Lions Inaugural Funny Car Championships-1969 (1 Viewer)

[TopFuel@Lions]

Lions started it's 1969 Funny Car Season with the "Inaugural Funny Car Championships" on January 29th.

This race was going to have two qualified 8-car fields. The top 8 in bracket #1, second 8 in bracket #2.
Bracket #1 paid $1000-to-win, Runner-up $750, $400 semi-finalists, $200-to-start.
Bracket #2 paid $650-to-win, Runner-up $500, $300 semi finalists, $150-to-start

2 weeks before the show, over 32 AA/FC cars had pre entered, here are a few of those entered.
*Dyno Don Nicholson*Bourgois & Wade*Super Chief*Big John Mazmanain*Don Shumacher* Jungle Jim (2 cars-Clare Sanders in #2)*Blue Hell*
*Travelin Javelin*Mako Shark*Hemi Cuda*Vicious Too*Destroyer Jeep*Fiberglass Trends Corvette*Fiberglass Trends Javelin*Flying Dutchman*
*Jesse Tyree*Holy Toledo Jeep*Jack Christman*Clyde Morgan*Blue Fox*Warlord*Randy Walls*Engine Masters*Pete's Chevron*Psycho 1 & 2*
*Parts Mart*Raunchy*Trojan Horse*Larry Christopherson*Mineo & Sturm*Precision Speed*Stomper*Gene Conway*Pat Foster (Mickey Thompson Mustang)*
*Steve Bovan*Dick Loehr* That was not all of them come race day. Still not bad at 37 and change.

Race day was rained out and re-set for February 22. That day had better weather. 40 AA/FC's tried to get into the two 8-car brackets. Qualifying was brutal as it got going about 2:30pm. 1 hour after the track opened at 1:30pm. Right on time at 7:00pm the races started.

Funny Car bracket #1 was taken by Rich Siroonian in Big John Mazmanian's Cuda, his opponent was Ray Alley who va-voomed the tranny on his last burn out and did not get to run.

Funny Car bracket #2 had Rusty Dellings edging out Ken Coleman in the Destroyer Jeep.

All thru the night there was bracket racing and many Funny Cars came out for test runs or impromptu match races. Another full and great night at Lions early in the season. Sure went thru some Chili Tamales and Chili Hot Dogs that night with my dad.

Admission:$3.00
Pit Pass:$1:00

TopFuel@Lions

 

[Cliff]

Bourgois & Wade had held the record in A/Gas at one time, early 1960's. I remember them cuz they were famous in the Gas classes. The car they ran at this race may have been a Corvair????? Clyde Morgan at one time had a Javelin F./C, with, I think, a Chevy Rat motor. Wow, this is 51 years ago. Sure doesn't seem like it.

 

[roscoe37]

3dollars,really i remember when it was 1.50 ,guess iam not going

 

[junglevsbrutus]

Cliff, I'm not sure if the '68 Doug's Headers-Bourgeois & Wade Corvair raced at all in '69. I would say it did not. Thorley had already debuted his rear eng. Javelin in late '68 and I'm near certain the B&W Corvair had been converted a Javelin for the new year, especially to keep the AMC reps happy. But I loved this Corvair and it was a huge disappointment went it ended. The team replaced the same '68 LSC chassis w/ the red-white-blue Javelin 2 body which raced throughout '69. It did have a Chevy motor simply cause it was the same FC w/ a different body.

The internet has increased our drag racing knowledge tenfold. For example, what we once believed were brand new FCs at the beginning
of each season were often times the same chassis-body merely wearing new paint or a new body was draped over an old chassis. And some teams did this for several seasons. Roger Lindamood's Color Me GONE Chargers and Challengers are a good example. Roger's first
LSC chassis was his '67 Charger. That same LSC sat under the new '68 style Charger, the gorgeous '69 we've talked about and even
the first Color Me GONE Challenger of '70!

This Bourgeois & Wade '68 LSC chassis also carried several bodies and paint jobs. First, the '68 Corvair, then the '69 red-white-blue Javelin,
next the all red '70 Javelin and finally Bourgeois' '71 orangy-red Camaro! Speaking of the '70 red Javelin an amusing situation occurred at the '70 Mfrs. Meet. I haven't read what I'm about to share but I used my drag racer's detective cap to figure it out. As we have discussed OCIR offered a Wacky Racers team at the '69 Mfrs. Meet. It consisted of AMCs, Jeeps and mix 'n match FCs (mostly Hemi powered non-Mopar FCs). Then the team was dropped for the '70 MM simply cause there were too many Hemi powered FCs. Plus, there was a big increase in Dodge and Plymouth floppers.

I wish I had kept a copy of the Tom West photo I saw but here's what it revealed. It showed Bourgeois' red Javelin at the '70 Mfrs. Meet. The obvious question would be what team would OCIR place the Javelin? There were 3 clues on its body. First, the nose read "Chevy Powered," plus the doors read, "Chevy Too." All of the Javelin's '70 season lettering was still in place. These Chevy indications were minimal, just single stroke lettering added to the existing AMC scheme. At this '70 MM, OCIR wrote the assigned staging lane numbers on each car at the rear. I compared other GM team member's shoe polish lettering to Bourgeois' AMC and both carried the same staging lane numbers. So I believe OCIR let Bourgeois qualify for the GM team. Unfortunately the "Chevy Too" Javelin didn't make the cut. However, it would've been a hoot if he did. That is, to see a Javelin race on the GM team!

 

[Cliff]

How long did Bourgeois & Wade run F/C? I don't remember them much after around 1971. Even then it was costly to run a nitro car.

 

[junglevsbrutus]

Well, Earl Wade didn't remain very long at all. Although his name was on the '69 B & W Javelin he couldn't have raced very long w/ Bourgeois. You may recall how Dyno Don chose to quit racing FCs at the end of '68. He worked a deal w/ Frank Oglesby who raced the same Eliminator Cougar in '69 for Dyno. I don't know the debut month of Dyno's '66 Mustang but it did double duty as a legal A/MP and "outlaw" heads up match racer. I'm talking about the gold-blue Holman-Moody Mustang that Jerry Harvey drove to Street Eliminator at the '66 Winternationals. Hubert Platt also drove for a bit in the following 2 years. Then Dyno took over in '69 but he wasn't at Pomona. However, he made headlines by winning Street Eliminator at the '69 Springnationals.

So why did I sidetrack over to Dyno's return to doorslammers? Cause Earl Wade tuned the '66 Mustang! Wade had also crewed on the '67 Eliminator II Comet. And he remained on Dyno's team during Nicholson's initial Pro Stock years.

Meanwhile, Bourgeois went solo and lettered "Dick Bourgeois" on the '70 Javelin's doors. And I can't help but wonder if that '70 Mfrs. Meet story I shared helped to influence Dick's return to a Chevy FC for '71. But it's very difficult to find photos of that orangy red Camaro. And it appears the Bourgeois Camaro mostly match raced (certainly no NHRA events). Then, for '72 Bourgeois finally got a new FC, his Doug's Headers Vega. There was also a slant nosed silver version in '74, followed by a Monza. I believe the Monza was Bourgeois' last FC.

 

[Cliff]

Thanks James. The light just went on re: Earl Wade being crew chief on Don Nicholson's car. Was thinking that in 1976, Don Nicholson became the first Pro Stock car to run a 7 second ET. I could be wrong on the date, but he had a Mustang with a (then) mountain motor & he ran like 7.99. May have been an IHRA car or just a match racer, but did have a Ford engine, maybe a Boss 429?? The match race Pro Stockers were starting to run quicker than the first funny cars. RE: Bourgeois & Wade were famous for being #1 A/Gas car in the nation. I remember hearing about them in 1962 & they held the A/G record, somewhere in the 11's.

 

[junglevsbrutus]

Cliff, until I did my 409 painting my drag racing library didn't go further back than 1964. This required as many magazine reports I could find of the '61-'63 Winternationals. I got a kick out of seeing so many future stars in dramatically different cars and teams than most of us remember. So these early Pomona reports I'm about to share for Bourgeois, Wade and several other gasser legends reveal some surprising results to be sure!

'62 WINTERNATIONALS
Earl Wade won Street Eliminator in the Linke-Wade-(Don) Nicholson A/SP Vette
Bones Balogh in the Roto-Faze Ignition Fiat won Junior Eliminator over the SWC B/GS Willys
In class run-offs Chuck Finders in the Hirshfield Auto '35 Willys won A/GS; SWC for B/GS; KS Pittman for C/GS
Hugh Tucker won Little Eliminator, already racing his famous AA/SR silver roadster!

There's a photo of Roland and Danny Ongais w/ the Hawaiian, accepting trophies for the Best Appearing Crew and Long Distance awards. It's amazing to read that Jim Nelson's brother Tom and not Ongais drove the yellow Dragmaster rail! But Danny would get his due soon enough.
Another very interesting photo: the Ray Callejo & Nick Couch A/A which was flip-top one piece VW body over a tube chassis. Hmm...did Fran Hernandez and Al Turner happen to see this blown Chevy-powered Bug?!?
The same HRM issue reports on the Oakland Roadster show. The surprise photo? "Dick Guasco" and George Barris accepting the trophy for their Chevy-powered Dragmaster-style rail!

'63 WINTERNATIONALS
Bourgeois & Wade's A/G Willys won Little Eliminator and class.
SWC won Middle Eliminator and A/GS class; Pittman-Edwards (John Edwards driving) B/GS; Charles Brown C/GS.
Cookie def. Dunn-Merritt-Velasco's Fiat in the final.
Hugh Tucker repeated in Junior Eliminator and AA/SR class, quite a feat so early in NHRA national event history!

 

[Cliff]

Wow.... I know these names & a little of the history. Stone Woods & Cook at one time ran 2 cars, A/GS & B/GS. I think they started out with Olds engines, later Chryslers. Bones Balogh in a Altered. Didn't he later drive A/GS, maybe for Stone Woods & Cook? Hugh Tucker in the AA/SR had a Olds engine at first, may have gone to a Chrysler later. That was such a cool car.... I have seen photos of a flip top altered from around 1955 or so, was a Crossley body, opened up just like a F/C today. I bet there were more just cuz easy to work on. Charles Brown C/GS. That was the Brown Bros from Phoenix area. They actually restored that car some years ago & I saw it driving down the street, with Brown Bros lettering on it. Knew it right away & said, wow! Heh Lotta people remember A/GS but not too many B/GS & C/GS. Many of those racers went to A/GS later on, like KS Pittman & Chuck Finders. Years ago at Lions, there was a BB/GS circuit. One of the cars was the Sassy Gremlin. Yep AMC Gremlin with a blown Chrysler. Ran 9.90's & that circuit put on a good show. Charlie Saucedo from Tijuana, Mexico used to run all the time. OK, stop ramblin, get coffee....

Fran Hernandez, the first Top Eliminator..... would you call him father of the flip top funny cars?

 

[Mtnbiker]

Cliff, until I did my 409 painting my drag racing library didn't go further back than 1964. This required as many magazine reports I could find of the '61-'63 Winternationals. I got a kick out of seeing so many future stars in dramatically different cars and teams than most of us remember. So these early Pomona reports I'm about to share for Bourgeois, Wade and several other gasser legends reveal some surprising results to be sure!

'62 WINTERNATIONALS
Earl Wade won Street Eliminator in the Linke-Wade-(Don) Nicholson A/SP Vette
Bones Balogh in the Roto-Faze Ignition Fiat won Junior Eliminator over the SWC B/GS Willys
In class run-offs Chuck Finders in the Hirshfield Auto '35 Willys won A/GS; SWC for B/GS; KS Pittman for C/GS
Hugh Tucker won Little Eliminator, already racing his famous AA/SR silver roadster!

There's a photo of Roland and Danny Ongais w/ the Hawaiian, accepting trophies for the Best Appearing Crew and Long Distance awards. It's amazing to read that Jim Nelson's brother Tom and not Ongais drove the yellow Dragmaster rail! But Danny would get his due soon enough.
Another very interesting photo: the Ray Callejo & Nick Couch A/A which was flip-top one piece VW body over a tube chassis. Hmm...did Fran Hernandez and Al Turner happen to see this blown Chevy-powered Bug?!?
The same HRM issue reports on the Oakland Roadster show. The surprise photo? "Dick Guasco" and George Barris accepting the trophy for their Chevy-powered Dragmaster-style rail!

'63 WINTERNATIONALS
Bourgeois & Wade's A/G Willys won Little Eliminator and class.
SWC won Middle Eliminator and A/GS class; Pittman-Edwards (John Edwards driving) B/GS; Charles Brown C/GS.
Cookie def. Dunn-Merritt-Velasco's Fiat in the final.
Hugh Tucker repeated in Junior Eliminator and AA/SR class, quite a feat so early in NHRA national event history!

 

[Mtnbiker]

Wow.... I know these names & a little of the history. Stone Woods & Cook at one time ran 2 cars, A/GS & B/GS. I think they started out with Olds engines, later Chryslers. Bones Balogh in a Altered. Didn't he later drive A/GS, maybe for Stone Woods & Cook? Hugh Tucker in the AA/SR had a Olds engine at first, may have gone to a Chrysler later. That was such a cool car.... I have seen photos of a flip top altered from around 1955 or so, was a Crossley body, opened up just like a F/C today. I bet there were more just cuz easy to work on. Charles Brown C/GS. That was the Brown Bros from Phoenix area. They actually restored that car some years ago & I saw it driving down the street, with Brown Bros lettering on it. Knew it right away & said, wow! Heh Lotta people remember A/GS but not too many B/GS & C/GS. Many of those racers went to A/GS later on, like KS Pittman & Chuck Finders. Years ago at Lions, there was a BB/GS circuit. One of the cars was the Sassy Gremlin. Yep AMC Gremlin with a blown Chrysler. Ran 9.90's & that circuit put on a good show. Charlie Saucedo from Tijuana, Mexico used to run all the time. OK, stop ramblin, get coffee....

Fran Hernandez, the first Top Eliminator..... would you call him father of the flip top funny cars?

Cliff, Bones drove for Mazmanian. 1st in Maz’s Corvette and then his Willys. I found out some info on him from Big Daddy’s web page about his partnership with Tim Woods below.

In 1968 Bones teamed with Tim Woods to field a supercharged Chrysler powered 1968 Shelby Mustang A/Gasser for a national match race tour. The tour was quite successful but by 1969 the new Funny Cars were taking the spotlight away from the A/Gas class and he was about to become a father so Bones made the decision to end his racing career.
There is more posted at Garlits.com

 

[junglevsbrutus]

Cliff, I like your story about the Brown Bros. Willys surviving on the streets of Phoenix, especially still emblazoned w/ its race car lettering!
Yes, Hugh Tucker's silver roadster began w/ Olds power; the Hemi followed in 66. Despite its enclosed motor you can easily ID the Hemi version—thanks to the small triangular holes on the side panels that permitted the tips of the valve covers to protrude from the bodywork! Hugh did a beautiful restoration of the AA/SR in the early 2000's and showed it often at CHRR, Indy and Pomona.

The SWC "Swindler II" and "Swindler A—Swindler B" names were something I decided to research. Here's what I learned. Believe it or not the first Tim Woods-Fred Stone gasser was not a Willys but a Studebaker! Dick Harryman drove the '42 Stude w/ Olds power. Most of the top gassers used Olds engines during this early period.

'61 was the first year Stone-Woods raced a Willys. By now KS Pittman was their driver. Since the Stude was "The Swindler" the first Willys was dubbed "Swindler II." That was the light metallic blue Willys that was immortalized by the popular Revell model. You may recall it had a customized, wide mouth grille (which I always hated!). By '62 Indy the Swindler II had a more stock appearing grille. Back then a few savvy Willys racers would replace the OEM vertical bar grille w/ a '58 Ford hexagonal version. Both SWC and Maz made this neat swap.

KS drove the Stone-Woods Willys at '62 Pomona but Cookie was at the wheel by Indy. The earlier version had dramatically different lettering than SWC's classic dark blue single stroke signs + the shield shaped on the doors. Like Cookie, that was in place by the Nationals.
In '64 SWC mounted a polished tin plate to cover the grille opening.

Perhaps as early as '62 but definitely in '63 the SWC team decided to run 2 gassers, one for the A and the other for B/GS. That's when they renamed each gasser "Swindler A" and ``Swindler B." At some point Cookie's brother Ray joined the team to drive the B car. Both DRM and PHR had '66 color features on the twin candy blue Willys. This was after the '64-'65 period of the "Black Widow" Swindler A.

As far as SWC's motors, yes, the Willys ran Olds power from '61 to early '64. One of the most anticipated match ups at the '64 Winternationals was of course, Big John vs. SWC. Earlier runs had Maz w/ the ET edge but Cookie got the win on a hole shot, w/ Bones behind in smoke. However, the race convinced SWC to make the switch to Hemi. Their first outing was the Lions match race I painted in 1993. It was based on DRM's first Match Races to Remember feature where Cookie beat Bones in the 2 out of 3 match race.

When I released the limited edition I got a nice letter and check from Bones Balogh. It said, "I remember that race very well. I was the driver of the red car!" I shipped the print to Bones, returned his check and wrote, "Bones, no need for any payment, enjoy!" He was one of the nicest legends I used to meet at the reunions.

As far as Maz's Willys, it raced as early as AUG '63. Of course, it followed Big John's popular Corvette. The Vette's 338" Chevy motor was transplanted into the Willys which began as a B/GS. Then in JAN '64 Bones built a 467" Hemi which was the first for a Willys. They also stepped up to A/GS and became instant rivals w/ SWC. A popular misconception of John's first Willys paint was that it wore his trademark candy apple red. However, in reality it was a stock '63 Ford gloss red lacquer. But the lettering was tastefully applied by none other than Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. The thing that caught my eye was the "weirdo" monsters riding the B&M Hydro drawing, instead of their expected "Sticky" mechanical man (as on the Swindler A, also lettered by Roth). That monster caught my eye as an 8-year old drag racing fan. Because of that and this being my first Big John car the early gloss red Willys is my favorite Mazmanian Willys.

The first version raced until '64 Bakersfield, where the magnificent candy red appeared. At the same time the SWC was redone in black w/ gold leaf lettering. Bones drove the candy red for a while but was also followed by Dick Harryman and yes, Hugh Tucker. Towards the end of the Willys' life it was also driven by Dick Bourgeois. In mid '67 Maz debuted his radical Austin w/ Rich Siroonian returning to the seat.

The Sassy Gremlin was campaigned by Paul Pittman, KS's brother!
And yes, I do believe that Mercury's Fran Hernandez was the father of the flip-top FC. It was his idea for the 1 piece fiberglass body to be draped over a tube chassis. Hernandez was motivated by Mercury wanting to make their FCs to look more like the showroom models because the AWB's had gotten too far gone from stock. Fran gave the contract to LSC and had them figure out the details. What I don't know is how detailed Fran's instructions were. Did Fran tell the Logghe Bros. to locate the motor in the front seat and place the driver in the rear? Did he sketch out the aluminum bulkhead layout to support the body over the narrow chassis? Or did he simply tell LSC, "Figure it out." I wish I knew!

 

[Cliff]

Wow, this is some great history James. The Austin's took the place of the Willys, cuz of aerodynamics I think. They were a handful to drive. Later the Opels ran AA/GS. And then everyone switched to funny cars.... BTW, I do have a faint memory of SWC in the Studebaker. That was a cool car.

 

[sutton]

Cliff, I like your story about the Brown Bros. Willys surviving on the streets of Phoenix, especially still emblazoned w/ its race car lettering!
Yes, Hugh Tucker's silver roadster began w/ Olds power; the Hemi followed in 66. Despite its enclosed motor you can easily ID the Hemi version—thanks to the small triangular holes on the side panels that permitted the tips of the valve covers to protrude from the bodywork! Hugh did a beautiful restoration of the AA/SR in the early 2000's and showed it often at CHRR, Indy and Pomona.

The SWC "Swindler II" and "Swindler A—Swindler B" names were something I decided to research. Here's what I learned. Believe it or not the first Tim Woods-Fred Stone gasser was not a Willys but a Studebaker! Dick Harryman drove the '42 Stude w/ Olds power. Most of the top gassers used Olds engines during this early period.
View attachment 7369View attachment 7370
'61 was the first year Stone-Woods raced a Willys. By now KS Pittman was their driver. Since the Stude was "The Swindler" the first Willys was dubbed "Swindler II." That was the light metallic blue Willys that was immortalized by the popular Revell model. You may recall it had a customized, wide mouth grille (which I always hated!). By '62 Indy the Swindler II had a more stock appearing grille. Back then a few savvy Willys racers would replace the OEM vertical bar grille w/ a '58 Ford hexagonal version. Both SWC and Maz made this neat swap.

KS drove the Stone-Woods Willys at '62 Pomona but Cookie was at the wheel by Indy. The earlier version had dramatically different lettering than SWC's classic dark blue single stroke signs + the shield shaped on the doors. Like Cookie, that was in place by the Nationals.
In '64 SWC mounted a polished tin plate to cover the grille opening.
View attachment 7371
Perhaps as early as '62 but definitely in '63 the SWC team decided to run 2 gassers, one for the A and the other for B/GS. That's when they renamed each gasser "Swindler A" and ``Swindler B." At some point Cookie's brother Ray joined the team to drive the B car. Both DRM and PHR had '66 color features on the twin candy blue Willys. This was after the '64-'65 period of the "Black Widow" Swindler A.
View attachment 7375
As far as SWC's motors, yes, the Willys ran Olds power from '61 to early '64. One of the most anticipated match ups at the '64 Winternationals was of course, Big John vs. SWC. Earlier runs had Maz w/ the ET edge but Cookie got the win on a hole shot, w/ Bones behind in smoke. However, the race convinced SWC to make the switch to Hemi. Their first outing was the Lions match race I painted in 1993. It was based on DRM's first Match Races to Remember feature where Cookie beat Bones in the 2 out of 3 match race.
View attachment 7372
When I released the limited edition I got a nice letter and check from Bones Balogh. It said, "I remember that race very well. I was the driver of the red car!" I shipped the print to Bones, returned his check and wrote, "Bones, no need for any payment, enjoy!" He was one of the nicest legends I used to meet at the reunions.
View attachment 7374
As far as Maz's Willys, it raced as early as AUG '63. Of course, it followed Big John's popular Corvette. The Vette's 338" Chevy motor was transplanted into the Willys which began as a B/GS. Then in JAN '64 Bones built a 467" Hemi which was the first for a Willys. They also stepped up to A/GS and became instant rivals w/ SWC. A popular misconception of John's first Willys paint was that it wore his trademark candy apple red. However, in reality it was a stock '63 Ford gloss red lacquer. But the lettering was tastefully applied by none other than Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. The thing that caught my eye was the weird monsters riding the B&M Hydro drawing, instead of their expected "Sticky" mechanical man (as on the Swindler A, also lettered by Roth). That monster caught my eye as an 8-year old drag racing fan. Because of that and this being my first Big John car the early gloss red Willys is my favorite Mazmanian Willys.
View attachment 7373
The first version raced until '64 Bakersfield, where the magnificent candy red appeared. At the same time the SWC was redone in black w/ gold leaf lettering. Bones drove the candy red for a while but was also followed by Dick Harryman and yes, Hugh Tucker. Towards the end of the Willys' life it was also driven by Dick Bourgeois. In mid '67 Maz debuted his radical Austin w/ Rich Siroonian returning to the seat.

The Sassy Gremlin was campaigned by Paul Pittman, KS's brother!
And yes, I do believe that Mercury's Fran Hernandez was the father of the flip-top FC. It was his idea for the 1 piece fiberglass body to be draped over a tube chassis. Hernandez was motivated by Mercury wanting to make their FCs to look more like the showroom models because the AWB's had gotten too far gone from stock. Fran gave the contract to LSC and had them figure out the details. What I don't know is how detailed Fran's instructions were. Did Fran tell the Logghe Bros. to locate the motor in the front seat and place the driver in the rear? Did he sketch out the aluminum bulkhead layout to support the body over the narrow chassis? Or did he simply tell LSC, "Figure it out." I wish I knew!

James
I have a copy #578 of #850 of the SWC an Bones picture hanging in my shop, a gift from my son Robert and I love it. PS I also raced Bones one time in the Traveler Willis at fontana.. Bone is a fantastic guy and a fellow International Hall of fame member. Doug Cook helped me get the wicked handling Traveler going straight, the car was later driven by my crew member Roger Garden (RIP)
Larry Sutton---Lions Starter and racer (RET)

 

[junglevsbrutus]

Thanks, Larry!
Did you ever see the print I did of the '65 Hawaiian vs. the Yeakel at Lions, ("Snake vs. Mongoose, Chapter 1")?
In the background behind the smoke there's a guy wearing a b/w striped shirt and black cowboy hat—that's you!
Regarding "Duel at the Beach," I released that print in '93, priced at $80 each. I've been told they typically sell for $300-$500 on eBay nowadays. But sadly, I don't benefit one cent of that appreciation in value.

 

[sutton]

Thanks, Larry!
Did you ever see the print I did of the '65 Hawaiian vs. the Yeakel at Lions, ("Snake vs. Mongoose, Chapter 1")?
In the background behind the smoke there's a guy wearing a b/w striped shirt and black cowboy hat—that's you!
Regarding "Duel at the Beach," I released that print in '93, priced at $80 each. I've been told they typically sell for $300-$500 on eBay nowadays. But sadly, I don't benefit one cent of that appreciation in value.

Sorry James I have not seen It but yes it must be me, I was the only one with a striped shirt and a cowboy hat at Lions. Big John never wore a yellow shirt and a 1000 gallon cowboy hat LOL. Your art work is great.
Larry Sutton ---Lions Starter

 

[Cliff]

Larry, what is the story behind the cowboy hat? That really is your trademark. I'd be at Lions & see the cowboy hat & know it was you. Trivia: when Garlits had the crash, I always thought it was you that picked him up out of the car. I think I saw you running to the car. Later found out it was Mickey Thompson, who had a black cowboy hat as well. That was a day I won't forget.

 

[Gone Dead Train]

Thanks, Larry!
Did you ever see the print I did of the '65 Hawaiian vs. the Yeakel at Lions, ("Snake vs. Mongoose, Chapter 1")?
In the background behind the smoke there's a guy wearing a b/w striped shirt and black cowboy hat—that's you!
Regarding "Duel at the Beach," I released that print in '93, priced at $80 each. I've been told they typically sell for $300-$500 on eBay nowadays. But sadly, I don't benefit one cent of that appreciation in value.

James Ibusuki Drag Racing Artwork- “Jungle Boogie” Rare Limited Edition #227 COA | eBay

It has been hand signed by the artist and "Jungle" Pam Hardy. All of the titles, numbers and signatures are hand written in pencil by the artist and legendary drag racers. I will do my best to answer them.

www.ebay.com

 

[junglevsbrutus]

Larry, it's you cause when I was painting it I said "It's Larry!" At the small scale here you only appear as a tiny b/w fuzzy shape in the far upper L corner of the painting. I forgot to mention that I also painted CJ on his Honda bike. Too bad this image is so small but it's the best I could find online. And I'm good w/ that cause it prevents illegal reproductions of my work.

 

[junglevsbrutus]

James Ibusuki Drag Racing Artwork- “Jungle Boogie” Rare Limited Edition #227 COA | eBay

It has been hand signed by the artist and "Jungle" Pam Hardy. All of the titles, numbers and signatures are hand written in pencil by the artist and legendary drag racers. I will do my best to answer them.

www.ebay.com

Jim, even though the seller won't be sending me any residuals I do appreciate his complimentary words about my work.