UKDRN

Do you own or know the whereabouts of a piece of UK Drag Racing History or just want info on a particular machine.

Moderators: timetravel, ukdrn

 #6142  by muddytalker
 
As far as I’m aware Glenn, Tony’s blown Funny Car features one of the last Chevy Beretta bodies to come from the Amato/TRW stable of cars in the late eighties. In fact I was told it was one of the TRW team’s show cars while Bruce Larson drove for the team. The body, and quite possibly the chassis, found its way over here in the hands of Mark Newby and Terry Revell racing in the Top Alcohol class as the 'Kopex Entertainer'. Much later fuel tuner Alan Jackson ran it before the Olds Achieva as an alky turned nitro flopper.
 #6155  by muddytalker
 
A while back Tony gave me some info about the car and two very rough photos so apologies for the quality. Motive power will be from a 525ci Keith Black with a ¾ inch stroker steel billet crank, billet rods and billet heads. The transmission is a Crower pedal clutch assembly with a 3 speed Lenco through an ex Bootsie Herridge rear axle with Strange internals. Chassis is a 125 inches chrome moly and tagged for nitro Funny Car racing. As I said earlier, the body is an ex Amato Racing Chevy Beretta which over here in England has run 256 mph! Brother Trace has the ex Doug Ripley Dodge Avenger TMFC.
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 #6159  by JonC
 
muddytalker wrote:As far as I’m aware Glenn, Tony’s blown Funny Car features one of the last Chevy Beretta bodies to come from the Amato/TRW stable of cars in the late eighties. In fact I was told it was one of the TRW team’s show cars while Bruce Larson drove for the team. The body, and quite possibly the chassis, found its way over here in the hands of Mark Newby and Terry Revell racing in the Top Alcohol class as the 'Kopex Entertainer'. Much later fuel tuner Alan Jackson ran it before the Olds Achieva as an alky turned nitro flopper.
The car I think you are referring to was indeed an ex Amato / Bruce larson show car which Rune Fjeld bought over to Europe, running the car in Mobil 1 / KappAhl livery for a short time before getting the ex Hoover Trans Am. As reported Terry Revil and Mark Newby ran the car in TMFC in Kopex Livery for a while, with Gary Page driving on several occasions. In this guise the car ran 186 mph to the eighth which I remember Anglia News reporting as a european record at the time (I suspect SPR had just started releasing 1/8th speeds and wanted to show this fact off a bit).

The car then passed on to Tazmania Jackson, who ran down to 6.18 and due to the slightly odd divisional way the european pro comp championship worked that year became TA/FC2. He reshelled the car with a 'Hairy Glass' Olds Achiever and at this point the Baretta body and chassis were separated. AJ then went Nitro with the same car, running pretty well.

The achiever and chassis then became the 'Mainline Menace' AA/FC that Smax set on fire several times. The complete car was then part of the part-ex deal Smax did with Leif Helender. The original Larson / Amato / Fjeld / Kopex / Jackson / Smax chassis still sits at the heart of the Starkotter Saab that Leif ran at the finals last year, though I am sure with all the mandatory updates over the intervening 20 years there wont be all that much left.

Nice to see that the old Kopex / Mobil / Larson shell has resurfaced. When I read tho OP I was slightly puzzled because I was confusing Tony and Trace Froome. The car Trace has is, of course, a whole different 'Funny Car Family Tree'.

Now, where did I leave my keys...?
 #6167  by muddytalker
 
Jon, thanks for the info. I don’t remember Rune ever owning or racing the Beretta in Mobil 1 colours. Would that have been 1990/91? Anyone got a picture! Here’s a few when Al Jackson had it.
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Photos by Dick Parnham
 #6169  by muddytalker
 
I wonder if it’s the same Mobil 1 body I saw at the 1991 IHRA Winternationals at Darlington then. Didn’t turn a wheel all weekend I seem to recall. The body spent more time on top of the trailer rig that the chassis! A week later Rune was trying to qualify for the Gators. Could it be the same car! Did he run it over here Jon?
 #6170  by JonC
 
muddytalker wrote:I wonder if it’s the same Mobil 1 body I saw at the 1991 IHRA Winternationals at Darlington then. Didn’t turn a wheel all weekend I seem to recall. The body spent more time on top of the trailer rig that the chassis! A week later Rune was trying to qualify for the Gators. Could it be the same car! Did he run it over here Jon?
Runes website http://www.rfmotorsport.com/history.html says he bought and ran the Barretta in 1989. He then went to the states in 1990, bought Hoovers Trans Am and entered the Gators.
 #6172  by hellfish
 
I can tell you that the chassis under tonys car is a chris alston chassis kit built by Phil Cornish incidentally thats the same as the chaos fuel Altered chassis
 #6180  by ukdrn
 
muddytalker wrote:I don’t remember Rune ever owning or racing the Beretta in Mobil 1 colours. Would that have been 1990/91? Anyone got a picture!
Here you go Jerry.
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Pictures:Brad Beechem
 #12084  by ukdrn
 
Tony Froome re-appeared at Shakespeare County yesterday with a Top Methanol Funny Car called Sundance.
The chassis is a new build and the body is the old Bruce Larson/Rune Field/Alan Jackson/Kopex etc.
He never made it out on the track due to some fuel leaks and new car problems.
I asked him about the old cars and he told me that Sundowner is still around but not in a good state.
The rear engined funny was cut up years ago, he told me that when they cut the car up he noticed that one side of the chassis was longer than the other, a good reason why the car never went straight.
He said that car was great fun to drive as you never knew which way it was going to go.
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 #12087  by fester
 
Tony told me he raced against garlits,sorry Mr garlits