429 Fuel Funny: Vendetta ‘Stang

This article is from the August 1972 issue of ‘Speed and Supercar”

Screenshot 2020 01 02 17 34 07Greg and Drake Viscome stick by their injected Shotgun ’29 when it comes to Hemi huntin’

By Al Root

Carmel Ford is a small dealership in suburban Carmel, New York, but that doesn’t mean that owners Gre and Drake (father and son) Viscome aren’t interested in racing. They’re died-in-the-wool drag racers and their “vendetta” involves proving the Boss 429 Shotgun motor’s usefulness as a funny car engine.

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“Vindicator” is only 429 fuel funny extant!

 

As members of the E.C.F.F.C.C – East Coast Fuel Funny Car Circuit (Smoker Smith’s entourage)– they’re obliged to run injectors and nitro; this complicates the already complicated Boss Shotgun engine, but the Carmel Ford boys have the combo down pat to the tune of 8-flat (at Fayetteville, N.C.).

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Vindicator is a loyal member of the E.C.F.F.C.C.

The Vindicator Mustang A/FC is an unusual car, to say the least! It sports a Shedlick body, which is quite heavy by today’s mini-weight standards, an ancient Logghe chassis and, of course the rare ’29 Shotgun engine–with aluminum heads, yet. Ford engineering whiz, Wayne Gapp, has helped Greg and Drake, particularly with cylinder head work. Gapp has developed a method of removing the edges of the “Twisted Hemi’s” chamber, thus rendering it a true hemispherical chamber….Ets improved accordingly, and Gapp has picked up .2-second with this mod on his carburated, gas-burning Maverick Pro Stocker. Wayne Gapp assembles the short-blocks for the Vindicator A/FC, but Greg Viscome performs the daily wrench duties so necessary on a nitro-burning funny car.

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Rare Boss 429 Ford Shotgun uses Gapp-prepped short block, H-M cam.

The cam selected is an Holman-Moody grind with 338 degrees duration and .620-inch lift. Forged True pistons and M/T aluminum rods represent pretty much ‘the standard’ arrangement on these cars, and the ForgedTrues are particularly necessary on the 429, because the stock ’29 pistons are really stones. Wayne Gapp engineered the crank assembly for the Vindicator. Wayne sent the crankshaft to Bill Coon’s Bill’s Speed Shop (in Detroit) where the journals were off-set ground to produce a slight “stroker” effect. The resultant cubic inches mike-out o 442. Gapp apparently knows his stuff, as the Carmel Ford funny car hasn’t blown an engine yet. Pieces, yes; but nothing major like those expensive aluminum heads, or block.

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Drake and Greg Viscome’s Carmel Ford dealership is small, but definitely race-oriented. Although hampered by weight and old chassis, she moves!

The car’s uniqueness is enhanced by the use of a full three-speed auto trans: a Winters-beefed C6. JR fabricated special headers for this very special car and the power is passed on to a 4.30-cogged Detroit Locker rear that’s equipped with Summers Bros. “bend-proof” axles and Kelsey-Hayes disc brakes.

The E.C.F.F.C.C. takes its racers to some pretty rough strips back in the boonies, but the Carmel crew’s experience pays off. Drake has driven quite a few of his father’s race cars, including a ’62 Comet A/Gasser “that went nowhere,” according to Drake. They were learning at the time, but have always stuck with Ford products. They did manage to eek out respectable 10.60’s from a 3000-pound gas funny car in 1967 in the form of a Falcon with 427 wedge power. Then they bought Al Joniec’s Bat Car, which they ran locally and in the 9.90 range. Not bad with a carbureted wedge. Then they successfully competed in AHRA’s 2000-pound gas funny car circuit with the venerable 427 wedge. They still have plenty of ’27 wedge equipment for sale–and some of it is getting rare.

Not racers who live in the past, the Carmel Ford crew has whipped up a real tiger for the ’72 1/2 season in the form of a 1790-pound Pinto!! The car will bein the 7.8s and 7.9s, primarily because of its 480-inch Shotgun motor! Although a cast crank, the Lincoln crank offers a stroke advantage and Drake and Greg will trying ‘er out with Gapp’s blessing….It’ll be strong for a few dozen runs, anyway. The only way to run with today’s super-keen competition is to up the cubes and cut weight drastically.

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“Vindicator’s” housed in an old, but beautiful Shedlick painted bod

Right now, Greg Viscome is in Jamaica on a Ford-sponsored dealer-trip. Greg works 10-12 hours a day and he won the trip for dealer participation. It’s a small dealership, but these small ones make the parent company big by plugging along–as most of us racers have to do.