In the early days of hot rodding and the sport of drag racing, cars such as Model T and Model A roadsters were a dime a dozen of quarter miles and airstrips across the nation. As the concept of the front engine dragster became more prevalent in the late 1950’s and then exploded popularity in the early 60’s, some racers, in an effort to simply be “different,” set about to mate the old roadsters to the new dragsters. Thus, the bodies from the A-pillar back were chopped off, a new wheel well cut, and placed won atop the roll cage to create a Funny Car-like cockpit.

One of those memorable and unique machines was the “Gizzle Hopper” AA/Fuel Coupe of Texas’ Perrenot family. When he wasn’t drag racing, crew chief Travis Perrenot was a cartoonist, and when they built the fuel coupe in 1961, the roof was adorned with a cartoon, but it didn’t have a name. Your guess is as good as anyone’s as to what a Gizzle Hopper is, but that’s the name Perrenot gave it, and the rest is history.

The Perrenots literally ran a family operation, with patriarch Fred leading the way, with his wife, sons, and future daughter-in-law in tow. Travis served the role of crew chief, while brother Brian handle the driving duties. The family entered the sport in 1956 after Fred got into a verbal battle at a drag race in Rockport, Texas with a racer who essentially challenged him to “put up or shut up” regarding comments about his own race car. So Fred built a car and away they went.

The Gizzle Hopper featured a rare Lincoln-powered engine combination and competed from early 1961 and late 1962 at primarily AHRA events around the Texas region. In AHRA, the car was classified as an AA/G or AA/F Competition Coupe & Sedan depending on the fuel being used. The car ran on gas in ’61 and the cackle juice in ’62. The Perrenots won its class at the AHRA World Championships at Green Valley in Oklahoma City in 1961 and runnered-up at the same race the following year. Unfortunately however, Brian totaled the car in a crash late in the ’62 season and the family went back to a traditional dragster.

After the turn of the century as the Cacklefests began exploding in popularity, Brian and Travis set out to recreate the Gizzle Hopper and the virtual clone made its debut at the 2008 National Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green and can be seen today at select events throughout the nation cackling away to the delight of thousands.