Before the famous “Little Red Wagon” was constructed the world had never seen a wheelstander. However, the Wagon was not intended to be an exhibition vehicle when it was first constructed by Dodge Truck engineers John Collier and Jim Schaefer. The plan was to race the truck in B/FX, but the damned thing wouldn’t stay down when the loud pedal was mashed. The truck soon came to the attention of Dodge PR man Frank Wylie, who had Dick Branstner rework a few things for pure wheelie action, and who brought in former Super Stock driver Bill “Maverick” Golden, who spent the next forty-some years making his living wheeling various incarnations of the truck down strips all over the world. This video is from early in his career.

Another thing to take note of is the fact that the truck did not hold the front end up for the length of the track as modern wheelstanders do. It would pull a monster wheelie at the launch and then really leg out the rest of the track. It captured the hearts and minds of drag racing fans world-wide. This video is retro cool!