|
The fan favorites, though, were Fred Stone, Leonard Woods,
and Doug “Cookie” Cook. They were the darlings
of the West Coast blown gasser buffs, especially after having
trounced the “Big John” Mazmanian ’41 Willys
on May 5 in one of the great A/GS matches ever. In addition,
they had won countless Middle and Little Eliminator titles
on the West Coast and were the 1963 NHRA Winternationals Middle
Eliminator with their then blown Olds-powered A/GS Willys.
And as fearsome as Chrisman’s Comet seemed, the driver
knew that his car was still getting worked out and probably
would lose the match with Cook.
“My best ET with this car is a 10.15 and Cook, I know,
has been 9.50s and 9.60s,” said Chrisman. “With
his ET, we can’t hope to outrun him. The car wasn’t
built as an ET car with that engine sittin’ right in
the middle of the front wheels. That makes it hard for the
car to bite. If I happen to get a good ET tonight, it just
happens … it won’t be because we had planned it.
Chrisman’s caution compared somewhat pessimistically
to the Willys’ owner, Woods. When asked what he would
instruct Cook to do, he piped, “Nothing more than take
him two straight. That, and no redlight starts.”
| ADVERTISEMENT |
 |
|
The
pre-race prognoses were pretty much on the money. After KFWB
rock n’ roll deejay Jim Hawthorne (father of DRO’s
own Darr Hawthorne and that night’s voice of drag racing)
opened the show with a few remarks, mostly regarding his 16.36,
86.40 in a showroom Sachs & Sons Comet at Carlsbad a few
weeks earlier, the two match racers came to the line.
Cook and his 101-inch long, 440-cid Chrysler-powered, 2,740-pound
pre-war coupe were the first off the line, while Chrisman’s
Comet boiled the rear tires. At half-track, Cook still had
a commanding lead, but fans were somewhat slack-jawed after
that because Chrisman started to chew up the real estate and
was drawing up on the black Willys. However that rush was
quieted when a cracked front blower plate stopped his charge
and handed Cook a 10.14 win.
The big race, to this writer, occurred in the second round
of the best of three. Again, Cook nailed the early lead and
again seemed too far ahead for Chrisman’s charging Comet
to reel him in. As Cook started to near the speed traps, he
began to get sideways, forcing him to correct. This maneuver
only got him further out of shape and off the track. As one
of drag racing’s great writers and this guy’s
chief childhood influence, Ralph Guldahl, Jr. wrote, “With
invaluable driving experience behind him, Doug drove his way
out of trouble, two hopping, skipping black tire marks arrowed
right back on the asphalt. Doug said he’s come within
two or three feet of the fence – sideways at 131-mph.”
… and winning the match and race.
On paper, the race may not be seen as that big a deal, but
consider these facts. This was the first Funny Car match (at
least, an FC against something with doors) on the West Coast,
it was Chrisman’s first match, and, in a generous use
of the word, a “harbinger” of the future. Think
about it. How far away was the Cook-Chrisman match race from
a Funny Car versus, heaven forbid, a Pro Mod?
As I retrospect it through the blur of years, long ago, on
a typically dewy, cool harbor night, two strange entities
from the future staged before my gaping young eyes, and even
though, it was 30-plus years back, I swear I heard someone
whistling what sounded like “the X-Files” theme.
|
