All of the pictures on this page were taken by Roger Phillips,
I am very grateful to him for the opportunity of reproducing them here.
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(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION) |
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So where were you in ’71? Before we take a third look at the 2nd Annual Supernationals maybe you’ll want to jog a few memories of how things were 40 years ago. Nixon was in the second year of his Presidency, nearly 200,000 US troops were still in Vietnam. Ted Heath had replaced Harold Wilson as Prime Minister and the troubles in Northern Ireland were beginning to escalate. On TV you might have watched Till Death Do Us Apart or All In The Family (same thing different country). If you watched the former then your telly had three channels, no satellite, no 24 hour television, not even commercial radio. Gasoline cost 36 cents a gallon and petrol cost 35p. At the cinema there was The French Connection and A Clockwork Orange, or you might’ve seen a couple of films namely THX 1138 and Duel from some new filmmakers called George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Depending on your age and musical tastes your record collection or 8 track cartridges could’ve included anything from Freddie King to Carole King, Perry Como to Yoko Ono but come November 1971 5 blokes from 3 corners of London known as Rod Stewart and The Faces had made a name for themselves when they simultaneously topped the album chart and singles chart on both sides of the Atlantic. Meanwhile at Ontario . . . |
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This was Top Fuel, present tense and future tense. The irony here was that while Steve Carbone, Ted Thomas and John Weibe (top row) qualified, Leland Kolb and Herm Petersen (nor Don Moody seen in the background of Herm’s photo) in their new rear engine dragsters did not. Just seven RED’s made the 32 car eliminator. Heck the concept was so new everyone was still arguing what to call them . . . back-motored . . . mid-engined . . . front-driven . . . Obviously ‘rear-engine’ came to stick, even if like many popular appellations it was a misnomer. |
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Let’s take a stroll round the pits . . . |
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But the Hawaiian wasn’t the only DNQ. Keeping company on the outside of the 7.06 bump was Denver’s Roger Guzman in Assassination, also from the high country Dick Custy in the Colorado Challenger, and the Ramchargers with new shoe Arnie Behling. |
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What can one write about Linda Vaughn, still drag racing’s most popular lady. While most mothers would probably say “You’re not going out dressed like that!” it was amusing to read at Hot Rod on-line that it was actually Linda’s mother who made all her outfits, even cutting the dresses to reveal “more smiles”. In the same interview Linda reveals Danny Ongais was her first sweetheart and if she hadn’t married Billy Tidwell and hitched up with Danny instead “I’d probably have 15 kids!” |
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Sponsored by Cox Models, who produced a 1/12th scale version of the dragster, Ongais employed the talent of Dan "Buzz" Broussard (in the blue jacket - also note a young Dave Uyehara striding into same picture) to tune his brand new racer. With a Youngblood caricature declaring “Death to Rear Eng Cars” painted on the Tom Hanna bodywork, clearly Danny’s heart was to stick with the slingshot design. But The Mangler didn’t qualify and Ongais left drag racing to go Indy racing - with near fatal consequences. For such a little run dragster, what happened to The Mangler after Ongais left the sport, anyone know? |
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Make your own jokes about Lil John Buttera and the size of his chopper. The shots of what appeared to be ‘Granddaddy’ Joe Smith putting in some exhibition passes at Ontario had us intrigued enough (no mention of any bike racing was made in any of the race reports) to send an email to Joe himself to ask for an explanation. |
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No excuse is necessary for a welter of California Charger pics. The dragster that launched a thousand model makers and simply one of the best looking teams drag racing ever had. Whatever wasn’t chromed was anodized and whatever wasn’t anodized was polished and whatever wasn’t polished didn’t exist. |
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Also catching Roger Phillips’ eye at the Supernats was OMS Queen Debbie Presto and the International Brotherhood of Street Racers. Instantly recognisable in his bowler hat, the ex-Vietnam soldier President “Big Willie” Robinson organised and promoted street racer meets from California to Florida. His wife Tomiko (in the dark blue denims) also organised all-women races and drove her own Dodge Charger ‘Queen Daytona’. Tomiko passed away in 2007 but after 5 decades of tirelessly working to get gang kids to the strips instead of street racing and fighting, larger than life character Big Willie is still pro-active in his community work. As promised, more Top Fuelers to savour. |
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TF 409 has to be Mike Martini and/or Paul Savadin from Texas. Plum Crazy was the ex-Kuhl & Olson slingshot, renamed and re-lettered but with the original Cerny paint job and owned and driven by Norco’s Don Thoren. |
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Now as Alexander Bell didn’t invent the telephone Garlits wasn’t the first to build a rear engine dragster; Mark Williams of Denver was amongst others who pre-dated Big Daddy with an RED he built for the Kaiser Bros in 1970. But just like everyone knows Motown but no-one ever heard of The Funk Brothers, Mark Williams, Bernie Schaker and Chuck Tanko were left in the shadows when the ’71 spotlight shone on Big. Not that history was bothering Frazier, Rice and Williams in their new Mark Williams RED - cutting a better green light was probably a more pressing matter. |
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“My Dad’s Mongoose McEwen!” You can imagine how proud that boast would be at school. We haven’t been able to establish which of Tom McEwen’s sons were at OMS but unfortunately dad sat outside the 7.06 bump spot despite everyone’s hard work to get the car repaired after the Lions fire. |
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More trips round the pits; looks like a young Tom Hoover stood in front of his Dodge FC. No sign of Mike Dunn in the Dunn & Reath pit, but then he was probably off pulling wheelies on his bicycle somewhere; Dad Jim appears to be behind the motor. Note the spare engine in the trailer, that was living large for such a low buck team. The Blue Max would be straight back on the match race trail following Ontario; note the 1971 Car Craft All-Star Award decal in the rear window. Just as he does today, Don Schumacher had a stable of cars back in the early '70s, but we have reason to believe that it was this particular flopper that Don brought to England in 1973 and sold to Santa Pod Raceway. Mart Higginbotham was an accountant and later treasurer on Don Garlits’ PRA/PRO breakaway association, the Drag-on logo was the trademark for Racing Fuels Inc. Do we need to point out Big John in the Mazmanian pit? The clue is in his name. With Doug Cook (of Stone Woods & Cook fame) twirling the wrenches and Mike Snively in the T-shirt and beanie hat, all was peaceful and relaxed compared to the rugby scrum prior to the Funny Car final. |
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Some writers criticised the lack of event advertising which apparently left OMS half empty on the Saturday. Looks full to capacity in these shots of Francis Crider and Mart Higginbotham, so I guess this was Sunday. How come we used to buy a grandstand seat and then never sit down in the old days? Were the seats that uncomfortable? Maybe. Did we never get tired? No. Was the drag racing more exciting? Answer that one yourself. The OMS finishline and the San Gabriel Mountains as seen from the top of the grandstand - I wonder what this view looks like today? |
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Okay we’ve reached the end now and it’s time to pack up and say goodbye to Ontario Motor Speedway 1971. The fire crew can stand down, trucks can be loaded up and there’s just one last photo opportunity for the English visitors. Linda Vaughn and June Cochran need no introduction but maybe only English fans will know it’s Dick Lawrence of Dick’s Place fame looking like he’s the cat that’s got the cream. Without Roger Phillips’ photos this feature simply wouldn’t have happened but an acknowledgement should be given to Tricky Dicky as he was the trip organiser for the party that included Santa Pod’s Bob Phelps and Ernie Braddick, journalist Mike Lintern, Roger and others. |
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Finally . . . call me sentimental or perverse but for all of Roger’s fantastic photos, this is my favourite. No cars, no strip action, just Ronnie Sox signing autographs and a bunch of happy fans. Someone else can do the philosophical stuff I just think it’s a great photo and a good way to end. Acknowledgements |
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Andy Barrack |
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All material on this site is copyright |
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(First posted on 20 November 2011) |
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