Bernella Dodge Polara Funny Car: Della and Bernie Woods

Della and Bernie Woods campaigned this Dodge Polara funny car

Della and Bernie Woods shared the driving chores on the Bernella funny car. Note the healthy crowd on hand for Detroit Dragway's Midwest Championships. (Instamatic Photo by Tom Bonner)

Last time we looked at Bonnie Anderson’s Chevelle funny car. There was another women funny car driver on hand at Detroit Dragway’s 1967 MidWest Championships, although I not sure if she actually drove that day.

Della Woods needs no introduction, as she established herself as a first-class funny car driver over the decades she competed. In 1967, Della’s brother campaigned the Bernella Speed Shop Dodge Polara A/FXer on the UDRA circuit. Bernie actually shared the driver’s seat of the Polara with his sister, although most Della Woods biographies indicate she started driving a flip-top Charger in 1968.

I can’t recall whether it was Della or Bernie at the wheel that day, but I remember the Polara quite well. I liked the look of the ’65 Dodge Coronet, but I thought most of the other Dodges of the era were rather dull, including the Polara models. I thought they looked like they were designed by a committee, with curves and angles tossed together with little consideration of design. Somehow, Bernie and Della Woods transformed that ugly duckling Polara into a great looking funny car.

I don’t know how much input the Woods had in the Polara’s construction, but whoever built that car knew what they were doing. The car looked mean, in a good way. The brown stripes and trim contrasted well against a dark yellow base color. Combined with chrome wheels and big slicks, there was no doubt this race car meant business. Read More »

 
Posted in 1967 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bonnie Anderson and the That Girl Chevelle Funny Car

Bonnie Anderson helped pave the way for women funny car drivers with the That Girl Chevelle

From 1966 to 1971, one of the most popular series on television was That Girl, with Marlo Thomas, Hollywood might have considered That Girl to be the daughter of Danny Thomas, but for mid-western drag racers, the term refered to an entirely different person. On the UDRA circuit, That Girl was Bonnie Anderson of Elgin, Illinois. Anderson wheeled the ’65 Chevelle match racer at a number of events, including the ’67 Midwest Championships at Detroit Dragway.

Although the Chevelle wasn’t as radically altered as the Gray Ghost GTO, any Chevy fan would recognize that both the front and rear wheels have been moved forward for better weight transfer. In addition, Ms Anderson had to look through a forest of roof-high injector stacks to see the dragstrip.

Make no mistake, That Girl was a true altered-wheelbase match-bash funny car. Draglist reports the car’s best as 9.67 at 146mph on nitro. Danny White at Draglist also indicates that Anderson drove the Tension Nova funny Car as well as the big Chevelle.

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Gray Ghost GTO Funny Car: Extreme Altered Wheelbase

The Gray Ghost at Detroit Dragway, 1967. Now you know why they call 'em Funny Cars!

The Gray Ghost at Detroit Dragway, 1967. Now you know why they call 'em Funny Cars! Kodak Instamatic photo by Tom Bonner

There is always someone who believes if something is good, then more of the same thing has to be better. That applies to Larry Swiatek and the Gray Ghost GTO; you won't find many cars with a more extreme altered wheelbase.

Pictured in front of the old Detroit Dragway tower, you’ll notice the wheelbase doesn’t exactly conform to that of a stock “66 GTO.

When Dick Branstner and Roger Lindamood kicked off the A/FX altered wheelbase trend, their calculations indicated that moving the rear wheels forward fifteen inches and the front wheels ten inches would achieve sufficient weight transfer to handle any stock wheelbase competitor.

While those in the know could spot an altered wheelbase Cornet or Fury at first glance, the modifications were subtle enough that many people were confused when they saw the cars. They knew there was something “funny” about the Chrysler A/FX cars, but they weren’t exactly sure what.
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Ced’s Muffler Bubble Top Nova Funny Car

Injected, bubble top Nova ran the UDRA circuit in 1967. Looks like Della Woods is in the far lane.

This bubble top Nova was another funny car on hand for Detroit Dragway’s Midwest Championships in 1967. Part of the UDRA circuit, the Ced’s Muffler entry was based out of Chicago.

Although there were a number of roadster funny cars in 1967, few of them were equipped with a bubble top. I’m not sure if the owner of this Nova had a special top cast for the car, or whether he adapted a war surplus fighter plane canopy. Either way is was a rather unique look for a funny car.’

It seems to me that it would get pretty hot inside that canopy on a sunny day. In addition, the close confines of the bubble prevented the use of a NASCAR style roll cage. There is probably a roll bar in the head rest behind the driver. From the angle of this photo, it seems that the driver’s head protrudes above the roll bar, a rather dicey approach to driver protection in the event of a major roll over.

The little Chevy ran nitro, or at least competed against nitro burning cars at the Championships. The stacks sticking through the hood indicate it was an injected car, although there is no way to verify the power plant. I assume it was a Chevy rat motor, but similar match-bash Novas were equipped with a small block Chevy or early Chrysler Hemi. The way the stacks are arranged, it could be a small-block Chevy car.

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Stone, Woods and Cook at Detroit Dragway

Stone, Woods and Cook Mustang funny car at Detroit Dragway

The Stone, Woods and Cook Dark Horse 2 on the return road, Detroit Dragway.

Even broken, the Stone, Woods and Cook funny car was so popular that Detroit Dragway paraded the Dark Horse 2 down the track in front of the fans. Stone, Woods and Cook were the headline entry at Detroit Dragway’s Midwest Championships. One of the most popular funny cars in the country in 1967, the Mustang arrived at Detroit Dragway with a broken rear axle. Unable to run, the dragstrip still had the Stone, Woods and Cook team tow the car down the track so the fans could see the car up close.

I was quite disappointed that I didn’t get to see Doug “Cookie” Cook make a pass. The Championships were scheduled for Sunday, and Dark Horse 2 broke the third member at another track on Saturday night. Parts couldn’t be had on a Sunday morning, so the Mustang remained on the trailer. Even so, the crowd was excited just to see the Mustang tow down the strip.

In 1967, drag racing fans were stunned to learn that Stone, Woods and Cook were building a funny car to replace their popular AA/Gas Willys coupe. The team didn’t just excel at the gas coupe and sedan competition, the ruled the A/GS ranks. The Swindler A Willys was so successful that it was never beaten in national competition.

Still, funny car match racing was where all the money was, and the “Pebble, Pulp and Chef” gang was ready for a new challenge. So they set aside the Willys in favor of a blown Mustang A/FX machine they christened Dark Horse 2.

Although the fiberglass flip-top style funny cars were starting to come into their own, the SWC Mustang was not a flopper. Instead the team mounted a steel Mustang body shell on a light weight tubular chassis, with a long fiberglass front clip. Driver Doug Cook entered the car through opening doors, while the clip could be removed to work on the engine.

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Detroit Dragway Action: Mr. Unswitchable versus Hemi-Hunter

Dick Jesse takes Mike Nicopolis in the Hemi Hunter Camaro

Dick Jesse's GTO funny car faces off with Mike Nicopolis in the Hemi Hunter Camaro flopper. Tom Bonner photo (Instamatic 126)

In April of 1967, I attended the Midwest Championships at Detroit Dragway. The event included eliminations for both nitro and gas burning funny cars. Most of the cars were part of the UDRA circuit out of Chicago, and they ran the gamut from steel bodied match racers to the latest all-fiberglass missiles.

This is my favorite photo from the event. In the first place, it is my first real action photo. I was still using my lowly Kodak Instamatic, but my dad had given me an auxiliary telephoto lens that allowed me to get a closer view of the cars on the starting line.

The photo is soft and blurred, but I really like the rear tire on Dick Jesse’s GTO. It leans forward in an oval shape, just like the Rat Fink Tee-Shirts they used to sell. That GTO is gettin’ it!

The other thing I like about this image is that it sums up the state of the sport at the time. In the near lane, you have Dick Jesse’s steel body GTO, running a well-modified factory Pontiac frame. In the far lane, Mike Nicopolis is running an all fiberglass Camaro funny car called the Hemi Hunter. The Camaro is probably several hundred pounds lighter that the GTO.

Jesse was able to remain competitive, thanks to the Supercharger on top of his Pontiac V-8. Nicopolis, in the Camaro, relied on an injected Chevy “rat-motor.” The huffer gave Jesse the power to run with the lighter injected cars, so for 1967, he could still enjoy some success against the floppers. The tide was running out for the match-bash A/FXers, however. Over the next 18 months or so, the majority of flip-top cars added superchargers of their own.
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Old-Skool Willys Gasser | 1967 Detroit Autorama

Old School Willys Gasser

This Willys coupe appeared at the 1967 Detroit Autorama, looking like a throwback to an earlier time. Tom Bonner photo (Instamatic 126)

I’ll wind up the 1967 Autorama with a throwback.

Even in 1967, this little Willys gasser seemed to have come from another era. It would have looked right at home at the 1959 Nationals held at Detroit Dragway.

While Willys gassers were still popular in ’67, this one appears to be all steel. Instead of the typical flip-forward front-clip, the car has the stock opening hood. This Willys is so stock that there is still a factory rear-view mirror inside the windshield.

Yet the front wheels look like they are actual magnesium, and there is definitely an injected V-8 under the hood. Note how the headers exit underneath the front fenders.

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Posted in 1967 | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Vette Shop display at the 1967 Autorama

Vette Shop display 1967 Autorama

The Vette shop display at the 1967 Autorama featured two wicked looking injected Corvettes. Tom Bonner photo (Instamatic 126)

The Vette Shop had a huge display at the 1967 Detroit Autorama. They probably didn’t anticipate that forty-odd years later there would be something called the Internet and that someone like me would be showing photos of that display.

These two Vettes caught my attention, in part because both appear to have injected big-block power plants.

The dark Corvette in the foreground is interesting. It is a Stringray model, and it is possible it is the more desirable 1963 split-window fastback, because I can’t see much through the rear window.

The factory retractable headlights seem to be glassed over, but oddly, there appear to be headlamps located behind the custom grille. My only question is why? with the injectors and lettering, this Vette is obviously a full-tilt race car. So why the lights? My only guess is they might help the driver navigate in the pit area at night, but that is stretching things. Most drag cars dispense with headlights and seem to do just fine.

I also wonder about those shafts on the ground next to the car. Are they some sort of performance axle shaft? Or are they simply part of a display that has not been set up as yet?

The white Corvette in the background is a wild-looking piece. I think it is a roadster fitted with the factory hard-top; it is definitely not a fastback.

Those tall injector stacks that protrude nearly as high as the roof are a tip-off that this is a big block Corvette, injector setups for the small block typically have shorter, smaller diameter tubes arranged in a less geometrical pattern.

I wonder what class the white Vette ran in. It isn’t an early funny car, but I don’t remember seeing any Corvette gassers. Probably ran in one of the altered classes.

Note the banner in the background claims the Vette shop has repaired almost 10,000 Corvettes. The first Corvettes appeared in 1953, and didn’t have much market share until 1957 or so. Since there wouldn’t be sufficient Corvettes on the road to support a dedicated shop until the late 1950s, that is an incredible number in 1967.

Assuming the Vette Shop opened in 1957, (In actuality it probably didn’t open until the early ’60s.) that would mean the place would had to have averaged over a thousand Corvettes repairs a year to make that 10,000 claim in January of 1967. That is a lot of fiberglass cars for a single shop in Detroit to have fixed!

 
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Yet another variation on the Super Shaker name

1966 Chevelle Super Shaker

Super Shaker Chevelle coming right at ya at the 1967 Autorama Tom Bonner photo (Instamatic 126)

Continuing my series on the ’67 Detroit Autorama, this is the Super Shaker. Or should I say yet another car called Super Shaker. I already featured T.W. McLean’s Super Shaker at Detroit Dragway. This car appears quite similar to the McLean car, but I don’t think there is any connection.

Like McLean’s Super Shaker, this Chevelle has a straight axle, and it appears the front wheels were altered by moving the front wheels forward under the fenders, without altering the location of the wheelwells.

Although it could possibly have run in the heavy-weight funny car classes, I’m guessing this might be some form of gasser, or because of the altered wheelbase it may have wound up in one of the altered classes.

Power was apparently a Chevy 427 rat motor. In those days, Chevy’s big block engine was known as the Semi-Hemi.

There does not appear to be an engine in the car. I think they displayed the Chevelle at the show, but the engine wasn’t installed. Because of that low-profile hood scoop, I doubt the car ran a supercharger or injectors.

The letters on the car read GMC, which I assume refers to the owner’s initials. Maybe there were three owners and they used the first letter of each owner’s name. That is just a guess, but this Chevelle didn’t have anything to do with GMC trucks.

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When Funny Cars had Names

There was a time when a catchy name was every bit as important to a funny car driver as a supercharger and a tank full of nitro. A memorable name would not make the car run any quicker, but it could be instrumental in getting match race bookings. Match races were where the money was, so race teams put a lot of effort crafting a suitable handle for their car.

Of course dragsters and gassers had names, long before the first funny car hit the track. When teams switched to the profitable funny car ranks, they brought their old names with them. Roland Leong utilized the label Hawaiian, made famous with his top fuel cars, on a series of successful floppers. Connie Kalitta used the name Bounty Hunter on several rails before adopting the title for his Mustang funny car. Stone, Woods and Cook recycled the name from one of their gassers for their popular Mustang dubbed Dark Horse 2. When a top-end crash destroyed the first car, they built a near-clone of the original Mustang. Rather than calling the new car Dark Horse 3, they christened it The Ghost of Dark Horse 2.

A wide range of events, activities and ideas inspired racers to select their car name. Roger Lindamood found his handle in a pop-county song from the early sixties. The song quickly faded into obscurity, but for more than a decade afterwards, Lindamood’s fans continue to cheer on the car known as Color Me Gone.

The Blue Max was both a movie and a famous World War I metal awarded to German heroes. It was also a highly feared funny car campaigned by Raymond Beadle.

Ford’s Mustang inspired a host of horse themed names, including the Trojan Horse, Boss Hoss, Stampede and Warhorse.

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