PART TWO OF CHAPTER FOUR. MY 1995 SEASON AND 1996, THE FINAL SEASON OF MY FABULOUS WUNDERBIRD

After the 88 season and winning the IHRA Inaugural Heads up Quick 8 at Darlington, and UDRA season Championship, I decided to update Zeke for 89. Rick Jones who had opened a new Chassis Shop in Galesburg IL., Offered to do my changes as a sponsorship. First came removing needless wt. and cosmetic devices. Head lights removed and replaced with course screens. Dash and extra seat removed. And so forth. All the changes were legal for IHRA Top Sportsman, UDRA Outlaw Pro Stock, and match race bookings. Added was an escape hatch, mainly to relieve burn out smoke. But also became great fan and media attraction. I would sit in it and pose for pictures and on return roads that went by the stands. Rick also built a huge adjustable rear spoiler that worked wonders. Rick also added a few bars around my head to appease NHRA track rules to get a current NHRA certification chassis sticker. Rick also made a cute small hatch in trunk lid to access the nitrous bottle valve. A secret weapon I acquired by chance was a new light weight McCloud duel disc clutch my good friend (retired with crash injuries) Chuck Aronson sent me to try. Red at McCloud even knowing Ram Clutches was my clutch sponsor, was good enough to give a basic setup. The result was amazing. We had clutch management so defined with that RJ huge spoiler; when spoiler was moved up a click; the clutch would slip a bit from more rear down force as if some counter weight was removed. I won many races using that tactic. Many could not believe how I got down those nighttime dewed slippery drag strips. When the clutch needed service, I sent it to Pat Norcia at Ram and they did a great job. I managed to go on and make my mark as a professional Outlaw circuit and match racer. There are so many events and incidents devoted to my Zephyr we called Zeke. To tell it all about 1987, 1988 and 1989 alone, it would take 50,000 words to chip the tip of the per-verbial storied iceberg. Zeke served so well I shall still try to build it a monument of words. Here I will start by telling a few highlights. I had told in previous article about the history making final at the UDRA annual Spring National at Byron Dragway in 87. We won several races that year and we were second in UDRA season points. Bill Kuhlman was number one. 1988 I won the first ever IHRA heads up Quick 8. Won several UDRA events including the Word Series and a dramatic final against Gary Duckworth capping the 88 UDRA Season Championship. Plus Fun Ford events were frequently booking me along with other match races. At the 88 UDRA annual awards banquet at Pheasant Run in St. Charles, IL. Bill Kuhlmann and his wife Beth and I and my wife Linda were sitting at the big round VIP table. We filled it with Trophies and awards. At the afterglow promoter Duane Nickels was talked into providing a Super Circuit of nitrous door cars. With Ron Colson and Bill Kuhlmann and myself proposing it. After much conversation and whiskey the USSC was born that night. Duane hesitated his decision wondering who would star. Ron Colson pushed Bill and I forward toward Duane saying to him, “Right here in front of you are two of the biggest Stars. I am sure they can get Robbie Vandergriff and they can help find more peers.” DRAG RACE HISTORY WAS BEING MADE. The 89 season was a mixed bag of adventure, successes and failures and tragedies. The successes we relished. The failures we all learned from. The tragic death of Walter Henry at Atco that October we all mourned. 89 at Darlington was for me was my first failure that season. Being the winner of the Quick last year and being a first round loser in 89 was hard to take. At Darlington in 89 My crew and I had to struggle with defective pistons and excessive wind blowing course sand on the track jamming my throttle plates. We finally loaded up and headed home to get ready for the trip to Puerto Rico. Wild Bill Kuhlmann had tagged me as his match race partner at San Juan Dragway on Easter Sunday. Puerto Rico was a fun deal. It would take a chapter to tell about it. I just wish my Linda Lou could have been with me. She would not miss those days teaching at Mid County High School. About that same time Linda convinced me to close my customer business, use my shop for a headquarters, and drag race full time. She told me I better read what the media is saying about me. Linda told me I need to decide to pursue building engines, or drag race. And under her breath she said “It better be drag racing!” “OK then!” My future son in law Doug Fennell saved the day that spring. We were heading to the East Coast for the first ever USSC race and my truck started missing. We were only about to Champagne, IL. on I 74. Doug Fennell was on his way to see my daughter Jackie at Butler University in Indianapolis. Doug saw us pulled over and stopped. I told him to get to a pay phone and call my shop. It was only 4 PM. I told him to tell my employee Roger Holsclaw to clear the center stall. We turned around and made it back. Got the truck fixed and were back on the road in an hour. We made it to Buds’ Creek in time. The USSC (UNITED STATE SUPER CIRCUIT) was huge success! The first one in spring of 89 at Buds Creek Maryland was packed with fans. The pits and stands were so full of fans and media, we could Harley get ready. Car loads were still coming in during the finals. I was still driving my trusty 79 Mercury Zephyr we called Zeke. The engine was my original Boss 675 inch Ford Hemi we called the Monolith. I still had the original NOS single stage fogger, but I was still stuck with a fresh set of the bogus pistons I ran at Puerto Rico and the best couple from Darlington for spares. The piston problem was the skirts were too narrow and thin. I had sent samples and blueprints and explained on the phone how to make them. The new owners of BRC did not adhere to my directions to ditch cut the inside of the skirts and make them wide. I had to tune down the nitrous so the piston skirts would not collapse as they did at Darlington. The only good was, the damage showed which cylinders were strongest and helped later to tune the nitrous oxide deployment. At the 1989 inaugural USSC At Bud’s Creek Md. I ended up in the final with Robbie Vandergriff again. Just like the Quick 8 at Darlington I won in 88. I knew Robbie would be tough wanting revenge. This time we had better track conditions. I threw caution to the wind and tuned the NOS foggers for kill! Robbie and I did side by side huge burnouts. During our final run we did not play any staging games. Rob had lane choice by 1 hundredth of a second. Rob and I after wild side by side burnouts slowly backed up to stage. We both lit the first bulb almost simultaneously. Robbie being the gentle man he is, lit the second bulb first. I rechecked my line lock and skidded forward. My starting line chip we had bumped from 6,000 rpm to 6500. With the raratatat from our MSD rev limiters we were both staged. The three yellow lights flashed on. Robbie and had almost the same reaction times. His was better by .0015. I learned later. We were side by side the full quarter mile. According to announcer Bret Kepner, Robbie and I change the lead three times. Robbie’s retribution was served. He had won. The margin was only .001. My fault for no cutting a better light. But oh man, what a race. I was runner up and won the wheel stand and burnout contests. The next day, Sunday, the USSC made their way to English Town, New Jersey. This was to be a day time race. Sadly, the BRC weak skirted pistons collapsed badly, casing a rod to kick out. Sliding in my own oil, I damn near ran into Wally Bell at the finish line. I was not the only wounded racer. To provide 8 cars for round 1, a dark horse, Mike Ashley was employed. Amazingly Mike won the event out doing us all. Mike became a regular valuable asset to the USSC. I did again win the wheel Stand and Burnout contest. We all stayed Monday for the magazine pictures and interviews. All present but Norm Wizner and his 57 Mega Ford. He had a match race booking. “So it goes.” I went on to win my share of finals in UDRA and USSC. The most notable were the wins at Great Lakes WI. Capping the UDRA Championship again, and wining enough points in USSC to be Season RU in that circuit. I also won two UDRA “three peats” at Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, and the Cordova World Series plus setting several records. Here I must tell about the bizarre tragedy of my friend Walter Henry. October of 89 Atco, NJ. Hosted the season end IHRA division event. Along with it, since our outlaw cars were getting so popular and IHRA being bugged about providing a professional class for us in 1990 ,they advertised a 16 car invitational. And with a decent payout. We still did not settle on a class name yet. More than 16 cars showed up. Sadly the event cost my friend Walter Henry’s life. It is ironic. Walter had flown 51 chopper missions in Viet Naum. And got killed by a score board barrier while drag racing. My good friend Wild Bill Kuhlman won the event. Me? My engine was hurt. My monolith engine swallowed an exhaust valve during the last qualifier. Prompted by Atco Dragway track owner Joe Sway I ran first round for history. With only 7 cylinders. The next weekend was Walter’s funeral. Unfortunately Carolyn Melendy, Norm Wizner, Charles Carpenter, and I were booked into Suffolk, Va. We reasoned Walter would be ok with us. We did honor him at that foursome match race. We also all honored our match race contract, and got full pay. I had one more match race obligation and the 89 season was done for me. I had couple more bookings I could have done. But I and my equipment were used up. Rick Jones offered to build me a 1990 Probe. NEXT WE WILL “ PROBE” INTO THE FUTURE! Watch for part 3 on www.nostalgiadragworld.com and www.animaljimracing.com for more of my Pro Mod adventures. May God be with ya all? As the late announcer and Dragway manager would Bob Fink would say, “I luv yuz all!” Animal Jim. a.k.a. Sam Foyer. Contact me on FB messenger or call 309.238.8556 .