Untitled Document

MORE CALIFORNIA RACERS
The most underrated of all the California Fuel Altered giants was Anaheim's Leon Fitzgerald and his "Pure Heaven" blown Chevy-powered roadster. Running the banner of Anaheim Speed Engineering on the side of his Bantam, the bearded Fitzgerald won seven races in 1966. In fact, when it comes to local competition between 1966 and 1971, Fitzgerald was the winningest of all.

In Northern California, the name of the game was "Pure Hell." Car owner Rich Guasco and his driver Dale Emery had the finest performing Fuel Altered in the western United States. The Hayward, California team also utilized Chevy power from 1964 through 1967 and originally made their mark when they ran an unheard of 8.69 in 1964 at Fremont Raceway. No California car ran as consistently quick in 1966 as this Bantam roadster. Guasco and Emery wound up with a best of 8.46 at 180-mph and three wins.

The second winningest car of 1966 and a real crowd pleaser was the Thomas-Pritchard-Harrison "Beaver Hunter" T roadster, driven by Arkansas transplant Henry Harrison. They won fives races in 1966 and runner-upped at nine others. Harrison clocked a best of 8.90 at 175-mph in the South Gate, Calif. entry.

The Fuel Altereds also showed incredible variety. The Snodgrass-Mahnken-Andrews team ran a blown gas-burning Ford in a '48 Fiat Topolino coupe. Hyder-McCloud ran a blown and injected Chrysler in a '34 Ford coupe and the Mondello & Matsubara and Rossetti & Simmons teams opted for fuel injection only in their cars. Late in the year, John Henderson and Bill Lee fielded a dumped, stock-wheelbased '41 Willys coupe with an injected nitro-burning Chrysler under the fiberglass.

While much of the action in this story orbits Southern California, there was noteworthy action elsewhere. The pass of 1966 came in Rockford, Illinois when Ron "Snag" O'Donnell in the Denison-Arlasky-Knox roadster set the then all-time record for the class on July 3 at an 8.37. Not satisfied with that, O'Donnell returned to Rockford on July 24 and ripped an astounding 8.16 at 187.50-mph, a run backed up by an 8.25, 185.08. At the time, O'Donnell's 8.16 eclipsed the best of the Funny Car efforts, and wasn't topped by the "floppers" until Sept. 14 when "Dyno Don" Nicholson ran a 7.96 in his Mercury Comet.

ALTEREDS WERE 'IN' IN THE LATE '60s
The 1967 season marked a big turnaround for the class. The majority of Fuel Altered shows grew from four cars to eight cars, which was the standard for the headline classes, Top Fuel and Funny Car. In addition, because the altereds now were getting treated with more respect, the print media gave them a lot more ink.

Hot Rod
Hot Rod, America's leading hot rodding magazine, focuses on high-performance and personalized hot rods, Chevies, and musclecars.

Hot Rod Bikes
Hot Rod Bikes helps riders customize and modify their Harley Davidson bikes for cruising in style. You'll be an easy rider in no time.

Import Car
Import Car is the complete import service magazine. It gears itself exclusively to the vehicle repair needs of import specialist technicians. The in-depth, technical nature of the magazine's editorial content helps technicians of all abilities do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.