Story of the Frantic Ford
Before there was ever a Frantic Ford funny car there was the Frantic Four AA Fuel Dragster. Jim Fox, born in Miller, South Dakota began his racing career in 1959 as a member of the Frantic Four team. Campaigning a Top Fuel car at the height of the breed’s popularity, Fox and partners Norm Weekly, Ron Rivero, and Dennis Holding gained nationwide fame for their never ending efforts to capture a major title.
In the early to mid-Sixties, when Top Fuel racing was divided into two classifications (A/FD and AA/FD), by the car’s overall weight to cubic inch of engine displacement ratio, Fox and his partners won legions of fans by taking a supposedly uncompetitive combination into the winner’s circle time after time.
Through 1964 and ’65 the Frantic Four held the Number 1 spot on the then all-important Drag News Top Ten list. They also set Top Speed of the Meet at the 1964 Indy Nationals and after a long string of successful defenses of their spot on the Drag News list they began to achieve notoriety of another variety: they began to place well in national event competition. First came a runner-up finish at the Hot Rod Magazine Championships in 1966, and then in ’67 they set the Hawaiian Land Speed Record and won the NASCAR Drag Racing Division Top Fuel Championship. Fox earned additional individual recognition by being named NASCAR’s Mechanic of the Year in Drag Racing.
1968 was Jim’s last season with a Top Fuel dragster, but he made his last effort his best. Along with a second NASCAR Top Fuel Championship came an impressive victory at the famous Bakersfield March Meet. Moving to the East, Fox and his partners began to rack up a list of match race wins that would take years to match.
The Frantic Ford is Born
In 1969 Jim switched to Funny Car racing. Capitalizing on the old Frantic Four reputation, the first in a long string of Ford bodied race cars was named the Frantic Ford. Ten straight years of racing under the same banner had earned Fox an enviable reputation with track promoters, racers, and spectators. One of the most consistently popular cars in the East, Fox’s car has always been more than competitive. A partial list of the car’s impressive victories down through the years includes several Fall Nationals Funny Car Championships, the 1972 Pennsylvania and Virginia State Championships, and the 1974 PDA 1/8th Mile Championship. He was also the runner-up at the 1974 Super Stock Nationals at York, PA, easily one of the year’s most impressive events.
Additional glory came to Fox and driver Dodger Glenn in 1974 when they took impressive wins at the NHRA National Open at Pittsburgh, the Connecticut Dragway Labor Day Championships (along with a new track record), the Dixie Drag Classic, and the NHRA National Open at Suffolk, Virginia.
1975 would be a turning point for the Frantic Ford team as Jim Fox partnered up with Freddy Frey. Media exposure for the Frantic Ford was tremendous in this year and the new machine, built by Walt Weney's S&W Chassis Shop in Spring City, PA, was destined for even greater exposure. Drag Times Newspaper featured the Frantic Ford on their cover in November, and National Dragster, Drag News, Motorsports Weekly, and Drag World devoted considerable editorial and photographic coverage to the car during the year. Super Stock & Drag Illustrated Magazine assigned several pages of editorial feature space to the team during 1975 as well.
1976 was an outstanding year in terms of performance for the Frantic Ford team. The Mustang II ran a best of 6.25, 224.42 mph at Capitol Dragway in April, won the prestigious Dutch Classic, the Winston points race at Englishtown, the Funny Car Nationals at York, and made it to the semi-finals of the NHRA Summernationals losing to Don "The Snake" Prudhomme.
Midway through the 1977 racing season the team of Jim Fox & Fred Frey decided to take a break from active
participation and the hectic pace of all night traveling and running the car 2-3 dates
per week, week in and week out. With an agreement worked out with Fox and Frey, the entire
operation was handed over to Dodger to run as his own deal.
Mounting expenses were always
a concern for Dodger but his strong will and determination to race on his own overpowered
any thoughts of shuttering the operation. Dodger would experience the highs and lows of
running a fuel car on his terms and his dime for the first time in his life.
Sadly, the
1978 season would prove to be a heartbreaker. Dodger started off with a brand new Mustang II fiberglass body that went skyward in May at Englishtown in a spectacular wheelstand that unlatched the body.
In June 1978, Dodger took delivery of a brand new chassis cloaked with a Plymouth Arrow body. Along with it came a new name: The Frantic Arrow and for the first time a Plymouth replaced the long standing tradition of Ford bodies. The team made some check-out passes at Capitol Dragway with the new car and everything was fine with the new operation.
Dodger Glenn--the rising star of the 1970's east coast
funny car wars whose light had burned so brightly, would be taken from us without
warning. During a second round match against future world champion Bruce
Larson at Maple Grove Dragway in July 1978, Dodger suffered an engine explosion and
subsequent crash which claimed his life. He was 33 years old with a wife and two young
daughters. Dodger's memory will live on in the hearts and minds of all that knew him.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paul Roger (Dodger) Glenn
1945-1978.