Doug Thorley was an American Funny Car

drag racer Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most ...

, hot rodder and businessman. In 1967, he won the

NHRA The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsp ...

Nationals' first Funny Car Eliminator title, and was given ''

Car Craft ''Car Craft'' was a magazine devoted to automobiles, hot rodding, and drag racing. It was published by the Motor Trend Group. It was established in 1953. The magazine published articles directed at inexperienced and expert car mechanics, such as ...

''s All-Star Drag Racing Team Funny Car Driver of the Year Award in 1968. Hot Rod magazine describes him as "one of drag racing's most famous early era drivers."

Racing career

Thorley won many drag races at the Santa Ana (California) strip in the 1950s in a 1938 Century coupe. In the 1960s, he was the first in class to break 200 miles per hour at the

Bonneville Salt Flats The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land managed by the Bur ...

in a C/Modified Sports Corvette. In 1964, Thorley

match race A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head. In sailboat racing it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams consi ...

d an altered-wheelbase (pre-Funny Car) injected

big-block A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and use ...

1964

Chevy II The Chevrolet Chevy II/Nova is a small automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, and produced in five generations for the 1962 through 1979, and 1985 through 1988 model years. Nova was the top model in the Chevy II lineup through 1968. The Chevy II ...

he called '' Chevy Too Much''. Thorley's ''Doug's Headers'' Corvair was the first seven-second Funny Car, and it was in this car he won the NHRA supercharged A Funny Car (AA/FC) class at

Indianapolis Raceway Park Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park, O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, and Lucas Oil Raceway) is an auto racing facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, United States, about northwest of downtown Indianapolis. I ...

in 1967, defeating Joe Lunati's ''The Dixie Devil''

Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...

. It was the first time Funny Car Eliminator was held at Indy. Indy would also prove to be Thorley's only NHRA national event win in Funny Car. That year 1967, he would also record the first (unofficial) funny car pass in his Corvair, at Lions Drag Strip. In 1968, Thorley bought a rear-engined AMC 401-powered Javelin TF/FC (one of just a handful of similar funny cars ever built, including Dave Bowman's '' California Stud'') from Woody Gilmore. (The would later be replaced by a hemi prepared by John Hoven and Glenn Okazaki.) The same year, he was given ''

''s All-Star Drag Racing Team Funny Car Driver of the Year Award in 1968.

Doug Thorley Headers

Thorley founded his header company in 1958. Among Thorley's better-known customers were Carol Cox (through her husband, who Thorley was friends with). Thorley headers would go on to be a favorite among drag racers. Thorley Headers is a leading producer of headers and exhaust systems, favored by many rodders and racers.

Biography

Thorley is the subject of the book ''Doug Thorley: Headers by Doug'' written by Don Pennington. Thorley died March 10, 2021, at his home in New Harmony, Utah at age 92.

Notes

Sources

*McClurg, Bob. "50 Years of Funny Cars: Part 2" in ''Drag Racer'', November 2016, pp. 35–50. *McClurg, Bob. ''The History of AMC Motorsports''. Forest Lake, Minnesota: CarTech, Inc, 2016 *Taylor, Thom. "Beauty Beyond the Twilight Zone" in '' Hot Rod'', April 2017, pp. 30–43.

External links