Are expenses getting out of control in FED?

7/7/03

t has come to our attention at DRO that the number of Nostalgia Top Fuel cars seems to be considerably lower than in the past. Example #1 was the Goodguys Indy race just recently completed -- a great show but only five nitro breathing Top Fuel dragsters in competition. At the NHRA Midwest Reunion held in Bowling Green, Kentucky it was a little better but there were still only 10 Top Fuel cars there. At Pomona this last weekend, Goodguys faired a little better and filled the field of sixteen cars, but if someone had broken during qualifying, there would have been an odd lot single.

My question is why? Are the purses too small to cover expenses? Are new parts not being produced rapidly enough? At the recent 6th Annual Goodguys Rod n Custom Happenin', which was just a car show previously, the 16 cars that were on hand were all quality cars. But looking around the pits, there was no Birky Bunch/Malde, Nitro Fever Smith-Allread-Ritchey, Kent Terry/Champion Speed Shop, Todd Meilke, Gary Ritter/Cow Palace Shell, Mike Lockman/Superstition, Fred Farndon, Foothill Flyer/Glen Hutchison, Jim Cullen/Emery/Hunt/Schutz, Pierre Ponce (either his Coupe or dragster), Dan Horan Jr., Scott Mason, the Nitro Cowboy, and I'm sure that I've missed a few more. I should throw in the Orange Crate of Dale Suhr & Roger Lechenburg and the famed OHC Ford dragster of Fred Bach and Larry Gould. (Bach by the way sent me a nice e-mail basically explaining that they were going to finish out the year 2003 and that was it. They chose to run the OHC Ford which I find fascinating that it runs as well as it does, but they cannot compete with all the new "high dollar" billet parts available for the Donovan's & 392's, and Arias powerplants. I really don't want to see this great team not running anymore.

Here is how it stands right now. To run a FED down the 1320 according to my good friend and fuel mentor Mike Demarest, after tallying up all expenses, "Tim, it cost at least $250.00 a run and that's when you don't break anything. You got to remember spark plugs, oil, oil filters, fuel, tires, and general maintenance like gaskets, bearings etc. With the addition of the billet parts now the cost will continue to go sky high."

Demarest used to build the small block Chevrolets for Champion Speed Shop and he is now heavily involved as the engine builder for Jeff Gaynor's brand new nostalgia Funny Car. He is also the consultant for guys like Team Gruzen and their Merciless Mouse AA/FA, and Larry Pettit's Hellfire nostalgia T roadster. Down the road a bit, watch for the return of the 15 oz Coupe. Remember Hawkins-Webster & McLeod's '34 Ford Coupe? Well, Mike is putting that steel bodied '34 back together, so you saw it first here, return of 15 oz Coupe of Hawkins-Demarest-Bartlett.

Speaking of Jeff Gaynor, his new NF/FC (Nostalgia Fuel Funny Car) looks really great and Bob Godfrey of Flamed Fortune fame did the handling chores at Pomona because Gaynor did not have enough time to both complete the car and get his license in time for this race. He will be licensing in the near future, but this car is a great addition to the growing Nostalgia Funny Car efforts!

With the upcoming 2nd Annual Funny Car Reunion put on by my friends and peers Steve Bell and Berserko Bobby Doerrer, I noticed that Dale Pulde would be there. As an investigative reporter, I got in touch with Dale Pulde of "War Eagle" and many more AA/FC' wars and asked him if this was true. His reply was, "I'm involved with Dan Horan who has one of Larry Minor's old cars, and it has a stock stroke 426 in it. It should run 6.20's without any problem soon."

So, if they have it all together you guys in the east will get to see the return of (my opinion only) the best funny car driver ever! This guy is a class act, welcome back Dale Pulde! Unfortunately, I can't make the FC Reunion again, this time I'll be touring Georgia and Alabama on the IHBA circuit with Gil Rebilas. Nostalgia Funny Cars are the hot ticket though, looking forward to seeing the results.

Speaking of more new stuff, Pat Foster, the premier craftsman in reduplicating nostalgia vehicles sent a note that the Surfers T/F car is near completion, can't wait to see that one again. Just thinking about Skinner-Jobe and Sorokin and that awesome car sends chills down my spine. Pat Foster had a request of me and other old time photographers. He is in dire need of any pictures of the Flamin' Frank Pedregon Fuel Coupe that used to actually "catch the tires on fire" when it went down the quarter-mile. The Pedregon boys want to have Foster duplicate that car. Unfortunately, my house fire killed most of my old stuff, but if anyone has photos of this vehicle, please get in touch at FOSTER27@webtv.net or drop me a line to tmarshall29@hotmail.com.

Well, I'm off to the deep south for a couple of weeks to capture those wild and crazy nitro and alcohol burning water creatures, so if you have any thoughts on the Top Fuel money situation, or anything else please send us an e-mail or letter to the letters department at response@racingnetsource.com.

Stay safe.