1969 OCIR Manufacturers Lineup (2 Viewers)

[junglevsbrutus]

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, Ron O'Donnell was driving the Greek's first FC at this '69 Mfrs. Meet. Snag was kinda like the Midwest's version of Pat Foster. That is, both drove so many different nitro cars. At the Mfrs. Meets Ron drove the '67 Chapman Out 'A Site Camaro, the '69 Greek Cuda and the '71 Damn Yankee Cuda. My OCIR programs and magazine reports do not show Ron at the '70 MM. Jungle Jim himself did not qualify for the event. However, a second JJ Camaro raced in Rd. 3 as an alternate (vs. the previously mentioned Invader Corvette). But my program scorecard doesn't say who drove "Jungle Jim #2." My guesses would be Arnie Behling....or Ron O'Donnell.

 

[junglevsbrutus]

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.

Cliff/Jim, Back in the early 2000's we talked about this FC on the old Yahoo FC Groups message board. I can't verify what I'm about to say. However....if I'm not mistaken this was the same FC and team as the '71 Golddigger that made a big splash that year. I recall hearing that Bud Richter and Gary Bolger worked out that short term deal w/ Don Garlits. I don't know why it ended. However, the Garlits Charger didn't have nearly the success as the Golddigger Mach 1. They won the Pop Hot Rodding Nationals that year, plus many more match races.

I'm sharing 2 photos of the Golddigger at the '71 Mfrs. Meet. Except for the fuel tank the main features match: LSC dragster style chassis, Bergler tin, hemi/headers, American wheels and wheelie bars. Also note the pale orange chassis paint in the OCIR pix. The light gray in the Garlits York photo would be an appropriate b/w interpretation of that orange. BTW, that York photo was most likely taken at the '71 Super Stock Nationals. Don Garlits' 1994 Pictorial series shows the Charger racing Shoe's Stardust at this race. Both photos have overcast conditions.

I really liked this '71 Golddigger Mach 1. The amount of competitive Ford FCs had gotten low in the early '70s and this one came on strong. Like the other IL funny cars it was a product of the region: LSC, Bergler and LTD body. To save cost and weight the Golddigger had its color as impregnated metalflake into the body. Much like Dunn & Reath and Mr. Norm's cars (red '70 Charger, '71-72 blue Challengers) this Mach 1 had the gold embedded into the fiberglass. It only needed the blue accents and lettering to complete the Golddigger look! It was a treat to see this Richter-Bolger FC at the '71 Mfrs. Meet, the only time we SoCal fans saw it run. And Jim, no, I don't believe the '71 Garlits Charger ever traveled to the Western half of the US.

 

[Cliff]

Read the caption about the Garlits F/C below.

70s Funny Cars - Round 12

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

70sfunnycars.com