Little Red Wagon 3/4 Sleeve Raglan - Men's T-Shirt
Bill "Maverick" Golden went from King of the Dodge Super/Stocks to King of the Wheelstanders after an unprecedented three season AHRA winning streak from 1962-64; during which time he gained Chrysler factory sponsorship. To foster an exchange of ideas that might ultimately improve the performance of Chrysler-powered cars everywhere, Bill Golden was sent by Dodge to Jim Nelson's Dragmaster shop in Carlsbad, near San Diego, where for four months Maverick worked, ate, slept and dreamt about drag racing; and pioneered aspects of ram-tuning, traction devices, as well as governor modifications to raise shift-points in Chrysler's Torqueflite transmissions. Some of his contributions were used in the production of 1963-64 Max Wedge Cars. Near the end of the '64 season, Maverick was invited to Detroit by Frank Wylie, Chrysler's chief of public relations in order to Dick Branster's shop to see what Chrysler felt was it's next "Secret Weapon" for A/FX competition. It was a Dodge A-100 compact pickup modified with a mid-engine-mounted 426 Hemi. Branster's shop foreman Jay Howell had been handling the driving chores and had been key in the development of the truck. The Little Red Wagon was conceived to run fast on all four wheels....they were wrong. It was discovered that the truck had a propensity for uncontrollably picking up the front wheels at speed. When it continued to do so, much to the delight of the spectators, Wylie decided to exploit the exhibition potential of the wheelie truck; and to have the most successful AHRA Chrysler-sponsored Super Stock driver behind the wheel while filming for a Dodge "Tuff-Truck" ad-campaign. "We ran an easy 130 mph test run the following day at Motor City Dragway in 27 degree weather, but the thing had a tendency to wheelstand in the lights. Jay Howell hopped in, blazed the tires on launch and, at the 1000 foot mark, while running about 140 mph, he almost flipped over backwards..... I thought to myself, 'What am I getting in to?' So, I buckled in and smashed the throttle. The front wheels launched to the sky. After that I came up with the idea to put a braking system on the truck so I could steer it with the front wheels in the air.... So Chrysler wanted us to take the truck back to California, take off the supercharger and pretty it up for a possible match race tour." Among Maverick's friends and mentors was Speed King and multiple world record holder Mickey Thompson. Mickey suggested a switch to a Methanol-burning, Hilborn Injected 426 Hemi in place of the Nitro-burning supercharged engine; in order to make more controllable power and to put less strain on engine components for exhibition runs. The combination worked. It was a instant hit with fans. "We made our first run in 1965 at Lions Drag Strip. We ran in the mid 11 second range at 120mph on the rear bumper. After that the rest is history.”
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