Normally, when you walk around inside the oval track at Beech Bend during the Holley Hot Rod Reunion, you will see pits set up, vendor trucks set up, and a group of historic race cars around the perimeter, gleaming in the sun, on view for everyone to enjoy. Candy paints, gold leaf lettering, and chromed engines attract the fans, who can take a moment or two and learn about these racers from a time gone by. But what got my attention at this year’s event wasn’t pretty, wasn’t shiny, but was no less impressive. It was a 1969 Ford Mustang funny car, parked along the inner ring of the track, and it had seen better days. Most of the lacquer paint was faded out and flaking. The outline of the lettering remained, including the “Doug Nash Racing Engines” callout, but you got the feeling that something was missing. The tube-frame chassis had a layer of corrosion on it, the SOHC Ford sitting in the middle of the chassis wasn’t complete, and the Lexan windows were barely opaque enough to see through. But looking past the weathered paint, faded stickers and all, there was no doubt that this car, Paul Stefansky’s “Super Stang”, had lived one hell of a life once.

I spent a good portion of the weekend talking with the Super Stang’s current owner, Brian Hatton. Brian is the son of Paul Hatton, the man who, along with Stefansky, built the car, originally as the “Boss Hoss”. It came together in 1967, originally as a 1966 Ford Mustang coupe body made of fiberglass, that had been stretched out by Paul Shedlik, with the senior Hatton providing the paint and lettering. The Boss Hoss used a Logghe chassis, a SOHC Ford mill built by Ernie MacEwen with Hilborn injection, and a C6 automatic for power, and ran the car with one parachute, a Bob’s unit. Stefansky drove the car, and later that year, Hatton sold his interest in the car to Stefansky, who added a supercharger for the 1968 season, running the car under his name.

Photo: Daryl Huffman

In 1969 the chassis was re-bodied with a 1969 Mustang shell, again by Shedlik, with tin work by Al Bergler, and switched names to the Super Stang. In it’s debut layout, The car appeared with a Shedlik candy gold-to-blue paint job and it’s signature gold-leaf lettering. The roll cage was modified to fit the 1969 body, and the body sported 1969 Mustang taillights in the rear panel along with a second parachute, a Simpson piece. The Super Stang, in this configuration, raced for 1969 and 1970. The Super Stang was usually good for 7.30-ish ETs and had hit 205 once in 1970.

For 1971, the body was updated again. The candy gold-to-red paint job was applied, the quarter-scoops were filled in on the body, and the taillights were removed. Shedlik once again was the master behind the paint gun, and the senior Hatton re-lettered the car. The car raced until the end of 1971, then the engine was pulled for Stefansky’s new-for-1972 Mustang funny car and the Super Stang was sold for somewhere in the neighborhood of $6,000. According to the lore, a guy in Connecticut wound up with the funny car, and between 1972 and the late 1980s, it sat in storage, not moving an inch.

This is where Brian Hatton comes in. He had been looking for pieces of his father’s history and had been searching for his connections to the cars when he learned about the Super Stang. It took years of phone calls, negotiations, and patience, but Hatton was able to buy the chassis for the car in 2005 and the body in 2007. Naturally, after twenty-something years of neglect, items were missing and the once-vibrant body was rough. Over the years he has been able to find some bits and pieces to get the Mustang back into it’s 1971 form, but it hasn’t been easy. Instead of just hunting down new or replacement parts, Hatton is going for full period-correct pieces. One such item was the brake booster, which was well out of production. Bruce Larson, the driver of the USA-1 Camaro funny car, had a spare master cylinder on his shelf and sent it to him, no questions asked.

So what’s going to happen with this historic and unrestored funny car? Hatton wants to bring the car back into 1971 specification, but when it comes to the idea of restoration, he’s torn. He does want to see the car do a Cacklefest once in it’s as-found condition (minus new Lexan), but after that, he isn’t certain as to whether or not the car should be finished or left alone. From where we sit, it’s just as difficult to decide…do you leave it original or do you replicate the trick paint and bring the car back to glory? The gold leaf lettering is long gone, and the graphics on the back are lifting and flaking away, but re-doing the car would mean removing the work that Brian’s father performed on the car in the first place. Whatever the case, it’s another saved Funny Car from the past, and if you had any doubts about whether or not there is an interest in these cars anymore, all you needed to do was watch the crowd around this car.