Ultimate Drag Racing Driver Boxset

While the established stock and modified brackets are
long-recognized as the heart and soul of drag racing, it was
the wheelstanders that more often than not put butts in the
bleachers. In that category, some of the most well-known
names included Bill “Maverick” Golden’s Little Red Wagon,
Bill Shewsberry’s L.A. Dart and Chuck Poole’s Chuck
Wagon. Although, most memorable of all was the Hurst
Hemi Under Glass Plymouth Barracuda campaigned by
Bob Riggle.

Riggle started his career in the early 1960s as a car
builder and mechanic for Hurst-Campbell and eventually
ascended to pilot the Hemi Under Glass. When he left
Hurst in 1969, the Hemi Under Glass franchise transferred
with Riggle. He continued for six more years as the owner/
driver of a succession of Hemi Under Glass renditions.
In the 1990s he resurrected the concept of the original
car—making four different versions (1966, 1967, 1968,
and 1969)—and continued to thrill drag racing fans with his
wheelstanding antics.

At the time of this writing, Bob’s last run with the Hemi
Under Glass was in the summer of 2019. He claims to have
retired (he was 83 years old at the time), but he’s claimed
that before!

This is Bob’s story, one that Mark Fletcher and Richard
Truesdell, co-authors of the 2012 book Hurst Equipped, are
honored to share. They say the story was easy to tell—given
their unprecedented access not only to Bob but also to
his vast archive of photos that reflect his ongoing popularity.
Many of the photos in this book are seen in print for the
very first time.

• Bob Riggle is recognized as the greatest wheel stander
of all time and as drag racing’s most popular exhibitionist

• Many never-before-seen photos from the Bob Riggle
archive illustrate this history of Hemi Under Glass

• Bob Riggle has made 10s of thousands of drag racing
passes, entertaining 10s of millions of fans

About the Authors

Richard Truesdell is a veteran magazine editor with
more than 25 years of experience. He has written scores
of magazine articles and has been the editor-in-chief of
Chevy Enthusiast and Car Audio and Electronics. Currently,
he is the editorial director of Automotive Traveler.
Mark Fletcher has been a regular contributor to several
automotive websites and magazines. Mark is a long-time
muscle car enthusiast, and owns a Hurst SC Rambler. Currently, he resides in Steven’s Point, Wisconsin.

Many fans of drag racing consider the most interesting era to be from the 1950s through the 1970s, the years when the sport really took off. During that period, so much changed from a speed and technology standpoint that people often refer to this time as the golden age of drag racing.Drivers often became associated with a particular manufacturer, such as Chevy, Ford, or Chrysler through sponsorship, factory team rides, or sometimes simply their own preference. The more successful drivers became household names in the drag racing community. Chevy had Grumpy Jenkins, Pontiac had Arnie "the Farmer" Beswick, Mopar had Sox & Martin and Dandy Dick Landy, and Ford's most successful driver of the era was the legendary "Dyno Don" Nicholson.Nicholson's first wins on a national level were actually in the early 1960s in Chevrolet products. He became extremely successful on the match-race circuit. Then, in 1964, he switched over to Mercury with the new Comet after General Motors enacted a factory ban on racing activities. He won 90 percent of his match races that year. He stuck with Ford and Mercury products and won throughout the 1960s and 1970s, even after Ford also pulled the plug on factory team sponsorship. He made it to the final rounds in nearly 50 national events during that period, in addition to winning championships, awards, and match races along the way. If you are a fan of a certain era of racing, a Ford fan, or certainly a "Dyno Don" fan, this book will be a welcome addition to your library. Meet drag racing legend and pioneer Shirley Shahan, the Drag-On Lady! As the first woman to win an NHRA national event when she was named Top Stock Eliminator at the 1966 Winternationals, Shahan blazed a trail for women in drag racing. During the golden era of drag racing, it was rare to find diversity in the sport. Shahan is what’s commonly known as a living legend. In a career that spanned the 1950s and into the early 1970s, Shahan drove 1956 and 1958 Chevys and was one of the lucky few who was able to purchase one of the rare 1963 Chevrolet RPO Z11 Super Stockers. Later, when she was driving for Plymouth and Dodge, Shahan made the name Drag-On Lady both famous and feared. She then moved to American Motors and raced very successfully with the new SS/AMX. From 1958 to 1972, Shahan set records and won numerous awards. She was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, Super Stock Magazine Hall of Fame, and Mopar Hall of Fame, and she was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Bakersfield racetrack. In addition, Shirley won the Top Stock category at the very first March Meet at the legendary the Famoso Raceway track near Bakersfield, California, which made her the first person (male or female) to do so. In 1966, she was the named one of Hot Rod magazine’s Top 10 Drivers. She raced against the best drivers during the golden age of drag racing and more often than not blew off the doors of her opponents. She had a fierce passion for winning, and in this book, you’ll feel what it was like to be behind the wheel as she steers you through her illustrious career. Fasten your seat belt; it’s going to be a wild ride.

Born and raised in central California, Larry “Butch” Leal
was obsessed with cars from a very early age. What began
with field cars turned into hard work and new Chevrolets.
This took place when the golden era of drag racing was in
its infancy, and Leal joined with enthusiasm. He performed
well at the track with his early Chevys and had an impressive
number of wins before he was out of high school. His
success brought him plenty of attention and collaboration
with other big names in the sport.

In 1963, GM pulled out of the sport on an official basis.
As a result, Butch (at age 19) teamed up with Mickey
Thompson and joined the Ford camp, securing a ride with
the factory team and its new Thunderbolts for 1964. After
his success that season, including winning the Super Stock
(S/S) class at the 1964 NHRA US Nationals in Indianapolis,
Chrysler came calling, and Butch signed on to race the new
altered-wheelbase cars in match races for 1965, as the
NHRA did not have a class for these new “funny” looking
cars. While Leal dabbled again with Ford and Chevrolet
later, his relationship with Chrysler lasted well into the
following decades, running both Funny Cars and Super
Stockers.

Penned by talented automotive historian Bob McClurg,
who was there for it all, and featuring full collaboration with
the book’s subject, Butch “The California Flash” Leal covers
the span of his fascinating career during arguably the
most interesting era in drag racing history. Butch was an
11-time NHRA champion and 4-time recipient of Car Craft
magazine’s All-Star Driver of the Year award in a career
that spanned the 1960s through the 1990s. It’s all here, the
events, great vintage photography, and the stories from one
of the best storytellers the NHRA has ever known. Add this
entertaining volume to your drag racing library today.

• This is the first ever biography on Butch “The California
Flash” Leal.
• It is filled with never-before-seen vintage drag racing
photography.
• Leal is a great storyteller; he shared many stories for
this book.

Arnie “the Farmer” Beswick was called “the consummate underdog” by Hot Rod magazine. While there was good reason, there is much more to his unbelievable career.

 Born a third-generation farmer in the small town of Morrison, Illinois, Arnie Beswick’s driving career began not behind the wheel of a straight-line terror but that of a tractor. On local dusty roads, Arnie’s budding reputation grew with street cars, as the “flying farmer” was coined to describe his driving style. When drag racing began in the Midwest in the early 1950s, Arnie was one of the pioneers who campaigned Dodges and Oldsmobiles. In 1960, he purchased his first Pontiac and never looked back.

 At the beginning, he didn’t like the “farmer” nickname, but he quickly learned to utilize the name to lull his competition into complacency. After all, what could a simple farmer know of the world of high-performance drag racing? Throughout the 1960s, Arnie’s Mr. B’s Passionate Poncho, Mystery Tornado, Star of the Circuit I and II, Tameless Tiger, and Super Judge all contributed to dispel the myth that a simple farmer couldn’t dominate straight-line racing.

 Arnie was an innovator, fierce competitor, entertainer and showman who always gave fans their money’s worth at the track. He is still brand loyal--sticking with Pontiac long after production models ceased. Arnie has always been a fan favorite for this reason, and he continues to exhilarate fans at the track with his cast of potent Pontiacs.

• Arnie “The Farmer” Beswick is the most renown Pontiac drag racer in history 

• This is the first book covering the career of Arnie Beswick 

• Contains never-before-seen images and a first-person account of the subject’s career

Don “The Snake” Prudhomme reveals for the first time ever his incredible life and career on and off of the drag strip. Imagine spending a year with Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, having coffee together and talking about his life, his racing, his friends, and his family. He’d tell you about how he rose from being a high school drop-out who was painting cars to a respected Top Fuel dragster driver and successful businessman. You’d hear how he toured the country with Tommy Ivo and “The Hawaiian” Roland Leong, racing all the legends from “Big Daddy” Don Garlits to “The Golden Greek” [Chris] Karamesines. He’d say how he met Tom McEwen and recall how they became the Snake and the Mongoose, leading to a career in Funny Cars that netted him four championships in a row. He’d talk about the thrill of first wins and owning his own teams but also the struggles of bad seasons, crashes and fires, broken parts, and broken contracts. Along the way, he’d speak about the people in his life, such as engine-builder Keith Black and NHRA president Wally Parks, and those who were killed in the wild and unpredictable sport of nitro racing. It wouldn’t be only racing, though. Prudhomme would share lessons he learned about business and life from such varied sources as a neighbor in Granada Hills to Ford GT40 driver Dan Gurney. He also would talk about the importance of family: how his wife, Lynn, and daughter, Donna, changed his world and how finding out about his African-American roots opened his eyes to a culture and inheritance he’d always wanted. • Don Prudhomme is arguably the most famous drag racer of all time • This will be the first time Don Prudhomme has talked publicly about his life both on and off the track • Don Prudhomme won 49 NHRA races, 4 NHRA Championships, and won the US Nationals 7 times