IMIS 2012: John Troxel’s “Moparcrazy” Nostalgia Flopper

It’s been more than 40 years since the earliest of the Funny Cars roamed the great drag racing landscape, and although the technology and the performance of these once-rudimentary race cars have reached unthinkable heights in the decades since, interest in the classic floppers of yesteryear hasn’t waned one bit. Depending on who you ask, in fact, these cars still capture more intrigue than their modern-day counterparts.

All those years ago, a young car guy named John Troxel, a lifelong Mopar aficionado, had his eye on these incredible racing machines and always imagined owning one. Eight years ago, that dream became a reality when the vintage car collector and restorer discovered an original Logghe chassis Funny Car, once owned and driven by drag racing icon Della Woods, long considered the matriarch of female Funny Car drivers.

The 1971 Dodge Challenger-bodied car was built in 1969 and campaigned by Woods through the early 70’s, before it was sold to a pair of brothers in the Michigan area. They later sold it to a gentleman named Joe Powell, who maintained possession of it for nearly three decades, until Troxel found the car on Powell’s Tennessee farm soaking up the elements.

Troxel dragged what was left of the car home and, enlisting the help of a few close friends, set out on the two and half year journey to bring the car back into fighting condition.

“My goal with the car was to bring it as close as possible to how it would’ve been back in 1971. Obviously we had to make some changes to fit the safety regulations, and some other things we had to modernize, but it’s very, very close,” explained Troxel.

Troxel spent thousands of dollars and untold man hours restoring the original Challenger body, and a masterful job he did, as to this day, the only non-original part in the body is a small piece of tinwork on each side of the roll cage. The body, built all those years ago by famed builder Romeo Palamides, was painted in the beautiful candy colors by Ed Thomas of Thomas Restorations, and the grille and tail lights were airbrushed by none other than legendary drag racing artist Kenny Youngblood. Tom Kelly performed all the lettering work.

Said Troxel: “this thing has been wrecked, it had been upside down, it wasn’t in very good shape at all when I found it. It took a lot of work to get it the way you see it.”

The chassis too, is very much in its original condition. Troxel and company went over the entire chassis, adding a couple of bars for safety reasons and replacing the original roll cage with a current-spec, Funny Car-style cage. They also built a new front axle setup that mimiced the original, although many components, like the fuel tank and the Dana 60 rear end housing, are completely original.

The iron 426 Chrysler has been replaced by a 417 cubic inch Donovan powerplant running on alcohol, utilizing a Donovan block and heads similar to an old 392, with an old-school 6:71 GM supercharger, a points magneto system, and an original Enderle “bug catcher” on top. The engine is paired with a TorqueFlite automatic transmission, just like the one it had in 1971.

Today, Troxel campaigns the “Moparcrazy” Challenger with the Great Lakes Nostalgia Funny Car Circuit, an upper midwest-based series for 1970’s-era blown alcohol and injected alcohol Funny Cars. Chris Schneider handles the driving chores for the mid seven-second car, and on occasion, legendary drag racer Roland Leong helps turn the screws on this gorgeous machine.