Woody Gilmore (2 February 1933 – 3 July 2020) was a
dragster and
funny car chassis
A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
builder in the 1960s and 1970s.
Gilmore built the chassis for the
top fuel
Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of and finishing the runs in 3.641 second ...
streamliner
A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor " bullet trains". Less commonly, the term i ...
''
Hustler VI'' in 1965.
In 1968,
Doug Thorley bought a rear-engined
Javelin
A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...
funny car from Gilmore, powered by an
AMC 401.
Gilmore was also responsible for the
Don Prudhomme
Don Prudhomme (born April 6, 1941, in San Fernando, California), nicknamed "the Snake", is an American drag racer.
He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1991.
Racing career
Prudhomme crewed for "TV Tommy" Ivo on Ivo's ...
, Rance McDaniel (the
Dan Olson Racing Products team), and ''
Wynns Stormer''
streamliner
A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor " bullet trains". Less commonly, the term i ...
wedge
dragsters, all in 1972.
He also built the chassis for the
Petersen and Fritz "Can-Am" dragster in 1974.
[Taylor, "Herm Petersen-Sam Fritz Can-Am dragster", in "Beauty Beyond the Twilight Zone", p.32.]
Notes
Sources
*McClurg, Bob. "50 Years of Funny Cars: Part 2" in ''Drag Racer'', November 2016, pp. 35–50.
*Taylor, Thom. "Beauty Beyond the Twilight Zone" in ''Hot Rod'', April 2017, pp. 30–43.
American automobile designers
Dragster drivers
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