Art Chrisman
I first came to know Art in the sixties when he was the Autolite
Spark Plug's Representative at Bonneville. We became friends through
his reading and furnishing spark plugs. Of course, I admired his
expertise as a Dragster Pilot when he was running the Christman-Cannon
"Hustler". In my opinion, he was the best driver of the day. Hardly
ever did you see more than a wisp of smoke coming off his tires as he
left tire marks the whole of the ¼ mile. Most of the competition
was hidden in smoke as they left the line. Art won his share of the
races in those days.
I visited with Art at the 2006 Bonneville 200 MPH Banquet. He is very
interesting to talk with about the early days of drag racing. He is
still one of my heroes!
Published Date: 10/31/05
At the ancient Famoso drag strip near Bakersfield, fans flock to the
NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion, America's oldest and largest vintage
drag event. Here they celebrate drag racing as it used to be, before
sponsors, big purses and TV.
Caught between orchards and oil fields, there are some of the most
famous cars in drag racing's 60-year history here, restored and ready
to race, many still driven by their original shoes. The cars have come
from as far away as Vermont and Rhode Island. The Glass Slipper, the
Speed Sport roadsters, the twin-engined Freight Train and Dragmasters
Two-Thing, Don Garlits' Swamp Rat III and many more. And then there is
Hustler I.
One of the earliest streamlined dragsters, the Chrisman Brothers &
Cannon Hustler I is here because 75-year-old Art Chrisman, drag racing
dervish, is here. Chrisman's Hustler III, a modern fuel dragster built
by Chrisman and son Mike, is also on hand, the other bookend in a race
career as old as drag racing itself.
Chrisman is as comfortable working on a flathead as he is a Chrysler
Hemi, an Offy, a Ford Indy engine or Chevy small-block.
In 1944 Art Chrisman moved from Arkansas to California, where his dad
Everett worked in shipyards. Everett had built tankers for moonshiners,
and sons Art and Lloyd learned cars, mechanics and welding at their
father's knee. They set up shop in Compton, racing at El Mirage and
Bonneville before settling on short-course drag racing.
Chrisman's chopped, rear-engined Model A coupe topped 200 mph at
Bonneville before the prestigious 200-mph Club was established. He
still has the car (it took third in the hot rod class at Pebble Beach
in 2001).
Chrisman's first serious drag car, a well-used Model T sprint, was the
first to break 140 mph, at Santa Ana in 1953. In 1955 it ran in the
first NHRA Nationals at Great Bend in Kansas. Chrisman repeated that
feat for the 25th, 40th and 50th annual Nationals with the car, which
has been restored to mint condition.
But Hustler I, a fuel-injected, supercharged Chrysler Hemi on nitro,
was the breakthrough car. It was named Best Engin-eered Car at the 1958
Nationals in Oklahoma, was the first dragster to top 180 mph, and won
the Top Fuel title at the first Bakersfield March Meet in 1959. The
Model A Bonneville coupe, the No. 25 Model T and the Hustler I have
been Hot Rod cover cars. NHRA's Wally Parks Museum in Pomona,
California, presented Chrisman with the Preservation Award in 2004
because he has kept his race cars running for so long.
In 1962 Chrisman's vast abilities were tapped by spark plug maker
Autolite, and he spent the next decade helping racers at Bonneville,
Daytona, Indy and just about everywhere in between.
Chrisman opened his own shop—Chrisman Auto Rod Specialties—in Santa Ana
in 1980. He and Mike build some of the most beautifully detailed street
rods and street machines in the business, with 40 complete cars made in
the last 20 years, the latest a 1956 Chevy Nomad wagon that has won 10
trophies in seven outings.
At the California Hot Rod Reunion fans eagerly anticipated the Saturday
night Cacklefest—and they weren't disappointed. As they used to do
before port- able electric starters, the nitro cars push-start down the
side road, fire up, then park, running, on the centerline until the
last car is in place. If you have ever heard a nitro car run, you know
why they call it cackling.
This year's Cacklefest featured 40 nitro-burners, cackling, blipping
and sending staccato music and flames into the night at Famoso. One of
the greatest spectacles in motorsports, the cars were noisy enough to
peg the world's loudest dB meter and raise every hair on the back of
your neck. Is that burning in your eyes from the nitro, or is it
nostalgia?
As a measure of the respect and affection the NHRA has for Chrisman and
the fabled Hustler I, Art always fires up and comes down last, because,
as one spectator said, "This weekend Art Chrisman is the mayor of
Bakersfield."
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