The Return of the Garcia Brothers Out of Sight AA/FC

Heading into the latter half of the ’60s, breaking the double century mark with a Funny Car was the subject of speculation and made front page headlines. In late 1965, Don Garlits acquired a rainbow-hued, rear-engine ’65 Dodge Dart Funny Car (which previously belonged to Dick Branster and Jay Howell) with the express purpose of making his mark in Funny Car racing just as he had in dragsters. Garlits painted the Dart black, named it the Don Garlits Dart (aka Dart-1) and screwed Top Fuel veteran Emery Cook into the driver’s seat. Ultimately, the Dart took flight during a race at Detroit Dragway and was demolished but not before clocking a top end speed of 197 mph. If there was a lesson to be learned from the experience, it was stick with what you know best.

Garlits took the dragster chassis used by on again, off again fellow team driver “Starvin’ Marvin” Schwartz and shortened it to 120 inches— just long enough to accept a one-piece fiberglass Dodge Dart roadster body—and created the Don Garlits Dart-2. The second Dart officially broke the 200-mph barrier at 200.44 in St. Petersburg, Florida, December 1966 and set the NHRA MPH record for Funny Cars at the U.S.

Nationals at 219 mph that same year. Of course, the rest of the Funny Car guys cried foul over this dragster in disguise and the car was eventually retired.

Doug Thorley’s mid-1967 charge of 203 at Lions is technically the first ever over 200-mph run for a legit Funny Car, although Doug was not able to back up the speed within the required percentage, a fact which prompted accusations of popcorn times.

Fluke or not, the game was on to break the magical 200-mph barrier. Tommy Grove and his Ford charge ran 202.70 (with 199.10 backup) at Virginia Beach, Virginia, May 11, 1968. Then on July 13, 1968, an innocuous Funny Car named Out of Sight, driven by NHRA Division 7 racer Steve Garcia Sr., broke the 200-mph barrier during a four-way match race at Rockford Dragway in Byron, Illinois, at 202.70 with a backup run of 198 mph. Iskenderian Cams was so impressed, it took out a full page ad in Drag News proclaiming, “ISKY CAMMED FUNNY CAR RUNS 202.70!”

One month later “Gentleman Gene” Snow cracked the 200-mph barrier at Houston Dragway with his direct-drive Rambunctious Dodge Charger at 202.24. He bumped up the speed to 205.10 a couple of weeks later in Wichita, Kansas. Suddenly, breaking the 200-mph barrier in a fuel Funny Car seemed commonplace.

Garlits, Cook, Thorley, Grove and Snow are all household names, but Garcia? Not so much. In early 1967, Steve and his brother Joe commissioned Noel Black of B&N Automotive (Sacramento, California) to build a state-of the-art, 135-inch wheelbase chassis to which they bolted a 392 Chrysler Hemi and Torque-Flite before they cloaked it in one of drag racing’s first two-piece clamshell Fiberglass Trends 1968 Camaro bodies. Joe painted the car (he and his uncle owned Garcia’s Body & Paint) pearl white, salmon pink, gray and blue with cobwebbing effects and lettering that read “Out of Sight.”

The name comes with a story. At the time, Steve frequented one of the big name hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. During a conversation with the legendary musician Ray Charles, Steve told him about the new Funny Car that he and his brother had just completed. He said that they were getting ready to take the car on tour, but were having trouble coming up with a catchy name for bookings. Charles listened intently and replied, “Man, that’s out of sight.” Steve knew right away that the catchphrase would be the perfect name for the car.

When comparing the original photos with the current car, it is obvious that its owner has taken certain liberties that are reflected in the overall appearance, the craftsmanship and in the fit and finish that the original Out of Sight Camaro AA/FC simply didn’t possess.

After making a series of shakedown runs at strips up and down the West Coast, the brothers headed for the Midwest. During that time they became involved in the first four-car Funny Car match race in Byron against the Chi-Town Hustler Plymouth Barracuda, Ron Pelligrini’s Buick Gran Sport and Jack Ditmar’s injected Chevy Opel.

Joe and Steve raced the Camaro all the way through 1968 before they sold the Flopper to Rockford, Illinois’ Parris Brothers at season’s end. However, rather than go Funny Car racing, the Parris brothers built a new twin-engine dragster. Throughout the years, the Camaro was sold and resold but never raced.

In 1980, current owner Racine, Wisconsin’s Don Tyree-Francis discovered the car’s remains parked behind a motorcycle shop in Madison, Wisconsin. “The years had not been kind,” said Tyree-Francis. “I purchased the car as a roller minus drivetrain for $700.” Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, Tyree-Francis was forced to sell the car a year later. For the next 16 years, the Camaro sat inside a barn gathering dust.

Fate intervened on Tyree-Francis’ behalf in the late ’90s: “In 1997, I met Ken Chase at a car show in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Ken’s Pandemonium Funny Car was the featured car at the show where I had my front-engine dragster, I Dream of Jeanne, on display. I brought pictures of the Camaro with me and informed Ken that I was looking for this car. Several months later, Ken called and told me his friend Bob Gibson had located and purchased the car. I was skeptical, but flew to Brainerd, Minnesota, where I met Bob and we compared photos of the car.”

To Tyree-Francis’ delight, the car in question was indeed the Out of Sight Camaro Flopper, but he was disheartened to learn that Gibson intended to restore the car himself rather than sell it. Several weeks later, however, Gibson changed his mind and offered to sell the car to Tyree-Francis. “When I picked the car up, I was shocked to see how badly it had deteriorated. I immediately brought it home and began the restoration in 2000,” Tyree-Francis told Drag Racer.

The restoration plan was extensive; Out of Sight was destined to be more than just a cackle car, but Tyree-Francis had to perform some serious chassis upgrades to get the car up to snuff. He discovered that the chassis had been built out of O2 thin wall muffler tubing, a common practice back in the pre-SEMA-SFI days. This fact necessitated the construction of an entirely new chassis. Tyree-Francis was able to duplicate the original framework with help from Dennis Rollain from R&B Automotive in Kenosha, Wisconsin, albeit in 4130 chrome-moly tubing complete with the requisite safety upgrades. You will also note that some drivetrain changes have been made to the Camaro for safety and reliability. Even with the modifications it’s still a thrill to see this historic race car back at the strip.

When comparing the original photos with the current car, it is obvious that its owner has taken certain liberties that are reflected in the overall appearance, craftsmanship and fit and finish that the original Out of Sight Camaro AA/FC simply didn’t possess.

“The car’s rebirth was more of a recreation of cars that made an impression on me in my youth rather than a restoration of the original,” said Tyree-Francis. “Those cars were the Ron O’Donnell-driven Chapman Camaro Outasite, which my car has often been confused with because of its paint style and color; the Doug’s Headers Corvair for its tinted windows and color and the Car Shop Incorporated Camaro [driven by a Henry Garcia, no relation] for its aerodynamic features.”

Debuted in June 2014 at the Holley-NHRA Hot Rod Reunion (Bowling Green, Kentucky), the car’s second appearance was July 17, 2015 at Byron Dragway’s 6th annual Meltdown Drags where 47 years ago (give or take a day) this car drove into the annals of drag racing history.

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TECHSHEET

CHASSIS: R&BAutomotive, Kenosha, WI

WHEELBASE: 135 inches

MATERIAL: 4130 chrome-moly(meetscurrent SEMA-SFI 25-1 60 certification), upgrades include Funny Car-style roll cage

REAREND: Moser Engineering 9-inch Ford, 4.30:1 M-Wgearsand Strange Engineering axles

REARBRAKES: M-Wcalipers

REARSUSPENSION: Chassis Engineering 4-link with QA-1 coil-over shocks

REARWHEELS: Original 16×11-inch American Racing Daisywheels

REARTIRES: 16x33x15-inch M&H

FRONTSUSPENSION: B&Ntransleafspringwith early Ford front spindles

FRONTSHOCKS: QA-1

STEERING: Corvair rebuilt by Clark’s Corvair Parts

FRONTWHEELS: Original 15×4-inch Halibrand spindlemount

FRONTTIRES: 15×4-inch M&H

ENGINE: Donovan 417 (#23), built by Jim Swedberg, block originally runby Texas fuel racers Stevens& Venables

DISPLACEMENT: 440 cid

CRANKSHAFT: Prepared by Crankshaft Supply, Minneapolis

ENGINEBEARINGS: Clevite 77

RODS& PISTONS: Venolia Rods, 11:1 Compression Venolia pistons with Childs & Albert piston rings

CAMSHAFT: Crower Cams

GEARDRIVE: Donovan Engineering

OILSYSTEM: Barnesdual-stage in-pan dry sump

CYLINDERHEADS: Mastodonprototype

VALVETRAIN: Mantonpushrods, Crower lifters, Canoderockerarms, Manleytitaniumvalves, Manleysprings andkeepers, Mickey Thompson valve covers with Wizardbreathers

HEADERS: SPD

IGNITIONSYSTEM: Mallory and NGK

BLOWERMANIFOLD: Mickey Thompson magnesium

BLOWER: Bowers Magnesium 6.71 prepared by Jim Swedberg

INJECTOR: Enderle

TRANSMISSION: Lenco three-speed with Taylor safety blanket

CLUTCH: Crower triple disc

BELLHOUSING: Browell

DRIVESHAFTCOUPLER: Tim McAmis Race Cars

BODY: Original Fiberglass Trends two-piece 1968 Camarobodywithopeningdoorsanddecklid, rear deck spoiler andfrontair ducts for downforce

BODYWORK& PAINT: Norm Terasek, Houseof Kolor Candy Orangeand Gold

INTERIOR PANELING AND EXTERIOR ALUMINUM: Dennis Rollain of R&BAutomotive anodized gold

OTHER: Orange Plexiglas windowsby Jeff Ludwig, McKinneycarbo-fiberdriver’s seat, Chute Metal Co. parachute, Fire Fox 20-poundfire system, ISP-1015 headsupport, Chassis Engineering wheelie bars

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