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 ...

  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) T...

  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.             ...

  T.V. Tommy Ivo was one of the original Mouseketeers, when he wasn't acting he was Drag Racing. Tommy raced this 1976 Charger bodied Funny Car for the 1976-77 season. Years later it it was found in terrible condition. When all the parts were found it was rebuilt and painted by two-time Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon. Only a handful were made in 76' and this was confirmed to be the original body. The Charger features a Murff McKinney chassis with an all aluminum Keith Black 426 CI supercharged Hemi  engine. It Burns over five gallons of  nitro-methane in the quarter-mile. The body features a race day paint scheme in the Red,White & Blue  Rod Shop livery. All exterior sponsorship logos are painted on just like they were on 1976.                                                         ...