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Click on any image to get the bigger picture |
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This
trawl into some of the illustrations I’ve done in the past concerns the origins
of the Santa Pod T-shirts I did in the last century (!), together with the brave
and concerted efforts of Andy Kirk and Mark Newby to put together a professional
Top Alcohol (Methanol) Funny Car team. |
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This was probably the most successful shirt I ever did. I mentioned to John that I had always wanted to paint just a big manly nitro engine on a shirt as that is the essence of Top Fuel, as against the weedy things that go in Formula 1 cars. John said go, so I went ahead. The Main Event was a new event for the Pod title with the Clash of the Titans slogan underneath. I used a print of Norm Wilding’s funny car engine for reference as you could see the whole front of it. Every pipe, wire and linkage was there and it was a swine to get right, but it sold like hot cakes and was in fact reprinted with a Santa Pod logo on the top. Ah, if only I was on commission . . . |
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Back in 1991, before the powers that be at the humble NHRA got uppity about us using ‘their’ title, the Euro Finals was known as the World Finals. As we had many more countries of the world competing than anywhere else, I felt it was apt. Anyway, I did a rendition of Conny Andersson’s handsome fueller, changing the colours to suit the five I was allowed to use for each shirt. Note my trademark Union Jack fueller at the bottom. This T-shirt sold out as well, I believe. |
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With the event shirts doing well, we wanted to address the motorcycle crowd which, though a large part of the scene, didn’t have top billing over the fuel cars. I came up with this generic Top Fuel bike shirt that could be sold all year round and it seemed to do okay - might have sold millions for all I know, I only ever got a fixed fee for the art. Actually, in a limited market, John had the hard bit, taking the risk by stumping up the funds to produce the event shirts - and if it rained . . . |
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Even though the black shirts were the way to go, the forthcoming 1992 Cannonball looked like it would be a summer scorcher so I took a gamble and went for a real pop art look using almost fluorescent paint on the vibrant stripes. The theme was Harlan Thompson in his distinctive ‘womble gear’ facemask and goggles with his Daytona funny car burning out on top. This turned out to be one of my favourite designs and thank heavens it never rained! |
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For the 1993 Cannonball, I decided on a car and occupied my fantasy flopper ideas with a couple of ‘what ifs’. Choosing two cars with a definite red, white and blue theme for the main illustration, I had Tony Froome with an Oldsmobile Firenza in Sundance colours. It even had the name of his old crewchief Graham Swann on the side of the blower fairing. Up above was '70s star Ron O’Donnell’s Damn Yankee with the latest ’93 Olds Achieva body. No-one ever mentioned these details so I wonder if anyone knew, noticed or cared about them. |
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The next season, I tried a different view of a funny car, using an Olds again painted up in a spurious (Mike) Hamby and (Dale) Pulde Warrior paint job. Note the film-billboard Funny Car Shootout lettering and multi-coloured dashes on the background. Very Haute Couture! The red panel missing on the car's nose would have been taken up with the red inked Budweiser Drag Series logo. Up top was an Aston Martin Virage funny car which was probably never noticed. Sometimes, I felt I was wasting my time . . . |
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As the 1990s were starting, drag racers became more aware of the need for healthy sponsorship in order to compete and campaign a car with the best equipment. Andy Kirk had been crew chief on a methanol dragster and Mark Newby had driven and had been responsible for the marketing on the successful Kopex-sponsored funny car. The two became pals with a common goal to get enough sponsorship to do the job properly. They had the old Panic Monza to be used as a show car and this Oldmobile bodied machine in Motorola/Storno colours was the first scheme I was commissioned to do. |
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A personal favourite was this Olds Funny Car in the turquoise and white colours of Atlas Copco who made air compressors for industry. The pink and yellow accent flashes were my idea to balance and warm up the rather cool main colours. Another of my trademarks was the driver race suit and helmet which I thought added an extra dimension in getting the impact over to sponsors. |
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One of the trickiest things to do is juggle colours and logos into an integrated design to satisfy the demands of a vehicle with more than one main sponsor. In the case of this blue and white Olds, Eldon colours were used with space given to Boss Fork Lift trucks and Thule roof racks. Note subtle Union Jack in rear wing endplate. This paint scheme was briefly used on Tony Betts’ Nissan 300ZX funny car when it was displayed at a show. |
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Mark Newby and Andy Kirk really could not have tried harder to secure funding but all their efforts were undermined by bad luck. An example was when they arranged for many sponsor guests to be entertained at a Euro Finals when it rained all weekend. The Boss fork lift truck people had already signed and the car, as per this rendition, was going to happen. However, apparently Andy Kirk went into a local newsagent for a packet of fags and read the headline that morning that the Boss forklift truck concern had gone bust. Marvellous! |
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Following the attempts to secure the methanol funny car funding, Mark Newby got involved with jet powered record breaking with Colin Fallows. Of course, they’ve had lots of success and I’ve done various artwork for their cars. This one has a caption that was self-explanatory, but they’ve not managed to go quite that fast – yet! |
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Mike Vickers is a talented funny bike rider and here’s a rendition I did of his Kawasaki machine in the colours of a bottled gas company. Notice that there is colour detail on everything from the front mudguard to helmet and leathers for maximum impact. The engine has been rendered fairly accurately too based on references to hand. |
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One of the great things about drag racing over here is the sheer variety of the machinery. Here’s the Cosmic Canary of Ivor Roffey lurking in the pits in the early eighties I suspect. A Sunbeam Rapier is not the obvious choice for a race car but anything goes, so why not? |
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Everyone recognises Steve Green’s Rover-powered Cortina in its John Woolfe Racing blue livery. This however, is how the car used to look early on when it was red and more of a street car. |
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Now this is how to body a funny car. I’ve long been a fan of Leif Helander as he appears to be one of the few racers who understand the worth of having a recognisable funny car body from your own country of origin. So ugly, it’s beautiful, this Saab must have taken a ton of work compared to importing a boring Camaro or the like, but the result is worth it. |
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Modern Top Fuel engines are efficient technological marvels but there’s not much can be seen of them under the ballistic duvets they are wrapped in. Early 70’s funny car engines, especially when polished marvels like the 426 Hemi in say Barry Setzer’s ’71 Vega, are gorgeous. As is this engine, the McGee 511 in the fueller of Stuart Valance and Jon Lovett, captured before any oil got on it. |
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Just occasionally, an old race machine is resurrected to be better than it ever was. The norm however, is a slow deterioration like the much reviled Mad Max Vega hybrid with its featureless shovel nose. |
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The Buttera-chassied Chadderton and Okasaki Vega went from Gladiator to Hustler, to Rain City Warrior to this. Still, it couldn’t get any worse. Oh, I forgot about the Kenworth body . . . |
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Saturday at the Pod in the early 1980s could be a desolate place on a bank holiday. Here’s one of the best looking cars of the era, the Rifle Jeans blown alky burner of Norm Wheeldon and Tim Claxton. The superb finish would not be out of place today. Notice the lack of even two men and a dog on the banking. Just me and a hapless friend shivering on the stands as usual then . . . |
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All material on this site is copyright and should not be reproduced without permission |
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