Backdraft
The Backdraft jet funny car was one of the early center sitting funny cars.
Like the more widely known Eastern Raider/Top Secret car of Al Hanna, or Roger Goring's Firestorm/Northern Flame cars from the UK, the driver sat in the center in front of the intake like in a dragster.
A beautiful looking car, but was damaged and rebuilt. Eventually it was parked, and might have been sold to someone in the UK recently.
posted by Curt Eierdam at 6:22 PM
2 Comments:
Hi. Info update on BackDraft. Owned now by Todd Dunham of Atlantic Highlands N.J. Dunham has made over 30 runs. The car is in excellent condition and makes passes at Atco Dragway. N.J.
Hello, Backdraft owned by Kenny Piscopo and Firestorm owned by Roger Goring were sister cars built at the same time by Bob Jenkins. These were the 2nd generation center seat jet funny cars that were similar but not the same to Al Hanna's Eastern Raider. The inlet systems were different and the sisters car much lighter than Al Hanna's car. Backdraft weighed 1412 lbs with driver and fuel. The original car was crashed due to a problem in the design of the parachute mount. Goring's car crashed as well for the same reason. Both cars crashed within weeks of each other. Backdraft was rebuilt by Kenny Piscopo and
Firestorm rebuilt by Roger Goring. The new parachute mount came from the Dustman brothers design and was installed on both Backdraft and Firestorm. Credit to helping rebuild backdraft goes to Dick Rosberg, and Bob Jenkins for their extensive knowledge and expertise. Tarratino Auto Body of Jamesburg, NJ sponsered the the body work, paint job and graphics. Body work and paint job was done by Ed Wydra. Backdraft went on to race two more seasons and as far away as Puerto Rico. The car was eventually sold to Todd Dunham of Atlantic Highlands, NJ. The picture of the car with the granite side is the rebuilt car and is how is most likely looks today. Any other questions regarding the true history of backdraft can be emailed to piscopog@comcast.net.
Kenny Piscopo
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