Greetings blog fans! I hope all of you had a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend. I’m sure all of you, like me, are ready to get back to racing. I’ve been traversing the country for the past three years as a full-time employee in Connie’s nitro circus, and I can’t remember another time during the past few years that I have wanted to get back out to the track so bad, besides the “offseason”. I guess it’s because we are still fairly early in the season, and maybe it’s because our team seems to have so many good things waiting on the horizon, but either way, I’m very happy to be in Topeka!
Speaking of getting back to racing, my buddy Shawn Dill, who was recently promoted to assistant crew chief on the Mac Tools Top Fueler, has a “side project” in his garage in Ypsilanti that makes the gearhead in all of us say, “Wow!” For a few years now, Shawn and his wife, Laurie, and their faithful pooches Tatum and Jake have been restoring a small piece of history from the Golden Age of drag racing. Well, the dogs mostly watch, but I’m sure they would help if they had opposable thumbs. This four-wheeled slice of Americana is a nearly completed restoration of a 1969 RCS Top Gas dragster. Shawn found the car some time ago in Iowa where it called home for its entire existence until it left with Shawn and Laurie for some extreme TLC in Michigan.
The dragster was campaigned by the Ditmars Brothers in 1970 and ’71 and made its quarter-mile debut at the Winternationals in ’70. Phil Ditmars was the chosen brother to shoe the entry, while brothers Skip and Bob helped with everything else. According to the brothers, the car was state-of-the-art when it first saw light in the fall of ’69. It has a rare 426 iron block and arguably the best chassis of its day and immaculate body styling by Kenny Ellis.
The car competed in five NHRA national events, keeping in mind that that was nearly all of the national events ran back in 70’ an ’71. The pinnacle of the race car’s competitive life came at the 1971 National DRAGSTER Open in Columbus. The red, white and blue entry took a runner-up finish to the Frakes and Funk Kentucky Moonshiner. That event turned out to be pivotal for the car and the Ditmars Brothers. Phil took his share of the winnings and moved to California to pursue bigger racing aspirations. He would eventually land with Raymond Beadle’s NASCAR outfit in the '80s. When the Blue Max runner sold his stock car operation to Roger Penske soon thereafter, Phil was part of the package. He still works for Penske to this day as the company’s longest tenured employee. The Ditmars Brothers continued to run the dragster with John Madsen at the wheel.
When Shawn found the remnants of the racer in Iowa, it was in sad shape, but far beyond disrepair. Shawn is one of the most meticulous people I’ve ever met and this has proved to be an ende aring personality trait for this type of task. Over the past few years, I’ve visited the Dill’s home on a few occasions for dinner or to get my dog fix (Yep, I’m a crazy ‘bout the canines), and each time Shawn and I would eventually stroll into the garage to see the progress on the hot rod. Shawn has kept detailed records of EVERYTHING that he’s done to research and restore his front-engined passion. It’s not uncommon to see him toting around one of his full three-ring binders full of photos and receipts and any scrap of paper that has anything remotely to do with the race car.
Recently, the car came ever so close to final completion with some freshly painted body panels. Shawn and I took a road trip to the Michigan coast on Lake Michigan to visit painter to the drag racing stars, Steve Dekenga. Shawn and I arrived just as Steve was finishing up. When Shawn got his first peek at the rejuvenated decorations, I’m pretty sure his eyes welled up just a bit and a perma-grin was quickly installed on his face. Needless to say, Steve did an incredible job with the paint. He and his team used every photograph that Shawn could supply them with to reproduce the paint job to as close to original as possible.
Shawn and I loaded the panels in a van and headed back to Ypsilanti after several minutes of oh-ing and ah-ing. The ride home was quite comical as each of us took turns every 10 seconds or so checking to make sure the precious cargo was making a comfort-filled journey.
Back at Shawn’s garage, the vintage dragster now sits almost completely redone. Minus a few engine parts and pieces and some authentic lettering that will soon be completed, it is a revitalized work of art that will someday soon see its day in the sun again on a paved 1320-foot strip of asphalt. Shawn eventually intends to drive his relic, but for now, the first stop will be as a display at the upcoming NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion in Columbus. So, if you are fortunate enough to attend, please stop by and say hi to Shawn and Laurie and take a look at their wonderful masterpiece.