BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH SCOTT WILSON AND HIS TIME MACHINE

By Steven Justice

The Time: Today

The Place: Zurich, Ontario, Canada

The Racers: Scott and Terry Wilson; Alex Litt

My route to the drag strip began probably like a lot of other guys in that I really had a thing for street rods. But, whereas my buddies owned Chevy’s, I fancied Fords. Then, it was just a natural progression to a hot rod club, and in my home town (London, Ontario, Canada), they were called the Piston Pushers. We raced on the streets so much that my mom knew the name of every local policeman. Why? Because in those days the constabulary delivered the tickets to one’s home. Mercifully, there was no rating system for driver’s licenses back then, but the constant intervention of law enforcement really distracted from the fun of the racing. With that in mind, we started looking for alternatives so that we could race our cars. One place was an old airport about fifteen miles away in St. Thomas which became a home away from home for us. In addition, there was this farmer who had an abandoned runway on his property. This was in Cayuga, east of London, and would be the site for many a drag race in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Today, it’s known as Toronto Motorsports Park.

The racing at Cayuga and St. Thomas (Sparta) involved mostly guys with street machines, but there were also altereds, roadsters, and a few primitive dragsters. It was a real kick, but once I saw the slingshots, I knew I had to have something faster. So, I went out and bought a professionally built dragster chassis. Well, my library of Hot Rod Magazines that I had read and reread in no way prepared me for the top fuel class. I had to endure a huge learning curve with this race car, and it took a couple years of trial and error to get over center with the engine combination. By 1963 I was getting to the point where I could win some local races although in the bigger pond I was still not a player.

Racing Dick Gaylord (from Syracuse, New York) at St. Thomas Dragway, 1964

Let me digress slightly and tell you why it was so darn difficult back then to get "over the hump" with your top fuel car. Today, there are a myriad of resources, not the least of which is the Internet, that can be explored and investigated to gather information on just about any subject, including, drag, or any other kind of racing. And, if one is in a real hurry, there are plenty of turn-key race cars for sale. If you just need a tune up, that can be purchased, too. It wasn’t that way back in the early ‘60s. Drag racing was just starting to appear on the motor sports radar, the after-market industry was in its infancy, and the very few people who understood how to race a top fuel dragster were very secretive and proprietary. Stated simply; if you wanted to be the big dog on the block, it would have to come from your own effort, hard work, ingenuity, and just plain luck;

not to mention, wallet. I formed a team with my longtime friend, Alex Litt, and my cousin, Mark Tucker. Together, we went through a huge inventory of parts seeking that magical formula that would condense all the tuning variables into a simple recipe. We definitely did a lot of experimenting "outside the box". We tried all sorts of blocks from the reliable Chrysler hemi to a Dodge wedge. We played around with the fuel delivery system like mating Hilborn 4-throat injectors with an Enderle pump, and it’s a good bet we were one of the first teams to utilize port nozzles on the manifold. All of this tinkering finally paid off, and when we finally did coax the genie out of his magic lamp, it was in a big way. The place was Deseronto (Mohawk Dragway), the time was May 1965, and the achievement was becoming the first Canadian fuel team to exceed 200 mph on Canadian soil.

At that time I was totally immersed in my own little world dominated by drag racing. In addition to bought-in match racing with its guaranteed pay out, we would seek out those races that we thought we could win. The team was getting fairly successful and there did not seem to be any reason to think it would ever be otherwise. I had carved out my own little niche deep into the bedrock of the eastern Canadian drag racing scene and my little kingdom seemed very secure. Then, without warning, there was this rumbling and it came from outside the castle walls. I was being invaded by an outsider. To the east lay Toronto, and therein, was a team called Farndon-Arnold-Oksa. Even though I competed against a lot of Yankees from Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, Fred Fandom would come to be the one I wanted to beat the most. Whether it was St. Thomas, Deseronto, or Niagara (New York), we’d always meet in the final. No one would ever make it easy on me by taking out Fred in an earlier round. I would like to be able to say that I won all those final rounds, but Fred was always very tough to beat. I even remember pulling into a track and seeing him and wondering if I had time to make it to another track. As often happens with competitors forced into close proximity, we got to know and respect each other. This was also true for the crews and families on both teams. Jim Arnold, Fred’s engine man, and Alex Litt from my team became lifelong friends. Sadly, Jim Arnold died in 1999. When Fred moved to California in 1967, it took a lot of pressure off me because the other "Canadian car" was no longer there to challenge me. It was a relief, but I have to say that some of the fun followed Fred to sunny California. And, in the midst of this tense but friendly rivalry with Fred, was my decision to chase the NHRA Division Three Championship. This was no small task as legends like Garlits, Kalitta, or even the Ramchargers might be the car in the other lane. I did manage to win the title, becoming the first non American to hold a top fuel title.

Fred Farndon (near lane) and Scott Wilson (far lane); Fred was out first, but it was Scott at the end with an 8.06-183.49 to an 8.15-200.76.

Scott Wilson’s "TIME MACHINE" and FARNDON-ARNOLD-OKSA (nice staged shot)

Scott Wilson vs. Fred Farndon: Eastern Canada’s version of the Snake vs. the Mongoose

Beginning in 1967, my racing career took a slightly different direction. The Ford Motor Company actually contacted me wanting to know if I had any interest in using their power plant for my top fuel dragster. With their sponsorship, I was able to pursue races and opportunities previously not possible. The Lakewood Chassis Company (Joe Schubeck) built me a new car specifically for the SOHC Ford engine, and I solicited "Sneaky" Pete Robinson to spec the engine. The suits with Ford really kept me jumping with their agenda, but it paid off handsomely from all the exposure and bookings. There was always a big match race against Pete Robinson, Don Garlits, or the weenie roasters. I stayed with the Ford concept for two years, but when the Ramchargers got those Dodge 426s singing, my lust for more power brought me back to the hemi family.

CONTINUE To Page Two