Shop Tour - Hardcore Drag Racing

       Drag Fest 2024!  

          A Funny Car for the street ?   In the 1960's funny cars were making their debut at the drag strips across America, and by the 70's they were the most popular class in Drag Racing. They had flashy paint jobs and covered the 1/4-mile in less then seven seconds! During the 60's & 70's many racing fans saw these ground pounding machines at the track and wanted to capture the same look for the street.  Craig Cochran had the idea and the skills needed to adapt a funny car for street driving. It had to have a flashy paint job, killer bodywork and plenty of horsepower.     The build started in 1971with a fiberglass body that was a mixture of a 1970 Camaro & Corvette, it was molded by Karr Manufacturing of Monson, Mass.  This car is street legal, its complete with head lights and tail lights. The exhaust system looks like came off a funny car, but they're hiding Sanderson baffles that are made from stainless 2-1/4 tubing.  Since it was titled the car only a

  Welcome to another installment of Women in Drag Racing. This week we had a chance to get to know Taylor Vetter. She comes from a family that has Drag Racing in their DNA. By day Taylor works for the city of North Las Vegas as an assistant to the city Director , on the weekends she races in different classes of the NHRA. She races in Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Dragster, and the Super Comp classes.  Currently she is the only Woman racing a blown alcohol Dragster and the only woman to go over 280 MPH, which makes her the fastest female  in a Blown Alcohol Dragster class. Taylor started racing JR. Dragsters when she was only eight years old and transitioned into a full scale car when she was just twenty. At that time she started bracket racing and started to race in Super Comp, then she moved up to Top Dragster for a couple of seasons. Taylor set her goals high and she achieved them, she licensed in Top Alcohol in 2020 and she's now competing in a Blown (supercharged) Top Alcohol

  The Legacy of Jack Chrisman Part I     Jack Chrisman was an American Drag Racer who had an active racing career that started in 1953 and ended with retirement in 1972,but he remained active behind the scenes.   Throughout his career he raced at Southern California tracks such as Lions, Pomona,Riverside, San Fernando & Santa Ana. Jack wasn’t just an inovator he was also a record setter.  In 1961 he drove the Howard Cams Twin Bears gas dragster to the first 8-second run in NHRA national event history and won the first ever Winter Nationals with an 8.99 second pass.     Chrisman won the 1961 World Championship after winning in national, regional, and divisional meets throughout the United States. In 1962 Jack joined Mickey Thompson’s team where he drove the Tommy Ivo-built A/Gas Dragster to an 8.34 second pass,giving him the Top eliminator crown at the U.S nationals.                                         J ack Chrisman with Mickey Thompson. Mickey is turning the wrenches on

    This is the Mr. Norm's Grand-Spaulding Dodge Super Challenger Funny Car, the same that raced in 1971 following the notorious string of Dodge Chargers and one of the final machines under Gary Dyer’s control.   That electric blue metal-flake paint can probably be seen from outer space,it definitely makes the car stand out up in the bleachers, but there's plenty more subtle detail from the blown and injected Hemi to the ultra clean cockpit complete with a Pistol Grip shifter.   Norm Kraus was more than a car owner, he was also the owner of the most famous Dodge dealership from the super-Car era, Grand Spaulding Dodge in Chicago. Norm started his series of professional-grade funny cars in 1965 and were driven by Gary Dyer nationwide.  This time capsule began with a Romeo Palamides chassis, and it’s still equipped with some of the best speed equipment of the era.   The supercharged 426 CI Hemi V-8 engine hosts four-port Hilborn fuel injection and a Bowers magnesium blow