Jack Chrisman
Encyclopedia
Drag racing
Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....
. He was a drag racing pioneer and 1961 champion. He was influential in the formation of the Funny Car
Funny Car
Funny Car is a drag racing car class. In the United States, other "professional" classes are Top Fuel, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Funny cars have forward-mounted engines and carbon fiber automotive bodies over the chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers'...
class, as he introduced the first blown
Supercharger
A supercharger is an air compressor used for forced induction of an internal combustion engine.The greater mass flow-rate provides more oxygen to support combustion than would be available in a naturally aspirated engine, which allows more fuel to be burned and more work to be done per cycle,...
, injected, nitro
Nitromethane
Nitromethane is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest organic nitro compound. It is a slightly viscous, highly polar liquid commonly used as a solvent in a variety of industrial applications such as in extractions, as a reaction medium, and as a cleaning solvent...
-burning Funny Car. The National Hot Rod Association
National Hot Rod Association
The National Hot Rod Association is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and host events all over the United States and Canada...
(NHRA) ranked Chrisman 23rd on their Top 50 drivers in 2001.
Background
Chrisman was born the youngest of 13 children in Grove, OklahomaGrove, Oklahoma
Grove is a city in Delaware County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 5,131 at the 2000 census, but the 2009 estimate was 6,377.-Geography:Grove is located at ....
. The family moved to Southern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to escape the Dust Bowl
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
.
Racing career
Chrisman began drag racing in 1953 when he raced a 1929 Model A. He switched to a ChryslerChrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
car, continuing to race at Southern California such as Lions, Ponoma
Infineon Raceway
Infineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway, is a road course and drag strip located on the landform known as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains near Sonoma, California, USA. The course is a complex series of twists and turns that go up and down the hills...
, San Fernando, Santa Ana, and Saugus
Saugus Speedway
Saugus Speedway is a 1/3 mile racetrack in Saugus, California on a site. The track hosted one NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event in 1995, which was won by Ken Schrader...
. He purchased the Purple Car from Ed Lusinski, and used the car to win drag races at many of these tracks. He started racing Top Fuel
Top Fuel
Top Fuel racing is a class of drag racing in which the cars are run on a mix of approximately 90% nitromethane and 10% methanol rather than gasoline or simply methanol. The cars are purpose-built for drag racing, with an exaggerated layout that in some ways resembles open-wheel circuit racing...
for Pat Akins. Masters & Richter flew Chrisman to the Bay area to race in their Top Fuel dragster.
In 1959 he started racing in Chuck Jones Sidewinder dragster. The car, wrenched by Joe Maillard, had its motor mounded sideways. It was shorter than the 100 inches (254 cm) common at that time. The car consistently recorded 9.0 second elapsed times (e.t.) at 160 miles per hour (71.5 m/s), which typically defeated local competition.
In late 1960, he moved to Howard Johansen's team. He raced the Howard Cam Twin Bears gas dragster, which featured two side-mounted engines. In 1961, he used the car for the first 8 second run in NHRA national event history, when his 8.99 second pass beat Dick Rea in the Top Eliminator (Top Gas) final at the first Winternationals. That summer he drove to a 8.78 e.t. at Caddo Mills, Texas
Caddo Mills, Texas
Caddo Mills is a city in Hunt County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,149 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Caddo Mills is located at ....
, which was the lowest e.t. of the year. Chrisman won the 1961 World Championship after winning in national, regional, and divisional meets throughout the United States.
Chrisman changed to Mickey Thompson
Mickey Thompson
Marion Lee "Mickey" Thompson was an American off-road racing legend. He won many championships as a racer, and later formed sanctioning bodies SCORE International and Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group . He also raced in dragsters and land speed record automobiles.Thompson was born in Alhambra,...
's team in 1962. The Tommy Ivo
Tommy Ivo
Tommy Ivo , also known as "TV Tommy", is an actor and drag racer, who was active in the 1960s racing community. In the late 1950s, Ivo raced a twin Nailhead Buick engined dragster which was the first Gasoline Powered dragster to break the nine-second barrier. The car held the Drag News Standard...
-built machine ran on either gas or nitro. Chrisman set new top speed record of 176.6 miles per hour (284.2 km/h) at York, Pennsylvania
York, Pennsylvania
York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in York County, Pennsylvania, United States which is in the South Central region of the state. The population within the city limits was 43,718 at the 2010 census, which was a 7.0% increase from the 2000 count of 40,862...
and a new e.t. record in A/GD (A/Gas Dragster) with an 8.34 second pass. The team debuted a new Pontiac
Pontiac
Pontiac was an automobile brand that was established in 1926 as a companion make for General Motors' Oakland. Quickly overtaking its parent in popularity, it supplanted the Oakland brand entirely by 1933 and, for most of its life, became a companion make for Chevrolet. Pontiac was sold in the...
Hemi engine
Hemi engine
A Hemi engine is an internal combustion engine in which the roof of each cylinder's combustion chambers is of hemispherical form.- History :...
a few weeks before the U.S. Nationals at Indy, and won the Top Eliminator crown.
During a regular afternoon event at Ponoma
Infineon Raceway
Infineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway, is a road course and drag strip located on the landform known as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains near Sonoma, California, USA. The course is a complex series of twists and turns that go up and down the hills...
in May 1963, the dragster's rear end broke. Chrisman spent 42 days in the hospital recovering. After he had recovered, he started working advertising for National Dragster. Chrisman intended to drive Thompson's dragster to defend his title at Indianapolis, but Thompson's hauler tipped over while transporting the vehicle to the dragstrip.
Funny Car pioneer
Chrisman was working for the NHRA in late 1963 or early 1964 when FordFord Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
's Fran Hernandez gave a Mercury Comet
Mercury Comet
The Mercury Comet is an automobile produced by the Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company from 1960–1969 and 1971-1977 — variously as either a compact or an intermediate car.The Comet was based on the compact Ford Falcon and later the Ford Maverick...
to Chrisman. After Chrisman did not race it, Hernandez asked, "What's going to get you to race that car?" Chrisman responded he wanted a blower
Supercharger
A supercharger is an air compressor used for forced induction of an internal combustion engine.The greater mass flow-rate provides more oxygen to support combustion than would be available in a naturally aspirated engine, which allows more fuel to be burned and more work to be done per cycle,...
to be installed in the car. Chrisman went to a dealer, picked up the racecar, and brought it to Bill Stroppe's shop. The pair and their crew assembled the car. The car was debuted at the 1964 U.S. Nationals with Chrisman doing a burnout to half track. Chrisman toured the eastern half of the United States with the car though the end of the 1965 season. In 1966, he added a flip-up fiberglass body on the car, following a trend started by Don Nicholson
Don Nicholson
Don Nicholson was an American drag racer from Georgia. He raced in the 1960s and '70s when there were few national events. The National Hot Rod Association estimates that he won 90 percent of his match races...
and Eddie Schartman. Chrisman won his first race, at the Hot Rod Magazine Championships at Riverside Race, in the Exhibition Stock category. It is generally considered to be the first funny car to exceed 180 mph (289.7 km/h). The car ran the quarter mile in 8.72 seconds at 184 mph (296.1 km/h), beating Jungle Jim Liberman
Jim Liberman
Russell James "Jim" Liberman was an United States drag racer from Pennsylvania, known as "Jungle Jim". He was named #17 on the list of the Top 50 NHRA drivers. Liberman was known for driving backwards at 100 mph after doing his burnout.Liberman was known as a flamboyant showman who toured the...
in the finals. On July 10, 1966 he set a class record at 188 miles per hour (302.6 km/h), only to have the engine blow up two weeks later at the Super Stock Magazine Nationals. The car burned to the ground.
Chrisman came back with another Comet to race the rest of the 1966 season through 1970. Chrisman did not race in 1971. He built a "sidewinder" Mustang funny car for 1972, but never raced it. He sold it to Ray Maheu, and the car later became John Force
John Force
John Harold Force is an NHRA drag racer, a 15-time Funny Car champion driver, and a 17-time champion car owner. Force owns and drives for John Force Racing. He is one of the most dominant drag racers in the sport with 133 career victories...
's first ride, Nightstalker.
Chrisman Driveline Components
During that time, he started Chrisman Driveline Components at his hometown Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
. The company builds car rear ends and driveline components for dragracers. It has supplied components to Kenny Bernstein
Kenny Bernstein
Kenny Bernstein is an American drag racer and former NASCAR and IndyCar team owner. He is nicknamed the "Bud King" for his success in the Budweiser King dragster, he has also been nicknamed "The King of Speed," because he was the first driver to break 300 miles per hour in the standing-start...
, Frank Bradley, Darrell Gwynn, Eddie Hill
Eddie Hill
Eddie Hill is a retired American drag racer who won numerous drag racing championships on land and water. Hill had the first run in the four second range , which earned him the nickname "Four Father of Drag Racing." His other nicknames include "The Thrill", "Holeshot Hill", and "Fast Eddie"...
, and Joe Pisano. He continued running the company until his death in 1989.