(By Greg Rourke) – Most of us here have annoyed the neighbors at some point. I sure have. The angry neighbor lady banging on my door because parts cars in my driveway scared away potential buyers of her house. A Detroit powered big rig cranking up at 4 AM, five feet from a neighbors bedroom window. Never lit up a nitro mill in my driveway, however.
Here we have Al Weich, who owns and restored the Dunn and Reath rear engine Barracuda. The car was an ambitious project for Jim Dunn. He crewed on Doug Thorley’s rear engine Javelin FC that crashed badly, so he knew they had handling issues. He commissioned Woody Gilmore to build the chassis, who also built the Thorley car. That must have been an interesting conversation. Dunn reported the car would run straight as a string for four runs, then would turn left for seemingly no reason. They tried all sorts of stuff to make it work, and ended up winning the NHRA Supernationals. The car was retired shortly after, probably a good idea to not tempt fate further.
Al took the car to the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in 2016, but no funny cars were invited to cackle. What to do? Spark it up in your suburban driveway is what. How many of you have stood next to a nitro burner? It assaults all five senses. Hopefully Al doesn’t have a homeowners association to answer to.
Actually saw this car run at Fremont, in the day it was a little rough around the edges, don’t think it ever looked this good (it’s a brighter red now too). What great car to restore though and cackle in your driveway nice to hear it fire up again.
Beautiful restoration but that was a straight alcohol cackle.
Even though I work shift and get woken up by lawnmowers and roofers almost daily, this I wouldn’t mind. Put some nitro in the mix and it would sound and smell even better!
That’s a beauty, real music! I bet the neighbours love the sound too