the showboat

the seventies sure had some less than aerodynamic cars used as funny car shapes... and I hadn't learned until now that Ivo raced a 77 Charger! I wonder why he chose this land yacht shape?

Maybe he was on contract to stick with Mopar, or Dodge specifically. This Charger shell replaced a Dart shell, and was sponsored by the Rod Shop

https://moparinsiders.com/tommy-ivos-1977-dodge-charger-nhra-funny-car-goes-to-auction/

the 1st and 2nd t buckets ever made heading to the starting line

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1007279679808715&set=gm.509930770282754

1960s racing posters

 

http://www.reproracingposters.com/1960-vintage-racing-posters

Tommy Ivo at age 16 with his brand new 1952 Buick

https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelryerson/14160896088/

Ivo vs Capt Jack

http://hotrodcraft.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=f37ab4a1162fcc9d7976ed31762d8801&topic=86.0

Capt Jack McClure was posted about in 2010 http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/12/tale-of-tubonique-racing-cart-from.html

Norm Grabowski at the 1960 L.A. Roadster Show, and the Beatnik Bandit, and Tommy Ivo's T

I've never heard of this car though. I wonder if someone is a proud owner of it still? 

Update, Feb 2017, I realized that this is the same car that he turned into the "Porter" of the tv show My Mother The Car 

http://www.hotrod.com/events/1506-looking-back-to-1960-la-roadster-show/

together in history, and in the museum... the two T Buckets that started it all, Norm Grabowski's and Tommy Ivo's

they only raced each other one time, so Hot Rod Deluxe says in the latest issue, and Life Magazine was there, and followed Norm to Big Boys, and he became a star. You know the rest

or, if you're just hooking into all this for the 1st time, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/02/life-magazine-gallery-of-norm-grabowski.html for the photos of Norm at Big Boys by Life Magazine, or http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/12/tommy-ivos-bucket-t-on-tv-and-in-movies.html for Tommy Ivo at the strip before the race

skip the first useless 3 minutes... can't ANYONE edit a video?

Found on http://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/great-video-watch-tommy-ivo-drive-the-four-engine-wagon-master-in-1996/

Tommy Ivo, showman, drag racer, tv star, innovator, and wnner of a National Drag meet, had the most impressive hauler, the Vette was stowed on top... and a 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed exhibit

https://www.facebook.com/groups/getting.there/

http://www.tommyivo.com/_Exhibits.html

Tommy Ivo's Cadillac and see through trailer were how he toured in the early days. Match race to match race

Tommy Ivo's 1966 glass sided trailer, restored

I just learned of a treasure of 60's dragstrip photos, Nomad Eternus Flikr page

Above, the only photo I've seen of Danny Ongais, who you may have not learned was an Army paratrooper, AHRA and NHRA champion, and among other famous teams, he drove for Roland Leong, John Mazmanian, Dragmaster, and while partnered with Mickey Thompson they broke 295 records at Bonneville. He won a lot of SCCA races, qualified for a lot of Indy 500, and what else I don't know

above, plexi windows in the front of a belly tanker... must have been a blast to drive!

Above, that is some air induction!

just a small sample from http://www.flickr.com/photos/57343654@N03/page1/

the American Racing booth at SEMA this year

for a gallery of the Romeo dragster: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/04/romeo-palamides-slingshot-george-barris.html

Want to see the Pomona dragstrip with 1964 action? With Tommy Ivo's, Don Garlits', and the Greer Black Prudhomme top fuel rails? Plus Dean Jeffries Manta Ray in action. What if you have to put up with a 60's Annette and Frankie Beach Party type movie? well, it was worth it to get these shots

The movie starts with the bunch of surfer-dragster-dancer kids going to the beach to surf. That trailer has very era correct art, just take a look at the "Monster shirts" of Mouse, Jeffries, Roth, and Von Dutch... especially the Mouse art http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/01/mouse-monster-shirts.html

 and here are a couple close ups

 And the same artist did the set work of Don Rickles' character's bar

 below photo has a couple cool dragsters on the wall behind the musician's stage

Dean Jeffries' Manta Ray in action, and towing a dragster http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/09/why-did-dean-jeffries-mantaray-have-289.html

the above C&T Automotive slingshot has a word painted just above the parachute, "Britannia" but it only appears on the car half the time this dragster is on screen

The movie edittors must have been going to Movie "Grade School" becuase they were real bad. The clip I got from a drag race sequence was flipped backwards, notice the above dragsters lettering

 Tommy Ivo's famous "Showboat" , in the below video, which has the movie clip of it running down the track, Tommy explains how he engineered the 4 engines to work simultaneously

Don Rickles in the red jumpsuit, his character runs the dragstrip and owns the bar "Big Drag's Pit Stop" at the beginning of this post

 There were about 10 sligshot dragsters on the movie set, the Manta Ray, and the Show Boat

  Pontiac Tempest or Bonneville wagon for a team push car, way cool rims

And they even went so nuts as to include a guy in a chimp suit thoughout the entire movie, and even had it drive a Harley Davidson Topper scooter, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-did-harley-owners-ever-reinvent.html but with a sidecar... I've never seen a Topper with a sidecar... quite kooky

for a couple dozen behind the scenes and making of photos: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/search/2/image?artist=the%20enthusiast%20network&excludenudity=true&family=editorial&page=167&sort=best#license