NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Even if it weren’t for its beautiful black paint job and purple flames or the mini Top Fuel-like wing hanging off the back deck, Chris Beanes’ Top Sportsman presented by Vortech Superchargers entry would turn heads. In a sea of late-model and vintage muscle cars, the Beanes family’s supercharged Henry J clearly stands out.

Beanes (bee-ANN-es) is in his second year of NHRA Top Sportsman competition after dominating the A/Gas class of NHRA’s Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series with a trio of championships, but the Henry J has been part of the family legacy for nearly 20 years.

In 1998, Beanes’ father, Dave, went looking for a “weekend car” to cruise and came across a Henry J at the famed Pomona Swap Meet in Southern California. It was just a rolling chassis with an all-steel body, but he saw the potential.

“He had the top chopped, and then the ‘weekend’ idea slowly turned into a drag race car,” said Beanes. “We started running that car in B/Gas and then in A/Gas, but in 2002, I crashed that car at the Hot Rod Reunion — it was just driver error — but we liked the body style so much and had gotten such great reaction to it that we decided our next car had to be a Henry J, too.

“There’s only a handful of these cars around. They’re so ugly they’re good-looking.”

Henry J 2.0 was built over the course of three years by Eric Barker in the Beanes family shop, and unlike its street-originated predecessor, this one was a purpose-built race car. Instead of a rectangular frame, this one was built as a tube car, with a double framerail chromoly design. Gary Newton, who had raced an A/Gas Henry J in the 1990s, helped them with a fiberglass mold based on his car.

The first Henry J was primer black, and the second one started out with a semi-gloss black scheme before the senior Beanes decided in 2015 that it needed more color. The paint was done by Legacy Auto Body in Mission Viejo, Calif., and the flames were added by Steve Vandemon, who had previously flamed the senior Beanes’ ’51 Mercury.

Power comes from a Dustin Lee-built 420-cid small-block Chevy powerplant that guzzles methanol fuel through a Blower Shop 8-71 supercharger. Former Top Alcohol Funny Car world champion Randy Anderson has helped with the tune-up (preceded by Ralph and Spike Gorr). Power goes through a two-speed Powerglide and onto Weld wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson slicks.

The carbon fiber Tim McAmis wing helps added stability as the car approaches 200 mph and is another upgrade from its predecessor; the first Henry J had a deck spoiler, but the family didn’t want to take away from the body’s cool rear fins and rounded fenders this time.

“At almost 200 mph, the car feels really stable,” Beanes said. “We don’t feel it very aerodynamic compared to some of the modern Top Sportsman cars. It’s got a wider front end than, say, a ’68 Camaro or Mustang. If you park it next to a more current Top Sportsman car, it just looks like ours is a lot wider, and even though this has a chopped top, the roofline might be a bit taller than some of the other guys’. We look at our Racepak data after every round, and it’s stuck to the track at the finish line, so it’s stable.”

The car first hit the track in January 2007 and eventually ran in the 7.80s. In Top Sportsman trim, the car has gone as quick as 6.83 at 199.95 mph.

The entire Beanes family is involved in the car, including parents Dave and Nydia and daughter Lauren; Chris’ girlfriend, Christina; Chris’ teenage nephews, Will and Matt Covey; plus good friend Steve Mazone. 

Support comes from Blower Shop, Mike’s Transmissions, and Derale Performance.