Swamp Rat 24: Don Cook and I built Swamp Rat 24 during the summer of 1977 for use with the Donovan 417 aluminum engine. Originally it had a B & J three speed tranny and was a two piece car! This didn't work, so we went back to the two speed and welded the two pieces together for the rest of the season. The car was originally black, but we painted it blue and white for the 1977 season for the US Navy as they were going to sponsor me to the tune of $50,000.00. However I painted a "Cross" on the cowl with "God Is Love" written on the cross and the Navy changed their mind about the sponsorship when the LA Times made fun of me for having the "Cross" on the car. Over the two year period, the blue and white car never had a major sponsor but won 24 out of 30 National event starts and total winnings were a whopping 600K! Seems like I didn't need the Navy money after all! I retired the car at the end of the 1979 season, SR 24 had been in service for two years, had two back halves, one front half, but always the same body! It is in the Drag Racing Museum, totally original, the way we like em!
