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Midwest Funnies
By Danny
White
Michael
Beach photos courtesy of Curt Swartz
The
Midwest has always been a hotbed of great funny cars. Here is a
menagerie of ten Midwestern floppers that raced in the mid 80s, from low
buckers to well financed teams.
Feb 4, 2006
This
is an extremely rare shot of a seldom run funny car from the mid 80s.
John Bundy previously had raced his own Omni funny car. He had also run
the Omni in 1982 with Gary Shaver. The pair ran the car under Shaver’s
well-known “Golddigger” name. This allowed Bundy to get more match
race bookings, in which he did very well in the Midwest. In 1984, John
built a new funny car with a new partner named Forbes. The car featured
a state of the art Odyssey Camaro body by Chris Christopherson. Bundy
raced this car very little over the next two years. He ran 6.25 at
221.65 with the Bundy & Forbes Camaro before retiring. (Info from
Draglist.com files; Michael Beach photo courtesy of Curt Swartz)
In
the 1970s, the “Tyrant” funny cars of Dale Creasy were some of the
toughest floppers in the nation. In the 1980s, it was a different story
for Creasy. The “Tyrant Cobra” Mustang II was now aging and its
parts were better suited for the 1970s. Creasy also cut back on his
match race schedule. Gary Bolger began driving for Creasy in the
late-seventies. Bolger had raced both dragsters and funny cars, the best
known was the “Golddigger” Mustang. Creasy’s “Tyrant Cobra”
raced infrequently in the 1980s. The car was finally retired after the
1988 season after racing for 12 years. Bolger ran best times in the
mid-sixes. (Info from Draglist.com files; Michael Beach photo courtesy
of Curt Swartz)
This
Trans Am funny car represented Della Woods’ return to racing. Della
had raced match bashers and space framed funny car into the early
seventies with her brother Bernie. Della and her husband bought the
final “Fighting Irish” AA/FC from Dick Rosberg and his partners
Novak and McDaniel. Woods earned her license again in this car and got
used to driving a fuel funny car. It was the only non-Mopar funny car of
Della’s career. This car was replaced in 1982 with a new Dodge Charger
(Omni) funny car. (Info from Draglist.com files; Michael Beach photo
courtesy of Curt Swartz)
In
1984, Scott Kalitta made the decision to race funny cars. Scott had
raced A/FD and Top Fuel since 1979. Kalitta started 1984 in the Top
Fueler, running as quick as 5.54 at a Green Valley match race. The funny
car was built to race IHRA events after they axed the Top Fuel class.
Kalitta’s involvement in business began to slow down his drag racing
career. The Ford Mustang was raced infrequently over the next couple of
years. Kalitta had some bad luck with the Mustang, including destroying
the body in a severe blower explosion. Scott did run 5.94 at 241.28 in
the ‘Stang. Kalitta’s good fortune returned in 1987 when he started
to race more frequently in an Oldsmobile bodied machine. (Info from
Draglist.com files; Michael Beach photo courtesy of Curt Swartz)
In
the seventies, Larry Coogle ran the “Freedom Machine” series of
funny cars, mainly in the Midwest. As 1980 came around, Larry changed
the team name to the “Sting.” Coogle began to race nationally as his
racing fuel business picked up. In 1982, Larry hired privateer John Pott
to drive the ”Sting” Omni. Pott had raced the “King’s Ransom”
Monza to great match race success before signing on as a hired driver.
The pair was quite successful during their couple of years together.
Pott ran a best of 5.98 at 245.90, making the “Sting” Omni one of
the first five-second funny cars. (Info from Draglist.com files; Michael
Beach photo courtesy of Curt Swartz)
Al
Bergler is arguably the best-known tin man in funny car history. Bergler
did the tin on countless funny cars and other race cars out of his
Michigan shop. Al raced out of that same shop. Bergler raced Modified
Roadsters, Top Gas dragsters and finally funny cars. Bergler began
racing his series of “Motown Shakers” in the early 70s. This Pontiac
Trans Am was his final funny car. It was built in 1983 and was like most
funny cars of the day. The car had the latest G&K Fiberglass body, a
½” stroker Keith Black Hemi, and a 2-speed transmission. Bergler was
a mainstay on the match race circuit, but in the early 1980s, match race
dates were drying up quickly. Al decided to retire during the 1984
season. Bergler ran a best of 5.22 at 233.76 in the Pontiac Trans Am
before selling the car to Rune Fjeld of Norway. (Info from Draglist.com
files; Michael Beach photo courtesy of Curt Swartz)
Bob
Pickett began his drag racing career in Southern California before
moving to Michigan. Bob raced his own series of “Mr. Pickett” funny
cars followed by a well-remembered stint in Pete Everett’s “Lil’
Demon” funny car. In 1976, Pickett teamed with Mickey Thompson to run
the “U.S. Marines” machine. That year Pickett became well known
nationwide. In 1977, Pickett won the only NHRA event of his career at
the Springnationals. Thompson finally retired from drag racing leaving
Pickett to race on his own. By 1982, Pickett was racing the
“Pro-Tec” Arrow, and was a middle of the pack national event
contender. When the “Pro Tec” funding stopped, so did Pickett’s
regular appearances at national events. Bob ran a best of 6.15 at 233.16
with the car. (Info from Draglist.com files; Michael Beach photo
courtesy of Curt Schwartz)
Bob
Gottschalk, the 1982 NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car champion, made the leap
into nitro funny cars in 1983. The transition from a blown alcohol
Donovan to a blown nitro Keith Black was not a smooth one for
Gottschalk. Bob raced AA/FC from 1983 to 1986 without much success. The
end of the road for this Camaro came in 1985 as Gottschalk experienced
one of the worse fires ever seen. The fire started on the big end at
Gainesville and off into the woods Bob went. The blaze burned 50 acres
of Florida pines before it was over.
Another
fire at Ennis 1986 proved to be the end of Gottschalk’s nitro career.
Bob ran a best of 6.08 at 234.87 in the Camaro. He returned to TA/FC in
1987 and immediately went quicker than he ever had in the nitro car.
Gottschalk did report that the nitro car pulled harder on the top end
than the alcohol car. Another severe crash in the late 90s ended Bob’s
driving career. (Info from Draglist.com files; Michael Beach photo
courtesy of Curt Swartz)
The
“Chicago Fire” was one the great low buck funny cars of all time.
Mike Faser had been racing UDRA funny cars since the mid-seventies. He
bought the almost new Monza of Dick Bourgeois and began racing the car
on alcohol, then put nitro in the car. Faser put a new Bruce Iversen
Corvette body on the same chassis and ran 6.53 at 224.77 in the mid 80s.
Tom Motry also drove the car. Mike later converted the car into an
AA/Fuel Altered with a Fiat body. It has a new front half, but the old
Romeo Palamides chassised machine still runs to this day! (Info from
Draglist.com files; Michael Beach photo courtesy of Curt Swartz)
After
years of racing under-funded Top Fuelers and AA/Funny Cars, Ron Correnti
got his chance at a major nitro ride. Bill Dunlap was one of racing’s
most free spirited owners, but he did not race junk. Dunlap began racing
the ‘Capt. Crazy” AA/FC in 1984 after a very successful TA/FC
career. Drivers like Gary Southern and Paul Smith drove the machine
first, but in mid-85, Bill hired Midwest racer Ron Correnti to shoe the
car.
In
late 85, Dunlap built the first Thunderbird funny car, but good luck was
not in the works for the Capt Crazy T-Birds. Correnti had a major fire
at Edgewater, Ohio, in late ’85, destroying the first Thunderbird. A
new Thunderbird was built but it, too, was destroyed. At the 1986
Winternationals, the new Correnti was T-boned by Dave Uyehara in the
”Insanity” Charger. Ron ran a best of 5.77 at 253.59 in the
Thunderbird. Dunlap returned that year with new driver Gary Phillips in
a Chevy Cavalier sponsored by FCF Banking.
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