Sun, 04 Mar 2012, 15:23 PM Double Vision II

By Steve Reyes Photo copyright 2012 Steve Reyes

The last segment featured some noteworthy Top Gas twin engine dragsters and this one will feature some notable Top Fuel twin engine dragsters although there were not many twin top fuel cars. One I always enjoyed hearing about but never got see in person was Texan Eddie Hill's Double Dragon twin Pontiac on nitro. It was said to pull chunks of asphalt off the drag strip on every run it made. Also from the Lone Star state was the Carroll Brothers twin Chrysler powered top fuel car which shook the ground when it ran and I loved it. The team Arnold and Talbot also raced a twin Chrysler on nitro for a short time in Top Fuel.

However, the twins in Top Fuel proved to be heavy and they soon would go the way of the dodo bird. When the Top Gas class vanished in the early 1970's so did the blown twin dragsters. Now a few can be seen in Garlits Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Florida or at one of the NHRA Hot Rod Reunions in California or Kentucky. John and Beverly Peters keep the spirit of the twin Top Gas dragster alive with their retro Freight Train Top Gas dragster. The twin engine dragster was a unique part of the bygone days of the sport of drag racing.

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Watching Buddy Cortines drive the Carroll Brothers twin Chrysler Top Fuel car was like watching a mobile earthquake. The ground would tremble and your eyes would burn from the 98% nitro in the Twin's fuel tank. It was no wonder that the car was my very favorite twin engine Top Fuel dragster.

The Lone Star state produced this injected twin Chevy owned by Glen Ely. Ely raced his twin in Top Fuel all over the state of Texas and this duel was one of the few injected twin Chevy's ever to race in Top Fuel Eliminator. This photo was shot at Dallas, Texas in 1970.

Racing out of the famed Champion Speed Shop in San Francisco, California, was the retro twin of Jim and Mike McLennan. Mike was at the wheel of the twin engine Chevy throughout the mid-1990's. The car was a copy of a car raced by the Champion Speed Shop in the early 1960's in the San Francisco Bay area. Alas, the retro car was destroyed in a crash and thankfully, Mike McLennon wasn't hurt. However, the car was not rebuilt.

Not too many folks got to see the Busby and Burnand twin Top Fuel car in 1971 because the car only raced a few times with DOHC engines by Jim Busby Racing. Everything was unique and hand built by Nye Frank on this Top Fuel car. Surfer Hank Westmoreland drove the few times the car ran and then it disappeared from competition and was lost in drag racing history.

While I was on tour in 1969, I came across this twin engine blown Chevy Top Fuel car. I do remember the car was beautifully painted and detailed but unfortunately, I cannot read the lettering on the car. I believe it reads "Duo Fuel Dueler" on the body of the car and Lowery on the cowl, the photo was taken in Dallas, Texas in 1969.

Ken Van Unen in Duane Lidtke's twin Chevy set low E.T. For Top Gas at the 1971 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California. Lidtke switched drivers and put nitro in the tank and veteran driver Kenny Ellis took over the driving chores of the car during mid-1971.

I believe the Syndicate twin engine Top Fuel car was one, if not the last twin, front engine car ever built. The car was beautiful, but it was too heavy to compete with the other cars. Phil "Boy Wonder" Ditmars was the chosen driver for the nitro burning twin. The car has been found and is in the process of being restored for Cacklefest fun.

Gene Adams went back into Top Fuel with his Double Eagle twin injected Chrysler powered front engine dragster in the early 1970's. Don Enriquez was the pilot of the Adam creation and the car ran fair but didn't set the Top Fuel world on fire. The twin project was soon abandoned and Adams went back to one injected Chrysler in A/FD.

The sleek Arnold and Talbot twin was very loud and had gobs of horsepower but the car was way too heavy to compete against the lighter single engine cars in the 1971 Top Fuel class. The partners soon split and the twin retreated into drag racing history.

Long time altered racer from Northern California, Terry Davis traded his Bantam altered ride for a beautiful candy orange, nitro burning twin Chevy digger in 1971. Davis didn't set the world on fire but he gave it his very best with a very limited budget.

Yes, it has two engines and it might be one of the first twins I ever saw run in Northern California. Scary, isn't it?