Hey 'Maters, did anyone else happen to notice the Photo of the Week on NHRA.COM this week? LINK It is a pic of the Cerny & Moody Top Fuel car from 1971 and it happens to have a Mono-strut wing on the back. Not as big or as high as Big Daddy's car had, but it is at least 15 or 20 years before BIG tried one on his digger. Is this possibly a "photoshopped" pic or does anyone remember seeing it? I don't have any mags from that long ago and only vaguely remember that team, although Wes Cerny is still doing his tuning thing to this day.

It isn't a true monostrut as it has standard struts on either side of the fin strut.

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Paul, I didn't notice those at first glance, but after a good look, I think they may not be real struts but rather wing adjustment rods possibly, although they certainly would be considered part of the wing stabilization and if one of them was taken out, then that would cause a problem for sure. Still, the main thing is that there is a center mono-strut, although being as short as it is, may not have had the rudder effect that Big's mono-strut did.

Why does the back of it look so far over "this" way? You should be able to see more of the wing that's on this side of it instead of more of the wing that's behind it. Something's fishy.

If that fin is on that car, I don't think it's centered. Sitting on the left frame rail?

You gotta love the way that guy's smiling!

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Ron, that's why I asked (suspect) if anyone else thought the pic was "photoshopped". And now when I look at it again, it looks like a small parachute pack is on the back of the wing at the top. Kinda looks silly, although back then they weren't running so fast (comparably) and I suspect a good top fuel run was around 240-250 MPH. (Remember this is 1971)
Anyone else want to chime in that has a good memory?

The mono was later taken off that car. there is a twin to it also built by Don Long campaigned by Taylor and Herbert in 72. Its mono was also removed.

http://www.wediditforlove.com/imagesRED/103-2.jpg from This Page
You can see in this picture linked above that the wing stabilization braces attach to the monostrut and not the frame rails.

The photograph is accurate; that's how it looked. Chip Woodall ended up with this car for a while, and when I saw it in his shop, the monowing was still on it.

This is a little bit off topic but check out the 3 point cage. 240 mph with that thing above you? Yikes!

heres a shot of TV tommy ivo leaning forward during a fire burnout with his head almost completly OUT of the confines of his three point cage.

http://www.wediditforlove.com/imagesRED/IvoFB.jpg
from This page

Three point cages were normal for the day with the first five point being the 1976 Don Long car of John Kimbel. I think in 1977 or thereabouts NHRA made five points mandatory. Many just slapped a pair of side tubes onto their existing three points.

Big ran the first 250 MPH at Ontario back in 1975 if I rember right. It also scared the hell out of him. That speed was tops for many years after.

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the info about the Cerny & Moody car and that mono-strut setup. I'm glad that it brought back some memories from the gang on here.

I remember Tommy Ivo telling a good story in a magazine interview a few years ago. Said he was over in England getting paid to make passes and that a motorcycle sidecar racer offered to take him for a ride down an airstrip. Was the old ones where the passenger's chin is just inches off the pavement.

As a side note, I do know that when you're sitting down low, such as in a dragster, it gives you the illusion that the track is shorter than it is, so it'd have to be a LOT worse THAT low to the ground!

Anyways, Tommy said they accelerated to a point at which he couldn't take it anymore, so he started banging on the guy's leg with his fist to let him know. Said the guy paid no attention and kept accelerating. Said it looked like they were running out of room so quickly that he thought they were dead.

After it was over he asked the rider why he ignored him. Said he rolled up his pants leg to show him the wooden leg he was pounding on!

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The faster you drive, the further you have to walk to get back to the road.