Since the 1960’s wheelstanders have been a regular part of the sport of drag racing, and while the art of showmanship (and even moreso, the fans appreciation of it) has wavered in recent decades, a good number of these vehicles still exist to ‘wow’ crowds all over the country and across the world.
If you take and up close and personal look at any of the wheelstanders past and present, there’s a unique level of ingenuity involved; from the ‘Hell on Wheels’ tank (no, it’s not a real tank), to the ‘Radio Flyer Wagon’ and the ‘Candyland Stagecoach,’ they’re all well-engineered and truly one-off machines. And only in this anything-goes exhibition category would a wheelstanding, flame-belching, full-size Chevrolet dually not be considered an absolute anomaly.
All images courtesy: Northside Choppers
Richard Schroeder originally built the ‘Emergency West’ twin-engine wheelstander in the 1990’s and campaigned it for a number of years before his passing in 2008. The loss of the elder Schroeder, however, opened a brand new chapter, as his son, Chris, retrieved the truck from storage and took possession of it with the intent of returning it to its former wheelstanding glory.
Chris Schroeder joined forces with a gentleman known only as Desperado S. and his team at Northside Choppers in Bartlett, Ill., and together they’ve invested countless, painstaking man hours to restore the ‘Emergency West’ pickup to its original running condition. Featuring a pair of 502 cubic inch, supercharged powerplants with a combined 3,500 horsepower mounted in the bed, ‘Emergency West’ is slated to make it’s return to the dragstrip in 2012 with a full schedule of events all across the country with Desperado at the wheel.
Wheelstanders may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but kudos are deserved by folks like Schroeder and Northside Choopers who pour their heart and soul into an under-appreciated art form.