Re: X-11 Yenkos
JoeC & Stefano,
I too agree that Bill Thomas was there at the beginning with Chevrolet. In Grady Bryants book "Match Race Madness" he relates how he and Dick owned a '63 Z11 Impala, which won the 1963 Winternationals. Bill Thomas had sent Dick some experimental high compression "fireslot" 409 pistons for the car before the event.
I have come to the conclusion that Dick's first AFXer was the Bill Thomas "Bad Bascomb" (a stroked FI sb) which was highlighted in a 1963 Hot Rod publication. I have compared pics from early articles on Dick, and the bumpers, dash/interior look identicle. Bill Thomas's name was on the 1st AFXer, "Retribution II, which I think Dick ran in 1965.
I think Dick went to work for Nickey in 1966, so he knew Bill at least 2-3 years before the move to the midwest. Maybe Dick's relationship with Bill Thomas led to Bill's relationship with the Nickey dealership? or visa versa? Dick's '66 AFXer ChevyII was wholly sponsored by Nickey. I think Bill Thomas may have built a '67 FunnyCar for Nickey and Dick, but when Dick left in the spring of 1967, the car was undeliverable? This "Nickey" '67 Camaro FunnyCar was for sale in the Fall of 1967 in several DragWorld Nickey advertisements. Maybe we will learn more this fall at the Reunion with the Nickey folks.
Dick was sponsored by Don Yenko for the summer of 1967, and maybe Dick's use of big motors in little cars was the seed that started the Yenko conversion program? I do not know when the first conversions occurred, but I might bet it wasn't until the spring of 1967. The earliest article I have of the Yenko/Harrell connection is from the June 23, 1967 DragWorld. It highlights the "Yenko" Sponsored Dick Harrell Camaro FunnyCar which I believe debuted at the AHRA SpringNationals. This was at St. Louis, which would have been in late May of 1967.
BTW, Chevrolet's desert proving grounds were in Mesa, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix. I wonder if Bill Thomas and Dick Harrell visited there occasionally? On the map, it is located right in the middle between Ahaheim CA and Carlsbad NM.
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