Vintage Race Car of the Week: Bruce Larson's 1966 ChevelleBy Brian Lohnes Posted 03/24/09
It’s darn near impossible to nail down who exactly had the “first” Funny Car and when it debuted. Dick Landy’s 1964 altered-wheelbase Dodge is most often credited, but different factors of consideration will lead to different results. What we will commit to is the fact that around 1965 and 1966 there were a mess of killer cars built that all contributed something to the evolution of the Funny Car. Bruce Larsen’s Chevelle was certainly one of them.
Bruce Larsen had been drag racing since the mid-‘50s in the Pennsylvania area and developed a solid reputation as one of the fastest guys in the region. Larsen was working for Sutliff Chevrolet, running their dyno and tuning customer cars for performance. He was also drag racing a Cobra at the time. After being approached by principles of the dealer and steered toward racing a Chevy, he was able to talk the family that owned the joint into funding his vision of a Funny Car.
When you see the Chevelle in pictures it looks like a slightly altered steel body, but it’s not. The whole thing is fiberglass, hand built by a company that built boats in the proximity of the Sutliff dealership. The doors function and those factory chrome door handles are not just for decoration, they work. The chassis was based on 2x3 boxed steel rails and a rudimentary tube structure was built off of that. To say that these cars aren’t quite as sophisticated as a modern Funny Car would be the understatement of the decade.
Power was provided by factory parts. An iron-headed 427ci big-block Chevy, which was stroked out to 454ci, was used to make the steam. It was fuel injected with a Hilborn system and some forward-leaning injector tubes that would become the car’s trademark. It ran on nitromethane.
The car started life with a Muncie M-22 manual transmission but was far too violent and destructive, bringing on the change to a B&M-built Turbo 400 soon after the car was put to work.
It took Larsen and a couple of dedicated assistants three months to build the car. Looking from the side, you can tell that the wheelbase has been changed. The front wheels have been moved forward 4 inches and the rear axle came ahead a foot.
The front end used a tube axle, transverse leaf spring, and no brakes. Steering came from an early ‘60s Corvair. This thing was literally built from a GM dealer catalog. A big, beefy Dana rear axle was used with a 4.56 ratio. No doubt that this car hit the tires hard on the launch! The car was stopped by rear aluminum drum brakes. This would not be the best combo to be running around on the street with. Fighting weight came on at about 2,200 pounds. One of the neat aesthetic touches was the use of Chevy hub caps to take the place of the headlights on the front of the forward-flipping, one-piece fiberglass nose.
Although it only had a short run in the 1966 through 1967 seasons, the car was a hit and scored its fair share of victories across the country in places as far away as Bakersfield. The car did battle with the flip-tops of Dyno Don, Gas Rhonda, and others. It was never shamed and always put up a decent fight.
We think it looks totally killer. Don Garlits now has it in his museum. The car was completely restored after being located outside a gas station in New York. We’ve seen it in person, and the only thing that’s missing is the glorious sound of an angry big-block Chevy burning nitro.
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Written by Podium Finish
Mar 25 2009
[quote author=CM325 link=topic=10885.msg214276#msg214276 date=1238010248]
Don't know where it came from either, so it's just the supercharger then....right?[/quote]
No you've got to add nitro or the answer will be the Dodge Chargers. :D
Written by Podium Finish
Mar 25 2009
[quote author=Brian Lohnes link=topic=10885.msg214250#msg214250 date=1238004238]
Well if that's our forumla than it's the 554 of Mooneyham and Faust.
It was a Stock Body + nitro + supercharger...[/quote]
But is wasn't funny ;D
Written by Brian Lohnes
Mar 25 2009
Fix it? Then we wouldn't be able to have these fun debates!
And for the record I stepped on my wang with my high n' mighty comment. It had an alterd wheel base and ran in the altered class. Not a gasser....mea culpa. :'(
Brian
Written by CM325
Mar 25 2009
[quote author=A/Fuel link=topic=10885.msg214295#msg214295 date=1238014406]
i don't know Brian, when i think funny car the very next thought is nitro. anyway, i always thought the term came from the altered wheel base cars being "funny looking"
[/quote]
Right, which is where I've been the whole time.
Brian fix this please.
Chris
Written by A/Fuel
Mar 25 2009
i don't know Brian, when i think funny car the very next thought is nitro. anyway, i always thought the term came from the altered wheel base cars being "funny looking"
Written by CM325
Mar 25 2009
[quote author=Brian Lohnes link=topic=10885.msg214283#msg214283 date=1238011269]
The high n mighty would probably be considered as the first "gasser" as it embodies the nose high stance and many of the feartures of the gasser era.
No good on the prewar cars with blowers theory though...I'm not buying that. :)
Brian
[/quote]
I'm not either really as far as prewar, I was just being an ass.
So to continue down this slippery slope, does a gasser HAVE to have a solid axle.
I don't necessarily think so, but some would argue it is.
In which case The high and might is defunct due to an independant front.
But so far Nose high is the first that makes me think that it doesn't count.
I guess that car featured qualities found in most of categories of drag cars.
I'll accept that argument before I do any of the others.
Chris
Written by Brian Lohnes
Mar 25 2009
The high n mighty would probably be considered as the first "gasser" as it embodies the nose high stance and many of the feartures of the gasser era.
No good on the prewar cars with blowers theory though...I'm not buying that. :)
Brian
Written by CM325
Mar 25 2009
[quote author=Podium Finish link=topic=10885.msg214229#msg214229 date=1238000412]
[quote author=mrocketscience link=topic=10885.msg214214#msg214214 date=1237997782]
It's easy to nail down the first funny car... It's Jack Chrismans 64 Comet....[/quote]
Exactly correct.
The formula: Stock bodied car + Nitro + Supercharger = Chrisman's Comet the first funny car.
[/quote]
Don't know where it came from either, so it's just the supercharger then....right?
So we've locked down early 60's, I'm stick'n with the high and mighty what looks
funier than that thing.
I know i'm young but I always thought that Altered wheel base cars, regardless of drivetrain
evovled into funny cars.
Correct me if i'm wrong. So that said when did they overlap.
Just to be an ass, if its just the supercharger, I'm going with ANY supercharged coach built cars prewar.
Commonly had fenders removed as well as any extra's for weight.
Written by Brian Lohnes
Mar 25 2009
EJ Potter put a supercharged Allison airplane engine in a 1957 Plymouth Savoy somewhere around 1960.
Granted it ran on gasoline, but where did the rule that the car had to run on nitro come from?
Then there was Jim Lytle's "Big Al"
[img]http://www.draglist.com/photoimages/POD-1001/Big%20Al%20gets%20prepped%20at%20the%201966%20AHRA%20Winters.%20Photo%20by%20Paul%20Hutchins.jpg[/img]
Brian
[quote author=Brian Lohnes link=topic=10885.msg214304#msg214304 date=1238017564]
Fix it? Then we wouldn't be able to have these fun debates!
And for the record I stepped on my wang with my high n' mighty comment. It had an alterd wheel base and ran in the altered class. Not a gasser....mea culpa. :'(
Brian
[/quote]
You know I don't care, it's all in fun.
So then what the consensus.
I think I'm gonna start a pole in a new thread.
But the cars need to be right on the verge to make it fun.
We need a few cars that tetter right on the edge just before
fliptop full glass longer wheelbase cars,and those that are just
stepping out of altered.
What do you guys think?