厕所强奸

厕所强奸 - National Hot Rod Association

Drag books, drag movies, drag nicknames, and heroes that we鈥檝e lost

In this week's Dragster Insider, we get a first look at a new Funny Car book and the proposed "Big Daddy" Don Garlits movie, take a look at drag racing nicknames, and offer remembrances of a trio of nitro racers who recently left us.
04 Aug 2023
Phil Burgess, 厕所强奸 National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Dragster Insider

The Western Swing is history, and my bags are unpacked for a couple of weeks, allowing me to play a little catchup. A lot has happened since my last column three weeks ago, so here we go.

Steve Reyes鈥 newest drag racing history book arrived on my desk, and it鈥檚 one that I鈥檝e been eagerly awaiting as the subject matter,听Southern California Funny Cars, is near and dear to my heart. Before moving to Florida, Reyes crisscrossed the country, chronicling the great races of the 1970s, but his home was California. His first book, also published by the historical photo publishers at Arcadia Publishing, was Northern California Drag Racing, which covered places like Fremont Dragstrip, Bakersfield Raceway, Half Moon Bay, Sacramento, the Salinas Airfield, and more, and that I reviewed in this column.

The topic of Reyes鈥 new book shifts to Southern California and covers the early Funny Car action at fabled tracks such as Lions Dragstrip, Irwindale Raceway, Orange County International Raceway, Pomona Raceway, Riverside Raceway, and more. Reyes offers a Funny Car history lesson and draws strong lines between the forerunners of what we know as Funny Cars like the Mooneyham & Sharp 554 nitro coupe, Bob Davis鈥 "Jolly Green Giant" Impala, the A/FXers of Dick Landy and others, and, of course, Jack Chrisman鈥檚 Comet.

From there, all of your SoCal favorites are here: Not just 鈥渢he Snake鈥 (what a brilliant cover photo!) and 鈥渢he Mongoose,鈥 but tons of others, from early pioneers like Roland Leong鈥檚 "Hawaiian,鈥 鈥淔earless Fred鈥 Goeske, 鈥淏ig John鈥 Mazmanian, Doug Thorley, the Pisano Bros., and Randy Walls, to the wild and wacky, like Junior Brogdon鈥檚 stretched-out "Phony Pony" Mustang, Sheldon Konblett鈥檚 wild "Snoopy" Jaguar, Warren Gunter鈥檚 "Durachrome Bug,鈥 听the topless (and ill-fated) Corvettes and Jeeps.

Into the 鈥70s, we get the almost-uncontrollable rear-engined cars, 鈥淏ig Jim鈥 Dunn, Lil鈥 John Lombardo, the L.A. Hooker, the Barry Setzer Vega, Mickey Thompson, Braskett & Burgin, the 鈥淭rojan Horse,鈥 and more that will ignite your memories.

Reyes has long been known for his Johnny-on-the-Spot crash photos, and with this lineup of wild machines, you can get your fill of moments gone wrong, as well as candid personality photos and behind-the-scenes images. The photos are accompanied by thick, insightful, and well-researched captions telling you much more about each car and driver. You can find the book for sale online .

And speaking of great written works, I received in the mail from drag racing legend 鈥淏ig Daddy鈥 Don Garlits the final version of the screenplay (autographed even 鈥 how cool!) that he has written for an autobiographical movie project.

As originally outlined in our online scoop about the project a few weeks ago, Don Garlits, The Story of an American Legend, will chronicle the life of one of drag racing鈥檚 greatest heroes, from childhood through success and catastrophe.

Originally Garlits told me that he intended to only take the script up through his history 5.63 pass and world championship in 1975, but he got so into it that he ended up chronicling his entire career in a tidy 125 pages.听

It鈥檚 all here, from the terrible fire in Chester, the horrific Lions transmission explosion, and both blowovers to the triumphs of championships and revolutionary car builds. Here's a quick page preceding the Lions incident:

Garlits puts us not only in the cars but inside his head, which is very cool because the world didn鈥檛 really get a lot of first-person quotes from those early incidents and successes. Even though Garlits' dialogue for the screenplay has the benefit of decades of hindsight, it鈥檚 still spellbinding to read how he remembers the incidents now.

The film ends with the electric dragster project and remembrances to the many who joined him on his journey but are now gone, including wife Pat, T.C. Lemons, Connie Swingle, Art Malone, brother Ed Garlits, and Bob Taaffee, all of whom are included in the screenplay in one fashion or another.

He鈥檚 not really sure what will become of his work, but he鈥檚 hoping for anything from a feature film (a la Heart Like A Wheel and Snake & Mongoose) to a streaming project that might find a home on Netflix or Prime 厕所强奸 or another popular network. He鈥檚 promised to keep me up to date on the developments, and I鈥檒l let you know when he does.

So, I asked on Facebook, who should play 鈥淏ig Daddy鈥 in the movie? (I asked Garlits the same question, but he deferred, saying that would be up to the producers.)

He was portrayed in Heart Like A Wheel by Bill McKinney as a banana-chomping grizzled veteran in what I felt was a decent performance, including lifting Shirley Muldowney into the cockpit of his dragster and signing her license ("What the hell. Might as well get some of you gals out of the kitchen and into the stands.鈥) and then battling her throughout the decades.

Among the suggestions on Facebook were Robert Duvall, Dennis Quaid, Timothy Chalamet, Jude Law, Taron Egerton, Matthew Rhys, Scott Eastwood, and (just kidding, I hope) Jason Mamoa. If it is Duvall, they sure as hell better add a line to the script that says, 鈥淚 love the smell of nitro in the morning.鈥

As I leafed through the Garlits screenplay, it struck me how his great nickname 鈥 coined by 厕所强奸 announcer Bernie Partridge at the 1962 厕所强奸 U.S. Nationals with Don the young father to daughter Donna and Gay Lyn 鈥 has become an amazing calling card that never gets old.

Nicknames, obviously, were a huge deal in the 1960s and 鈥70s and gave us other memorable nicknames like 鈥渢he Snake鈥 and 鈥渢he Mongoose.鈥 It鈥檚 always been my position (and surely not mine alone) that one should never give themselves a nickname 鈥 it has to be bestowed upon you. The Beatles certainly didn鈥檛 start calling themselves 鈥淭he Fab Four.鈥

Partridge tagged Garlits and Prudhomme crewmember Joel Purcell gave his driver 鈥渢he Snake鈥 for his starting-line skills and lean physique. I forgive my late, great pal Tom McEwen for dubbing himself 鈥渢he Mongoose鈥 because, well, hell, promoting himself in whatever way he could was his jam and, of course, was his way of trying to one-up Prudhomme, with the mongoose being the animal quick enough to kill a snake. (And then you gotta love 鈥渢he Zookeeper,鈥 John Mulligan, who figured he could run herd over all of them or George Schreiber, who, as Mike Goyda reminded me, chose 鈥淭he Bushmaster鈥 as his nickname that name because the Bushmaster is the only snake that could whip a mongoose. (Much in the same vein was what 鈥渢he Ace鈥 Ed McCulloch did to 鈥渢he King,鈥 Jerry Ruth. (I also forgive Ruth for naming himself, because, hey ... have you ever met him?). Ditto for Connie Kalitta, for dubbing himself 鈥渢he Bounty Hunter鈥 and following through with a list of names on the car that he then defeated. A cook nickname and a visual connection? Priceless.

Using nicknames is great for us writers so that we can switch from using the term Garlits to 鈥淏ig Daddy鈥 and 鈥淟arge Father鈥 instead of repeating his last name; ditto for Prudhomme and 鈥渢he Snake" and 鈥渢he Vipe.鈥

Or sometimes, it鈥檚 just easier to type or say than a surname in a name-a-second radio spot 鈥 evidence 鈥渢he Greek鈥 versus Chris Karamesines, which many people couldn鈥檛 spell let alone pronounce.

Nicknames back then were cool and often self-descriptive, like 鈥淭.V. Tommy鈥 Ivo, who capitalized on his television fame, or Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick, a real-life third-generation farmer, or describing physical appearance: Frank 鈥渢he Beard鈥 Bradley; "The All-American Boy" Charlie Allen; and Mike Mitchell, "the World's Fastest Hippie.鈥

鈥淪uperman,鈥 for Jim Nicoll remains one of my favorites. The story used to be that he got the nickname for walking away unscathed from hairy crashes, but we later learned it was tagged upon him after he whipped a handful of guys in a bar fight one night after the drags at Irwindale.

Sometimes nicknames boasted of their success ("Northwest Terror" Herm Petersen or the "Ridge Route Terrors" James Warren and Roger Coburn) or mechanical prowess ("Sneaky Pete" Robinson), or lack thereof ("Hand Grenade Harry鈥 Hibler).听

"Kansas John" Wiebe and 鈥淥hio George鈥 Montgomery听got geographical nicknames as did "The DC Lip," early Funny Car pioneer , who was a notorious (and very adept) self-promoter.听Another of my favorites is 鈥淭he California Flash,鈥 for Butch Leal, who got the name put on him in 1965 by the wife of his booking agent, Ben Crist.

Sometimes it was mannerisms, like "Gentleman Hank" Johnson or "Gentleman Joe" Schubeck or Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, or lack of decorum (see "Jungle Jim" Liberman and John 鈥淭arzan鈥 Austin). Sometimes it was driving style: "Backdoor Bob" Struksnes or "the Moline Mad Man" Sid Seeley, for example.

There were those whose nicknames were plays on their names (Bennie 鈥渢he Wizard鈥 Osborn (thinkWizard of Oz) and Gene 鈥渢he Snowman鈥 Snow, or rhymes thereof 鈥 "Stormin' Norman" Weekly; 鈥淪tarvin' Marvin" Schwartz; Gary 鈥淏lazin' 鈥 Hazen; Roger 鈥淒odger" Glenn, et al). "240 Gordie" Bonin got his nickname for his 240-mph Funny Car speeds and diminutive (in size only) flopper peer听Tripp Shumake thus became "240 Shorty."

Anyway, all of that also got me to thinking of the dearth of current nicknames. Sure, Tony Schumacher is still (for some reason) 鈥渢he Sarge鈥 long after the Army deal ended (I think he was made an honorary sergeant or something when the deal was announced) but what was the last great modern-era driver nickname that stuck? Maybe 鈥渢he Professor,鈥 Warren Johnson? That鈥檚 a great one and very descriptive of his scientific approach to racing. Former 厕所强奸听National Dragster staffer John Brasseaux gets credit for the nickname, which was popularized in this 1995 championship profile and drawing by our old ND pal John Jodauga in National Dragster, but why didn鈥檛 Bob Glidden鈥檚 work-ethic-inspired 鈥淢ad Dog鈥 ever stick? Why didn鈥檛 Lee Shepherd have a nickname? John Force used to be 鈥淏rute Force,鈥 but I can鈥檛 remember the last time anyone used it.

I鈥檓 kinda partial to 鈥淒ouble-Oh鈥 Dallas Glenn for the Pro Stock driver鈥檚 starting-line prowess, and I had a big hand in coining Sean Bellemeur-Steve Boggs-Tony Bartone power trio 鈥渢he Killer Bs,鈥 but there鈥檚 not many like that anymore.

Why doesn鈥檛 Justin Ashley have a nickname? Or Steve Torrence (beyond, of course, 鈥淪teve-o鈥). Or Ron Capps? Or Brittany Force? Or Erica Enders?听

Years ago, the John Force Racing staff tried to push 鈥淭op Gun鈥 on the world for its championship trapshooting driver Robert Hight, but it was off target and never registered a hit. Spencer Massey鈥檚 PR team came up with a contest for his nickname, but, fortunately, 鈥淭he Bullet鈥 was a dud. I think it was Alan Reinhart who nicknamed barrel-chested and grapefruit-armed Matt Hagan as 鈥淗ulk Hagan鈥 as a riff on wrester Hulk Hogan, but he may be among the few who use it.

Open to any and all suggestions for any of the above or others.

Over the past couple of weeks, we lost a trio of well-known nitro racers: Gary Bolger, Clare Sanders, and Jim Brissette.

Bolger, who drove Funny Cars for more than 30 years on the 厕所强奸 circuit and logged three top 10 finishes and two national event runner-ups in the Creasy Family entry,听 died July 19. He was 79.

Bolger attended his first drag race in 1960 in Oswego, Ill., and not long after began racing stockers. When the Funny Car class came around in the mid-1960s, Bolger and partner Bud Richter were ready, fielding an A/FX Chevy II, first on gasoline and then later injected on nitro. He and Richter partnered on a number of cars before splitting up.

It was at a Coca-Cola Cavalcade of Stars event in the early 1970s when Bolger crossed paths with the Creasy family. Dick Bourgeois was the Creasy鈥檚 driver at the time and also raced his own car. At one race, he qualified for the final in both cars, and the Creasys, needing someone to drive their car, put Bolger in. He won the race and went on to become their full-time driver for more than a quarter-century before he relinquished the wheel to Dale Creasy Jr. in 1997.

Bolger logged 厕所强奸 top 10 finishes 1992-94, with that final year being his best as he scored runner-ups at the Englishtown and Dallas events behind Mark Oswald and Cruz Pedregon, respectively. Had not his throttle linkage broken against Oswald, he likely would have won that race as he was leading at the time.

Sanders, who drove 鈥淛ungle Jim鈥 Liberman鈥檚 Chevy II to the Funny Car victory at the 1969 厕所强奸 Winternationals, died recently at age 81.

It was a long road to the Pomona winner鈥檚 circle from Sanders鈥 childhood in Alaska, where his father was in civil service and the military. Sanders and early partner Jim St. Clair moved to San Jose, Calif., and the hotbed of Northern California racing in 1963-64. In 1965, they had their first Funny Car, dubbed Lime Fire, and the Barracuda was once called 鈥淭he World鈥檚 Most Beautiful Funny Car."听

The duo shared shop space with Funny Car pioneer Lew Arrington and his new driver, a kid named Russell James Liberman. Sanders went on to crew on Liberman鈥檚 car and began to drive his second team car in 1968. Liberman himself failed to qualify at the 1969 Winternationals and was able to apply his tuning talents to Sanders鈥 entry, leading to the win.

Later in the 1969 season, the team dynamics changed, and Sanders decided it was time to move on. He partnered in 1970 with New Orleans-based Frank Huff on the Chevy-powered Super Camaro (and, later, Super Vega) before being hired to drive the famed Chi-Town Hustler in 1971 and for the Ramchargers team in 1972. Sanders stopped driving after that season and went to work for Snap-on Tools driving a truck and in a 30-year career worked his way into management and sales.听

To read more about Sanders' career, enjoy this听2016 profile听I wrote about Sanders.

Brissette, who for more than 40 years was one of the best nitro tuners in the sport, died July 13. He was 81.

Brissette, who called on experience on dry lakes, got his first lead role tuning the Quincy Automotive dragster of Everett 鈥淗ippo鈥 Brammer and 鈥淲ild Bill鈥 Alexander in 1963. He raced successfully through the 鈥60s with Alexander and Paul Sutherland before taking a step back. He returned in the early 1970s to crew for Bob Noice and later for Kelly Brown, and won the world championship with Brown in 1978.

Brissette won a second world championship with Joe Amato in 1992 and also tuned for Tommy Johnson Jr. into the four-second club and Doug Herbert into the 300-mph club, among many.

"Jim was a great guy, and I learned so much from him," Herbert told me earlier this week. "I actually was introduced to him by my dad [Chet], who sponsored Jim back in the '60s and was my dad's favorite 'Chrysler guy.' Jim鈥檚 innovative ideas and aggressive approach to racing still has links to many of the parts run on current cars. More than my crew chief, Jim Brissette was my friend and a great family friend for decades."

Brissette was the first crew chief for today's hottest crew chief, David Grubnic, back when "Grubby" was driving John Mitchell's Montana Express Top Fueler, and it was with them that Gribnic earned his first top 10 finish, in 2000.

"That was in the early, in my early days " Grubnic reminisced with me earlier this week. "At the time, I mainly was contributing analysis work on spreadsheets, and I remember having a conversation with Jimmy saying, 'Here's what the numbers say we should do, and here's how the scenario should play out.' And I remember him looking at me and saying, 'I don't give a rat's ass what those numbers say. This is how it works in the real world.' And he was 100% correct, and it was one of those valuable lessons I learned from him. You have to balance the theoretical side of how all this works versus the practical side, and it's difficult to model that because of the forces that are involved. Jimmy definitely had the practical experience plus he understood the theoretical side of it. He had both, and he was definitely a great influence on me, and I respected him a lot.

"It's a great loss, like many of the other great innovators we've had. Jimmy was definitely one of them. My best goes out to Carol, his wife, his family, everybody, I was very fortunate to meet a lot of his family. He'll be deeply missed."

Among Brissette鈥檚 accomplishments is a rare one as he was the tuner for both the first 200- and first 300-mph runs at the Pomona racetrack, feats accomplished nearly 30 years apart. On Nov. 8, 1964, he wrenched Alexander (above) to a speed of 200.00, and at the 1993 Winternationals, he tuned Herbert鈥檚 Top Fueler to a speed of 301.60 mph, making Herbert (below) just the second driver to reach 300 mph.

When we interviewed Brissette way back in 1994, this was his personal list of top 10 achievements:

1. Doug Herbert's 1993 Springnationals win
2. Herbert's 301.60-mph run at the 1993 Winternationals
3. Joe Amato's 1992 Winston Championship
4. Tommy Johnson's Cragar Four-Second Club
5. Paul Sutherland's 219.51-mph run in 1965
6. Sutherland's win at the 1965 AHRA World Championships
7. Bill Alexander's 202.24-mph run at San Fernando in 1964
8. Kelly Brown's 1978 world championship
9. Brown's record-tying four national -event wins in 1978
10. Bob Noice's 1979 Winternationals win, which gave Brissette back-to-back Winternationals wins (Brown won in 1978)

Man, that鈥檚 an impressive list!

OK, race fans, that's my weekly roundup of new stuff. I'm off to see my mom in Oregon (I'll tell her you said hi), and then it's Topeka and Brainerd back-to-back, then off to Indy. Somewhere in there, I'll have another column, so stay tuned, and, as always, thanks for reading.

Phil Burgess can be reached at听pburgess@nhra.com

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