Dick Harrell drag car (new thread)

[bkhpah]

The men that built the car would be a good start. The people that had there hands on the car every day would have an idea of what went on then. Dave Libby saw the car at the reunion, what was his impression? Maybe the Gibb's will share their story with the board members?...BKH

Post deleted by yenko

[Stefano]

She did say back and forth to the race track not complete round trips if you want to be accurate. She also didn't say one way or the other that she was the one driving the tow vehicle itself.

She definately ,without question stated per her and her mother that there was a back up car.

For every race date how many test/tune/track rental dates exist ?. It is unlikely to be 1 to 1 for any serious national level race effort of any kind.

[sYc]

My original intent was to keep this duscussion civil and off line. Since neither has happened, I will now go online with what I know.

The car in question is not a new found discovery. It has been making the rounds in the vintage funnycar world for the past 2-3 years, much like Bob Peck amd his cars on this site. It is known as the "Idaho" car. No one associated with vintage funnycars has every felt that the car was one of Dicks. The previous owners had tried many avenues to pawn the car off as being one of Dicks, going as far as offering the sYc a nice commission if we could help them sell the car. We passed. Finally the car was listed on Ebay. As is done on this board when a COPO is listed on Ebay, the car was once again discussed on a couple of vintage funny car sites, again with no one saying it was one of Dick's. Thus, the car sold for much less then what a real DH car would sale for. At the supercar reunion, Dave Libby, who was employed by Dick at this time, stated that the car was not one of Dick's. This was done to a group standing around the memorabilia displays.

To the ones who have blasted menmyfcs, you might want to reconsider, apoligize and stick to steel bodied cars. That gentleman was invited to this board by me, becuase he is the world's leading authority on vintage funnycars, bar none. He is employed by NHRA, moderates a couple of vintage funnycar sites, is very involved in vintage funnycar racing, and most important, was a close frined of Dicks during this time. As Ed Cunneen is to ZL-1s, he is to vintage funnycars.

Now, to the Gibbs. Becuase of the respect I have for the Gibb family, it was very troubling for me when it appeared that I was disputing their word. Thus, though a mutal friend, I sent an apoligy to them. I was told that I might want to visit with them direct. Boy, was I surprised to hear what they had say about the events at Vettefest. Here goes, as told to me by Nancy Gibb, with her mom present.

First, a couple of very important facts. 1. Helen Gibb never examined the FC at Vettefest. She was being interviewed by a TV crew. When she finished the interview, she and Nancy left the show. 2. Nancy was 10 years of age in 1969.

Nancy did not tow the cars 150 times, she was sitting in the back seat of a station wagon with Dick's wife Elaine, as it was being pulled down the return road. She did not see two cars being painted at the same time, she told Tim that there were two cars painted the same, the ZL-1 and Dick's funny car. The mis-quotes go on and on. From the very beginning, she told Tim that the chassis was wrong, and that all she knew about the body was that it was similar to Dick's 1969, except Dick's had an extended front end. She gave Tim several examples of other drivers of the time who also had Camaros. When asked if this could be, or that could be, Nancy said yes, could be, but that she did not know. Nancy nor Helen, have no idea whose car Tim has. Nancy only remembers Dick having one 1969 FC, the one he won the world championship in, which has the extended front end. She did say Dick may have had another one, but had no way of knowing.

I do not know what everyone there heard, but I know what Nancy said happened, and I take her for her word. And you do not have to believe me. Ask any close friend of the Gibb family, or ask Tim. He should have an email from Nancy by now expressing their concerns.

The worst part of the whole situation is this, and it saddens me deeply. Because of the way that their words were turned around, Helen was quoted as saying" I wish that we had never gone to the show(Vettevest). I may never attend another event(except LaHarpe)."

Everyone who has participated in the two threads regarding this matter owe the Gibb family an apoligy. I have already done so, several times over. Tom

[davenkc]

Tom,
I agree with your statment about the disrespect shown to the poster menmyfcs I also know who he is and you are accurate in your description of both his knowledge and the respect he has in the f/c world.
That being said if it would be prudent of me to say, I am one of the few remaining people there is who believes he can pretty accuratly explain the many yes and no of Dicks
funny cars from 67 thru 69 which I have intimate knowledge of. I was there! My knowledge of the 70&71 cars does have a few gaps but I do have a fairly good amount about them as well.
This would be a lenghtly post to do this but I would be glad to do it if there was enough interest. I maybe can once and for all clear up a few mostly unfounded rumors

Dave Libby

[whitetop]

One possible way to get an answer is to sand the body down in an area and see what the base color paint it. Not sure if the body would of been stripped when it was repainted over the years. Then again weight conscious racers might have removed the old paint. I know many old race cars have been discovered or at the same time pointed out as a fake by this method.
Dave

[sYc]

Dave; Glad to have you aboard. And, not only are you welcome to post about what you know, I encourage it. It is people like you, and the Gibb family, folks that were there, who help us sort the BS from the truth.

For those who do not know Dave, he was employed by Dick Harrell in KC. Dave's handsome mug can be seen in a couple of articles that were done on Dick, back in the day. One of them shows Dave working underneath one of Dick's funnycars. Tom

[Stefano]

Dave,
I for one, would certainly like to learn more, especially from a first hand source. I would believe that should be one of the main objectives for a Forum such as this.

[sixtiesmuscle]

If asking for people to identify themselves, and, thereby verify the knowledge base that qualifies them to pass judgement on a car is taken as disrespectful, I apologize. I for one, am thankful that we can hear from those qualified to weigh in. That's what we need in this instance, not "he said- she said".

[menmyfcs]

Thank You Tom and Dave. All though I do love the computer it has its faults. One being that you cannot see a person or hear what is in their voice. What comes off as sarcastic may not be anything like it sounds. When researching some cars that were supposed to be Mickey Thompson cars, I ran into this same issue. I used my full name and was bombarded with a bunch of mail, some not real good. I would never-NEVER want to make the Gibbs feel they did anything wrong. Again my wording was more than likely a bit harsh. Those years were the best of most of the racing communities lives and I am glad for Helen, Nancy and many others that they are having a chance to re-live them and the memories. As I stated, there were funny cars coming out of the woodwork. The wheelbase of the body or car has NO bearing on what was out there. The M/T pinto and mustang were 112" and others were 115". A 68 Camaro F/C I drove had a Camaro body that was 125" wheelbase. It was an experimental time. There were also cars as of today that staggered from side to sided 2 1/2 inches, called an offset frontend.

Tom, just so you know there were several others who that alerted me to the issue of the postings on the Supercar site about the DH/FG funnycar! I have 5 pictures of this car with prices ranging over 100K plus. Initially, a man named Peterson from Boise, Idaho was trying to sell the 69 F/C. He was told by a few racers that it COULD have been one of Dick's cars, however, they were not 100% sure. After talking to those racers, they confirmed that Peterson was told it looked like an old Dick Harrell or Kelly Chadwick body. Peterson took it from there and all he saw was $$$$$. He then tried to get you to sell it, then he located Valerie and last of all trying to find Elaine Harrell. Valerie and I both confirmed to Peterson that it was NOT a DH/FG funnycar. After that, it was probably a good year and half later that the very same car showed up on the eBay, only the decals that Peterson had on it had been removed & all that was remaining on the body was the Candy Apple red paint. So when it comes to old race cars, a duck may not be a duck. It may just look like one and possibly be a turkey. I am sure that Nancy was talking about ZL-1 cars, as they did run and test quite a bit. The earlier cars were lucky to test 6 times a year, they test more now than ever before. In the late 60s they match raced so much
they used them to test. Also, in the late 60s there were only about 8 AHRA events per year, and the funny cars were just getting rcognized by NHRA. Once again no harm was ever meant to anybody. Sincerely Menmyfcs