At this juncture, you might be wondering whether or not Chrysler was involved with any other wheelstanding trucks from that era other than the Little Red Wagon? The answer is yes. Former Chrysler Quality Control lineman Warren, Michigan's Terry Bogusz, who owns a 426 Max Wedge-powered, yellow '72 Dodge A-100 street truck named Jiminy Cricket, reminisced, "In 1967, I was helping out on Saturdays at the Dodge Truck Special Equipment Garage, and I remember we built a couple of subframe and engine cradle assemblies for the Hemi Rebellion Dodge A-100 wheelstander, and a Hemi-powered Volkswagen wheelie truck known as the Bardahl Hemi Bug.
Weird Science Runs AmuckAs previously mentioned, the wheelstanders never had an official class of their own to compete in, regardless which drag racing sanctioning body you're talking about, albeit the NHRA, AHRA, or IHRA. Regarded as circus acts by serious drag racers, their strong suit was running local events and feature shows at events such as the Night of Fire, Weird Nationals, Wheel Stander Nationals, Night of the Wheel Standers, and others. Obviously, some of these wheelie trucks did more to live up to their carnival reputation than others. Two of the more unique wheelstanding entries that emerged between 1966 and 1967 was the George Tuers-driven, Dick Harding-owned back-up pickup. This was a '65 Ford Econoline with the body reversed on its chassis, and General Jerry Lee's 427 Ford-powered 1911 Model-T Ford flatbed. Other colorful entries from that era included Gary Watson's Paddy Wagon, Corvair Greenbriar van, former "Big Daddy" Don Garlits' fuel driver Connie Swingle and his Corvair Greenbriar pickup, the Trash Truck, as well as the Thunder Wagon Dodge A-100, and the Mystery Mover Corvair Greenbriar van. Another unique pair of entries were the Gemini Cricket Dodge A-100 wheelstanders, which were campaigned in both standard configuration and reverse cab versions. Then there was Jerry McBee's Corvair pickup truck, and at the end of his career, Chuck Poole even joined in the weirdness with a Volkswagen version of his famed Chuck Wagon, also known as the American Flyer.
The Reinvention of the Wheelie TruckBy the late-'70s, the exhibition wheelstander circuit had turned into a full-on traveling circus, with tanks, stagecoaches, dune buggies, tube-frame wheelie funny cars, Allison-powered 18-wheelers, and numerous other oddball acts filling the bill. With the exception of a few of the better known names in the wheelie truck business, such as Bill, "Maverick" Golden and his Little Red Wagon, the wheelie truck had all but faded into history. Remember, Detroit stopped manufacturing subcompact pickups and vans such as the Dodge A-100, the Corvair Greenbriar, and the original Ford Econoline models in the early '70s. To many, it seemed as though the wheelie truck was destined to roar off into the sunset. Former funny car and wheelie veteran Richard Schroeder was about to change all that, and in a very big way. Richard told Truckin', "I had been racing wheelie cars since 1969, and I was looking for something new and original to do. In 1976, a bunch of us were sitting around one afternoon chewing the fat. In a misguided fit of brilliance, one of us thought it would be a really outrageous idea to build a Chevrolet Crew Cab Dualie wheelstander.
Automotive artist Jim Moser immediately drew up a sketch of what he thought the truck should look like.
"We all had a good laugh about it," said Schroeder, "That is, until one of my friends told us we could never build anything like that. I said, 'Oh really?'"