Dick Harrell FC and Seaton/Berger FC pics

[JoeC]

some links to Dick Harrell Funny Cars one with Yenko as sponsor and the last one is an interesting photo of the Seaton Shaker FC Corvair with Terry Hedrick as driver (brother to Ed Hedrick??) with Berger Chevrolet as a sponsor and a guy in an old Doug Headers tee shirt. SuperCar legends.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=719502&a=9951852&p=33193329
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=139043&a=1122742&p=13914926
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=139043&a=1122742&p=13914927
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=719502&a=9951852&p=33193328
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=719502&a=9951852&p=34167105
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=253686&a=2663549&p=17887216

[bowtie3168]

Joe,
Thank you! You Rule!
Andrew

[sYc]

Joe; Neat photos. The Yenko sponsered Camaro was a 1967 Camaro. It started out as a regular steel bodied car, with the front clip changed to fiberglass, plus fiberglass doors and decklid. From the firewall back it was mostly unchanged. Now days it would be called an Altered, not a funnycar. It is known as Dick's "right hand drive" FC, since most other FCs had the driver in the center. Most of the time Dick ran it with a injection setup, but late in the year he changed to a blower on the car. It can be easily identified by the front Cragars. I have heard from a reliable source that this car is still around. Dick's next FC, his first flip top car(s) was a 1968 Camaro, which was sponsered by Courtesy Chevrolet. We are still trying to decide if Dick ran 1 or 2 FCs in 1968, as there are pictures of the 1968 car in at least three different paint schemes, 1. red with black top, 2. all red, 3. red with the lace, like his 1969 FC and the Gibb ZL-1. The reason we are researching this is because the sYc owns a 1968 Dick Harrell funnycar. In 1969, Dick could be found racing several different cars, including 2 1969 Camaro FCs (1 is still owned by Dick's daughter Val, which won the FC World Championship in 1969)and the Gibb ZL-1 Camaro. In 1970, Dick switched to the all new 1970 Camaro body, with at 2 of these cars, maybe one on a 1969 chassis. Following the 1970 Camaro, Dick then switched to the Vega body. A lot of history on Dick Harrell and his cars can be found in the history of Fred Gibb, as he much of the time they traveled/raced together. We hope to began work on the FC in the very near future, and once finished, display it at the Supercar Reunion and the Gibb reunion. Tom

[JoeC]

Tom - There were many cars with the Dick Harrel name on them. Some of the cars had the name of another driver painted on it. From what I have read, Dick sponsored other people's cars and would somtimes show up at the track and tape his name over the other drivers name and hop in and run the car. The name Larry Christopherson was painted on the Vega in some of the pictures. One site has a picture of a FC in a barn that they claim is the Dick Harrell 71 Camaro. Dick was a busy guy and it is difficult to tell what he was doing. Here is a picture of the 67 Nova FC that he ran for a short time.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1169942&a=8610132&p=35309844


[Edited by JoeC (12-12-2000 at 07:50 AM).]

[sYc]

Joe; You are correct, Dick's name was on many race cars. I have even seen it on an English Ford (Anglia). That is why a small group of us are spending many hours researching old magazines, talking to former employees, looking at old photos, etc. We are trying to piece together Dick's racing history and his cars. So far, only a few of his race cars are known to exist. Maybe his 1967 Camaro (Yenko), his '68 Camaro FC, his '69 FC that won the world championship (this is the car Valerie Harrell has), the chassis from a second '69 Camaro ('70 body, owned by an employee of the NHRA),and the '71 you mentioned, which is still being researched. The FC that he was killed in was cut up and buried in the KC area. Also, another '68 or'69 FC owned by Jim Kirby and possibly borrowed/raced by Dick is still around. The Chevy II picture with Yenko/Harrell on the side was also ran with Nickey on the side. As we track the FCs, we have turned up a few other Harrell cars, including a Chevelle owned by its original owner, one of Dick's former partners. This person has several "old" (obselete)racing parts from Dick's racing days, such as blown motor cams, etc. Tom

[bkhpah]

Is the original owner Chevelle a 68 or a 69? Do you know what version of the 427 was installed? He offered a few including a 500 hp L/72 and an L/88 427 over the standard L/72 swap. Stick or auto? Is this car going to be at the next reunion possibly?...
BKH

[bowtie3168]

Check out http://www.mysterion.net/Funnynew_4html for pictures of Larry Christoperson's "Arizona Wildcat". Sorry for not making it "Clickable" (I am still not "with the computer thing".) Andrew