Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Jr. Thompson, Legendary Gasser and Funny Car Drag Racer, Has Died at 83 Years Old
Written by Thom Taylor on June 6, 2016
Contributors: Hot Rod Archives
Jr. Thompson died May 28, 2016, from congestive heart failure. He was 83 years old. He’s been drag racing since he was 17, hitting the local dragstrips sprinkled within an hour’s driving from the family home in Downey, California. He really got the racing bug after winning Little Eliminator at the NHRA Nationals in 1958 with a 1941 Studebaker sedan. This was the first year the Little Eliminator title was given. It was then that he was first pitted against Gasser royalty like Stone, Woods & Cook, KS Pittman, and Ohio George Montgomery. He soon joined the Willys coupe club with his own 1941 Willys, setting the national record for C/Gas in 1962, maintaining the record through to B/Gas, and then in 1965 to A/Gas. He was also doing a gang of match racing in this time period. In the late-1960s, he held the A/Gas record in both NHRA and AHRA with his 1950 Austin running a 392 Hemi Chrysler at 155 mph in 9.03 seconds in the quarter-mile. Once the Gasser classes allowed later-model bodies, Jr. followed in quick succession with an Opel Kadett in 1969 and in 1970 with an Opel GT flip-top Gasser, winning the Gasser class at the Last Drag Race at Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, California, in 1972 running 173 mph at 8.11. He chose short-wheelbase cars for the extra weight transfer to the rear for better traction.
In the 1970s, Thompson ran a series of BB/FC Funny Cars, ending his racing career in 1982 with an end-over-end flip at over 200 mph in his burgundy Corvette at a strip in Ohio. Full recovery from this crash took many years. He worked for Joe Pisano at Venolia Pistons before venturing out building engines for racers.
In the later 1980s he built a Nostalgia Ford Perfect with a 470ci blown Hemi for his son, Tommy, to drive, and in the last couple of decades he was building first- and second-gen Chrysler Hemis for Nostalgia racers.
He was also Grand Marshal for the 2008 Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield, and was a regular there and at March Meets at Famoso, as well as other drag-racing legend gatherings throughout the years held around the country. His first wife survives him, daughters Lana, Linda, Rhonda, and son Tommy.
http://www.hotrod.com/news/1606-jr-thompson-legendary-gasser-and-funny-car-drag-racer-has-died-at-81-years-old/
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Gasser Saturday. . .
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
New Member Add their Cars to Gasser Magazine
Cool Blue in Bluefield. . .
Loving this "Lil Red" Willys from Omaha
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Studio 395: 3rd Saturday Info - Writer's Group MeetUp in Decem...
Studio 395: 3rd Saturday Info - Writer's Group MeetUp in Decem...: WRITER'S STUDIO MEETUP!! The Studio 395 "Writers Studio" will have its next meeting at 6:30 pm on Tues., December 8...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)