Phil Bonner had a relatively short career in the world of top level drag racing but his impact is still felt today and fans of the blue oval brand still herald Bonner as one of the best that ever strapped himself into a full bodied car. His career began like many did down south in the 1950s by hitting strips in the car he drove around every day. Beating on that old Ford with its automatic transmission on strips paved with dirt and clay helped set the stage for a meteoric rise through the straight line ranks that began in the early 1960s and ended at the close of the decade with a chosen retirement. There was certainly a lot of stuff that happened in the middle, though.

Bonner was front and center through the rapid and often scary evolution of the funny car from the era of over powered and under chassied door slammers to the “advanced” tube chassis, flip top cars that were part of the program during the late 1960s. He ran Ford cars from the beginning right up until he chose to retire from the sport in 1969 when he saw the writing on the wall for Ford’s factory supported drag program and went back to the world of selling cars.

Bonner made his name and rose to prominence during the wild match racing era that started in the South and exploded all over the country. Booked in “Run Whatcha Brung” shows became extremely popular from coast to coast and extremely lucrative for drivers and car owners who were booked into tracks for stout money and could perform at several tracks a week, putting on shows and raking in cash. When people wonder how guys like Bonner got so famous in the sport in the days before the internet and social media it is because he was shaking hands a kissing babies in front of packed strips several nights a week. These guys literally built a following from track to track and the whole thing kind of stacked up on itself over a few years.

Things got serious for Bonner in 1961 when he campaigned a 390 powered Starliner and then really got rolling in 1962 with a 406 powered Galaxie and then a 427 powered Galaxie in 1963. He was on the short list of Ford drivers that were “sold” Thunderbolts in 1964. The week before the WinterNationals he ran his car against the best in the country at Lions and slayed them all, dipping into the 11.20s. The Winters were not as kind to the Thunderbolts as the loosey goosey rules at the Lions event allowed them to run on wider tires and the cars really hauled. On the smaller slicks, they didn’t have the success right off the bat, but across the country the Thunderbolts were known and feared.

Taking matters into his own hands during the 1964 season and into 1965, Bonner built an AWB Falcon with a hairy 427 in it that was able to hang with the AWD Chrysler products in match races at tracks across the country. In ’65 he also ran a legal A/FX SOHC powered Mustang like Bill Lawton had for the Tasca Team. He’d run the Mustang at events that required legal cars and then pound on the match race Falcon multiple nights a week to pay the bills and stock away the cash. 1968 was a great year to be Phil Bonner as he had the wildly stretched nose Mustang you can see below as well as seat time in super stock Cobra Jet Mustangs and a 427 powered Fairlane, but changes were afoot and being the smart guy that he was, Bonner started the read the writing on the wall.

While he had a flip top Torino funny car to drive in 1969 he did not have factory support. Bonner did publicity with the car and the drag racing world was sure that they would see him on the track but that never came to fruition. Running the thing out of his own pocket was something that Bonner was not willing to do so he packed it in for good. Phil went back to selling cars and did quite well for himself in that enterprise. He was often seen at reunions and nostalgia races as well as at NHRA national events. Phil Bonner never stopped loving the sport, he just stopped being part of the show.

Guys like Phil Bonner had a nearly immeasurable level of importance to the growth of the sport. They lived a wild life even on the calmest of weeks back then, running hard and fast on tracks that angels would fear to tread on. Their amazing level of fan contact and the frequency that it happened at helped to personalize the sport for thousands of young men and women across the nation on a weekly basis.

Somewhere there’s a wheelstanding outlaw A/FX Ford running down Chryslers like they’re tied to a stump. Rest well, Phil. You earned it.