Front motor top fuel cars are among the least appreciated vehicles in drag racing. Their numbers peaked in the 1990s and have basically declined since then, leaving us with less than two dozen really competitive entries from around the country. The rise of the nostalgia funny car sure did some damage but like every other class ever, rising costs did more. Not to be all doom and gloom but when we get the chance to see someone wheel one of these things like a boss we love to show ’em off because they are very hard to drive and even harder to control.
On a good run, the front motor dragster is kind of a swaying, yawing, bouncing pile of steel tubing and nitro anger. On a bad run, it takes a couple of those elements and magnifies them to the point that the driver it literally steering for this life and that is the case with this video that features Tim Cullinan doing just that.
Some of you may remember Cullinan for his privateer NHRA top fuel efforts back in the 2000s but this front motor car proves that the nitro never completely leaves your veins and that people will always find some way to entertain themselves with fuel if given the chance. When you watch the run, notice that things were actually looking pretty good for the first 330′. It was after that when the car started to turn itself into a trike multiple times and Cullinan did an amazing job of ultimately getting it through the traps with the sticky side down rather than skidding on his roll cage.
We’re not sure about you, but if we had just sat through this, we’d be seriously considering whether we wanted to do it again! Note how flexible the chassis is. With the rear tire way up on the air, the skinny fronts were still planted on the pavement and steering. That is some bendy tubing for sure.
I think it was actually on 2 wheels at one point!!! Wow, he is a far braver man than I.
He had new A arms right after this! I talked to him a few weeks later at the World Series and congratulated him on his amazing save.
BTW, the guy with the fuel bottle at the fire-up is Dale Suhr of Orange Crate NTF fame.