In 1967, a lot of drag racing followers had been stunned to learn that the staff of Stone, Woods and Prepare dinner were swapping their popular AA/Gas Willys coupe for a Mustang funny vehicle. The group dominated the A/GS ranks with the Swindler A Willys, and a lot of people today anticipated them to carry on competing in the gasser ranks.
Funny auto match racing was where by all the funds was, on the other hand, and the “Pebble, Pulp and Chef” gang was completely ready for a new challenge. So they set aside the Willys in favor of a blown Mustang they christened Darkish Horse 2.
Despite the fact that the fiberglass flip-best design and style funny cars and trucks were setting up to come into their own, the SWC Mustang was not a flopper. As an alternative the group mounted a steel Mustang physique shell on a light fat tubular chassis, with a very long fiberglass front clip. Driver Doug Prepare dinner entered the car by way of opening doorways, even though the clip could be removed to operate on the motor.
Subsequent the very same sample as their famous gassers, the SWC team selected a blown early Chrysler hemi for electric power. Mainly because Stone, Woods and Cook ended up so productive in the gas courses, some persons mistakenly refer to the Mustang as a gasser. At initial the car or truck ran alcohol, with a splash of nitro. As time wore on, the team tipped-the-can and applied an ever larger percentages of nitromethane.
The Mustang humorous car right away adopted in the footsteps of the Willys gassers, winning the 2400 pound course at the famed Bakersfield March satisfy two days in a row. From there, the team set off on a blistering barnstorming tour that has seldom been equaled.
It appeared that every drag racing fan desired to see the Stone, Woods and Cook Mustang in motion, and each and every track proprietor wanted to fill the stands by scheduling the match racer. Decide up any duplicate of Drag Information from 1967, and you will probable uncover many tales recounting the exploits Stone, Woods and Cook at distinct tracks.
In addition to racing at most of the 5-star tracks, Dim Horse 2 also confirmed up at small gap-in-the-wall venues dragstrips with ragged asphalt, dim night time-lighting and inadequate shut down spots. The admirers wanted to see Doug Prepare dinner in action, and the group was far more than inclined to grant their wish.
Racing many moments a 7 days, SWC ran against most of the famous funny automobiles of the period, having on the lighter fat, injected flip-major vehicles as well as other metal-bodied blown entries. Prepare dinner wasn’t normally victorious, but he racked up an remarkable earn/decline tally.
Just when the Stone, Woods and Prepare dinner workforce appeared to be on top rated of their sport, tragedy intervened. A crash wrecked Dark Horse 2 at Alton, Illinois. Doug Cook dinner, a single of the most well-known and revered drag racers of all time, sustained back again injuries that ended his racing profession.
Stone, Woods and Cook dinner have been not completed, nevertheless. They crafted a new Mustang that was a around duplicate of the authentic. The Ghost of Dim Horse 2 continued the torrid match-race speed, with a range of hired motorists changing Prepare dinner at the rear of the wheel.
By 1969, even the SWC staff could not remain aggressive with a steel bodied car or truck, and they crafted a Mustang flopper, assigning the driving chores to Dee Keaton. In the early ’70s, Tim Woods crafted the 1st Pinto funny vehicle and ran it underneath the Stone, Woods and Cook dinner banner with Mike VanSant as the pilot. Even now afterwards a Chrysler driven Corvette gasser toured underneath the Stone, Woods and Cooke banner. That is not a typo on the ‘Vette the title Cook dinner was spelled with an e on the finish. Reportedly, none of the unique trio was actively involved with the Corvette.
At some point, all a few users of the vibrant workforce retired from racing. Doug Prepare dinner passed absent in 1999.
The Darkish Horse 2 legacy carries on, having said that. Mike Cook, son of the well-known driver, is reconstructing Dim Horse 2. Photographs of the car’s construction can be seen on Cook’s web page, as effectively as shots of the entirely restored Swindler A and Swindler B Willys coupes.
4 a long time have handed due to the fact the Darkish Horse 2 Mustang barnstormed its way into drag racing background. It is good to know that Mike Cook dinner will not intend to permit the well-known amusing car or truck be neglected.