Surfers Part 2

[Cliff]

Surfing Safari, Part 2: The Surfers, the Hawaiian, Hondas, and Jim Morrison (!)

Words of admiration and old stories keep rolling in after the passing of Tom Jobe, resulting in some more touching tributes and interesting stories about the fabled Surfers Top Fuel team of the 1960s.

www.nhra.com

Thanks Phil Burgess for these great articles!

 

[mick]

the cinnamon girl w/guitar ........ ultra cool

 

[Dragracer]

I remember working at Cerny's Custom Paint when Gordon Tatum brought the car in for painting. George Cerny Jr put a absolutely beautiful paint job on it and with the great body it was one of the best looking cars out there. I believe that Tom Hanna has finally been able to acquire the car and is looking at restoring it. It is in the original condition with the same body and paint as when it left Cerny's shop.

 

[TopFuel@Lions]

Cliff, were you there at Famoso when they won the March Meet? The enthusiasm of the fans the weekend was something, dad and I really got into it, we had watched that team so much at Lions and San Fernando. One of the best AA/FD shows ever.


TopFuel@Lions

 

[Cliff]

Hi Mark. No, didn't see the Surfers win Bakersfield. I was with my uncle.... Uncle Sam. US Air Force. In 1966, was stationed at Walker AFB in Roswell, NM. Yes, THAT Roswell. However, we did have a drag strip on base, old runway that wasn't being used, so we got to run the drags there in 1966. We had a funny car match race, the Orange Blossem Spl Mopar, injected engine, altered wheelbase. Went off against Eddie Marchak (spl??), who had a Mustang with a blown Ford engine. The Mopar won 2 straight, cuz the Mustang was up in smoke every run. I think Dr Dean Hill, out of Las Cruces. NM, ran with an A/FD one time and those were the fastest cars. I think we had cars from all over New Mexico & West Texas that ran at the track. Don't remember if we were sanctioned or not.