1st monocoque Dragster? (1 Viewer)

[TopFuel@Lions]

In my view the very first Monocock dragster was the B&N Automotive piece. This air frame ride was awarded to Mel Smothers in mid to early fall of 1967. This car id I recall correct weighed in at a very scant 375 to 400 lbs. sans engine and somewhere around 700 lbs. with get this, a very destroked Hemi in the neighborhood of just 250 cu.in. The wheelbase was around 170 to 180 inches at the time. That is light without the driver. I think Ansen Automotive may have been involved. Not sure how this car ran but I think I saw this thing do a couple of passes at Lions.

Ok Cliff, ready, set, go, time for a google search and a repost big time, LOL brother, did u ever see this piece?



TopFuel@Lions

 

[J. S.]

The two monocoque cars that come to my mind are the dragster that John Buttera built for himself that ended up being sold to Barry Setzer and run only one time, supposedly. And the other is the Mickey Thomson Maverick funny car. Both cars were really outstanding works of engineering and fabrication. The Buttera car was constructed with assistance from aluminum fabricator Louie Lechenoff. Not sure what all was the theory behind why this design was thought to possibly be an improvement over more conventional designs, but as I recall the Thompson car was difficult to work on, and was too stiff to get ahold of the track. The Buttera car was damaged in a wheelstand on the first pass, and while repairs were attempted, it was allegedly never run again, so perhaps one could say it's potential was never tested. But a very stiff frame has never been a recipe for success with the fuel cars so no other such cars have been built for the drags to my knowledge since those two. The Thompson car is in the NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, last I looked. The Buttera car is in the Garlits Museum.

 

[jimbo]

The MT monocoque FC was I believe a Mustang, not Maverick.Please correct if wrong.

 

[Cliff]

It was a Mustang. Those designs were pretty cool, really different from anything else.

Mark, I never even knew about this car. Now I gotta see what I can find. You had to tell me about this...... heh heh

 

[Cliff]

Nope, nada, nada. Did find Mel Smothers musician & artist and all that. Also looked under B & N Automotive and same results. I'd sent this to Phil Burgess & see if he can stir the pot (but not now, cuz he is going nuts w/ the upcoming Pomona race).

 

[None]

The prettiest car to ever run only once

It was inevitable that our long-running and ongoing discussion of wedge-shaped Top Fuelers would eventually get around to the beautiful but short-lived John Buttera-built monocoque dragster of Barry Setzer.

www.nhra.com

Couple of good pics of the Setzer car in this article

 

[Al]

Here's a couple of photos of the MT car, taken at the Wally Parks Museum in 2014. It's too bad the car isn't displayed with front body section open. You can see the seam where the front section opens up. I thought I had the (I believe) Hot Rod magazine with a feature on this car, but as yet, I haven't been able to find it. But I remember while reading the article (way back then !), I thought it would be very hard to work on the engine, just like Jon said. I don't ever remember seeing any race coverage where this car ran. But Mickey was always trying something new.

 

[J. S.]

Here's a couple of photos of the MT car, taken at the Wally Parks Museum in 2014. It's too bad the car isn't displayed with front body section open. You can see the seam where the front section opens up. I thought I had the (I believe) Hot Rod magazine with a feature on this car, but as yet, I haven't been able to find it. But I remember while reading the article (way back then !), I thought it would be very hard to work on the engine, just like Jon said. I don't ever remember seeing any race coverage where this car ran. But Mickey was always trying something new.

I have seen the Thompson car at the NHRA museum with the body section in the "up" position before, so it seems they vary the display from time to time.

 

[Gone Dead Train]

Here's a couple of photos of the MT car, taken at the Wally Parks Museum in 2014. It's too bad the car isn't displayed with front body section open. You can see the seam where the front section opens up. I thought I had the (I believe) Hot Rod magazine with a feature on this car, but as yet, I haven't been able to find it. But I remember while reading the article (way back then !), I thought it would be very hard to work on the engine, just like Jon said. I don't ever remember seeing any race coverage where this car ran. But Mickey was always trying something new.

Allan, I never saw any pictures of the car making a pass. Looked at a number of magazines in my collection. Nothing

 

[Al]

Allan, I never saw any pictures of the car making a pass. Looked at a number of magazines in my collection. Nothing

I figured that if anyone could find photos of this car with the body open it would be you Jim ! You never cease to amaze me !
At my age the memory isn't what it used to be, but I thought I remembered it being on the cover of a Hot Rod magazine, but I couldn't find it either.

 

[Gone Dead Train]

I figured that if anyone could find photos of this car with the body open it would be you Jim ! You never cease to amaze me !
At my age the memory isn't what it used to be, but I thought I remembered it being on the cover of a Hot Rod magazine, but I couldn't find it either.

Allan you aren't that old, you are only a couple of years older than me. Like I told you before my sister and I was
standing not more than 50 feet from you when you took that fantastic photo of the snake at SIR in 1971. I was 12
Look what I found.

Remember the late Gary Gabelich's rear engine monocoque four wheel drive Vega station wagon funny car.
This is the only picture. It made this one and only pass at OCIR 1972, crashed end of story.

 

[Dennis]

This may be an unfounded opinion, but that bolted on roll cage doesn't give me the warm fuzzies.

Also the conversation of monocoque dragsters is bringing back memories of Franklin Ratliff.

 

[J. S.]

This may be an unfounded opinion, but that bolted on roll cage doesn't give me the warm fuzzies.

Also the conversation of monocoque dragsters is bringing back memories of Franklin Ratliff.

You can see in the detailed pictures posted above, that even though the fuel cars of that era still didn't require much between-rounds maintenance, it would have been a Bitch to work on when necessary, especially with that unsuccessful Ford "Shotgun" engine.

 

[Cliff]

Pat Austin's 429 Ford Shotgun sure runs great now. I think it's a lot different than M/T's car.