The Early 1960s

The second decade of rear-engine dragster design expanded and extended the work of the pioneers of the fifties. These photos show a sampling of some of those cars.

Ken Miller

ca. 1960

"Tiller Miller" dual Pontiac-powered dragster

Speed Sport Special II

1960-65

Tucson, Arizona. Lyle Fisher and Red Greth installed a blower on the fuel-burning Chrysler prior to setting out on the '25 T modified roadster's national tour in 1960. 187.50 mph. Click here to see 8mm movie footage of Speed Sport II; (1) begins at 2:24 mark and goes to 2:33 mark, and (2) begins at 3:16 mark and goes to 3:24 mark of the video. 

Marr & Carruthers

1960

Sacramento, California. Dave Marr (driver) and Lynn Carruthers. Chrysler. 149 mph.

Stu's Transmission Shop Sidewinder

1960

Long Beach, California. Debuted at Lions Drag Strip in 1960. Click here to see video footage of the car making its first runs at Lions. Film from the Nakamura Film Collection. Junji Nakamura wrote: "Stu's Transmission had a corner on the transmission market. It was located just around the corner from Bixby Knolls central and the famous Cherry Avenue drags location. They were in a block long row of custom car places, paint shops, chrome accessories and wheel/alignment/tire shops, the famous Henry's Machine Shop and of course, Jocko's. The whole era of teenagers from Bixby Knolls used that location for their speed goodies and manufacturing stuff.

Jim Fox/Merrill Speed Shop

1960

Southern California. Chrysler-powered A/MFR driven by Jim Fox, 134 mph top speed

Magwinder/Sidewinder Plus One

1960-63

Built by Kent Fuller with a body by Wayne Ewing, it was owned by Chuck Jones and driven by Jack Chrisman. Later sold to Bill Mann. Lastly run by Hammel-Cullinan & Mulvey from Lancaster, California.

Tony Beckers

1960-61

Des Moines, Iowa. He ran a single Harley-Davidson engine in 1960, clocking about 100 mph in 14 seconds. He made it a dual-engine H-D dragster in 1961, improving his times to 115 mph in 12.8 seconds.

George Cerny

1960

Compton, California. Chevy-powered modified roadster. Click here to see one of the earliest shots of George Cerny, helping the roadster off of the starting line at Lions, due to some malfunction. Film from the Nakamura Film Collection.

Hedrich & McClure

1961

Altadena, California. Holly Hedrich and Bob McClure. 392 c.i. Chrysler A/MR. 158 mph in B/MR using a 331 c.i. Chrysler.

Jack McAfee Motors Special

1961

Burbank, California. Porche Super 90-engined X/D owned and driven by Jack McAfee. 105 mph top speed.

Sidewinder II

1961

Paul Nicolini designed this "Sidewinder II". It was owned by Jim Cambior and Chuck Jones. The engine was built by Joe Maillard and Jack Chrisman drove the car. Wayne Reed also owned it at one time, using Jack Chrisman as the driver.

Dugan & Turnow

1961

Coleman Bros. Speed Shop Chassis Research Special

1961-62

Baltimore, Maryland. Earl Howard (driver)

Ted Cyr's Sidewinder

1961

B fuel Chevy-powered dragster. Driven by Emery Cook. 170.13 mph top speed

Chet Herbert

1962

Driven by Zane Shubert. Chevy-powered sidewinder dragster. [2nd photo courtesy of Dennis Friend]

Speed Sport IV

1962-64

Phoenix, Arizona. Lyle Fisher, Don Sullivan & Red Greth (driver). Three aircraft-engine starter turbine engines. 161.98 mph. Bottom photo courtesy of Ted Sitterley

Cook Bros., Jahns, & Hedges

1962

295 c.i. Dodge C/FD. 180 mph+. They initially had a tricycle configuration, but later switched to a four-wheel setup.

Sidewinder Plus 1

1962-64

Lancaster, California. Hammel, Cullinan, & Mulvey. 170 mph top speed on fuel.

Israeli Rocket

1963-65

Miami, Florida. Top Gas dragster of Cohen, Shapiro, Sonnenblik, and O'Brien. Driven by Paul Shapiro. Ran a blown Olds in 1963 (when driven by Leroy Goldstein) and a blown Dodge with Orner injector in 1964-65. 8.71 ET.

Scrima & Bacilek

1963

377 c.i. Chevy on fuel. Ronnie Scrima, George Bacilek, and Roy "Goober" Tuller (driver).

Johnson & Spackman

1964

Desoto-engined D/FMR. 158 mph top speed.

Tony Nancy/The Wedge/Century Olds

1963-66, 1969-71

Sherman Oaks, California. Gas dragster. 179.28 mph top speed. Wedge I ran from 1963-64 before it was destroyed during a run at Sandusky, Ohio. Nancy built a replacement car, Wedge II, in 1964-65, running in succession a Plymouth Hemi, a Chrysler Hemi, then a blown Olds. He toured the car in Australia and Italy in 1966 before returning to the States and storing it. Gary LeDuc, of North Hollywood, bought the car from Tony Nancy in 1969, running it through 1971 as an A/GD with an injected Buick engine and automatic transmission.

S & M Speed Shop

1964

Buffalo, New York. Jim and Dan Sivenpiper. 170 mph top speed in A/FD.

Modern Specialist

1964

Long Beach, California. Doug Church, Bob Cowan, and Doc Hunt. Porche Spyder Carrera engine. 104 mph top speed.

Hatfield Brothers A/FMR

1964-65

Southern California. Construction completed in November 1964. Unfortunately it crashed in early 1965 at Lions and was never rebuilt.

Nasty I & II

1965

Somerville, Massachusetts. A & B Speed Shop sponsored a rear engine car owned by Al Czerniak, Ron Still, and Joe Jacono. The photo shows "Nasty 1" which ran in the early 1960s, but "Nasty 2" debuted in 1965 and had a longer wheelbase and was much more streamlined. It was billed as the world's fastest rear-engine streamliner.

Dart Charger/Polka Dart/Don Garlits' Dart

1965-66

Dodge contracted Dick Branstner to build an experimental car. He and Jay Howell used a '64 Dart, putting a blown nitro-fueled 426 Chrysler in the rear of the driver. Roger Lindamood also drove it. The car recorded a top speed of 173 mph before the car was given to Don Garlits in 1966 at Branstner's request. Garlits made some modifications to the drive train and engine placement. Emery Cook was driving at Detroit Dragway on June 11, 1966, when the car was completely destroyed in a crash.

The Cotton Picker

1965-66

NASCAR driver David Pearson drove this exhibition Dodge Dart station wagon in exhibition match races for owner Cotton Owens. It was powered by a fuel-burning Hemi in the back of the wagon.

Strode Brothers

1962-65

Washington. Bob and Jim Strode, from Kirkland, Washington, built a '27 Ford-bodied modified roadster running a blown small-block Chevy on gas. In 1964 they sold it to Ken Mahan and Jack Verhelst, racers from Bremerton, Washington. 174 mph top speed.

Unidentified

1960s

Unidentified

1960s?

Southern California. Modified roadster.

The Texsun II

1960s?

Modfied roadster.

Unidentified

1960s?

Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Unidentified

1960s?

The driver is sitting under the hood in this modified roadster, Just above the Mooneyes decal is a little window which enables the driver to see out to the sides, and the front grill shell is covering a piece of clear plastic so he can see where he is going.