The Story of The Terrifying Toronado: Wronged By History - Part 1

hi

story

is fickle, it can sometimes give people too much credit and at the same time wrongly consider others as failures, the schemers are simply incompetent. This video is not only about a car that has lived in Drag Racing infamy for many years, but also about the man who designed it. it was built by who ran with it and was ultimately harmed by hi

story

books, internet pundits and virtually anyone who has regurgitated ad nauseum a wildly incorrect story that proliferates to this day. The man's name is John Smiser and his creation was the

terrifying

Toronado. This is the story, the precise and true story of man and his machine and how

history

has done them both very, very wrong.

I am going to tell this story in three different

part

s. The first

part

you're watching now will set players up with the Genesis of the idea of ​​the

terrifying

Toronado and how this all started and, frankly, why I became obsessed with the story, the second part will tell the story of the car itself and the third part will tell the

history

of auto racing, a story that will defy virtually anything you can imagine. Have I ever been told or confined on the Internet? Let's start by getting started. Much of what you know about this car is incorrect and comes from a single poorly written story by a talented drag racing journalist, the late Chris Martin.

Martin's work in this sport is good. He has been known to work on the NH National dragster for many years, published The Top Fuel manual reference guide, and also consumes pretty much any blended PFI or powdered fun potion anyone put in his face - well, it happened before I had the opportunity to meet him. He works with some of his former colleagues and the stories are incredible. Martin wrote a short story for a now-defunct drag racing website that could be found elsewhere and this piece tells the story of the terrifying Toronado in a couple hundred dismissive and sarcastic words.

In words, it is also totally inaccurate and based on the memories of a man who was unfortunately in a blurred state of mind in the current reality let alone had any kind of historical mental clarity, but Martin does not bear full responsibility for the story of the terrifying trick. In fact, Toronado, John Smiser himself wrote things in magazines about the timeline and fate of the car that were inaccurate and sometimes made up. It seems that if we take this together with some incredibly interesting historical coincidences, we have a story that is much more interesting than you might think.

I know that my goal here, as always, is not to simply say something is correct and move on, but to show you how and wisely these mistakes were made and then give you the actual physical evidence to clear up the story at the end of this three-video series. If you do, there will be a direct call to action, although I can promise you it's one you'll never see coming. I started trying to delve into the history of the terrifying Toronado for the same reasons as anyone else. I've given the car a second thought, the thing was wild and bold, innovative in some ways and completely wrong in others.

I expected to find the story of a man inspired by an idea that he could not execute and who then disappeared again into the shadows of History defeated. and dark, instead this turned into a months-long investigation that took me down both human and historical paths I never expected, paths involving family members, former drivers, and discoveries about the man who made this car I never saw. come, like many of you. I was under the impression that the terrifying Toronado, this wild twin or mobile engine, was a short-lived fluke that tried to run over the big grandstands on its first day at the racetrack and was never seen again.

I can't tell you how wrong that is. but I'm going to try, with all that being said, to get your education and the historical redemption of John Smiser started. The year is 1964 and Southern California is the largest Mech drag racing sport in the world. The entire region was teaming up with car drivers. chassis shops, speed parts manufacturers and more, it was the hot B of hot driving and the pinnacle of that part of the automotive world was premium fuel drag racing, there were no funny cars yet and a young man named John Smiser He is one of the many enterprising young men who would work themselves to the bone during the week to climb the ladder and compete in drag racing on the weekend of 1964.

John Smiser is not a rich man but he is enterprising and capable, he is his own mechanic and driver. and makes his living with his hands as a contractor capable of handling almost any job, but his nights and weekends have been spent around hot rods since he was old enough to drive. Little is known about Jon's previous cars, but we do know this in 1964, John joh. Smiser's stock was rising in top fuel drag racing and he officially broke through that year in July at Mickey Thompson's Fontana International Dragway. Redlands Daily Facts July 28, 1964 headline gabit drives Valkyrie jet to victory quote Gary gabit driving Valkyrie jet dragster defeated Paul Sutherland's Fuel dragster in its first race of two out of three before 5,891 fans Saturday night at Mickey Thompson's Fontana International Dragway hit a speed of 20 8.44 mph to win the first race, lost the second and came back with a 26.8 mph run to win the Third to decide the top of the race Eliminator honors were for John Smiser of St Gabriel California over two of the best drivers in the country, Tom Mchan of Long Beach and Gabit, who also drove the All Brothers dragster arena of San Fernando, Sam Rose of San Bernardino won the Gas Heat. defeating world record holder John Peters freight train Glenn Collins also of San Bernardino led the Heidleberg roader to his second consecutive middle elimination title end of the event after this great performance defeating two of the best known dragster drivers in the country John sm's name appeared in the paper again this time just three days later promoting an event taking place the following weekend at Redland Racecourse.

Daily Facts July 31, 1964 Headline Field of 50 Dragsters at Fontana Event Appointment A field of over 50 Fuel and Gasoline Dragsters have filled out entries for Saturday night's Summer Drag Racing Championships at Mickey to Son's Fontana International Dragway, a 3,000+ cash Pur has attracted Top Field dragster stars like Paul Southernland and Dick Stall of Long Beach Gary GBL and the sand all Brothers dragster of San Fernando Jack Ule of San Pedro and Last El Saturday night's winner, John Smiser of San Gabriel Sutherland, has been listed as a pre-race favorite, however Gab has been running very strong in recent weeks and recently set a strip aapse time record at San Fernando .

Southernland holds the record for striple application time in Fontana. With a run of 7.87 seconds, Gab is not far behind with the best time to date of 7.91 seconds, with you standing and smiling in less than 8 seconds, the summer championship should provide an excellent final race quote , the car maintained a strong presence throughout that summer of 1964. and in 1965 Smiser did something important: he put all his personal efforts into the tuning and configuration of the car and placed his close friend Nando Hassi in the driver's seat . Hassi, who is still alive today, has contributed greatly to the factual information that you will find in this video along with Jon's daughter, Wendy Smiser, who helped connect us.

It is worth mentioning that Nandoo and JN maintained such a close, almost brotherly, relationship that Jon's children still refer to him as Uncle Nandoo even today, not only that he was the perfect man for the seat of the dragster, as it turned out during the Heyday of the Top Fuel Wars in Southern California in the mid-1960s. These two were a monster combination, especially in Fontana. How good were they to hear this? The son of San Bernardino County. May 13, 1965 Lyen Retains Number Three Dragster Rank Dick Lyen of San Diego rallied to retain his number three spot in the National Fuel Dragster Rankings by defeating Gary Gab of Long Beach in the final two rounds of his drag career. two out of three.

On Saturday at Fontana Dragway, in another best-of-three match, Pasadena's Doug Robinson and the horse engineering dragster defeated Culver City's Dick Stall to retain his seventh title. The heat went to Nando Hassi of Upland, who defeated the Surfers dragster with Mike Soken of Santa Monica. driving these guys not only beat the Surfers once they faced them almost weekly the stories from the time are pretty incredible just a few days later the two men found themselves in a familiar position in Fontana, the independent Star newspaper of the 16 May 1965. headline Robinson wins Top Eliminator quote Doug Robinson of Pasadena in the horsepower engineering dragster the nation's number seven car defeated Nando Hassi of Upland to win Top Eliminator honors before 4,100 56 fans Saturday by On the night at Fontana Dragway former record holder Ken Safford of North Hollywood had the top speed of the night and fastest elapsed time with a run of 201, 1.34 mph and 7.56 seconds. 2 weeks later, the May 30, 1965 Los Angeles Times headline Fontana's top man hosi drags Upland's nandoo hosi captured the first round of the two-day United Drag Racing.

The Association's Spring Championships at Fontana Dragway last night with a speed of 199,000 miles per hour, the meet that attracted 5,984 fans will conclude tonight with more than 50 of the fastest fuel dragsters in the country competing for the initial seeding classification , starts at 1: p.m. with eliminations beginning at 7:00 end of date June 2, 1965 Redland Daily Facts Downey wins drag Crown unannounced date Bob Downey of Al Hamro won the overall title in the upper heat on Sunday when the spring championships of Two days of United Drag Racing Association came to a close at Fontana Dragway Downey defeated one of the favorites, Santa Monica's Mike Soken and the Surfers dragster, to win Sunday's main eliminator and then returned to the top of the top eliminator of the Saturday night, Nando Hassi of Upland, to win the overall top speed and low apse time title of the two.

The competition of the day went to Larry Fou of Long Beach with a run of 28.3 2 mph in 7.5 seconds. Early favorites Ra Tom mchu of Long Beach and Don Prome of Van n suffered early losses and eliminations on both Saturday and Sunday nights. The car raced during the months of May and June of 1965. It is incredible that the special Raider wheeled dragster wins every week or loses in the final round. These are not family tales, as I just showed you, they are documented in the newspapers of At the time and while the Surfers would eventually win the most races at Fontana.

That season, Smiser and Hosi were right behind them and gave their best. That said, the truly important moment for the couple would not come in Fontana in June 1965, although it would instead take place at Riverside International Raceway during the Hot Rod Magazine Championship drags, this was for all intents and purposes an event From the major drag racing sanctioning bodies, there were about a dozen, maybe fewer, national events held nationally over the course of a drag racing season at this point in history. The Hot Rod Magazine Championship Drag Races were not a points-earning event for NH or ah or udra, but rather a one-off special race that was effectively operated as a national NH event due to deep roots. relationship between Robert E Peterson of hot rod and Wally Parks, the former editor of the magazine and founder of NH, this was a race produced at the highest level with the best media coverage, dazzling prizes and much more, as such this event attracted the cream of the crop nationally in the sport, this was not a weekly race at Fontana where the occasional hitter would appear, these were the big breakouts and despite their localized success, smiser and hosi along with their Raider Wheels dragster They arrived as virtual strangers, they would not leave. that way over the course of a race day that saw a lot of red light and upset the Christmas tree abandoned after the second round by a lion drag strip style twilight start system and our heroes smiser and hosi running well enough to advance through its rounds. two met in the final against James Warren Warren had driven two Dragsters in the event in the final, they would face the dragster Warren and Crow having beaten the likes of John the Zookeeper Mulligan in round one John Edmonds in round two Nick Marshall in the third round and Connie Keta in thesemi-finals.

It's worth mentioning here that Keta was a titan of high-fuel drag racing in 1965, having won the March contest and then racing up and down California earning enough money from his dragster to buy Ted Halibrand a small wheeled plane. halibrand in which he began a modest flight service. He usually moved parts for the Ford Motor Company and other small jobs he could get. Connie Keta took a plane she earned with the money she earned from her Dragster and turned it into the largest private fleet of jumbo cargo planes in the world, but in the final round of the Hot Rod Magazine Championship, J pulled ahead of Warren and was leading until his car broke loose at about the same time as Warren's.

The engine decided enough was enough Nando Hosi pedaled expertly alongside him and the two boys said the quote Upland begins in Ray Brock's breathless hot rod race report the Fontana stalwarts had won the biggest race of their lives like this It's like it seemed like anyone can win. It's been proven time and time again when a Doh horse that they had heard about in previous weeks comes to the starting line in the final round of eliminations ready to compete for the top prizes, as was the case of Nandoi, a young pilot who was just starting out.

In Big Time Professional Drag Racing, Nando survived one of the toughest fields of cars ever assembled to emerge as the winner of The Hot Rod Magazine Championship Drag Racing. His consistent performances and reliable engine and car resulted in this Southern California young man's biggest win for awards and honors nassi and crew chief John smer receive Queen's Awards Bob Peterson president of Peterson Publishing company and publisher Ray BR , while the story was covered by many newspapers, I am partial to the coverage provided on June 21, 1965 by the Los Angeles Times in a story written by Bob Thomas titled H upsets Riverside trawler field Deadline Quote from Riverside as the hot dogs Dissolving around him in a maze of red-light mechanical failures, the 24-year-old gas company worker from Upland emerged Sunday as the winner in the second annual hot rod drag racing championship at Riverside International Raceway and Nando Hassi did it without even threatening. the legendary 200M hour mark while surviving a series of five head-to-head races on the quarter-mile strip with the best fuel dragsters in the country, H's latest victim in a Twilight Showdown before what was left of a crowd 21.7 34 fans.

Defying repeated schedule delays and a fault in the starting light system was Jim Warren of Bakersfield, California, the winning car. One of those arrow-shaped machines that burns a special mixture of hot fuel instead of gasoline had a time of 7.7 seconds to reach the distance. top speed of 180 mph Warren, who blew his Chrysler engine near the finish, recorded a time of 8.03 seconds with a speed of 161 mph, although he had previously easily surpassed 200 mph in the eliminations subtitle. Veterinarian for three years. Hu has been in drag racing for three years. won $1,000 cash on a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda as part of his $15,000 car purse, the rare wheel special is owned by him and his partner John Smiser, also of Upland, and is powered by a supercharged 354 Chrysler engine cubic inches of 1956, it was a bad day for favorites red lights indicating failed or early starts eliminated Tom mccuan Danny onas and Connie Keta among the big names Keta was defeated by hosi in the semi-final round Denny Milan, a 211 mph runner, lost In the first round when he was left on the starting line Don Prome had the best run of the day of 21.7.6 mph with a lap time of 7.54 seconds, but he broke a piston in the process and retired in the second round.

A pit accident knocked out another contender, Mike Soken, shortly after eliminating Milani. In the first round, Hassi beat John Mulligan with his best speed of 196.7 mph. He then took out John Edmonds, Nick Marshall and Keta before getting to Warren. Warren had two chances. He also drove another dragster in the 32c car qualifying field, however, that car was eliminated in the first round of the day's program which began at 6:00 a.m. m. Prolonged pun scheduled for 13 hours almost an hour was lost in the late afternoon when the starting lights broke down. In fact, the biggest public reaction developed during the eliminations of the best stock cars in the second round.

Ultimately, the crowd was rooting for a beautiful young Tari housewife named Shirley Shahan and a 1965 Plymouth hemi-head. She had to give a three-car handicap lead to his rival Ray Christian of Columbus Ohio, who was driving a 1963 Dodge, one of the original Ram Charger machines. It was too much. Christian won by half a car. Final quote. Hot Rod Magazine's coverage of his own career is pretty spectacular and I'll pull some of that here in the second paragraph of the story that reads even before the first. The truck lined up behind the thin push bar of the initial fuel car tube on the hot black asphalt of Riverside.

The filaments of sensation began to arrive at our offices, which allowed a preview of what was going to happen on June 18, 19 and 20 on almost all the named rails in the country, the Hawaiian old Master was entered and Plymouth Special Mangler Bounty Hunter Beacon Auto Parts Catelli Speed ​​Shop Frantic 4 Surfers and Drivers Don prome Mike sarcastically Tom mccuan Dan on gas Connie Keta Rick Stewart Denny Milani Norm Weekley Mike soken Knight Jim shuck and someone called Nando Hassi jumping story to a section that now covers eliminations in Top Fuel. We start with this paragraph. The new lighting installation turned out to be a blessing for some and a nightmare for others.

Nick Marshall, suddenly the man to beat with an extra. 10% in the tank may have been encouraged to go out on the green, but he turned on solidly against Nando Hassi the next time Jim Warren was at the helm of the Warren and Crow car, he had been piloting the Warren and Cobon machine that previously eliminated, on the contrary, he went early in the tree and started even earlier with the LL making his way to the final round with nandoo and company, if only someone had been willing to bet 2 days earlier that the final championships of Blast Of The Hot Rod magazine would have been between Upland's Nando Hassi and the Raider special wheel and Bakersfield's Jim Warren could almost have named their own odds, but here the two were in possession of consistently good, but not great times.

Hassi had been 770 and War in 760 soldskooljams and then all 210 750, the ground shook as both engines came on after the stage lights came on and then the orange and then nandoo by a nose outside the door with Jim looking like be approaching mid-range about two-thirds of the way there. Along the way, Hassi lost form and kept going, breaking out of his jam to take the boat and all the marbles with other 770s, even he took to the wind with 354-inch Chryslers and a 1,320-pound Jim Davis framed dragster in your equipment selection. He included most of the familiar stuff with a camshaft which is quite a rear bird these days, but for those who remember it's a page out of the drag racing scrapbook.

It's a routine that a decade ago struck fear into the competition, camshaft eliminator Nando Hosi and his partner John Smiser won the hot rod championships thanks to hard work, reliable equipment, a bag of luck and possibly because they deserved it in the last round of Top Fuel Warren and Crow were having a hard time preparing when time was reduced to speed up the long program their opponents put on and smiled instead of making Le sing, which would have been completely legal, they expected them for the sake of a good show and the disappearing brand of sportsmanship that emphasizes method as well as triumph itself, William Shakespeare once wrote in a work committed to the memory of schoolchildren across the country that there was a tide in the affairs of man which, when taken in the flood, would lead to Fortune Nas' victory, is the kind of high wave that he and John make the upstarts of Upland May laugh at.

Well, we are going to achieve greater triumphs in the coming months. These are the little guys that everyone in racing likes to see win. We wish them well. End of date and as mentioned at the end of this story, the guys were able to ride the wave, but maybe with a twist. They continued their weekly exploits in Southern California, but they also get paid to travel. Now they went and broke records in Utah. They traveled to Texas the following weekend for an event in Amarillo. They visited a couple of other small venues on the way back and finished the 1965 season in September with a runner-up finish to close the year at Fontana and finally with a paid appearance at the opening of the Santa Maria race track in November 1965, another great honor came to them that month, the Raider wheel special appeared on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine, one of the advantages of winning the race was the cover photo, as well as an article published in the World's Bible from the drive, as you can see, the car has been repainted bright yellow for this occasion and the article titled Giddy Up hosi. is an ode to the little guys winning big while all this was going on Nando Hassi had decided to part ways with John Smiser and build his own car and the Riverside winning car was sold to Ray Schultz who kept Jon as crew chief until the end of the season, this wasn't a bad thing per se.

John SM's mind was spinning in a completely different direction these days, as we will learn in the next video, he was disenchanted with the traps coming out of the hot rod wind, yes there was a bit. of reservations, but nothing that he expected and nothing that he knew that he was getting the next generation of funny cars. John Smiser wasn't a big fan of funny cars; He saw them more as circus vehicles or showpieces than racing machines, but he knew some of the owners and he heard the fantastic stories about the money they were making booking rides from coast to coast, the purity of the racing.

High-end fuel acceleration and his raw competition appealed to everything about John Smiser's personality and his traditional side, except John's practical side. Smiser saw the financial gain a fun car could bring and that was simply too much to ignore. John Smiser knew two things in late 1965, any funny car he built would have to be different from anything that already existed on planet Earth and secondly, inspiration. It can come from the most unexpected places, stay tuned for part two, like and subscribe for more historical content from Automotive and Gearhead, thanks for watching.