Dave Zeuschel
Unlike a lot of the people involved in this sport, Dave Zeuschel didn’t have aspirations to be a race car driver, but he did love the mechanical side of the sport, especially building competitive engines. At the ripe old age of 15 he managed to get a job at the C&T Automotive shop, where he started out cutting motor mounts and header flanges. Not too long after he went to work at C&T, Dave built his first blown Chrysler engine with the help of the other guys at the shop. His success with this project soon led to his moving into the engine-building part at C&T and eventually moving out on his own. About the same time Dave finished his first engine , Don Prudhomme bought TV Tommy Ivo’s Kent Fuller built dragster and needed an engine, so the team of Prudhomme, Fuller and Zeuschel was born. This particular combination proved to be pretty successful, so when Fuller built a new car for himself. He and Zeuschel stayed together as a team and continued their winning ways. One of Dave’s next moves was to have Fuller build him his own car, and with Don Moody at the wheel, continued to spend a lot of time in the winner’s circle. The only known instance of Dave driving a Top Fuel dragster was at San Fernando Raceway on a slow Sunday when he was strapped into the Zeuschel/Moddy car, and Ronnie Winkle, who was the crew chief for John Wenderski, was strapped in John’s car, and they put on a very unusual on-of-on race. After that, Dave went back to building the machines and left the driving to others. Among Dave’s more famous customers were Frank Cannon, Darrell Greenamyer (who was already a top name in the world of air plane racing) and Big John Mazmanian, to name a few. He also built the engine for the original “flip-flop” Hemi Cuda funny car and was the very first engine builder to experiment with using port nozzles. Dave’s expertise didn’t end with drag racing on land; he was also partner and the crew chief for Rene Andre’s highly successful blown fuel-powered hydro drag boat.
Even as Dave continued to build his own performance shop business and move into larger quarters, his long-time love affair with flying and airplanes soon took over as his primary interest. His good friend Don Alderson of Milodon Engineering fame was also into flying, particularly old World War II planes, and with Don’s urging, Dave decided to try his hand at building top performing aircraft egnines on a full-time basis. Dave moved into a new shop in Sylmar, California and was soon engrossed in his second career, building performance engines for these old planes and the air racing circuit. With help and encouragement from his friends in this arena, Dave soon earned a reputation as the premier builder for these power plants. Dave built engines for the top airplane racers such as The Red Baron, The Dago Red team and Darrell Greenamyer, to name a few. Unlike drag racing, Dave enjoyed flying the various aircraft he restored and was constantly buying, restoring and selling these planes. He was probably best known for his work on P-51s, but he was also one of the very few civilians to own, completely restore and fly his own F-86 jet. Dave Zeuschel was one of the most well-rounded personalities involved in the sport of drag racing and high performance.