A broken axle, a rusty rollbar, and a shortsighted thief played key roles in a barn find like no other: the discovery of the sole survivor of three Supercharged Factory Experimental (S/FX) Dodges that launched the Funny Car craze.

In 1980, a young hot rodder named Tom Jones heard about a broken, abused 1964 Dodge 330 sedan resting 30 miles from his Madison, Wisconsin, home. He also heard vague rumors from local gearheads about the car's distant past as some sort of factory race car, after which it ran e.t. brackets in the Midwest and Canada. From pictures he'd seen of the Dodge Chargers in old magazines, Jones wondered whether this heap's rusted-chrome rollbar could possibly be one that Dragmaster Co. installed. For eight years, his fantasy of finding one of the first Funny Cars persisted.

"The previous owner had the car for 13 years," Jones said in a 1988 interview. "It came with a 440 and a four-speed. He ran it one time, around 1975, and broke an axle. He replaced the axles, but before he could get back to the track, someone broke in and stole his cylinder heads. He parked it."

Thanks to that theft, the Dodge stayed safely out of sight until Jones got around to making his offer, finally, in 1988. "The seller wanted $3,500 and I had no money," he explained of the eight-year delay. "I'd bought a Shell station, and I was trying to finish a chopped '50 Merc and remodel my house. I had to do some horse trading and sell some old parts to get the cash. When I got this car home, I had $2,500 invested—my last $2,500! My wife was ready to leave me.

"I wasn't sure what it was until I started removing paint," he added. "When I scraped away the Bondo that covered up the parachute hole, I knew. What a surprise! And the body was mint, as far as rust—there was none."

One major mystery remained: Although the rollbar, rolled rear pan, parachute housing, wheelwell flares, and underlying colors undoubtedly belonged to one of the Dodge Chargers, which one? That answer surfaced unexpectedly in a late-1988 interview with team driver Jimmy Nix, who described to Petersen's Drag Racing how he'd removed the firewall and cut a huge hole in the floor of Charger No. 2 (to make room for a set-back 392 Hemi and scattershield, which were never installed). Jones contacted the article's author, who put him in touch with Nix, who positively identified a car he hadn't seen since the summer of 1964.

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With the blessing of Mrs. Jones, her hubby launched into a restoration that might still be plodding along had the couple continued to finance the work. Instead, the car had barely been back from the body shop before word got out to collectors. A bidding war broke out, which country music promoter C.K. Spurlock ultimately won. As for the winning offer, Jones would only say, "It was enough money for my wife to finish remodeling our house—or buy another one."

Over the next nine years, Spurlock's restoration team patiently put the big pieces back in place, including a 1/2-inch-stroker (480-cid) motor personally prepared by Brad Anderson. In 1998, with the project about 75 percent complete, Spurlock sold the car to Frank Spittle. Although it's not quite done, it's close enough to share with E/T readers fifty-one years after Nix's Dodge Charger first appeared on the pages of HOT ROD (July 1964).

The ProgramEverything about this single-season package was unprecedented, beginning with a budget reliably reported to be in the $250,000 to $300,000 range. Don Beebe, a promoter previously unknown in drag racing, sold Chrysler on the radical concept of swapping Top Gas dragster engines into production cars—in California instead of Detroit. Lucky Dodge dealers nationwide got the team the week before a local race date. Track operators got three or four rounds of match racing for free, plus the benefit of dealers' prerace publicity.

One might think so much factory dough would've kept two drivers, three complete race cars and matching Polara street cars, two spare long-blocks and transmissions, a full-time mechanic, and a truck driver in tall cotton from March through October 1964, but the money and parts only made it till August. As if an omen of unexpected expenses to follow, Nix's first test session started out in the wrong gear, literally. Unfamiliar with the reversed shift pattern of an Art Carr TorqueFlite, this dragster star left the line with the pushbutton labeled First depressed. When the big Dodge bogged, Nix banged the button marked Second, wound the big wedge up to 6,000-plus rpm, then punched Drive—dumping the tranny into low gear, locking up the slicks, and rolling the car.

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Insightfully, Beebe's contract called for a third, spare car (which rode atop the transporter). Track photos confirm this backup filled in for March dates in Fremont and Pomona at least (see Bumper Car sidebar). Later, it served as a demonstration vehicle at public appearances.

By all accounts, the drivers held up their end of the deal, breaking stocker records (high-10s at mid-130 mph, typically) and attendance records alike across the West, Midwest, and Northeast. "Our pit got so crowded that we sometimes had to push people back to protect the aluminum nose," Jim Johnson recalls. "We talked to a lot of people and a whole lot of racers. They'd look at the cars and say, 'This is pretty cool; I could do this!'"

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By the time the team got to the East Coast, mechanic Louis Lovelady was cannibalizing broken motors and transmissions while waiting for 426 Hemis that never arrived. When he got down to one of each, Nix and Johnson took turns driving Jim's car, conservatively. In separate interviews, both drivers later expressed suspicions that established factory teams might've conspired to divert promised replacement parts elsewhere, possibly resenting the publicity and money flowing to this exhibition act.

"We were supposed to make a big circle of the country, winding up back in L.A. in the fall," Johnson recalls. Instead, the circle was broken in August. The last ride came at an eighth-mile strip in Greer, South Carolina, where Nix split the team's last good block. Adding insult to injury, Jack Chrisman unexpectedly appeared with a new, supercharged Comet, burning nitro. Whether the two friends and longtime Top Gas rivals staged history's first real Funny Car race depends on who's telling the tale. "Oh, Jack wanted to race, and we wanted to race, but we'd been told not to [by Chrysler]," says Johnson, who describes Chrisman making a run first, followed immediately by Nix (contrary to unconfirmed accounts that Chrisman surprised Nix by pulling alongside at the starting line, then beat him to the end).

"We were due in Atlanta the next day," Johnson adds. "We told our people we had nothing left to run, but they said, 'Go ahead and show up anyway. Start it up and do whatever you can do.' When we fired it, water poured out on the ground. Of course, Atlanta Dragway had spent a whole lot of money promoting this thing, and the fans were upset. I don't blame 'em. They were actually hostile, throwing things. We beat a hasty retreat out of there, let me tell ya."

The NHRA's BlessingChrysler's top-secret contract with a West Coast dragster shop was highly controversial in Detroit and other eastern hotbeds of factory hardware. It was also a stroke of genius, for Dragmaster was no ordinary chassis shop. Along with the respective engine-building and fabrication skills of owners Dode Martin and Jim Nelson (Top Eliminator of the 1962 Winternationals), Dodge acquired an inside connection to a safety-obsessed NHRA president who already feared that legal Super Stocks and Factory Experimentals were getting too fast.

This was the same Jim Nelson who had written the NHRA's first rules (1953), served as the fledgling association's first tech director (until 1960), and knew founder Wally Parks from SCTA dry lakes racing (1940s). In early 1963, perhaps no one but Ratchet Jaw Nelson could've sold Parks on a plan to double the horsepower of a Max Wedge—and to create an entire exhibition category to accommodate this strange, new crossbreed of dragster and stocker.

"We made a deal with Wally that we would not lighten them excessively," Nelson explains. "Dodge wanted them to remain real cars, but Wally was worried about the handling of a stocker running in the 10s at 135 mph." Indeed, the only unibody reinforcements were 50/50 Cure-Ride rear shocks and Dragmaster's bolt-on Spring Master traction bars (solidly connecting the rear subframe to the rear leaf-spring eye). In spite of aluminum fenders and hoods, some lightweight engine components, and magnesium Americans all around, the cars topped 3,500 pounds, plus driver (not counting the 300 pounds of lead shot in Nix's trunk that made Charger No. 2's e.t. better than Johnson's tire-smoking but faster No. 1). The cars were visually identical, other than tachometer location: Johnson preferred a dash mount, while Nix favored the steering column.

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Nelson says the cars spent more time with Dean Jeffries than anticipated, delaying Dragmaster's final delivery until days before the team's public debut. One challenge was determining how and where to mount a parachute on the body of a new car. Jim Deist's only test session came after dark one weeknight at San Fernando Raceway, whose manager, Harry Hibler (also former HOT ROD magazine publisher), reluctantly agreed to ride in the trunk. "Deist had forgotten to bring a long cable," Hibler explains. "When Jim knocked on the floor, I pulled the chute release. It worked real good—and I got banged up real good, because neither of us had thought to strap me down."

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The StarsDodge's picks to become drag racing's best-paid drivers surprised no one more than the two guys suddenly bestowed with weekly salaries and unrestricted expense accounts, plus brand-new Polara street cars each. Jim Johnson, a quiet, 29-year-old family man, was little known outside of Stock Eliminator circles. Jimmy Nix, five years younger, was a flashy, outgoing dragster driver whose lightweight Chevy slingshot ran with the best of the big, bad Chryslers that dominated Top Gas Eliminator.

"The calls came out of the blue," Johnson recalls. "The guy introduced himself as Don Beebe from Detroit. He just said, 'Would you be interested in a program that's gonna tour the United States with kind of a special car? It's a Dodge.' I said, 'Hell yes, let's go!'"

Chrysler was obviously aware of Johnson's success in Dodges, including a 1963 NHRA Nats class win and top 10 finish in HOT ROD's 1963 points standings. He also owned the national B/SA record with a dual-carb 383 Polara that was nearly unbeatable in Southern California.

The unlikely combination of such dissimilar personalities and experience proved to be the best of both worlds. At their weekly appearances, Nix's name attracted hard-core fans and curious citizens, while Johnson's stocker history gave him max cred with little-guy racers—including thousands of GM and Ford customers Chrysler was hoping to capture. Perhaps coincidentally, Dodge went on to sell the most cars in its entire history during the 1964 model year.

The End Of Number OneEarly in 1965, AA/Fuel dragster racers Bud Roche and Don Mattison bought both broken Chargers from Dodge, announcing intentions of installing 392 fuel motors and direct drive. Roche wanted to drive—until his first launch in the ex-Johnson machine.

"Bud did about a 360 up on the starting line and quickly decided to retire," Doc Halladay remembers, chuckling. "That's when they came looking for somebody to make a checkout pass to see whether the car had a problem. Being young and dumb, I volunteered my services. I didn't get far before it got sideways, then up on its side. I was looking out the driver's window at the ground, thinking, They're gonna be pissed, 'cause I'm gonna screw up their pretty paint job! Nobody realized the car still had a posi rearend, which makes a fuel car uncontrollable."

Switching to a locked axle got the launch straightened out but not the top end. None of Chicagoland's heroes (including John Kranenberg and possibly Ron O'Donnell) was able to log a full pass under power until October, when Jerry Caudle clocked 10.21 at 150 mph. On the next run, reported Ben Brown in Drag World, "The Dodge went end over end at least four times, demolishing the exhibition car for all time" (as documented here by a faded Bruce Hesse color print, which HOT ROD reader Tim Ryherd acquired from the late photographer's estate).

Deciding they'd had enough of door cars, Roche and Mattison returned full attention to their AA/Fueler, selling the second Charger in the same condition in which Jimmy Nix had left it.

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The Bumper CarNo one interviewed for this article could say for sure, but the Dodge with the stock 330 bumpers and quarters is believed to be the mysterious third Charger. Built alongside of and otherwise identical to the other pair, it served the dual purpose of dealership demonstrator and emergency spare. Here, it occupies the space normally reserved for Nix's No. 2 (which was likely in the body shop, recovering from its testing crash at San Diego). Also shown is promoter Don Beebe (big guy at left, in shades and team jacket).

Because it was hauled atop the transporter, this bumper car is almost certainly the Charger that famously slammed into a short bridge in the Midwest, removing its roof and wedging the entire tow rig against the underside of the span. Johnson is sure the car was repaired but not whether it rejoined the tour. He thinks he took the same car, sans removable rollbar, to SoCal high schools and dealerships after the race program prematurely imploded. When Johnson missed one such date (due to family issues), Dodge replaced him with Charlie Allen, who later bought and resold the car without racing it. Where it's been the last 40 years is anybody's guess. (Know of any old Dodge 330 race cars rotting in somebody's barn?)

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Lost 'N' FoundPerhaps because so many people heard about all three cars crashing hard in 1964 and 1965, virtually nobody was hunting for this survivor. Otherwise, someone surely would've recognized the distinctive flared wheel openings, rolled rear pan, parachute box, chrome rollbar, or blue roof stripes of a Dodge Charger. Further unique to No. 2 was metal missing from the floor and inner body panels. When barn finder Tom Jones read a 1988 article mentioning Nix's aborted attempt to install a set-back 392 Hemi and lighten the body, he called Nix. Nix not only confirmed the car's authenticity but also promised to look for parts he'd removed 24 years earlier. Not long after Jones sold the car (disassembled and primered, as shown), subsequent owner C.K. Spurlock received a surprise package of original window guts and various hunks of metal that fit like the final pieces to a giant puzzle.

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Sole SurvivorTwo decades and two owners after its identity was confirmed, the Jimmy Nix car is finally ready for a second turn in the spotlight. The only known survivor of the Chargers trio is the crowning jewel in Frank Spittle's lifetime of collecting rare Chryslers.

"Nobody has the first dragster ever built, or the first altered, or the first gasser," he reminds us. "I'm one of the lucky ones who was around for the birth of the Funny Car, so I couldn't believe that one of the original three cars still existed. I tried to buy it 20 years ago, but C.K. Spurlock outbid me, along with everyone else. When I congratulated him, I asked for a call if he ever wanted to sell. About nine years later, I got that call. The price had gone way, way up, unfortunately, but most of the work was done, and I knew I'd never get a third chance. So I rounded up all the money I could beg or borrow, and C.K. agreed to take payments for the balance. He even let me bring the car home to work on while I paid him off."

How many bucks this restoration has caused to change hands since '68 can only be guesstimated. The parts and labor cost alone may exceed the quarter-million-plus Dodge reportedly spent on the whole program in 1963 and 1964. Not a wealthy man, Spittle, 65, admits to being tempted by ever-escalating offers. But first he's determined to finish the plumbing and wiring, fire the motor, and find out for himself what Nix and Johnson experienced as the first Funny Car drivers.