seeded the fertile imaginations of drag racing chassis folks. In the early '70s, Bill Jenkins revolutionized Pro Stock chassis thinking with his first small-block Chevy, SRD tube car, and nearly everyone soon followed.

The advancements in chassis design as Pro Stock grew into adolescence seemed to parallel the FC chassis revolution as well as the RE concept for diggers. All these contemporary chassis breakouts seemed to come within a period of just a few years. The chassis design folks were thinkin' themselves into premature baldness trying to come up with cars that bit harder, went straighter, and lasted through a crash.

Jim Hill
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This an interesting subject. Garlit's Dart is (technically speaking) a tube, framed, fiberglass-bodied car, right? It was not allowed to run at NHRA events because it was too radical. Yet a few months later, the Mercury Comets (tube framed, fiberglass bodied) cars were welcomed with open arms. How could that be?

 

I think Steve Pleugers name belongs here somewhere

 

I think they were refering to Hardy as the Henry Ford not for his innovation, but for the number of chassis' he put out, like Ford's assembly line...I gotta say it's likely to be Garlits...

 

Definitely Garlits but it was not accepted because it did not have a top for one thing. He had it at the NHRA US Nationals in '66 I believe (I was there) but there was no Funny Car class. Legally speaking the first I remember were the Mini-Chargers in, '68 I believe.

 

austin/grassi fuel cuda?

 

Some of my buddy's & I were bench racing about this, we all had a differant spin on it.

So I figured I would ask the HAMB & see what you all thought.

We Did think about the Garlits Dart - But in all fairness it was a sling shot dragster with a body on it - Driver sat behind the rear axle.

In my mind, a Funny Car Chassis has to have the driver in front of the rear axle.

So far it's either the M/T Mustangs ( 1968 ) - The M/T Pinto's ( 1969 )

Or the MR Ed Charger - not sure on date - were still lookin.

 

Didn't Pat Foster build the M/T Mustangs?

 

I'm pretty sure the first were the M/T Mach I's in 1969. They were also, if I recall correctly, the first to have zoomie headers; wasn't long before they became standard for the class.

 

That is not true. Here is film of it at the 1966 US Nationals (a NHRA event) it is 1.45 minutes in. In the other lane in my friend Tom Masa. This was C/FD class. http://www.wediditforlove.com/video/Indy1966.wmv

 

i'd have to lean towards him too....most of the logghe and copies were still wide , probably until 70 or so.... dunn's rearengine car was pretty narrow , wasn't it a gilmore car.? setzer's was probably one of the first narrow , low cars at that time. pretty sure it was a lil john ride.

 

OK...it did run at Indy, but not as a funny car. More to the point made above, it was the driver location that kept it from qualifying as a F/C.

 

Logghe Bros...the three Comets of Dyno Don, Jack Chrisman and Ed Schartman...first real flopper, too, cause you can't count the 'glass sedan of Jim Lytle's Big Al...as it was not a funny car

 

Snow's Rambunctious ran as a fuel dragster it's first time out. There wasn't a "real" Funny Car class then. I don't know when NHRA recognized them. 1967 maybe?
Larry T

Just looked in my 66 rulebook, no FC.

Looked some more and NHRA added FC for the 66 U. S. Nationals. I'll assume one of the rules was driver in front of rear axle, kinda like altereds.

 

Wasn't the first "color me gone" 66 charger a true funny? -Jaxx

 

Were still flogging this deal.

If you have info - Post up.

West Coast opinion is the ( Beach City Corvette ) was the first Narrow Dragster Cage Flopper ( but still a wide frame car )

As for who built the first Narrow F/C chassis,

We have Dick Fletcher

Pat Foster ( At Gilmore's ) ( 1967 OR 68 )

Pat Foster & Fletcher at ( M/T'S ) - ( 1968 ) & cars ran in 69

LiL John was working with Foster at M/T'S - But I do not have a date for when he started there.

LiL John made many Improvments on this design - From what Ive been told his first Complete Car was For Shoe - A Baracuda Built in 70 - Raced in 71 - Car had a full suspension - Absolutly Auesome Craftsmanship.

 

I vote Lil John...the Logghe cars still had the beside-the-driver rollbars when Lil John came out with the narrow chassis and the 3-point roll bar...but don't remember which car who who drove.

 

So we are only judging what NHRA approved? They never approved anything unless they made money out of it.. Garlits car was a narrow frame with a fiberglass body. It fit the term "funny car" in 66. And NHRA and Garlts were fighting at the time, so anything he showed up with was
overly scrutinized...If Jenkins had the same deal with a Chevy II body, they would have bent over backwards to accept it.( i.e. his P/S vega)...

 

Didn't Gene Snows first '68 Charger have a narrow chassis w/ a 3 point or 4 point cage? Built by T-Bar chassis in Texas. That's the first contemporary chassis I remember seeing.

 

Well, it's not real scientific but I just spent some time over at Classic Funny Cars website and the earliest chassis that I see that was narrow enough for the pipes to go over the top tube instead of through or under the framerails is the 70 Challenger of the Ramchargers. I don't know who built the chassis, but the picture was April 1970.
There were several cars with narrow cages in them before that (Beach City Corvette, MT Mustangs, etc.), but they still had wider chassis'.
Larry T

 

It was whomever put a doorcar body on an altered chassis. Somebody wised up after the logghe bros stuff. The headers went over the rails and steering because they had to for safety. They'd hydraulic the motor and blow the head off and it'd take a frame rail and steering with it. They figured that was a bad thing. But i think you'll find the first narrow funny is an altered, they are still about the same. The FED chassis is very close in design as well, disregard where the rearend is located, if you look at just the tube chassis you'll see the original drivers' structure for an altered.