Jon Mazmanian
John began his racing career one way by accident, in 1960 when he purchased a new Corvette that was loaded with every option available but it wasn’t until he learned his nephew, Richard Siroonian, was borrowing it to do some street racing that John decided to become involved in organized racing instead with Richard doing the driving. Starting with the Corvette there was never a time in John’s racing career that he didn’t insist on having not just the very best performing car but also the best-looking car in the pits. After competing as a stock sports car in 1961, the car was modified to compete and CM/SP class at the 1962 Winternationals in Pomona, California where the team picked up its first national event win. By the mid-1962 season, John had added more performance pieces including a 6.71 blower and Hilborn injectors and installed a new driver, Robert “Bones” Balough and continued the teams winning ways. Another very visible addition to the Corvette was a candy persimmon red mixed with 24 karat gold leaf paint job that was to become John’s trademark for all of his cars that followed. There was also one other trait set him apart from the other competitors, in addition to the regular between round maintenance John’s crew also had to wash and clean the car between every round.
In 1963 John had a blown Chevy powered 1941 Willie’s B/GS coupe built that followed in the footsteps of the Corvette as both a winner on the track and in its outstanding looks; with one outside exception, the coupe was originally fire engine red. Always the competitor, and January 1964 John had “Bones” build and install a 467-CID blown Chrysler to replace the Chevy and immediately the car jumped into the 150 MPH area. This also marks the beginning of the now famous “Gasser Wars” with almost weekly match races being conducted among the top super gas coupes of the era. In keeping with his passion for having the best-looking cars in the pits, in mid-1964 John had the Willie’s painted with 35 coats of candy apple red.
After three years of racing the Willie’s, John introduced a blown Chrysler powered 1950 Austin coupe to race fans that featured the same candy apple red paint job as the previous cars and that perform even better. During the gasser wars era, John and the other competitors in the wars were among the first drag racers to participate in an ongoing “feud” campaign promoting their match races along with the parts produced by very speed equipment manufacturers. As the Gasser’s popularity began to wane in favor of the new funny car class, John made the switch with a blown Chrysler powered 1968 Barracuda AA/Fuel funny car.
In 1970 John proudly introduced another blown Chrysler powered AA/Fuel funny car, this one being a 1970 Barracuda. This car was the first funny car to run an official 220 mph with a record-setting 6.77 second ET. The last funny car John raced was a 1972 Barracuda that carried the John Mazmanian tradition of being one of the quickest, fastest, and most beautiful at the track.