News flash! As hot as turbos are today, they’re far from
new. Guys have been screwing around with turbos at the drags since the early
‘60s with carrying levels of success though the most common level was zero. For
that reason, many of the early experiments have been lost to history. Here, in
no particular order, we present 10 of the coolest examples of successful turbo
drag cars you probably never knew existed.
Jerry and Gary Mallicoat’s ’40 Willys
Twin turbos drawing through twin Carter carbs and feeding a
327ci small block Chevy made 720 hp and allowed the twin brothers to win the
AA/GS class at the ’65 Winternationals and go on a national tour. At the end of
1965, the guys pulled the motor and turbos out of the car and gave them back to
Ed Iskenderian. They went back to college, Jerry started writing for Car Craft,
and they came back with a Barracuda flip-top Gasser that ran twin turbos,
running tenths quicker than others of the era. It appeared on the Oct. ’71
cover of HOT ROD. In recent years, the Mallicoat brothers have run a Barracuda
in AA/Gas Supercharged nostalgia drags competition, and recently converted the
car’s Hemi to twin turbos for Pro Street racing.
Jerry and Gary
Mallicoat’s ’40 Willys
Ohio George Montgomery’s ’69 Mustang
Putting twin turbos on a Boss 429 and boosting it to within
an inch of its life, George Montgomery had 1,800 horses at the end of his toe
and he used them well. This car won Super Eliminator at the Gatornationals back
to back in 1972 and 1974, set class records all over the place, and dominated
match races until being retired in 1975. This was Montgomery’s masterwork. Oddly,
to meet class rules, the Mustang was built off a pair of ’33 Willys framerails.
1969 Ford Boss 429
Mustang - The Gasser
Buddy Ingersoll’s ’74 pinto
Buddy Ingersoll established himself as a true turbo master
with this little ’74 Pinto that ran in the Modified Compact class housed in
Competition Eliminator. The 120ci Pinto had an AiResearch turbo that jammed 26
psi into the little ‘banger and shoved the car down into the low 10s in 1979!
NHRA factored the hell out of this car, but it kept on winning. It’s seen here
at the ’77 Nats.
Buddy Ingersoll’s
’74 pinto
Al Lidert’s Golden Gator Dragster
Driven by cam guru Chase Knight (who is back in action today
at Crane Cams) and competing for more than 10 years, the Golden Gator had a
hell of a career. The rear-engine dragster was powered by a twin-turbocharged
and supercharged, alky-swilling Hemi. The digger ran in the 6s and exceeded 200
mph competing in the NHRA’s Pro Comp category. It ran very well in Division 2
before being retired in 1983, ending up at a restaurant, and then ultimately at
Don Garlits’ Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Florida.
Al Lidert’s Golden
Gator Dragster
Bud Faubel’s Turbo Honker
By 1966, East Coast Dodge dealer Bud Faubel had been running
has Hemi Honker Super Stock and match race cars for four years. Faubel saw a
turbo-charged Slant-Six at a local strip, and, looking for a fresh hook to keep
his profile high, he soon had a twin-turbocharged Hemi that swallowed 30 psi of
boost, had an air-to-water intercooler, and ran 160 mph out the back door the
first time out. It was a short-lived exercise, but we believe Chrysler was
quietly involved due to the high level of support Faubel got from AiResearch to
create the package. For unknown reasons, the car was gone about as quickly as
it came.
Bud Faubel’s Turbo
Honker
Ray Leslie and Ron McLaughlin’s Pontiac firebird Alky
Funny car
Using the chassis from Don Prudhimme’s last Funny Car, Gale
Banks, Ray Leslie, and Ron McLaughlin built one of the coolest alky floppers of
all time. The car had an aluminum 557ci Pontiac engine running in the 6s with
twin turbos blowing through a pair of Holley carbs in a pressurized box! This
was built in the mid ‘80s and, sadly, we’ll never see another like it again.
The modern scene frowns on such killer creative thinking.
Ray Leslie and Ron
McLaughlin’s Pontiac firebird Alky Funny car
Gale Banks’ top fuel dragster
The man most well-known for diesel performance these days
has actually done lots of neat stuff through his career, Banks worked on a
turbo-charged Top Fuel dragster in the ‘80s, and the NHRA banned it before
Banks made significant progress and raised the attention of big money teams who
could afford the R7D work that Banks was carrying on his own dime, although he
never made any world-beating runs with the car, the fact that it scared rules
makers so badly is badass in our book.
Gale Banks’ top
fuel dragster
Gene Adams/ Don Enriquez top gas dragster
File this one under, “ahead of its time”. Legends Gene Adams
and Don Enriquez, both lifetime employees at Hilborn Fuel Injection, raced
together for 20 years and ran many successful race cars. On paper, their
twin-turbocharged early Hemi should have been a world beater, but in fact it
was too much power for too little chassis in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s (seen
here at the ’71 Winternationals). The car was not an abject failure, running in
roughly the same time bracket as other Top Gas machines of the era (the low
7s), but it was not up to the level that the guys expected, and they yanked the
motor for a traditional blown mill. Enriquez still has the engine sitting at
Hilborn!
Buddy Ingersoll’s Buick Pro Stocker
Buddy Ingersoll’s passing in March brought back all those
memories of his 260ci V6 Buick Pro Stock car that shook big-time drag racing to
its core on 1986. Ingersoll re-bodied an old Warren Johnson Oldsmobile, plunked
the turbo V6 in, and ran in the IHRA’s Pro Stock division. Early season
struggles had competitors snickering, but a final-round appearance at the ’86
IHRA Fall National threw them into a panicked frenzy and got him banned from
their Pro Stock class. The NHRA< apparently not wanting the headache of
seeing something close to a factory car in Pro Stock, relegated him to
Competition Elimination.
Ohio George’s ’74 Pinto
Like buddy Ingersoll, George Montgomery drag raced a turbo
Pinto with much success. The car hit the Super Stock scene in 1976, and
Montgomery raced it until he retired in 1984. It was the last car he drove in
competition. The 2.0L plant was making 500 hp with a single turbo blowing
through a Holley carb. The car racked up lots of divisional wins and a few
national event class wins as well. It is currently owned by a private
collector.
