1969 OCIR Manufacturers Lineup (1 Viewer)

[sammi]

I was cruising my dad's drag racing scrap book and found the program to the '69 OCIR Manufacturers Championships.

Mercury Team-Don Nicholson, Eddie Schartman, Dee Keaton, Pete Gates and Jack Chrisman

Plymouth Team-Butch Leal, Fred Goeske, Cecil Yother, Clare Sanders and Larry Reyes

Pontiac Team-Lew Arrington,Steve Montrelli, Jim Liberman, Don Sappington and Don Gay (perhaps the prettiest funny car ever....)

Ford Team-Gas Ronda, Dick Loehr, Tommy Grove, Larry Barker and Paul Stephansky

Dodge Team-Gary Dyer, Charlie Allen, Al VanDerWoude, Roger Lindamood(gets the title for the best funny car name) and Rich Hammons

Chevy Team-Dick Harrell, Ron O'Donnell, Doug Thorley, Pete Seaton and Kelly Chadwick

....I guess it goes without saying that the 11 year old who was there that night didn't know he wouldn't see it any better.

FYI -Check out the event schedule
1:30p.m. gates open
2p.m. time trials and qualifying
6p.m. entries and tech closes
7p.m. all funny cars on the track for introductions
7:30p.m. first round
10:30p.m.presentation of awards (and round one of the pit fights....)

Also in the program was the race report from the previous weekend stating that Don Prudhomme ruined the race debut of the Beebe and Mulligan full body car with a 7.28 220mph.

Mark

 

[Randy]

I went to a few of those.

 

[junglevsbrutus]

I was cruising my dad's drag racing scrap book and found the program to the '69 OCIR Manufacturers Championships.

Mercury Team-Don Nicholson, Eddie Schartman, Dee Keaton, Pete Gates and Jack Chrisman

Plymouth Team-Butch Leal, Fred Goeske, Cecil Yother, Clare Sanders and Larry Reyes

Pontiac Team-Lew Arrington,Steve Montrelli, Jim Liberman, Don Sappington and Don Gay (perhaps the prettiest funny car ever....)

Ford Team-Gas Ronda, Dick Loehr, Tommy Grove, Larry Barker and Paul Stephansky

Dodge Team-Gary Dyer, Charlie Allen, Al VanDerWoude, Roger Lindamood(gets the title for the best funny car name) and Rich Hammons

Chevy Team-Dick Harrell, Ron O'Donnell, Doug Thorley, Pete Seaton and Kelly Chadwick

....I guess it goes without saying that the 11 year old who was there that night didn't know he wouldn't see it any better.

FYI -Check out the event schedule
1:30p.m. gates open
2p.m. time trials and qualifying
6p.m. entries and tech closes
7p.m. all funny cars on the track for introductions
7:30p.m. first round
10:30p.m.presentation of awards (and round one of the pit fights....)

Also in the program was the race report from the previous weekend stating that Don Prudhomme ruined the race debut of the Beebe and Mulligan full body car with a 7.28 220mph.

Mark

This is great historical OCIR info.
However, the teams as listed are from the inaugural '67 Mfrs. Meet, not '69.

 

[sammi]

You are absolutely correct. I got the old program out and saw I was incorrect.

 

[Cliff]

That's OK Mark. Welcome to the Cliff Morgan Club.

 

[junglevsbrutus]

You are absolutely correct. I got the old program out and saw I was incorrect.

Hi Mark, you've got something quite rare there and I sure wish I owned one!
OCIR's Mfrs. Meets were my favorite drag races to attend as a kid but we weren't as lucky as your dad--we missed the first one. Still too young to drive, we made sure that an elder would take us to the next OCIR mega FC race. It was not the '68 Mfrs. Meet held in NOV, but a rare, slightly scaled down version of the team race. Held on the first weekend of May it was called the '68 1/2 Funny Car Team Championships. The word Manufacturers was probably left off to avoid confusion w/ the NOV event. For '69 and thereafter this MAY race was renamed to the "Big 4 Funny Car Championships."

The May '68 race was great....but paled in comparison to the November race. That '68 Mfrs. Meet is still my all time favorite drag race.
I never saw that many colorful, headliner FCs in one setting again! Although the '70 MM was the greatest in terms of performances '68 and '71 are my favorites.
'70 was too lopsided in favor of Dodge and Plymouth. But once the hemi became standard FC equipment GM and Ford's competitive level returned. The '71 event was the last great Mfrs. Meet for me. The majority of out-of-state FC's stopped attending. Rapidly rising costs made the cross country trip unaffordable for most teams.

 

[Cliff]

The one that made the biggest impression on me was the year the Blue Max ran that 6.72 ET. That was T/F territory....

 

[junglevsbrutus]

The one that made the biggest impression on me was the year the Blue Max ran that 6.72 ET. That was T/F territory....

Cliff, that was the 1970 race. Yes, in 5 months the top FCs went from 6.99 (Ramchargers-Goldstein at the NY National AHRA event) to 6.72 at the NOV Mfrs. Meet. But the '70 event was the "lopsided" one that I mentioned. If it wasn't for the Blue Max's amazing performances and grand finale win it would've been virtually an all Dodge and Plymouth race. Even though OCIR no longer required matching motors/bodies the GM and Ford teams were devoid of headliners or strong performers (outside of Schmidt-Johnston). Unfortunately Jungle Jim and Flash Gordon DNQ. And Roger Guzman chose to run a Plym. body for this year instead of his traditional Chevys (Corvairs, Vegas). But we forgave him cause that '70 Assassination Cuda was gorgeous! This was the one w/ the rainbow "pizza wedges" on top and the butterscotch outline on the sides of a pearl white body---and it looked bitchen!

 

[Rajunz]

I always thought that the way that they lined the guardrails for these photos was the coolest thing ever!

 

[TopFuel@Lions]

Nice post, I went to all of them from the start in 67, my view the best one with the 1970 second best. Any of you folks go to each and every one?

TopFuel@Lions
Talladega Announcer
2021 Races Attended

 

[Cliff]

The tower still looks modern even today.

 

[junglevsbrutus]

Lance, that's a nice round of OCIR Mfrs. Meet pix!
Photos 1, 3 and 4 are from the '71 race. That year probably had the greatest list of DNQ funny cars: Whipple-McCulloch, Big John Mazmanian, Ramchargers, Custom Body, Fighting Irish, Drag-On Vega, Motown Shaker and Shirley. That's how huge the field was during FRI night qualifying! As I said earlier, many Eastern teams quit coming after '71.

Photo 2 was from the twice rained out '69 Mfrs. Meet; it was finally held on SUN afternoon after 2 SAT rain outs (ditto for '68). '69 was also the only time a Wacky Racers team was offered. It was for mismatched motors/bodies, AMCs and Jeeps.

Photo 5 is the '68 1/2 Funny Car Team Championships that I mentioned earlier. Instead of 5 cars per team it was only 4, probably cause most Eastern teams left CA after MAR. Still, this early May race featured the Rambunctious Dart (Snow's first flip-top), Flying Dutchman Charger, Gay Bros' rainbow Firebird, Dick Loehr/Max Curtis Ford, Goeske/Hemi-Cuda II, Dick Harrell (his first flip-top too and the only time I ever saw Mr. Chevrolet), Super Chief (still "Imperial Kustoms" here), Chrisman's Kendall GT-1 Comet, and the 777 Cougar. The expected locals like Ronda, Pisano, Alley, Blue Hell, Vicious Too w/ Dale Pulde and Charlie Allen's blue Dart filled the rest of the field.

 

[junglevsbrutus]

Nice post, I went to all of them from the start in 67, my view the best one with the 1970 second best. Any of you folks go to each and every one?

TopFuel@Lions
Talladega Announcer
2021 Races Attended

Mark, I went from '68 until '72. I may have attended the '73 race but cannot find any saved pit passes or programs like the earlier years.
I also attended the spring version of the '68 race in May (see above).

 

[junglevsbrutus]

The tower still looks modern even today.

Cliff, from a pure architectural stand point, I don't believe drag racing ever had a better looking tower! I'm sure today's "3 shoe box" design towers/suites feature much better amenities. But they have little aesthetic appeal.

 

[TSK]

In the image with the timing tower it looks like the Invader Corvette on the left side of the picture.

 

[Gone Dead Train]

In the image with the timing tower it looks like the Invader Corvette on the left side of the picture.

It sure is "The Invader" Corvette body nitro flopper. Looks like driver "Mighty Mike" VanSant next to the car?

AA/FC It's 1970 the Solano & VanSant "Invader" at the County.

 

[Cliff]

You can also see The Greek's funny car in same photo. Don't remember if the Greek drove it or had a driver. I read a story once that Garlits thought about running his own Mopar F/C, but that the promoters wanted him to stay with the dragster. Emory Cook drove that topless F/C that Garlits ran once and then he also had his name on an alky F/C.

https://flic.kr/p/4XcegF

The Greek below

70s Funny Cars - Round 40

A nostalgic look back at drag racing funny cars from the 1970s.

www.70sfunnycars.com

 

[Gone Dead Train]

You can also see The Greek's funny car in same photo. Don't remember if the Greek drove it or had a driver. I read a story once that Garlits thought about running his own Mopar F/C, but that the promoters wanted him to stay with the dragster. Emory Cook drove that topless F/C that Garlits ran once and then he also had his name on an alky F/C.

https://flic.kr/p/4XcegF

The Greek below

70s Funny Cars - Round 40

A nostalgic look back at drag racing funny cars from the 1970s.

www.70sfunnycars.com

Cliff, remember when Garlits let Gary Bolger use his name on this Dodge Charger body nitro plastic fantastic in 1971.
It had to make getting bookings a lot easier. They even made a diecast a few years back.

 

[Cliff]

Jim, the story about the above car is that it was only a 2 month deal & everything fell apart. On this car & also the alky F/C, Garlits received a part of the earnings. If Garlits HAD run his version of this car, I bet it would have kicked butt. But then again, these cars weren't called "shake & bake" for nothing, so glad Garlits didn't have to get burned in one.
Interesting that the topless car really was a forecast of what F/C turned into, basically a short front motor T/F car.

 

[Gone Dead Train]

Jim, the story about the above car is that it was only a 2 month deal & everything fell apart. On this car & also the alky F/C, Garlits received a part of the earnings. If Garlits HAD run his version of this car, I bet it would have kicked butt. But then again, these cars weren't called "shake & bake" for nothing, so glad Garlits didn't have to get burned in one.
Interesting that the topless car really was a forecast of what F/C turned into, basically a short front motor T/F car.

Didn't know the Bolger & Garlits deal only lasted 2 month. Did the car ever come west of the rockies? The picture I posted
is from Super Stock & Drag Illustrated, funny car meet at York U.S. 30 drag strip in PA. Did see Bolger a few times here in the
Northwest. I think the last time was 1996, Gary was in the seat of Dale Creasy Sr. nitro flopper.
"Shake & Bake" classic! It did seem like for 3 or 4 years in the early 70s a funny car was on fire. Remember FC meets at Seattle
there was always a few floppers with primer on the body from a fire the weekend before.

From the early 70s "Shake & Bake"