Tue, 28 Feb 2017, 19:12 PM Forgotten Class of Nitro Dragsters: Junior Fuelers II

By Steve Reyes Photo copyright 2017 Steve Reyes

In this second part of our story on junior fuel cars, we go back to my stomping grounds in Northern California where guys like George Santo's Goldfinger, The Galli Brothers, Vic Hubbard Speed & Marine, Speed City, Birky and Neal, Bill Landon, Gene Gilmore, Berry & McDaniel, Henry Walther, Carl Olson, Bob Stafford and Jim Brandy would take out their cars every weekend. These "little guy" fuelers would try to dethrone the likes of Gotelli and Milani, John Batto, Jim Davis, Don Cook, Dwight Bale, Dennis Baca, Gary Ormsby, Jim Herbert, Roger Harrington, Jimmy Haire, Noel Black, Dennis Hollingsworth, Jessie Perkins, Berry Brothers, Wulf and Loy, Rich Zoucha, Ritter & Kinner, Don Bowman, The Whiz Kids, and others. This was just a sampling of the blown fuelers that raced at Fremont.

Of course, you know what started this "David vs. Goliath" drag racing. A little injected nitro burning dragster from the Logghe Brothers with Maynard Rupp at the controls of the Michigan-based fuel car. The "slot racer" only raced for a short time in the mid-sixties but its fan base was huge. However, when clutch and tire improvements kicked in during the late 1960s, the "David and Goliath" racing became a part of drag racing history. It was fun to watch while it lasted. A big bad blown nitro burning dragster boiling its tires and going every which way in its lane to catch and pass that upstart injected fuel dragster before the end of the quarter mile. This could only happen in drag racing.

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The mid-1960s produced some very cool injected nitro burners and George Santo's
Goldfinger was one of them. The little Chevy fuel car was based out of Santos
S&S Automotive in Haywood, California. The driver was local boy Jim Perry and
he did well in the gold metal flake painted fuel car. In this 1966 pairing against
Santa Rosa, California, based Jimmy Haire. Perry says bye, bye to Haire and
his blown Chevy AA/FD.

It was the mid-1960s and Carl Olson had just finished a stint in the Coast Guard
and had the itch to go drag racing. Bay area resident Nick Mura owned a beautiful
injected Plymouth powered fuel car but he rarely raced it, only displaying it at car shows.
Olson convinced Mura to race the car and the car raced a few times at Fremont.
When Mura decided to sell the car, there was Olson with cash in hand. Carl raced his
Hooligan A/FD for a few years and then like a lot of junior fuel drivers, he got the call
to drive top fuel cars. In this instance, he drove for Southern California's top fuel racer
Jack Ewell. Ewell and Olson clicked and the pair terrorized the top fuel class in Southern
California. Oh yeah, Olson paired with Mike Kuhl in 1971 and in 1972 and they won
top fuel eliminator at the 1972 NHRA Winternationals.

Another pair of junior fuel racers from Sacramento and Reno, Nevada, were
Henry Walther and Bill Landon. Walther had limited time behind the wheel of his A/FD.
He also painted and lettered race cars and helmets. Landon, however, seemed to be
everywhere in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were great friends on and off the
race track. In fact, when Walther parked his A/FD he drove Landon's A/FD for a few races.

Junior fuel cars could be a lot of fun to photograph. Here, Gerald Enoch and
the Bad Guys A/FD blew the crankshaft out of the Chevy engine while Jimmy Ige driving
his Sons of the Rising Sun A/FD had the entire engine exit his junior fuel car. Both of these
photos were taken at Bakersfield, California. The third photo is Dave Dozier heading for
the moon with his hemi-injected powered fuel car at Fremont, California, in 1965.

In Northern California, the injected equipped racers had different versions of
race cars from 1965 to 1970. Although Leo Dunn didn't run nitro, his twin was a thing
of beauty. San Jose's Terry Davis ran nitro in his full-bodied twin and Vaughn Raviart
owned the Outcast A/FD in 1970 before Garlits and his rear-engine revolution.
The Fullmer Brothers raced their red and white rear-engine A/FD in 1965. The Lucky
Lager Double Crosser was a very short wheelbase injected digger. Also, this unknown
twin looked like a trash can sporting injected motor. Finally, this is the only junior fuel
car I ever saw that raced with a SOHC Ford engine on nitro with injectors;
it shall remain unknown.