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'70s funny car questions


AK_Invader

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Leonard Abbott was Lenco. He had a top fuel car in the late '60s. In the late '60s & early '70s added a funny car driven by his employee "Smokey" Joe Lee. These race cars were in many ways a test bed for the Lenco transmission's developement. By 1970 he was selling his transmissions for nitro cars.

The "high gear only" cars had a clutch pedal. (Like Jim Dunn's red Cuda & today's funny cars)

The first roof hatch I remember was on the ChiTown Hustler '69/'70 Charger. The required hatches didn't start until the early '80s.

Edited by Hondo
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Did the Lenco-equipped funny cars use a clutch pedal or lever? If so, does anyone have a photo or 2 to share?

Also, when did roof hatches come into common usage among funny cars?

From Hot Rod Magazine Sept 1971 page 75, Barry Setzer Funny Car

" Lenco 2 Speed and Crower 3 disc clutch"

3 levers in drivers compartment, one is brake handle, one is to shift to second gear, and other is for the reverser.

Clutch pedal is used for neutral, Lenco does not have a neutral gear

Roof hatches, this from Denny Savage

"Anyone got any pictures of the Hawaiin at Ontario Motor Speedway, in 1974?

I was driving, and had a BAD BAD fire, in the lights.. It made the Centerfold of "Drag News" in the "Simpson" add.. That was about the last Bad fire, before they mandated "Thermos Jacket" headers, and "Roof Hatches", or as Coil called them... "Pig Chutes"...

http://classicfunnycarboard.com/CFB/index.php/topic,834.9075.html

So this puts roof hatches about 75 or 76

Edited by tbusch
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  • 3 weeks later...

First roof hatch was on the Chi town Hustler Charger wasn't it? That would put it at 70. I'm sure they started showing up here and there until mandated. Whenever that was.

I was talking about mandated hatches. uctually it was funny car driver Denny Savage that said 75 or 76.

Chi-Town did have one but it was not mandated by any santioning body

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http://public.fotki.com/funman1712/tim-boyds-124th--12/boyd-scale-funny-cars-/boyd-funny-cars-models/

This funny car model was built during 1970/71 and finished in early 1972. The bodywork was probably done in 1970. I vaguely recall seeing a 1/1 scale hinged roof hatch that gave me this idea, although perhaps not with this offset alignment which was needed to match the entirely scratchbuilt '70 Gene-Snow style chassis you can see here.

Many pix of this and other funny cars of this era at the link....TIM

DSC_0445-vi.jpg

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In 1971 they were mandatory by the NHRA, but roof hatches starting appearing on some funny cars as early as 1966. For 1978 they were mandated to be aluminum like a washing machine cover....

when they went back to the piece that came out of the roof like they do now is a mystery to me!

Edited by kitswapper
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The link above to the Chi Town Hustler, is it the original car or a new modern 'NewStalgia " car ?

Article is worded to say it's the original car, yet some things look wrong, ( rear wheels as an example )

If you mean this one:

That would be the hatch the Chi Town charger had, this is from an earlier forum posting

http://cs.scaleautom....aspx?sort=DESC

That is the original car, a young Austin Coil and Jungle Jim Liberman as fill in driver. Jungle died in a street car accident in September of 1977

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If you mean this one:

That would be the hatch the Chi Town charger had, this is from an earlier forum posting

http://cs.scaleautom....aspx?sort=DESC

That is the original car, a young Austin Coil and Jungle Jim Liberman as fill in driver. Jungle died in a street car accident in September of 1977

i was referencing this link.

http://www.moparmax.com/events/2009/iv_7-mosley-1.html

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