The Mopar or No Car event at Beaver Springs Dragway brought out a number of great cars and people, but one of the cars that really caught my eye was the ‘66 Plymouth Barracuda of Wallace Quarry. While the bright yellow paint and old-school paint scheme draws you in, you’ll notice something is different when you look closer. The car was built about 8 years ago, with the chassis of the car constructed by a friend of Wallace’s, appropriately nicknamed Gasser Dave. The car is capably powered by a 440 cu. in. engine, backed by a Powerglide transmission and a 12-bolt rear. It was built to be a light-weight racer and Wallace admitted he was still working the bugs out of it. This is where we get to the part of what really makes this car stand out. It was built in a way to specifically keep the old-school look with the altered wheelbase and leaf spring rear end just like in the A/FX days. The rear wheels were moved 12 inches forward and the front wheels were moved almost 16 inches, with the overall chassis actually shortened a bit. The look they were going for was to mimic a similar A/FX Barracuda that ran back in the day, and there’s no doubt that old look was captured perfectly. Wallace said they originally had a blown 392 Hemi for the car but decided to go with the 440 for practicality. At the time of this interview, the car had put down a best ET of 10.60, but Wallace was determined to try to launch the car harder to see what they could get out of it, saying, “but it’s a handful.” Wallace admitted that with the shortened wheelbase and straight front axle, this was a car you actually had to drive. That’s something all the old-school racers, along with current drivers who drive old-school cars can understand. As he puts it, “It’s not one of those cars you just get in and it shifts for itself and all that. It’s a ‘you-drive-it.’ ” Almost as equally impressive as the car is Wallace’s attitude towards it’s place in the sport; “You’ve gotta keep the history of it because if you don’t…if you forget where it came from, it will go away.” There is no doubt the Mad Hatter is keeping drag racing history alive because watching it come into the staging lanes is like being transported back in time to the earliest days of what would become the funny car class. Keep an eye out for this one at a track near you. You’ll be glad you did.