Dickie Harrell
Dickie Harrell was one of the early professional drag racers in the 1960s and early 1970s, who had enjoyed a lot of success as a mechanic, crew chief, and driver of Chevrolet race cars. Dick was born in Phoenix Arizona but his family moved to Carlsbad New Mexico when he was five years old and that was home until 1965. Cars were very big part of Dick’s world even in his early years and by the time he was 14 he was deeply involved with sprint cars. It was here he learned to work on cars and develop his tuning skills and by the age of 17 he was driving stock cars on the dirt circuit.
At age 18, Dick joined the U.S. Army for a three-year stint where he worked on aircraft engines and airframes for light aircraft. Dick was deployed to Korea for much of his service time and it was there he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, United Nations Service Medal, and the Korean Service Medal. Upon receiving his discharge, Dick returned to his love of cars and racing and was soon competing on the local drag strips. Like most racers of the time, Dick worked at one job during the week and on the weekends campaigned his 1956 Chevy as far away as Texas.
In 1961, Dick began to travel across the Southwest, racing a factory backed Chevrolet, winning most of the events he entered in. This was his final amateur year as he won every regional race in a three-state area of the Southwest. In 1962, Dick began his first tour as a pro, competing against most of the “name drivers” at the national events and in match races. These were not only some of the best drivers, but many had backing of the Detroit automobile manufacturers. In 1962, still driving his Chevrolet, Dick Harrell became the NHRA point champion in the Super Stock Class.
Driving a 409-ZII super stock Chevrolet in 1963, Dick won the Super Stock Eliminator class at the AHRA Winternationals. Later that year he set the AHRA Sportsman Class speed record at 118.57 MPH. This was the first of many speed records Dick would set during his career. This was also the year the factories would begin introducing their exotic cars, using aluminum bodies, supra engines, and large amounts of factory backing. By this time, Dick success as a driver in both NHRA and AHRA drag racing events, his devotion to Chevrolet, even without factory backing, earned him the nickname “Mr. Chevrolet”.
In 1964, Ford was really bearing down on competition with the 427 Ford Fairlane “Thunderbolt”. And Chrysler introduced the 426 Hemi in the lightweight Savoy. To combat these cars, Dick installed a 427 Z-II Chevrolet engine in a Chevelle body and was soon back in the winner’s circle. By 1965, Ford and Chrysler were really into the super stock wars and about this same time, Chevrolet withdrew all factory backing for racing and Dick was one of the very few drivers to continue campaigning his Chevrolet.
By 1966, Dick was being hailed as one of the sport’s top attractions, and considered to be among the top stock-car drivers of that day. His driving style also earned him many nicknames such as “Quick Dick”, “Mr. Reflexes”, but “Mr. Chevrolet” was the one that stayed with him. Besides his actual racing, he began designing engines and cars for Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago. Dick was instrumental in designing and overseeing the production of a line of Nickey Chevrolet modified street cars including the installation of the first 427 engine into a Camaro to be sold as a dealer option. Later Dick would perform the same duties for the Yenko Chevrolet, becoming one of the pioneers in developing “special dealer option vehicles”.
Also, by this time the new funny car era was beginning to escalate with large engines being installed in small, but heavenly modified cars. These cars often had altered wheelbases to get better weight transfer, the use of injection and nitromethane for more power, and eventually the addition of superchargers. This fit Dick’s idea of always looking for greater performance and he soon was campaigning his own Camaro funny car. By 1960 Dick had moved his own shop to Kansas City where he would modify Camaros and Chevelle’s by installing modified big block engines and special suspension packages for both street and strip use. These vehicles were sold through authorized Chevrolet dealers across the nation. All of this activity took a toll on the time he could spend with his family; Dick was a true competitor and continued to pursue his love of racing and winning ways. Dick was named the AHRA Driver of the Year in 1969 tuning and driving a fuel funny car and later was named Driver of the Decade. In September 1971 Dick lost his life in a racing accident in Canada and while he may be physically gone, he will never be forgotten.