The straight-line racing world lost a giant this past weekend with the death of Bernie Fedderly, most widely known as tuning partner to Austin Coil on John Force’s Funny Cars. Fedderly, a Canadian, got his start in the motoring world in Alberta province, where he initially worked as a fleet mechanic for a dairy company.
He received his first recognition in NHRA competition when he tuned fellow Canadian Terry Capp to the 1980 US. Nationals win. Fedderly joined Larry Minor’s Top Fuel squad in 1982 and his expertise with clutches brought Minor great success. Fedderly also had an eye to aerodynamics and used that talent to turn Gary Beck’s blue dragster into the quickest dragster in competition, recording the first 5.4- and 5.3-second runs down the quarter-mile in 1982 and 1983, respectively.
Beck earned the 1983 Top Fuel championship, and Fedderly then moved to tuning Minor’s Funny Car two years later, helping Ed “The Ace” McCulloch to 12 national event wins.
Fedderly came to John Force Racing in 1992 and joined Coil as part of Force’s “brain trust,” together with John Medlen. This threesome were responsible for 109 of Force’s [now] 157 national event victories, together with 13 season championship from 1992 through to his 2013 retirement before that season’s campaign began.
Fedderly was known for his calm demeanor, a necessity working with the volatile Minor and Force and for his kind nature He had no qualms about helping others understand what it took to get a nitro-powered race car from the Christmas Tree to end-of-race beams, whether in the quarter-mile or in 1,000 feet. His ability to make the right decisions at the right time have helped those that learned from him achieve similar qualities.
Dean Antonelli, currently crew chief for Ron Capps’ Toyota GR Supra, worked with Fedderly at John Force Racing, learned a great deal from the Canadian Hall of Fame member who is also a member of the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame.
“This weekend we said goodbye to Bernie Fedderly,” Antonelli said on his Facebook page, “a dear friend and a mentor to not only me, but to many people that had the pleasure to work for or with him. Bernie had a hand in so many successes in our sport, but is most known for his work with Austin Coil on one of the most bad-ass teams in drag racing history, John Force Racing.
“There are many of us that got to be part of the historic run of championships at JFR, but besides the mastery of Austin and Bernie’s tuning calls, Bernie was the one that brought the calm and organization that kept things running fluid,” he said. “Bernie will be missed, but he is etched in history as one of the best tuners and gentlemen in our sport.”
While neither cause of death nor plans for a memorial have been brought forward, it’s widely accepted that Bernie Fedderly will be remembered as one of the most successful tuners in NHRA nitro history. Some said he was born in 1942, which would have made him 82 or 83 at his demise; other reports state he was 76. We send our heartfelt condolences to his wife Mary and the balance of the Fedderly family.
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