There are people who defy convention by necessity. There are people who do it for fun, and then there are those that do it to prove a point, no matter how costly the potential victory may be. Drag racing folks seem to think that they have the market cornered on smart, rulebook-savvy racers. As you are about to learn, that couldn’t be further from the truth. There are scads of stories about racers flying the one finger salute to convention, race officials, and even common sense. Those guys go in straight lines, circles, and through the twisties. Take this as a motorsports version of “Profiles in Courage” with a side order of “Animal House.” These are the defiant ones.

Marcellus and Borsch “Winged Express” at the 1969 NHRA Winternationals

If not the most dominating Fuel Altered of the late ’60s, the Marcellus and Borsch Winged Express is the most revered. It’s a combination of man and machine so thoroughly over the top that a fiction writer could not have done a better job with the story.

Of all the legendary tales regarding this car that fill bench racing sessions, our favorite act of open defiance with respect to the Winged Express came at the 1969 Winternationals. The boys decided to try and qualify their AA/FA in Top Fuel. Unlike today with its restrictive rulebook, these were the days of experimentation and creativity. In that spirit, there was nothing in the book that disqualified a Fuel Altered from trying to run with the “kings of the sport.” There were two things outside of the rulebook though: logic and common sense. Neither would matter.

As the final qualifying passes of Top Fuel were being made, the Wing uncorked a 7.29, 207-mph blast that put them at the number 32 qualified spot in the 32 car Top Fuel field, literally bumping Don Garlits out on his keister. Cue the legend.

After that lap was made, and we can only assume the crowd went ape, it took few scant minutes for the assembled group of qualified Top Fuel drivers to circulate a petition stating that they would not race against Marcellus and Borsch. It was submitted to the tower and Garlits was reinstated into the field. The Wing was relegated to Comp Eliminator, where, on the first lap of eliminations, it made a crossed up pass that resulted in some of the most famous drag racing photos of all time.

Borsch is currently at the big Fuel Altered meet in the sky, but Mouse Marcellus is still around. In a 2004 interview at the March Meet he told us that the reason that the Top Fuel guys were afraid was vision. “They sat so far behind our car on the starting line in a slingshot, they could see it start to get sideways when Willy nailed it,” Marcellus said. We can only imagine what would have happened had the car been able to get into eliminations.

Coming Next Tuesday: Marrio Rossi at the ’71 Daytona 500