FACT: Ron Huegli is one of the best funny car wheelmen in the country. FACT: There isn’t a man alive on this planet that does better burnouts than Huegli in the awesome blown alcohol “Tiki Warrior” Monza funny car. We have him multiple times over the years at events across the country and on virtually every lap the dude performs a burnout to (at minimum) half track and (Normally) all the way to the timing traps. When filming or shooting photos of the car, by 300′ the machine is completely filled with smoke and Huegli can see only the wall to his right or left side for guidance down the course.
People go completely nuts for the car and Ron is a dude with huge respect for the history of the sport and what it really means to entertain the fans. He knows what it was like for people to rally behind Jungle Jim and the bombastic drivers of the 1970s and the spirit he brings to the starting line is straight from that era. Ron serves as the curator at the amazing World of Speed museum in Oregon and he’s one of the coolest museum curators you will ever meet. Hell, very few of them are funny car racers!
In this video, made by our pal Les Mayhew, we get a lesson in “Burnout 101” from Huegli. This isn’t a hokey “how to do a funny car burnout” video but it is in-car footage of Ron laying down a holy smoker of a burnout and then beating the snot out of the guy in the other lane during the race. The in-car and out of car footage is fantastic and Mayhew does his typical nostalgically awesome job of telling a story through the moving images than by someone narrating the scene. He is a true video story teller and we’re so grateful for the work he turns out.
/Lovefest
PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE RON HUEGLI IN THE TIKI WARRIOR FUNNY CAR DOMINATE A BURNOUT AND THEN WIN THE FINAL ROUND!
I’m a geezer been at the drags since 1960 I can’t tell you how awesome it is to see Ron to do his burnout. A few years ago at the patch the Tiki Warrior lined up next to Zeus and made simultaneous side by side full 1320′ burnouts Oooo Baby. Not easy to get a geezer to jump up and scream but they
did it. Thanks Ron for keeping the spirt alive.