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Midwest Pages 2-Updated
3/24/2001
10/23/2000
Ray Higley passed away
yesterday.
For a lot of you, you
remember Ray for his Red Line Oil funny car, which he ran on a low
budget, but managed to get Roland Leong to come aboard in 1993 and
tune him to a semi-final round at the US Nationals. When I think of
Ray, though, there are no funny cars. Just Fuel Altereds.

Ray started a long
ways back, with this Dragmaster Chassised, Wedge Motored car. Ran
a lot of meets as an AA/A, but he had no aversion to pouring in the
pop and making passes. He ran this car for quite a while...

Next I heard, he had
partnered up with Nolen Pritchard and out of that came "Climax 1"
Ray and Nolen campaigned that car from 1975-1977.

Then there was the
Global Van Lines car...
Finally the return
of the "Climax" which did double duty as the funny car...

I met Ray for the first
time last year at Boise, at a Denny's of all places. For you guys
who think I know everything about these fuel altereds, I don't...and
it was a treat to meet someone who had been around and done as much
as Ray. Ray didn't have the best weekend at Boise, tire shake and
centerline crossing took care of that. But during it all, he was awesome
to watch.
I'd been hearing that
Ray's condition had been worsening...for the Nightfire Nationals this
year, he had the car in the box all ready to go, but the chemotherapy
had taken an awful lot out of him, and he wasn't ready to stick anyone
else in the drivers seat...that was for Ray.
Then there was the
California Hot Rod Reunion 2000. I'd been running around like crazy
all weekend and heard bits and pieces that Ray was there, but in my
haste, never took the time to find him.
Now I'll never be able
to.
Thanks, Ray, for the
memories.
Jim Sorenson October
23, 2000
I.D. THIS CAR!!!

Okay,
we managed to get an ID on the last car, it was Al Carter from Oklahoma,
with his 23 T that won AA/FA at the U.S. Fuel and Gas Championships
in 1964 AND 1965!
Thanks
to Steve Garcia for the first heads-up on that!
So, Al's gone to the Midwest and Other places pages, and we have a
new mystery car...
Only
clues...Bakerfield, and not Frank Martinez!
C'mon
you guys, help a guy out here!
Jere
Alhadeff Photo © 1990
One
more thing...here at Fuel Altered Central, we're a bit short on pics
of Fuel Altereds, between 1980 and 1990...
these are mostly the later model Transformer cars (either Fuel Altered
or Funny Car),
and we need to fill that chronological hole there...so we can bring
in the newer cars.
So scan
them pictures, and e-mail 'em to us here...at the "info"
link below. Thanks!
Try the
new search engine...just type in the name of what you're looking for
...just one word, and see what pops up!
E-mail
me with any comments, suggestions, or boatloads of fuel altered pics...
Info@mysterion.net
All text is either copyright 1999-2000, Jim Sorenson or
used by permission.