Revised G/MP class designation means Caudle was running the ’55 in 12 lbs. National event class wins and Modified Eliminator titles were frequent achivements for the venerable ’55. per CID F/Mod Prod class, Caudle’s ’55 looks like it was driven through the gate, fresh off the street. Dallas’ high-rise luxury tower was state of the art in ’69. Simple traction bars control rear leaf springs and Keystone Kustom Klassic wheels are on all four points. The green and white ’55 sports lettering for Caudle’s shop, but contingency decals are carried only on the glass. It and its builder and driver, Carroll Caudle, hail from Amarillo, Texas, and are shown here at the 1969 NHRA Springnationals, Dallas, TX. This innocent looking, ’55 Chevy C/Modified Production BelAir coupe was one of the nation’s most feared MP cars in the 60’s and 70’s. As always, this list is incomplete, and some well-deserving racers have been omitted accidentally. This week we take the opportunity to salute those Southwest drag racing heroes in the Gasser and MP ranks. Others have survived and continue to serve area racers.

Some have since passed on, victims of the out-crawl of the suburbs and accelerated real estate values. But the Southwest was and is a stronghold of full-body, Sportsman racing, especially in what were the Gasser and Modified Production ranks.Īlong with those drag racing legends came equally famed Southwestern drag strips. Legends such as Kenny Bernstein, Raymond Beadle, Dick Harrell, Billy Meyer and Don Hardy hail from the region, along with many more equally well-known names. Here he makes a run at The NHRA Winternationals, Pomona, CA.įor drag racers the Southwest region of the U.S. Along the way Loper moved from Gassers to the loud and expensive nitro Funny Car ranks where his bad, black Funnies were never a laughing matter. That later became one of the Southwest’s largest and most successful speed warehouse operations. Loper’s small-block Chevy powered car became a well-known advertisement for his Loper’s Speed Shop. From Phoenix, Arizona came Johnny Loper’s legendary “Lil Hoss” ’48 Anglia A/Gasser.

Professional drag car racer perdone