Tommy Ivo’s four-engined, four-wheel-drive Showboat (later rebuilt with a body and called The Wagon Master) is one of the most iconic vehicles in drag racing history. Built during the NHRA’s nitro ban, it evolved into an amazing exhibition car that had a career spanning 15 years and untold millions of miles of travel around the country and the world.

Darr Hawthorne of DragRacingOnline tipped us off to what we consider the finest piece ever constructed about this car. It was written by Tony Thacker who is the executive director of the NHRA Museum and a man who makes the average drag scholar look like a 3rd grade drop out.

This historical retrospective talks a lot about the early days of the car and its evolution from actual competition racer to exhibition vehicle. One of the most amazing features of the car during its exhibition days is the Buick “station wagon” body that was put on the chassis. We always assumed it to be ‘glass. It’s not. Tom Hanna hand-formed the thing and mounted it to the chassis. Amazing stuff, all covered in the story.

One thing that’s not is the fact that this car ended Ivo’s driving career as he suffered a severe back injury while racing the car up in Canada in the early 1980s. To our knowledge, the car was never wrecked which is amazing considering the checked history of other 4WD machines like the Hurst Hairy Olds and Gary Gabelich’s ill fated 4WD Vega Wagon Nitro Funny Car, which wrecked on its initial check out pass.

Click here to get the whole story over on SpeedHunters.com