Back in late 2019 as I was finishing the text and photography for the soon to be published book "Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits", I had to do some trimming of the material as I was way over the contract's word and photo count. The following sidebar, discussing the admittedly remote but fun idea of a newly tooled front engine drag racing kit, had to be dropped from the book.

Recently I was able to find the original text file and I have copied it here for your bemused enjoyment (as in, great idea, but it will never, ever happen!)

So with that introduction, here's part of what you missed in the final book.... TIM

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START SIDEBAR:

What If Someone Decided to Introduce A Newly Tooled Front Engine Rail Dragster Kit?

Yes, this proposition has more than a healthy dose of wishful thinking, but hear me out. It’s not likely to happen, but it’s not an impossibility either.

Why do I say that? First, few would have expected Revell to make the investment in 2010 to produce all-new kits of a pair of 1960’s funny cars (the 1969 Chi-Town Hustler and Hawaiian Mini-Chargers), nor to develop a completely new tool replicating their 1960’s “Sizzler” dragster kit, but they did. Second, two of the newest players in the model scene – Moebius/Model King and Salvinos JR Models, are producing newly tooled 1960’s Super Stock and A/FX, and 1970’s to early 1980’s NASCAR Winston Cup racers, respectively. So why not an all-new kit of a historically relevant front engine digger?

OK, if you’re with me so far, then what famous rail dragsters would be the best candidates to be kitted? When Jon Asher was Editor of Peterson Publishing’s Drag Racing magazine, he assigned an article to drag racing historian Chris Martin that was titled “10 Best Top Fuelers of All Time”. Recognizing the point at which the article was written (late 1989), just three of the cars on Martin’s list have been replicated with 1/25th scale kits: Don Garlits’ 1986 streamliner, the Walton-Cerny-Moody 1972 rail, and Garlit’s first ever rear engine rail of 1971. Noting that MPC’s kit replicated the dragster after Garlits added the enclosed body ahead of the driver’s compartment and rear airfoil above and behind the engine, maybe we should more accurately say 2 ½ (or only 25%) of Martin’s Top Ten list, have seen scale model kits.

The biggest gap in model kit coverage of the 7-decade history of fuel dragsters remains the rapidly evolving period of the mid to late 1960’s, so that’s the richest area for future kit coverage. The following front engine dragsters in writer Martin’s Top Ten list have never seen a 1/25th scale model car kit:

• 1963-64 Greer-Black-Prudhomme car

• 1965-66 Hawaiian car

• 1966 Surfers car

• 1972 John Wiebe car

(Personally, I’d be inclined to add the famous Freight Train double engine dragster to the list - OK, it was a Gas dragster instead of a Fueler - but still…).

My point? Any of these four (or five) would make a great subject for an all-new 1/25th scale full detail front engine rail dragster model car kit. So, which one would you choose? And who would you choose to make it – Moebius, Salvinos JR, or the standbys Revell or Round 2 (via their AMT, MPC, or Polar Lights brands)?

Oh, and by the way…what were the other three remaining “10 Best” Top Fuel Cars on Martin’s list? The following rear engine railers: the 1983 car of Larry Minor-Gary Beck, Joe Amato’s 1984 car, and Eddie Hill’s 1988 dragster that carded the first-ever sub-five second E.T. Those would make for some cool model kits too! The full article can be seen in the November, 1989 issue of Drag Racing magazine.

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