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In the history of the sport there have been many good looking cars and then there have been Al Bergler’s cars. Take nothing away from any of the beautiful cars that you have seen over the years but if you lined them up they would all pale in comparison to Al’s machines. Al’s best entry may have been the “Motown Shaker” Funny Car but it was by no means his only stunning creation. Long before Funny Cars were even a blip on the radar screen Al campaigned some of the most beautiful and competitive cars in the sport including the “Aggravation” American Bantam car in the early ‘60’s and the famous Gratiot Auto Supply coupes that he ran later in the decade. Driving a series of cars in the AA/C class made Al famous, but as fate would have it, that category was dissolved and that’s when Al decided to build himself a Funny Car, and what a car it was.
Long known as one of the top builders in the sport, Al spent years making other people’s cars look good, so it’s no surprise that when he decided to build his own it would be a show stopper. Check out the basics of the car find and you’ll find a 116 inch Logghe chassis, a Keith Black engine with a Byron Blair supercharger, Kustom headers, Engle cam, Mallory ignition and safety equipment from Bob’s Drag Chutes. The Chevrolet body was done by K & B Fiberglass but it got a real good overhaul from Al himself. Externally it’s easy to see why this is considered one of the most beautiful race cars of all time, but what the average person didn’t see is what really set this car, and Al Bergler, apart from the crowd.
For example, under the driver’s seat, where the normal person wouldn’t care what it looks like, Al took the time to install a lightened, polished drive shaft guard that came complete with perfectly matched slots. And, of course, the chassis was painted and it was kept waxed and polished all the time. While Al was primarily known as a builder and fabricator we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that this car was also designed and painted by Al and that includes everything on it including those spectacular flames.
Many people in the sport have made a name for themselves by being really good at one thing, driving, tuning, building or whatever, but Al Bergler is one of the very few who achieved success in a variety of aspects in drag racing. He was an owner, a driver, one of the great aluminum and tin craftsman of our time, and as we can see from the spectacular “Motown Shaker,” when he decided to apply all of his trades to one car, he was second to none when it came to building complete race cars, even if it was one of those new fangled Funny Cars.
– Bob Frey
(02/04/2005)
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