Jim Rockstad (crew member, left) and Dave Jeffers (former driver right) along with Ed McCulloch sitting in the car that started his career in 1965.

It was the Saturday before Father’s Day and a perfect time for a bunch of old guys to get together for steak and chicken and catch a glimpse of the finished product: The Northwind Top Fuel Dragster had been brought back to life after all these years!

It was one of those Northwest days in the spring where it is sun-showers-sun-showers all day long. I drove from my home in Issaquah, picked up Dave Jeffers in Puyallup, and headed up to Jack Coonrod’s house in Vancouver. It took about 3 hours each way, so it was 6 hours of nostalgia drag racing talk that day as Dave was the early driver of the gold-flaked machine back in 1965. He’s a nice guy who has been blessed with a good memory. He talked about things that I certainly couldn’t remember.

Dave is a Northwest guy from the Centralia area who loved to build drag cars and, of course, drive them. He had spent a lot of time with Walt Austin at Puyallup Raceway Park in those early days, driving many cars and doing very well behind the wheel. An opportunity came around for him and he moved to California to build cars for Race Car Specialties (RSC), a well-respected chassis shop. Soon after, his former contacts from the Northwest asked him to drive the new Kent Fuller magicar, the Northwind, and Dave was more than ready for that opportunity also.

Dave took the brand-new Northwind on its very first pass down the quarter-mile at Lions’ Drag Strip. In those days there wasn’t such a thing as a shake down run or half-pass to see how the car handled. It ran 200-plus miles per hour on its maiden voyage!! The Kent Fuller-designed masterpiece was made for speed and seemed to love the high horsepower of a Jim Albrich Chrysler motor. It was a great match, and Dave Jeffers didn’t mind proving that the Northwind would run with the best of them.

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Dave Jeffers drove the Northwind at Bakersfield in 1965 prior to Ed McCulloch taking over

Although the results from that weekend in March of 1965 are a little sketchy, Dave and the Northwind crew worked their way all the way to the semis in this huge field. It was an Ed Pink car with Mike Snively driving that finally sent the Northwind packing, but a huge impression was made that this Northwest car was a bad hombre!!

Dave drove for a few more races after the excellent Bakersfield showing, but eventually, as happened to so many teams in that era, money got more than tight and flying Dave to the Northwest for events was more than the thin budget could stand. Unfortunately for Dave, it was just a business move to have one of the car owners drive the car, as they were traveling to the races with the car anyway. Ed McCulloch, although reluctant at first, made some runs to see if it made sense for him to drive the car. Ed had crashed a Chevy-powered dragster the year before and was not too anxious to climb back behind another butterfly steering wheel. (I always thought he wanted to drive the car the whole time but was just a little leery after crashing his own car the year before).

These days Dave Jeffers is still working at his passion of building drag race cars and he is a supreme craftsman. He works for Bucky Austin in his Tacoma race shop and has many nostalgia cars in the works. He loves to build these “recreations” and is currently doing an injected, extremely lightweight piece for the Dead End Kids. Here he is some 40 years after Race Car Specialties doing what he does best and enjoys the most. Dave and his wife will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in August. That says a lot, as keeping the marriage together is really hard to do with the crazy hours and pressures required by this sport. I certainly wish them the best at their family reunion on the Washington coast later in the summer.

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Earl Floyd (partner), Jim Rockstad (crew member), Jack Coonrod (car owner) and Dave Jeffers.

Once the car was warmed up and then shut off we just had to have Dave Jeffers sit in the car like the old days. (He was anxious and didn’t turn us down!) He remembers that cockpit so well. A car that was tricky to drive the way the rear end was located but, of course, one he’ll never forget. And Dave drove a lot of gas and fuel dragsters in that era to compare this one to.

We got the good news for the day via an email from Ed McCulloch that he had a six-month checkup on his cancer and everything is well. I read that exciting news to the group along with a thank you by Ed for all the hard work they have done. Without a doubt, it was a special moment during the party to read Ed’s words with praise for the group.

To feed nearly 50 people isn’t exactly an easy thing to do. Jack’s wife Dawn brought in a chef from Teen Challenge, plus others, to help with the organization and things went off in grand style. A few rain showers here and there but then the sun was beaming and the food was first class! It was well organized with tasty food and a group of fun people. An excellent job accomplished by Dawn and her crew.

That was the scene that day in mid-June. 16 months and all of these people to bring this car back to life and this was the unveiling so everyone could see the fruits of their labor. It has come together over all the hurdles, missing parts and re-fabrication of old race parts to make them work again and this beautiful car is ready to head to Seattle soon. There were many hardships but nothing could slow down the reconstruction. There always seemed a way to get it done or find something to work. It was an amazing project!

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Dawn Coonrod had a special cake and thank you for all of those that attended the big party.

We arrived at the Seattle event at Pacific Raceways with the familiar rain in the air. I dealt with that “rain on events” for over 25 years as General Manager of SIR. We were to be part of the dozen or so nostalgia race cars from the Northwest that would display in a special area. The old duffers from the early days were there with their cars. They included Wayne King, Bucky Austin, Jim Green, the Gorans boys, Hugh Tucker and many other pioneers of the sport. These cars inspire others to rebuild their old iron and this nostalgia movement just continues to grow. It’s an exciting way for those that used to be in the sport to reconnect with old friends and focus on the long and rewarding job of keeping the history intact. Unfortunately for a lot of us some of the cars are long gone along with those that have passed away but there is plenty of determination to continue to find these old cars, rebuild them, and keep the history alive. It’s a much needed and exciting movement.

On the trailer again, after over 42 years the legendary Northwind was the #1 car in the nation in 1965.

While we were at Pacific Raceways for the NHRA Schuck’s Auto Supply Nationals and while the rain continued to fall, we picked up a few bookings for the Northwind as a display and cackle car. On 95% this “golden lady” sounds plenty tough and makes some exciting “thunder in the pipes” to those that love this sport. Both Bremerton Raceways and Pacific Raceways have nostalgia events in the month of August and the Northwind will return to the Puget Sound area for these fire-up events.

NORTHWIND Part #9: More about the Northwind as the car and crew set up a schedule of events and ready the operation for the activities ahead.