Saturday Night Thunder, Baby!

If , like me, you love watching grossly overpowered cars designed only to get from Point A to Point B in a straight line scream down a track at full throttle...then this is one of the cars we have to thank for it. The seller claims that this car won the race at Pomona Raceway on July 6, 1958 that ignited the 'Gasser Wars' between the makers of Isky and Howard cams. One of Jr. Thompson's first 'Gasser' cars, it went on to win the first “Little Eliminator” class championship at the '58 U.S. Nationals in Oklahoma City. Since the top two classes that year were 'Top Eliminator' and 'Little Eliminator', and the top two classes nowadays are 'Top Fuel' and 'Funny Car', I guess one could argue that today's high-tech, 7,000hp, 300+mph nitro powered funny cars are direct descendants of this very car. Hmmmmm. The car looks very original down to the improvised seat covers and period decals. There's even an original hole in the hood caused by an interesting incident between Junior Thompson and his older brother, Eddie. You can read about that incident, as well as lots of other interesting tidbits, on the seller's web site here.