How Far Is "Too Far"?

As I was thinking about, and now typing, this weeks blog, I often went back to the thought, "...how

can I write stuff on this particular subject without pissing anybody off?" But then I rationalized that that is practically an impossibility - I am going to piss someone off, somehow, someway. My thought process all started by reading a short article on "The 25 Tackiest Accessories You Can Put On A Car". Making the top five, were huge tacky wings on trunk lids of vehicles. Yeah - I've seen some of those on Honda's, Nissan's and Subaru's. But then I thought about the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona and the 1970 Plymouth Superbird - I know some speed freaks and NASCAR nuts loved them from the get go, but most of the public's reaction wasn't very positive. There are stories of some Plymouth dealers converting Superbirds into regular Roadrunners in order to sell them because the winged warriors sat on their dealership lots for so long. But as history has shown, both the Daytona and the Superbird are some of the most coveted muscle cars from that era. What might have been thought of as tacky back then, is now highly collectible. Will that be the same for modern tuner cars with wings? I doubt it, but you never know.


If you were to cruise over to the Amazon.com website and typed in a key phrase like, "History of Funny Cars", under their books subheading, chances are you would see dozens of books written on that subject. And all those books I guarantee you, would contain the historical A/FX cars that the manufacturers and select independent racers (through dealership sponsors) produced starting in late 1964. By the following year, these "funny looking" cars were gaining popularity across the country. But also at the same time, numerous drag racers as well as a number of fans considered these experimental vehicles "circus acts" and not real race cars. Fans were really divided by 1966 when Dyno Don Nicholson debuted his all-fiberglass Eliminator I Mercury Comet funny car. Never mind looking funny - it just looked downright weird compared to the rest of the field. Had the manufacturers or individual racers gone too far? My guess is this is possibly where the term "too much is just enough" got started...

If there is motor sports organization that has taken it's lumps by "going a bit too far", it has to be

NASCAR. On December 1st 1963, at Jacksonville Raceway Park, African-American driver Wendell Scott took the lead from Buddy Baker with 25 laps to go and won that Grand National race by two laps. However, it was Buddy Baker that was recognized as the winner and celebrated in victory lane. Why? Because of the color of Scott's skin. Racial tensions at the time were blamed for this pathetic move, and it became a huge mess for the organization. Hours after the race, corrections were made and Scott was declared the winner - but by that time all the fans were long gone. Both drivers have been inducted into the NASCAR hall of fame, but this particular race has gone down in history as the most controversial one in NASCAR history.

Quite honestly, I've never really minded pro-street vehicles. I just hope some of the absolutely over-the-top shit we saw in the 80's never returns. If there was ever a case of going too far in this field, it was Rick Dobbertin's Pontiac J2000 pro street rig from 1986. It's been noted that this was the car that "changed it all". In hindsight, I feel it was the car that finally started bringing closure to this automotive movement. I think people finally said, "...Enough". The fact of the matter is, pro or not, it was never a street car. It wasn't a case where it was too radical - it was a case of poor design;

regardless of how edge-of-the-planet it looked. First off, the multiple neon colored paint scheme was an eye full, although atypical of the era. Then we had the twin-turbo, chromed to the max small block Chevy complete with forward relocated Dominator carburetor. Adding insult to injury was the pneumatically actuated tilt body so everyone could see the stainless steel tube chassis amongst other things. It was like a funny car or pro-stock race car gone horribly wrong. The big problem was in fact with the rear suspension - it didn't have one! There were no shocks or springs. In order to fit the enormous Firestone tires under the compact J2000 body, Dobbertin basically had to eliminate everything. The vehicle relied on tire sidewall deflection and at times would literally bounce like a top fuel dragster. That right there promoted it to trailer queen about 98% of the time. Dobbertin eventually installed a pair of valve springs (!!) between the top of the rear end housing and the chassis, but it really didn't help at all. It still couldn't be street driven.

Finally, I'll leave you with this tidbit. You can decide whether it goes too far or if in fact it's way cool and the builder was possibly dropped as a child. The vehicle is a Toyota MR-2 sports car. The engine is a 540 cubic inch World War II era Kinner radial aircraft engine. If you're like me, you stopped asking why over three decades ago...

Until next time, peace out.
Dave