Bob Thomas’ former dragstrip car bought by son
A dragstrip race car once well-known in and beyond Ellijay has found its way back home.
Strip Teaser II, a customized 1965 Ford Falcon formerly owned and raced by Ellijay businessman Bob Thomas, was recently purchased by Bob’s son, James Thomas.
James said he knew who had the car, but wasn’t expecting a call from that Florida collector asking if he wanted to buy the souped-up Falcon.
“He contacted us about 10 years ago when he was restoring the car, but had no intention of selling it (then). He’d started sanding it down and found out whose car it was originally, so that’s how they traced it back to my dad,” James said. “I just thought that car should come back home.”
‘A lot of history to that car’
James said his dad, who was owner of Ellijay’s Thomas Oil Co., was involved in drag racing from 1963-68, then again for a few years in the early ‘70s.
“Dad raced this particular car before I was born. There’s a lot of history to that car,” he added.
In drag racing’s heyday, it was common for the fast and loud cars to have colorful names, such as “Big Daddy” Don Garlits’ Swamp Rat or Atlanta driver Hubert Platt’s Georgia Shaker. Thomas’ Strip Teasers, of which there were five total, were no exception.
“The first one was a 1964 Fairlane Thunderbolt, which was a factory race car by Ford. (Later on, he raced a) fiberglass 1967 Falcon and a flip-top Comet,” James said.
Howard Neal, of Blue Ridge, was the driver for each of the Strip Teasers, including the ‘65 Falcon now owned by James. Longtime Ellijay mechanic Larry Davis was responsible for building and tuning the inner workings for several of Thomas’ cars, including Strip Teaser II.
“Dad never drove the cars when they raced, even though he could have. He thought Howard was a good driver, and he wanted to have a good team,” James said.
Howard’s son, Dennis Neal, said his dad and Bob Thomas raced against each other before teaming up.
“My dad started racing his personal car, a Plymouth, and he would take it to the dragstrips on the weekends. He and Bob, who was driving in the (early ‘60s) would run against each other. My dad started driving with him in ’64 and drove all those cars for Bob,” he added.
Larry’s son, Rex Davis, said his dad built and worked on Thomas’ drag cars until the late ‘60s.
“He didn’t go to a whole lot of the races. He went to some, but was mainly a behind-the-scenes guy doing the tuning, repairs and stuff like that,” said Rex. “Dad always told me this car was the most successful one they’d raced. At that time, there were so few cars at that level. ”
Before Strip Teaser II hit the dragstrips, it was tested on Ellijay’s South Main Street in front of the local Dairy Queen. James said his dad got permission from the local sheriff to do the test runs, which drew spectators.
“There wasn’t much traffic back then in Ellijay. Everybody just lined up and watched them do it,” Rex said.
The car was known for its powerful 427 High Riser racing engine, as well as other custom features, Rex recalled.
“They built a race car right out of a brand-new car, and that engine wasn’t put in that car in the factory,” he added. “I think dad was the first person to put fuel injection on that style of car. It wasn’t fuel injection like it is today. It was a different type. But he was the first person to run that, and it was a big deal at the time. He had to build all the components to do it.”
James said the car raced at many dragstrips around the southeast including Double H Dragstrip near Blue Ridge and Biloxi Dragway, in Biloxi, Miss. It was featured in the factory experimental class,” he added.
“At the time, there was only one class, the dragsters, which were faster,” said Dennis. “They hadn’t developed the funny cars, which came about in ’66-’67.”
According to race stats available on the Biloxi Dragway’s webpage, Strip Teaser II blazed down that quarter-mile track several times in 1965-66, traveling as fast as 132 miles an hour with a fastest ET (elapsed time) of 10.59 seconds.
“They did what was called ‘match racing,’ which would be the highlight of the weekend. There would be fliers passed out at the racetrack advertising that one car was going to race another car, and they would do a match race, best out of five,” Rex said.
“Drag racing was huge back then, and they were pretty big time for that era. There wasn’t many of those type cars to be raced because they were the top class. Unless you went to one of the big national events, they would usually just be racing one other car (like that).”
Dennis said the special attraction match races often pitted high-speed Fords and Chevys against each other to draw a crowd.
“You had to be pretty popular and in demand to come to those match races. If you were successful and running very fast, the dragstrips wanted to book you up against another one,” he added. “Back then, a lot of people would pull for one manufacturer over another, so the audience loved that.”
Dennis said he’s heard that his dad raced Strip Teaser II against Richard Petty during the NASCAR king’s brief detour into drag racing.
“I don’t know who won,” he said. “Richard had gotten upset with NASCAR and turned to drag racing for a year. He was kind of protesting.”
James said the ‘65 Falcon performed so well on the southern drag racing circuit that one of its successors was given to Thomas directly by the manufacturer.
“It drew enough attention for Mercury to give him one of their flip-top Comet funny cars for 1967. They only built five of those cars, and he was one of the people who received one of them,” James said. “Dad and his team did a lot of the right things to get looked at by Mercury.”
Going to show
James said his dad updated his race cars every year or so and didn’t usually keep the prior year’s model after the next model came out. Thomas eventually got out of racing because running his business took precedent, James said.
Strip Teaser II did travel back through town several years back so the previous owner could have the vehicle authenticated. That was the first time both Bob and Larry had seen it in decades, James noted.
“Other people drove that car and raced it here and there, but then it kind of fell through the cracks,” he added. “Before dad passed away, he knew it was still around.”
The names of Neal, Davis and Thomas Oil appear on the side of the retooled Strip Teaser II today as they did when it raced. The car’s original red, white and blue paint job was also restored by the previous owner, James noted. Stenciled on its doors is the suggestive slogan — “If she’s paid, she’ll go.”
“They restored it back to how it looked back in the day,” James said.
James, proprietor of James Thomas Heating and Cooling, said he intends to display Strip Teaser II at some car shows in the future. He recently took it to Cleveland, Ohio, for a big show where he was accompanied by Rex and Dennis.
“It’s a pretty popular car out there on the show circuit. There are a lot of people who go to these shows that remember it,” James said.
Bob Thomas, Larry Davis and Howard Neal have all passed away, but now their sons are enjoying telling stories, and hearing new ones, from drag racing’s golden era.
“I have memories of that car sitting on a trailer in our front driveway and me climbing in it,” said Dennis. “I grew up with my dad racing, and he and Bob were best friends. They had a lot of fun and were successful together, so there’s a lot of good memories from that era.”