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Last Updated: Sep 9, 2008 - 2:11:40 PM |
Ask any fan to name their favorite driver from the 60's era of Super
Stock & Funny Car drag racing and it's likely you'll hear the name
Arnie "the Farmer" Beswick more than once. A 2 time NHRA stock &
super stock class champion, Arnie's accolades include 11 consecutive
World Series stock & super stock championships and 4 Nascar Winter
National Super Stock championships. In addition to being an
accomplished race winner, Beswick is credited with influencing the
growth of the Funny Car class of racing with his innovative match race
machines.
40 years after the farmer from Illinois kicked off his
drag racing career, his contributions to the sport were honored as
Beswick was inducted into the Super Stock, A/FX and Funny Car Hall of
Fame in 1995. Furthermore, Beswick was presented the Driver of the Year
Award in 1996 and has since been inducted into the NHRA Division 3 Hall
of Fame. But above and beyond all of Arnie's accomplishments, it's his
style of racing & wild rides, not to mention his love of the fans,
that have truly made him the "star of the circuit" among drag racing's
followers.
While Arnie is without a doubt the most famous
Pontiac drag racer in the world, his career actually began behind the
wheel of an Oldsmobile. It was the purchase of a 1958 Pontiac Chieftain
that sparked the farmer's passion for the arrowhead marque and it was
at that point that the legend was born. Aside from the pair of
Chieftain's Arnie first piloted to success in the late 50's, the range
of Pontiacs he drove throughout his career included Catalinas,
Tempests, GTO's, and Trans Am Firebirds.
In addition to being a
great drag racer, Arnie took great pride in his work. Arnie ran his
racing career as an independent without any sponsorship. Even so,
Beswick proved time & time again that he was virtually matchless.
In 1961, Arnie went head to head against the highly renowned Royal
Pontiac team and in a best-of-five match race, the underdog Beswick
clawed his way to a dominating three straight victories over the
favored team. Throughout the '62 & '63 seasons, the fearless farmer
went on a rampage, plowing through a field of factory-backed teams at
events on all sides of the country.
1964 proved to be an even
more intense year of competition for Beswick. Among a growing field of
Ford Thunderbolts and 426 Hemi & Wedge-powered Mopars, Beswick's
cars were the only Pontiacs in competition. But in like fashion, this
didn't stop Arnie from acquiring victories at the defeat of those
factory-sponsored powerhouses. Of course, the factory teams retaliated
and 1965 saw the debut of the most outrageous drag racing creations
know to the sport - Chryslers altered wheelbase "funny cars". To stay
alive in the no holds barred type of competition, Arnie slapped a
supercharger on his 64 GTO and set to work on what would become one of
his more legendary rides. It wasn't long before the innovative farmer
unveiled his fierce tiger striped altered wheelbase 63 Tempest and set
out to win races & his fans hearts while performing some truly wild
wheel stands.
The funny car class continued to grow in
technology and popularity in 1966 and Beswick was at the front of the
pack with his ingenious Pontiacs. The farmer continued to cultivate and
race his prizewinning fiberglass bodied funny cars throughout the
remainder of the 60's & into the early part of the 70's until he
collided with calamity in 1972. A horrendous fire incinerated Arnie's
race shop located on his farm, devouring not only his entire racing
outfit from engines to cars, but also the majority of his farming
equipment. Distraught and without any sponsorship or insurance, Arnie's
racing career had come to an abrupt end.
Never the man to be
considered down & out for long, Beswick reorganized and returned to
the racing scene in 1987 with yet another Pontiac. Due to the extreme
costs of running in the funny car class, which had inflated
dramatically in Beswick's 15-year absence, the farmer decided to carve
his niche in one of the progenies of his earlier illustrious career,
exhibition match racing. Behind the wheel of his nostalgic tiger
striped "Tameless Tiger" 63 Pontiac Tempest - beefed up with all of the
modern pro-stock style performance enhancements - Beswick was once
again blazing across the country, reviving the excitement of the 60's
& 70's era of heads up match racing and entertaining fans, both old
& new. As popularity of the nostalgic type races grew, other
familiar names from the 60's & 70's era of drag racing joined
Beswick in his cross country travels, competing against one another in
these unique, fan oriented exhibition races.
In more recent
years, Arnie added another Pontiac to his Tamless Tiger team, a 1964
GTO. Customized in similar fashion to his pro-mod 63 Tempest nostalgia
car, and painted in his trademark tiger stripe theme, the farmer's
fiberglass bodied 64 GTO is capable of ¼ mile times in the high 6 to
low 7 second bracket, thanks in part to the 1500hp 572ci late-model
Pontiac Pro-Stock powerhouse. Capable of full track burnouts, Beswick
successfully campaigned his GTO from coast to coast until the farmer
was once again struck with adversity in August, 2003. Beswick's pro-mod
1964 Tameless Tiger GTO caught fire after completing a run at
Mid-America Raceway in Wentzville, Missouri, critically injuring the
legendary 73-year-old farmer from Illinois. Once again, Arnie "the
Farmer" Beswick was out of the sport that he had been so passionate
about all of his life. Rest assured though, his spirit still runs
strong in the sport. Since Arnie's unfortunate accident, he has
received a tremendous outpouring of prayers & support from his
fans. Arnie has committed himself to returning to the sport in whatever
capacity he can and he has assured that the Tameless Tiger GTO will be
repaired to all of its glory and once again blaze down the two lane
blacktop, assuredly captivating the favor of the crowd wherever it
appears.
Arnie "the Famer" Beswick is not only a legendary drag
racer & inspiration to the sport, but he's a hero among his fans
and to souvenir vendors and automobilia manufacturers, he's a hot
commodity. In fact, in the hobby of 1/18 scale diecast models, there
have been more replicas produced of Arnie Beswick's various cars than
of any other popular drag racer from his era. The latest, and quite
arguably the greatest replica of one of his cars just so happens to be
a 1/18 scale replica of the farmers latest ride, his pro-mod 1964
Tameless Tiger GTO.
This truly remarkable rendition comes to us
thanks to a marvelous collaboration between the limited edition company
of MIC & diecast manufacturer, Sunstar. Straight out of the box
though, you can clearly see that this is no ordinary Sunstar 64 GTO.
Outside appearance is paramount and in the case of the Tameless Tiger
64 GTO, the replica is outstandingly faithful to the actual racecar
from the hunkered down aggressive stance of the front end to the large
pro-stock hood scoop to the massive rear wing mounted atop the trunk
lid. That massive rear wing is fashioned out of plastic and is neatly
propped up by 4 metal support rods. Tucked beneath the rear wing is the
GTO's parachute assembly, fully detailed with mounting brackets and
chute cables. Also included is a detailed wheelie bar, likewise cast in
plastic, which attaches itself to the undercarriage of the GTO. This 64
GTO drag car rides on a set of accurate chrome plated wheels - skinny
in the front, deep dish out back - wrapped in a set of Hoosier brand
meats.
As for the paint & race day graphics, not only are
they each authentic, but the overall look is an eye-catching work of
art. The amount of painstakingly recreated detail that went into the
sponsor graphics alone is literally amazing. Tucked beneath those
company logos is Beswick's trademark orange & white tiger stripe
theme, which has been brilliantly recreated in scale. The front
windshield is highlighted with a large Pontiac banner and both the
windshield and side windows - which are in the up position - are
detailed with rivets represented by painted on silver dots. The hood
& trunk lid are also detailed with simulated fasteners, indicated
by various tampos & more silver painted dots. It's quite obvious
that neither MIC nor Sunstar overlooked a single detail and taking into
account the labor that went into the exterior presentation alone, it's
no wonder it took the final production models over a year to complete
since the GTO's unveiling at Chicago in 2003.
As striking as the
exterior is, MIC made sure that plenty of eye candy was also offered
under the GTO's lift off hood of this 7-second dragster. The lift off
pro-stock hood was manufactured with 4 metal pins molded underneath
each corner of the hood, each of which fit into 4 small holes located
on the outer corners of the engine bay allowing for easy removal, but
also a secure fit. As for the replica of the GTO's 572ci mill, it's
detailed nicely with splashes of paint to the radiator & fan
housing as well as the tunnel ram, dual carbs, and the large Pontiac
engraved valve covers. The engine is wired with copper lines &
silver steel lines have been injected into the headers which exit just
behind the front wheels through a pair of hollow tips. Those steel
lines run through the firewall and into the belly of the beast to a
pair of detailed NOS bottles mounted to the passenger side of the car.
Aside
from the NOS bottles, MIC loaded up the GTO's midsection by checking
off on a long list of goodies. Based on what has been assembled between
the pair of dogleg hinged doors, it's clear that MIC's order has been
executed in full. The entire cockpit is enclosed in a full roll cage
with additional augmentation surrounding the racing seat which is
detailed with splashes of paint to the molded in racing harness. The
upper arms of the roll cage are accented with a small spattering of
switches & gadgets, but the true nerve center of the Tameless Tiger
GTO is located directly in front of the wood grain steering wheel. A
pilots dream come true, the dash & steering column are fitted with
a series of gauges monitoring virtually every function of the GTO. The
gauges in the dash are actually a printed decal, but the detail is
crisp enough that it doesn't detract from the overall look. A dash
mounted tachometer and a trio of gauges mounted to the steering column
along with a series of detailed shifters further compliment the overall
realism of the GTO's cockpit.
While MIC's replica of Arnie
Beswicks 64 Tameless Tiger GTO may not feature any of the trendy
gadgets such as realistic door hinges or rotating driveshafts as found
on other precision diecast, the GTO makes up for it ten fold with an
abundance of accurate details found on diecasts costing twice as much.
With a limited production of only 2500 copies, it comes as no surprise
that at the time of this writing, MIC has sold all but 500 of the 1/18
scale Arnie Beswick 1964 Tameless Tiger GTO. Sure to be a sellout, the
MIC Tameless Tiger is a great way to celebrate one of drag racings
greatest legends.
Enjoy!!
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