Back in the day, anything was possible. How about an Offy with a side-mounted blower on Ed Donovan's dragster.
Nothing says drag racing like way too big of an engine stuffed into too little car
Rear slicks churning, front tires grabbing air, and, an acrobatic flagman.
Uhhh, dude? I don't think you asked for a big enough head start.
A wheelstander with everything but the kitchen sink
Who said snakes can't fly? Prudhomme gets air in the lights in Seattle
Hard to believe that today's Top Fuelers evolved from this; from its whitewall tires to its Rat Fink-like shifter placement,
Donnie and Gene Bowman's flathead-powered Vineland Villain wasn't pretty, but it sure looked crude. Back then, functionality trumped almost everything.
this shot, taken in the pits at Lions. No, not the neat old flip-top panel wagon -- the lady, dressed in skirt and heels.. Priceless
Surfers pilot Mike Sorokin almost having his helmet sucked off at speed (center).
this shot from Jess Sturgeon's car.
This shot, taken from the cockpit of one of Scotty Fenn's legendary Chassis Research chassis that revolutionized the sport. big ol' brake handle
This is Fenn's workshop. That's Fenn at far left overseeing work on some of his K-88 and TE-448 chassis.
Another vintage chassis on this cool twin. Always amazing to me to see how primitive the early driver-protection devices were
Here's how those early dragsters got their nickname; the driver sat behind the rear tires like a rock in a slingshot.
Connie Kalitta's Logghe-chassised Ford-powered digger, photographed on a chassis dyno in one of Ford's labs
Call me an astute observer, but I reckon that "Big Jim" Dunn was pretty much done for this run at Lions in the rainbow-hued Dunn & Reath digger.
Who says you need four wheels?
In the same vein, who says you even need four wheels or three wheels? The famed Leffler-Coburn Iron Mistress coupe had six! In a true example of the sum of the parts not being equal to the whole, Neil Leffler and Bill Coburn each took the fuel-burning Hemis from their competition coupes and paired them for this interesting experiment. It wasn't real fast, but it was spectacular.
We've seen lead weights and tubes filled with lead shot as front-end ballast, but a rock? I kid you not. Clearly, the Red Mountain Boys knew how to rock.
I think we've all seen the classic photo above of Don Garlits' career-changing transmission explosion at Lions, but at left is the less-seldom-seen but equally-breathtaking downtrack angle. I'm not sure who circled the fan in the stands or why, but that's how this image was posted
I've never seen this car before, but it can't be any mistake that the names on its side are Capp and Fedderly, as in future Top Fuel partners (and Indy winners) Terry Capp and Bernie Fedderly. Both are still at it years later, Capp in nostalgia racing and Fedderly as Auston Coil's alter ego on the John Force team.
The first rule of running against a jet dragster: Always leave first.
Herman Munster , far lane, and Grandpa dueled at Lions in a ghoulish go that was featured on the popular television show.
The driver's reaction in this photo is classic after his blown Fiat puked all over the Lions starting line.
Indy is a place where magical things happen. Look closely, and you can see that "Big John's" battle-scarred 'Cuda has all four tires off the ground
