Linda Vaughn and the 1972 Mustang Funny Car
Hindsight
Any reader over the age of 40 knows who Linda Vaughn is. She reigned as Miss Hurst Golden Shifter and a marketing/promotions queen for the automotive aftermarket and racing scene for six decades. Though she is more associated with Hurst Oldsmobiles and now Chevrolet promotions, back in the day she was known to hang out with Mustangs as well. This photo was taken by Fred Enke at Orange County International Raceway (OCIR) in Southern California in 1972 for a Motorama promotion, with the lovely Linda at the peak of her game, posing with a ’72 Mustang flip-top Funny Car.
We circulated the photo among the brightest minds in drag racing history to identify the car, and all we could get was from Michael Mygas who said, “This might be it: It’s a ’73 Ford Mustang by Pete Bagnard and powered by a supercharged nitro Keith Black Hemi with two-speed manual transmission, owned by Whitted & Custy from Goddard, Kansas, USA, with crew chief Dick Custy.”
If you like these old-school Funny Cars better than what’s currently running in the NHRA pro classes, then check out any of the historic Funny Car events around the country, such as the NHRA’s own Hot Rod Reunions. There are several bad-to-the-bone Mustang Funnies there.
I came about my automotive passions honestly—my dad was a heavy equipment mechanic (think bulldozers and other heavy earth movers) and was also an amateur go-kart racer when I was a baby. “Helping” him work on a friend’s sprint car when I was 4 or 5 years old placed the speed gene in my DNA and I’ve been a certified, hardcore gearhead ever since.
My dream was always to race in the Indy 500 but my fallback plan was to somehow be involved in the automotive industry, and I was in the right place at the right time to get in the door at the top automotive publishing company in the world.
I am currently the editor of Mustang Monthly and have a long history with Fords in not just the publishing world, but also drag racing, road racing, and car shows, but I honestly love any kind of motorized contraption that looks cool and/or goes like stink.
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