Page 6 - Nitro Madness Magazine Fall 2017
P. 6
Shortly after that at their home
strip, the former Minnesota
Dragways in the Minneapolis
suburb of Blaine, Dave had their
car in the final round against
Canadian Denny Darragh from
Winnipeg. Both cars were close
together going into the lights at
200 mph when the slicks broke
loose on the BFK dragster causing
the engine to over-rev and blow
(Darragh also lost his engine
as well). As Fred Becchetti
remembers: “Despite the steel
bottom-end cradle the crankshaft
came out of our car and was run
over, sending the car off the track The 1967 BFK AA/FD, Minnesota Dragways, with the late Dave Anderson driving.
Colorized photo by Jim Cecil.
into the dirt and sand where it gas-welded by several of the team incidentally, would later build
flipped several times. I watched partners including Becchetti, who the double-hemi Gopher State
all this from the starting line and said: “We annealed most of the Timing Top Gas dragster). After
was expecting the worse but Dave welds to ensure suitable welds and the modifications, the car was
survived with just a broken arm. adjacent tube strength. In1967, driven initially by Kalvestran and
The car, however, was destroyed.” then by Dave Anderson. All of
the car was extensively modified
When first built, partner and lengthened to 182” by George the remaining original welds and
Terry Kalvestran drove the car Wepplo at Minnesota Custom critical tube sections fortunately
held up during the accident, but
in 1965 and 1966, followed by Fabricators, a SEMA-certified watching a car flip several times
Dave Anderson and finally with builder approved by the NHRA with some welds you may have
Edstrom. The chassis had been under their new rules (George,
done can be unnerving.”
The partners then built a new
car and continued to race until
graduation was looming for them
at the University of Minnesota and
the team finally disbanded in 1969.
Becchetti had a real fondness for
that original car, though. “We
built it in 1965 and copied Woody’s
‘flexy flyer’ design where the front
engine supports between the top
and bottom rails were not welded
to the bottom tube but instead sit
on a cradle resting on the bottom
tube, and there were few vertical
supports. By allowing the top
and bottom main rails to slip and
move relative to each other, weight
Left to Right; Fred Becchetti, Pete Fitzgerald and Dave Edstrom - May, 1968 at NHRA
Division 5 meet in Colorado. transfer and compensation for
6 Nitro Madness Magazine Fall 2017
