FUNNY CARS GET THE EDGE
The Fuel Altereds still were capable of incredible activity when 1969 came over the horizon, but they did lose their performance edge. Borsch's 7.29 low e.t. incredibly held as low for altereds and funny cars until mid-summer. Even as early as April 26, the Fuel Altered edge began to shrink, thanks in a large part, to the Danny Ongais-driven/Mickey Thompson-owned Mach I Mustang. This Ford was the one that popularized zoomie headers for the Funny Car and the whole class picked up. In the case of Ongais, he ripped off a 7.30 and backed it up with a 7.37 at Irwindale on the above date.

On August 24, Gene Snow's "Rambunctious" Dodge logged a 7.25 Funny Car low e.t. at the AHRA Nationals at Green Valley Race City in Texas, and hot on his heels was Rich Siroonian's 7.26 in "Big John" Mazmanian's Barracuda. The Mondello & Matsubara Fiat just did hold up Fuel Altered honor somewhat when they won the class title a weekend later at the NHRA Nationals with a 7.25. However, even at Indy, the Funny Cars eclipsed their best effort with a 7.22 low e.t. and 208-mph best speed.

And the Funny Cars would not relent. On Sept. 14, Ongais got an amazing (not to mention controversial) 6.96 at Kansas City International Raceway, and while there were those who rejected it, not many tossed off what followed. Namely, a legit 7.02 in October by Pat Minick in the Farkonas-Minick-Coil/"Chi-Town Hustler" Dodge Charger.

Wild half-track burnouts, inventive flashy paint schemes, race car bodies fans could identify with, and now six-second elapsed times ... the Funny Cars had taken over. And it was no fault of the Fuel Altereds; They still put on a dynamite show with very respectable efforts and still got crowds that hovered somewhere between 3,000 to 5,000 per show.

Lee LeBaron's "Between Heaven and Hell" Bantam takes a lap at Orange County in 1970. Photo by Bob McClurg.

NEW WEST COAST STARS
The beginning of the next decade was marked by the emergence of two new stars on the West Coast: Mike Sullivan, who switched to a blown Chrysler in late '69 with his Fiat, and Hough, who got rid of the Olds and went the same route with his "Nanook" roadster. Both of the cars hit the 'teens and twenties with speeds at 210-mph. Sullivan in particular had a great year, winning six of seven Fuel Altered shows at Lions Dragstrip, and setting the track mark at a 7.23. At the end of the year, Sullivan scorched the timers to a 7.12/199.11 at the inaugural NHRA Supernationals at Ontario Motor Speedway, the best e.t. for the class.

Hough was the first Fuel Altered driver over 210-mph with a 211.76 blast at Lions on March 28. In fact, he ran the time beating Sullivan. He also ran a number of 7.1-second times at Irwindale and Orange County.

The 1970 season also marked the return of the Fuel Altereds to the East Coast tour. After sitting, out the previous year, Borsch, Chadderton, Don Green's "Rat Trap," and Randy Bradford's Fiat made a roughly 25-race trip.

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