This Early 1970s Junior Fuel Dragster Was Pulled From The Mothballs And Run – Watch!


This Early 1970s Junior Fuel Dragster Was Pulled From The Mothballs And Run – Watch!

(Video by: VictoryRedColorado YouTube) – Junior Fuel was a pretty cool class in drag racing that became wildly popular in the late 1960s and into the 1970s. 304ci displacement limit, naturally aspirated, and light as a feather, the cars were a budget way to get out in front of a crowd and burn some nitro. When people romanticize the world of top fuel drag racing in the 1960s and early 1970s they are better describing the realm of the junior furl drag racer than the top their pros of the day. There were some small hemi engines but the majority of the cars ran 283 engines with more bore or a 327 with less stroke. Guys ran nitro percentages in the high 90s and there were a bunch of cars across the country chasing the glory at big events in the category.

This video was taken at the awesome Meltdown Drags event held yearly at Byron Dragway in Illinois. The car in question had been mothballed for decades before being yanked out, cleaned up, and readied to hit the track. You will notice the car has an injected small block Chevy, no reverse, and a fresh set of slicks on it. Also you will notice that the car has a period three bar chassis. The driver is halfway hanging out of the thing and it packs a 120″ wheelbase.

The fun story here is that this car ACTS like the majority of the little dragsters did back then. The burnout is a high RPM affair and the run is kind of a mess. Wait for the weird bouncing move that the car makes while it heads down the track. It wasn’t all pretty runs back in the day, either and this is proof.

We give this crew a lot of credit for dragging this one out of the shop and to the track!

Press play below to see this killer old Junior Fuel Dragster hit the track


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2 thoughts on “This Early 1970s Junior Fuel Dragster Was Pulled From The Mothballs And Run – Watch!

  1. Gary

    JR. Fuel was indeed a very cool class! I sure do miss the simplicity of drag racing from the old days. Fast is one kind of excitment for sure. But ill-handling, unpredictable cars are what made the drivers heros, and the cars FUN to watch. Fourty years from now, nobody’s going to be talking about so-and-so’s twin turbo’d Mustang outlaw or Pro mod this or that. But they’re probably still going to be talking about the Winged Express, if not still paying to come watch it run!

  2. James Starks

    My late uncle worked at a machine shop in Wichita and had a Jr. fueler that ran an iron-block 392 from a Chrysler Imperial because they were the beefiest blocks. Those were fun and really easy to work on. A barrel valve and different size “pills” controlled the fuel flow. I got to helpassemble the motors a few times. The “shop” was a store garage in the stinky part of town. Noise was not a problem, either. He ran around with “Kansas” John Wiebe from Newton in the late 60s. Fun times. Miss my Aunt and Uncle.

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