Dave Uyehara
Dave Uyehara started life in Wyoming, but his family soon moved to Spokane, Washington, where his dad started a vegetable farm. However, Dave’s dad had spent a portion of his life working as a mechanic and body man, plus he also owned a midget race car, so Dave inherited a strong interest in racing from him. Dave’s first car was a ’50 Oldsmobile, which also became the first he used to compete with. After high school, Dave moved to Southern California, where he went to work for Kragen Auto Supply and started hanging around at Goodies Speed Shop, where he began meeting a lot of the racers from the area. Between his dad’s influence and that of the racers he met, it wasn’t long before Dave was hooked on drag racing. For his first real race Dave teamed up with Frank Martinez on a super lightweight ’29 Ford roadster powered by blown Cad engine. His experience with the roadster taught him the basics of how to build a strong, lightweight chassis along with welding and fabrication.
What Dave considers his first real break as a driver came when he offered the driving job for Dick Oswald’s blown Hemi powered gas dragster. In 1966, shortly after he accepted the driving chores for Oswald’s dragster, Dave, Oswald and Lee Cohn formed a team and began successfully campaigning a AA/Gas Dragster up and down the west coast. In 1969 the team decided to switch to a Top Fuel Dragster, but since they didn’t have the funds to convert the gas car chassis to handle the additional power, Dave began his career as a chassis builder. As with the gas dragster, they were soon posting some very successful victories in their travels up and down the coast and wound up in the semi-final round at the World Finals in Amarillo, TX.
In 1972 Dave built his first rear engine car that was a radical three rail front frame design. The car was very quick and stable, but unfortunately it was destroyed in a crash at the old Las Vegas track. His next creation was another of his super lightweight Top Fuel dragsters, this one powered by a blown all- aluminum 427 Big Block Chevy engine, which turned out to be one of the quickest and fastest Chevy cars in the country.
Dave and Oswald entered the Fuel Funny Car wars in 1976 with their Uyehara designed and built Monza bodied “Kamikaze” funny car. 1978 Henry Velasco joined the team, changed its name to The Good, Bad and Ugly and finished the year as the NHRA Division 7 Champions. Even through sponsors were hard to find, Dave continued to race up until he was in a serious crash in 2002 at Boise, Idaho. At that point in his career, Dave decided it was time to concentrate on his chassis business, which he opened in 1984, and build the best cars available.
The list of Dave’s customers reads like a Who’s Who in drag racing and include racers in about every major class from Fuel Funny Cars to Fuel and Alcohol dragsters to street rods, and he has now begun producing some great nostalgia cars. Along with his many other awards, victories and honors, in 2005 Dave received special honors at the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield, CA.