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There\u2019s something unique about the unbridled enthusiasm of a drag racer, perhaps its fueled by a Pavlovian reaction to the buckets of adrenaline that once pumped through their veins leading up to an 8-second shootout, or maybe it\u2019s just the way their brains react as they recall their most cherished memories.<\/p>\n
Anyone who\u2019s watched an NHRA race on television has witnessed that out of breath, over-the-top reaction whenever John Force wins a race. It\u2019s an infectious excitement that affects everyone within earshot.<\/p>\n
So when RacingJunk.com had the opportunity to interview legendary Ford drag racer, Al Joniec, that same passion seemed to snowball as the discussion progressed, until that same unbridled enthusiasm surfaced. Combined with Joniec\u2019s great sense of humor, the interview soon turned into a barrage of fun and funny anecdotes. Joniec may well be the most enthusiastic person to ever strap-in for a quarter-mile run.<\/p>\n
How did it all begin?<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just a kid from Philadelphia who just happened to be at the right place at the right time,\u201d said Joniec. \u201cin the late 50s, all my friends were driving Chevys and were hanging out at the local Big Boy\u2019s when this \u201958 Ford convertible comes rolling in. The kid who owned it was named Louie and he was too young to drive, but his dad had bought the car for him and someone would drive him around.\u201d<\/p>\n
With all those Chevys ruling the strip, the heavier Ford wasn\u2019t exactly competitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ford kept losing races,\u201d Joniec recalls, \u201cso the kid\u2019s old man offered $100 to anyone who could get him a trophy. That was a lot of money in those days. Even when they put a cam in it, nobody could win with that car.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, Joniec was 18 years old and broke. He volunteered to work on and drive the Ford.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could tell the car was skipping, probably because the cam was already worn down,\u201d Joniec explains. \u201cI took the engine apart and sure enough, the cam was worn out. Ford had used solid lifters earlier in \u201958, so I replaced the cam and the hydraulic lifters with solids and we ended-up kicking ass with that car. We became best friends after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Al Joniec was probably unaware at the time, but he was now part of a rapidly evolving racing culture that would explode during the following decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew-up with a guy named Bill Jenkins and we were all involved in what I call the \u201cage of discovery,\u201d because nobody knew anything about anything,\u201d Joniec said. \u201cIt was sort of like showing-up at a gunfight \u2013 nobody knows what kind of equipment the other guy is using. That was very exciting, but by the same token, it became kind of crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1958, Joniec won in the A-Stock Eliminator class.<\/p>\n
In \u201962, we got a really heavy Ford with a 406 in it, but we really started winning races when we got a \u201963 Galaxie Lightweight with a 427 and twin fours. I never lost to another Ford in that lightweight.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Joniec beat the Tasca Ford car and Dick Brannan with the lightweight Galaxie and then headed to the \u201963 Indianapolis Nationals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew we were the fastest car there,\u201d said Joniec.<\/p>\n
Disaster struck after the team saw the other teams packing ice on their manifolds to cool their fuel-air mixture and followed their lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe packed the manifold with ice, but a dragster blew up right in front of us as I was about to stage, so we had to wait while they cleaned-up the track. The manifold got really super cold, so when I got the green, the car just bogged out,\u201d Joniec laughed. \u201cThat was a learning curve for us, but also shows how stupid we were back then!\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1964, Ford sent Joniec\u2019s team a new car \u2013 the Thunderbolt \u2013 with an automatic transmission. Repeated calls to Ford, complaining about the automatic, went unanswered.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a highly modified light weight Ford Fairlane with the latest 427 high rise (cylinder ports) engine,\u201d explains Joniec. \u201cIt came with an automatic and we changed to a 4-speed around the end of June time frame, which cost us half the season in development time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 1964 Indianapolis race fielded 106 cars \u2013 the largest field ever to this day, I believe,\u201d recalls Joniec. \u201c Everyone in the country was there. We made through to the very last 3 cars, but when I staged, my car pulled me over the line. I was screaming \u201cNOOOO!\u201d but bent clutch linkage dragged me across the line and we red lighted.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1965, Joniec was no longer getting any assistance from Ford and was feeling depressed about his racing career when he got a call from an old friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cBill Jenkins had just broke up with his team and had arranged a Plymouth ride,\u201d Al said. \u201cHe asked me if I wanted to drive for him and I said, sure!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Jenkins had called Joniec to drive because the Plymouth was supposed to be a 4-speed.\u00a0 When it arrived, it was an automatic, so Jenkins decided he didn’t need Al to drive the car, as he felt comfortable driving an automatic.<\/p>\n \u201cI did help him prepare the car but I never drove it,\u201d explained Joniec. \u2018If you look at old pictures you\u2019ll see my name of the rear window post. There\u2019s even a model car with my name on it.\u201d<\/p>\n Shortly after Jenkins won at Pomona, Joniec got a call from Ford.\u201d<\/p>\n Ford told Joniec to \u201ccome get your Mustang\u201d and at a time when Hemis were dominating the drag racing world, Joniec found himself in possession of an OHC 427 (a.k.a. the \u201cCammer\u201d).<\/p>\n “We took the car to Tucson and discovered the firewall was flexing due to fatigue,\u201d Joniec recalled. \u201cWe stabilized it but still lost there.\u201d<\/p>\n But that \u201965 Mustang soon became the \u201cBatcar.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMy favorite car was the Batcar,\u201d exclaims Joniec. \u201cI was watching Batman in a bar and I said, That\u2019s it. <\/em>We\u2019re going to paint the Mustang to be the Batcar!”<\/p>\n The Batcar\u2019s OHC 427 was a very reliable engine, which enabled the Rice-Holman team to capture the 1965 Spring Nationals in Bristol, TN.<\/p>\n \u201cI began to prefer the sanity of having rules, because a lot of guys were getting injured, burned or even killed in these crazy cars,\u201d Joniec said.<\/p>\n In the mid-1960s, racing was permeated with an anything-goes, Wild, Wild West<\/em> attitude about modifying drag cars.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, Ford decided to get back to the \u201crace on Sunday, sell on Monday\u201d approach,\u201d Joniec recalls. \u201cSo in 1968 they said, \u201cwe\u2019ve got to stop racing these crazy cars,\u201d and they came out with the Cobra Jet.\u201d<\/p>\n The Ford 428 Cobra Jet made its debut at the NHRA Winternationals held in early February of 1968 at the Pomona Dragway. Ford was sponsoring five drivers: Hubert Platt, Don Nicholson, Gas Ronda,Jerry Harvey and Al Joniec. They set up each team with a 428 Cobra Jet Mustang.<\/p>\n The new engine ate up the competition as four of the CJ \u2018Stangs made it to their respective class finals. Al Joniec defeated Hubert Platt\u2019s CJ Mustang in his class and then won the overall Super Stock Eliminator by defeating Dave Wren for the trophy, making Joniec the first driver to win for Ford with the Cobra Jet in \u201cClass\u201d and in \u201cSuper Stock Eliminator\u201d at Pomona.<\/p>\n In fact, the Mustangs were actually too fast.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were at least a second faster than the record at the time, but we didn\u2019t want to upset that advantage, so the whole thing got crazy, because we wanted to win,\u201d Joniec remembers, \u201cWe were only racing fast enough to beat the other guy without encroaching the record.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1970, Joniec switched to a Ford Maverick.<\/p>\n \u201cWe ran the Maverick in the all new Pro Stock class,\u201d Joniec recalls. \u201cI started out with a 427 SOHC (single over head cam) engine and as the parts, which were very rare and still are, got used up, I switched to a commonly available 429 Boss engine by mid-1971.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1971, Ford pulled out of drag racing in anticipation of the coming changes in the automotive industry.<\/p>\n \u201cFord put all of those great engineers into their emissions department,\u201d laments Joniec. \u201cBy 1973, I was done with racing and moved on to something new.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ironically, 47 years later, Ford released the new super-charged Cobra Jet Mustang. Brent Hyack purchase 14 of them and painted them all to match the original 1968 Cobra Jets.<\/p>\n \u201cOf all 14 of those cars, the one painted as the Rice-Holman car \u2013 my car \u2013 won the Super Stock Eliminator class again!\u201d Joniec laughed.<\/p>\n So what is Al Joniec doing these days? Well, he\u2019s still building engines, only now they\u2019re for high-performance aircraft.<\/p>\n \u201cI built the fastest automotive-powered aircraft ever!\u201d Al said. \u201cWhen it comes to technology, everything trickles down from the aerospace industry. It\u2019s a wonderful thing!\u201d<\/p>\n Al designed and built an engine to power a friend\u2019s new high-tech airplane. The plane became the world\u2019s fastest V-8 single engine powered vehicle by achieving a top speed of 386 miles per hour.\u00a0 Al and his friend were awarded the prestigious August Raspet Award \u2013 the highest award given by the experimental aircraft industry.<\/p>\n![\"AlJoniecAWBMustangBatCar2\"](\"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/AlJoniecAWBMustangBatCar2.jpg\")
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