The Car That Should Have Made Tony Nancy Famous Instead Nearly Killed Him

In 1963, five years before drag racing's rear-engine revolution was supposed to happen, Tony Nancy and designer Steve Swaja built a car called the Wedge and put the engine behind the driver instead of in front of him. It was faster than almost anything else at the strip and then in July of 1964 at Sandusky, Ohio it flipped upside down at over 180 miles an hour in one of the first documented blowover crashes in drag racing history. Tony Nancy walked away, rebuilt the car, and kept racing. Six years later Don Garlits crashed his own front-engine dragster at Lions and switched to a rear-engine layout after nearly losing his foot, and Garlits got the credit for changing the sport forever. This is the story of Tony Nancy, the Sherman Oaks upholsterer known as "The Loner" who reupholstered Steve McQueen's Jaguar, shared a shop with chassis builder Kent Fuller and engine builder Ed Pink, and built 22 race cars with his own hands before racing his first one. It covers his gas-class roadster career, the design and construction of the Wedge with Frank Huszar, Roy Steen, Emil Deidt and Wayne Ewing, the Sandusky blowover crash, his transition to Top Fuel with Keith Black and Woody Gilmore, and his historic 1970 Bakersfield March Meet win, the last time a front-engine dragster ever won that race. If you're into vintage N.H.R.A. drag racing, Top Fuel history, hot rod culture, or the untold stories behind the machines that shaped American motorsports, this one belongs in your watch list. #DragRacing #TonyNancy #TopFuel #NHRA #HotRodHistory #VintageDragRacing #DonGarlits #DragsterHistory