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The front-engine dragster was an evolution from earlier front-engine hot rods and initially was a car from which all non-essential parts, including the body, had been removed to reduce weight, making the earliest dragsters essentially a production car chassis with a "souped-up" engine. These early dragsters were nicknamed "rails", due to the ...
He later became involved in the new sport of drag racing. Over the course of his career, Thompson set more speed and endurance records than any other man in automotive history. He is credited with designing and building the first slingshot dragster , in 1954, moving the seat behind the rear axle to improve traction when existing racing tires ...
In the late 1940s, Epperly went to work for Frank Kurtis building racing car bodies; this led to a lifelong career in the racing business.. During the mid-1950s Epperly opened his own shop in Lawndale, California, and in 1957 he assisted chassis designer George Salih in the construction of a radical approach in racing car design which placed a four-cylinder Offenhauser engine on its side ...
Chuck Beal Racing is a drag racing company owned by professional drag racer Chuck Beal. [2] The company is located in San Diego, California. [1] Chuck Beal started as a racer of front- and rear-engine vehicles until he changed to the alcohol funny car class and then nitro-class vehicles. [2]
The front engine dragster came about due to engines initially being located in the car's frame in front of the driver. The driver sits angled backward, over the top of the differential in a cockpit situated between the two rear tires, a design originating with Mickey Thompson's Panorama City Special in 1954, as a way of improving traction. [1]
Devin also bought out the stock of a Panhard dealer in California, acquiring ten chassis with engines but no bodies. [3]: 61 Devin designed his own ladder frame for a custom race car that used the engine and front-wheel drive transaxle from the Panhards. The wheelbase of this chassis was 2,134 millimetres (84 inches).
Woody Gilmore (2 February 1933 – 3 July 2020) was a dragster and funny car chassis builder in the 1960s and 1970s. [1] Gilmore built the chassis for the top fuel streamliner Hustler VI in 1965. [2] In 1968, Doug Thorley bought a rear-engined Javelin funny car from Gilmore, powered by an AMC 401. [3]
Ronnie Scrima is an American dragster and funny car chassis builder.. He was responsible for the streamliner slingshot dragster Scrimaliner in 1964. [1]After Logghe Bros. (based in Detroit [2]) proved unable to keep up with demand, a funny car chassis-building industry developed.