Frantic Fueler Frenzy

4/8/04

Jeff "Mr. Pammy" Utterback is a message board troublemaker who's also lead welder-fabricator at So. Cal. Chassis-builders Hansen Chassis. Jeff first got hooked on drag racing when his father worked and raced at Lions in the swinging '60s and got bit by the Nostalgia bug in the late '80s. Jeff actually possesses a current competition license with personal bests of 6.52 @ 208 mph. In his past, he's been an aerospace welder of 16 years and former BMX pro. He is currently the sub drummer for the '60s surf band The Surfaris and lives in Santa Monica, CA with his wife Pammy (the queen of all media) and their two sons Morgan and Miles.

oy, what a busy month! First I got sidetracked with the March Meet coverage that I'm sure you saw here in the pages of Drag Racing Online, (It's hell typing with two fingers) then I got waylaid being the wonderful father and husband that I am. Of course, somewhere in there I welded on some stuff, and then I got lazy and then I started to panic about what to write for my column.

However, I read Marc Meadors' interview here at good ole' DRO and it got me thinking. First, to whom was he referring with his comment about the people who want to run 426s in Nostalgia Top Fuel? "Basically these are guys that don't have cars or are on the Internet writing stuff." The nerve of those people! And just where are the 426-powered, Nitro-burning front-engine cars that do more than just cackle up the return road? I thought I would stretch out a bit and find out a little more about at least one such car that I have heard of. And while it might not be VRA legal, the motor is in front and it's got Nitro in the tank, and it's longer than 125". Now I can feel the rolling of eyes across the world as I write this but don't worry, I will get to regale you with rants on every class that is running at your favorite Nostalgia event soon enough.

So having heard of a car in the Midwest going by the moniker, "The Frantic Fueler," I thought I would call in a few favors from my Chi-town buddies and get the scoop on this outlaw combination that has been entertaining fans for a while now, well, at least since the (shudder) ADRA blew through our lives. Right about the time that I was going to call my Chicago friends Guido, Tiny and Louie the Thumb to help in my search, Scott Anderson from the Frantic Fueler team contacted me!

Enough wasting time! Lets have a look at this deal -

The Frantic Fueler was built by Dave (Dragster Dave) Daunheimer, who is the proprietor of Competition Fabrications of Maple Park, Ill. The chassis has a wheelbase of 225", a full aluminum body, front wings and dual element canards. Sounds like your basic VRA legal Nostalgia Top Fuel car right? Sort of. Here's where it gets interesting!

Sitting between the frame rails is 497 inches of Keith Black's finest in elephant fashion topped with Ken Veney billet heads, Crane bump and open-closey stuff, fabricated sheet metal manifold and a Mike Kuhl 6-71 blower. Hanging out front is one mag and one fuel pump. Out back we start with an AFT 4-disc glide, and a Lenco back-up box hooked to 3.40 gears housed in a fabricated 9" housing. And to put all this fun to running are 36 x17 x16 Goodyears!

What seems to be a fairly low rpm deal compared to the VRA 12" tire, 3.90 gear cars has ran a 6.20 E.T. @ 243 mph with 90 percent in the tank and a conservative tune up. They claim all they use up are clutch discs.

Part of the inspiration to this operation goes back to the principles sitting in the tower at Indy and watching the VRA cars walk their way through the lights. Hence the big tires and 3.40 gears along with the massive canards.