Sat, 05 Nov 2016, 15:03 PM My Favorite Fifty- Part 3

By Steve Reyes Photo copyright 2016 Steve Reyes

So, have you tired of the fifty year funny car blitz from the media? I guess if you are reading this, you are a funny car fan from day one and need a funny car fix anyway. Well, this is my third set of ten fabulous funny cars from the golden era of drag racing. Remember my picks are favorites that delighted me and my camera. Sure everyone has their favorites and hopefully many of you agree with my selection. I realize many have not seen or heard of some of my picks. Trust me, any car on my list deserves to be there. So enjoy another stroll down funny car memory lane.

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The best way to describe Kalamazoo, Michigan, based funny car owner/driver,
Dick Loehr, was that he was a businessman and a gentleman. Loehr's Stampede
Mustang funny car became well known on the touring circuit with his big time
burn-outs and hard charging runs. Loehr left the funny car class to become a Ford
team pro stock racer in 1970. When Ford suddenly quit pro stock about a year later,
they left Loehr with no car and no sponsor. Disgusted, Loehr quit drag racing to
devote time to his business and family.

Of all the Stardust funny cars that Don Schumacher raced, this is the one I enjoyed the most.
It was the Logghe built 'Cuda that was originally built for Butch Leal. When Leal quit funny car
racing, he told Logghe to sell it and Schumacher was there with cash in hand to buy it.
This 'Cuda thundered down the track in the winter of 1969 at Irwindale, California, at the Grand Prix
of drag racing. Schumacher pulled out the funny car eliminator win that year.

Not many of you were able to see Eddie Pauling and the Whinemaker rear engine Cougar
funny car and boy did you miss out. This Arizona based car was the second rear engine
Whinemaker to hit the quarter-mile, the first was a Mopar bodied funny car. Anyway, Pauling
was fun to watch in the rear engine Cougar. Smoke filled burnouts and runs
(with a few giant wheel-stands in the mix) delighted Arizona and southern California fans.
With all the performance problems, the team switched to a regular front motor funny car in the early 1970s.

A real fan favorite was Warren Gunter's Durachrome Bug AA/FC. This Southern California
based VW Beetle bodied funny car bounced off every guardrail at every race track in
Southern California. Gunter was a "never say die" kind of racer and he would just fix his VW and
come back to the track for more. The word was Gunter never made a full pass down the race track
because of handling issues but that is not true because Warren and his VW won a big time
funny car show in Louisiana while on tour.

After Harry Schmidt split with partner Mike Burkhart in late 1968, Harry went solo with an all new
Hardy built Ramcharger powered Mustang. Police officer and part time driver Paul Gordon was
at the controls. Of course, this car soon became Schmidt's Blue Max with Jake Johnston driving.

Nelson Carter's Super Chief had quite an array of drivers. Dave Beebe, Byran Teal, Steve Bovan
and Tim Grose all sat behind the wheel of Carter's line of Super Chief funny cars. My favorite is
pictured with Dave Beebe driving the Oklahoma based Charger AA/FC at OCIR in 1969.

Another Southern California favorite was "Daring" Gary Gabelich driving Don Kirby's Beach City
Chevrolet Corvette funny car. I liked Gabelich and he always wanted to put on a show for the
paying fans in the stands. It is too bad this funny car wasn't around a long time. Gabelich burned
it to the ground at Irwindale and then after a rebuild Ron Goodsell took over the driving duties.
With Goodsell driving, the Corvette funny car became the first and only funny car to burn to the
ground on a Los Angeles freeway.

Even Ralph Nader would have enjoyed the Guzman and Dekker Assassination Corvair funny car.
The Colorado based team raced one of the nicest and fastest Corvair bodied funny cars in the USA.
The duo had a show and go funny car in the class for many years afterwards.

I only saw Al Fontanini once but he really impressed me as a future star in the funny car class.
His driving style was similar to Jim Liberman's wild driving style. Fontanini's fate was sealed a
few months after this photo was taken. While sitting at an East Coast toll booth, his truck/funny car
carrier was rear ended by a gasoline tanker that had lost its brakes. The explosion and fire killed
Fontanini and his crew chief Bob Christianson. Such a waste, he could have been a star.

Big Mike Burkhart was three hundred pounds of smiles and fun and he had been around since
the real early days of funny car racing in Texas. Mike was always in the middle of Texas racing.
He not only raced some very cool funny cars but also helped start the racing careers of Harry Schmidt,
Mart Higginbotham, David Ray, Charlie Therwhanger and Raymond Beadle. Yeah, Mike was good
people and his 1968 Camaro shown here hauled butt.