Page 6 - NM Spring 2020

records for elapsed time! Between the years of 1968-
1973 he held the Palmdale Raceway track record for
low ET. Though he could shoot the bulbs out of the
christmas tree as fast as any nitro cowboy on the line
he hung up his helmet, gloves and fire suit forever
in 1976 so that he could dedicate 100% of his time to
working his magic as a tuner.

From 1976-1979 Eddie tuned Leon Cain’s 1973
Mustang Funny Car. Flournoy had the ground
pounding 484 cu.in. KB Hemi drinkin it straight from
the jar, shooting fire high into the sky and covering the
quarter-mile in less time than it took Larry Sutton to
light-up his pipe! In October of 1978 he found himself
at Fremont Dragstrip on the set of the movie “More
American Graffiti”. It was there that he helped put the
tune on Rick Griffis’ former Jerry Ruth Top Fuel rail
for the filming of the 1st round of racing action in the
movie. With the legendary Steve Evans in the tower,
Chet Carter flipping the switch on the starting line and
Paul Le Mat (aka John Milner) roaming the property,
Flournoy was living life to the fullest and kicking it
with the coolest!

Being a passionate family man, Eddie’s children
have become his living legacy today. Long before
individuals like Antron Brown and J.R. Todd, Eddie’s
second son Rodney has been humbly representing his
blood-line heritage at the drags since the mid-1970s!

Rodney recalls hanging out in the family garage
when he was 3 years old, watching his dad work on
race cars for hours on end. He also recalls by the time
he was five his dad had a dragster, which was about
the time Rodney picked up his first wrench. Around
12 years of age, he started working on Leon Cain’s
Funny Car. This was the same car that Rodney did
his first burn-out in a few years later. As time passed,
it became evident that Rodney would follow in his
father’s foot-steps as a tuner and driver. Rodney is
always quick to credit his dad as his inspiration and
key influence.

By the time he was 16-years old in 1976, Rodney had
become the Crew Chief on John Kimble’s Compton
based rear-engine Top Fuel dragster. He went on
Backing up an ill-tempered
mechanical savage into its tour with the team throughout the mid-west and was
burnout track is absolutely a co-contributor in the tune-up that took John to his
critical. Nitro cowboy Robby first 5-second run (5.830) at OCIR. Any way you look
Flournoy has been out front
of his brother from day one. at it, this was a very impressive accomplishment for a
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