TOP FUEL DRAGSTERS OF THE 1970s
Reviewed by Chris Martin
7/8/05
TOP
FUEL DRAGSTERS of the 1970s Photo Archive (126 pages) –
Howard V. Koby (Iconografix)
The Tuesday afternoon after George Howard’s
historic Rocket City Nationals, a slick coffee table book
, TOP FUEL DRAGSTERS OF THE 1970s, came skidding across
my large oaken executive desk, spilling a Budweiser Select
and scattering four White Castle sliders. Clawing through
a midday haze, I dropped to my knees and lifted the offending
item from the 30x40 foot persimmon and lavender shag carpet
that padded my suite atop the O’Fallon Phlegm Building.
“Damn you Howard Koby,” I wailed.
And then I thought Howard V. Koby? Who is Howard V. Koby?
Cracking just a page into the perfect bound glossy, all
black and white book, I saw names I recognized … Randy
Fisch, Tom West, Don Ewald, and Toluca Lake neighbor Bob
McClurg, but nowhere did I see anything about the author.
Shucks.
Further perusing the book’s innards,
though, I found that query dissolving into the mists as
my nostalgia meter started pegging up. The book’s
geographics are nearly all West Coast locales, almost exclusively
Pomona Raceway, Orange County, Irwindale, and Ontario Motor
Speedway, but the stars are all American … well except
for Gary Beck and Terry Capp.
Overwhelmingly, the images are singles …
Top Fuelers from the decades of the 1970s doing burnouts,
staged at the ready, in full flight, and in a few cases
blowing up. What really riveted my attention was the fact
that I’ve never seen most of these pictures. I worked
at DRAGSTER for a decent part of the 1970s and looked over
the late Les Lovett’s shoulder many times at incoming
shots, but can’t recall most of these.
All the major players are in this book. Naturally,
Garlits, Shirley, and Beck are liberally featured in this,
but what I enjoyed most were the shots of the obscuros from
a quarter century ago. Tom Toler in Dick Stahl’s dragster,
Tom Poindexter in the Hibbard & McCarthy Chevy, Mike
Reynolds in the “Integrator” (and on fire),
Arley Langlo (NOT! on fire), Bob Williams’ silver
dragster, Jim Herbert, the Kalb Bros., Larry “Shorty”
Leventon, Ken Moitoza in his and Gary Gachis’ dragster…
gee whilikers, the cover boy is famed West Coast race car
painter Bill Carter in his Carter Paints Spl., wailing through
a fire burnout at Orange County. Can’t beat that line-up
with a stick, Jim.
If I had a favorite shot, it would be the
fireballer of Bob Struksnes at the 1979 Winternationals.
The Minot, N.D., driver is about at the 800-foot mark and
the motor is spitting fire. What I liked, though, was the
backdrop, Koby’s shot shows the entire ambiance, the
banners on the fence, E-Street, the then large vacant lot
across the street, Arrow Highway and a small chunk of the
LaVerne barrio and Struksnes self-immolating in the middle
of it all.
It’s a good book, the captions are informative
and for the most part dead-on accurate (some misspells –
Mike Kuhul), the whole package well worth the $29.95 plunkdown.
I may have not known who Howard V. Koby is earlier today,
but I do now. Good work, and Howard, don’t sweat the
dead Budweiser. There’s a couple of King Cobra 40s
in the fridge. 
