Al Segrini First Brut Funny Car Plymouth Arrow for Sale

Past their very nature, lists are polarizing. Whether it's the top 10, twenty, fifty, or 100 anything that you're trying to found, in that location are going to be hits and misses among the critics and please and thwarting amid those who made or didn't make the list.

Al Segrini, a five-time NHRA national effect Funny Car winner and three-time top-x finisher, does not hide the disappointment of non seeing whatever of his Funny Cars – most notably the beautiful Black Magic Vega and whatever of his Faberge-sponsored Super Brut machines -- on the top-20 list released a few weeks ago, and we chatted well-nigh it earlier this calendar week in an hour-plus phone conversation that only increased my appreciation for his career behind the wheel.

Segrini, recognized last year equally thousand marshal of the NHRA Motorsports Museum New England Hot Rod Reunion presented by AAA Insurance at New England Dragway for his accomplishments and his standing fan support in the region, works these days as a projection manager for a company that builds high-end homes, but for more than than two decades, his home was behind the cycle of a Funny Auto.

The Massachusetts native got his first flopper ride in the injected-nitro American Express Camaro fielded with his brother, Lou, in 1971. That car was preceded past a good-running B/Gas '55 Chevy and an injected-fuel altered. Segrini had driven the Chevy, simply his protective older brother thought the altered was too much car for his young sibling, then he initially hired Joe Fleming to drive it. After enough pestering, Segrini was immune to drive the car and proved a natural, guiding the sometimes ill-handling '23-T to strong performances and victories. Fleming got back into the cockpit one afternoon at New England Dragway and ended up crashing heavily and destroying the car. "Nosotros pretty much brought it home in a basket," recalled a "peeved" Segrini.


Paul Wasilewski Jr.

Lou ordered the American Express car to be congenital and insisted that the chassis builder, Pete Tropiano, locate the cockpit off-eye, toward the "driver's side," in a mode similar to that of the successful Chi-Town Hustler. They took the injected-fuel 427 Chevy right out of the altered and joined Tom "Smoker" Smith's circuit, running in the Southeast. The automobile was a winner from the start, and Segrini loved driving it. Compared to the contradistinct, "it was like driving a limousine," he recalled.

The brothers racked up a series of wins against their more often than not Hemi-powered opponents just finally had enough of what they considered to be a constantly shifting set of rules and returned to New England Dragway, where rail promoter Jack Doyle had a soft spot for them.

"All of the AA cars would run in that location — [Don] Schumacher, [Gene] Snow, [Don] Prudhomme, [Tom] McEwen – just Jack told us we could park off to the side, and if one of the AA cars breaks, we could bound in as an alternating. Lo and behold, it seems similar we'd get into every show because those guys would do a exhaustion and interruption, so they'd button them off, nosotros'd fire off, and I'd run against some AA machine, and nosotros did pretty good, too. Later on a while, some of those guys got pretty pissed off because our car e'er went downward the runway. Ane of them – I recollect it was Lew Arrington – refused to run against me. 'That child is going to brand an ass out of me,' he told Jack. 'That car hauls ass straight down the track; I'll look like a fool,' only they told him to race me or get dwelling house. I think we ended up in three or 4 finals. We never won, but we gave them a race."

The brothers hung out with the big guns and even ended up crewing for "Jungle Jim" Liberman on occasion. "I'd open oil cans, clean the oil pan, any he needed, and he'd allow me sit in the car and steer it coming downwards the render route," he remembered. "What a thrill; he was my hero."

Familial obligations forced blood brother Lou to retire from racing in 1972, but Al's reputation was already such that when swain Massachusetts Funny Car driver Kosty Ivanoff got in a nasty crash at New England Dragway, he hired him to drive his supercharged Boston Shaker Vega while he recovered in 1973. It was during the 1973 season and regular racing trips to the Maryland area that Segrini met Jim Beattie, who owned ATI, a top name in automatic racing transmissions. Beattie, a big Funny Car fan, ultimately decided he wanted one of his own and put Segrini in charge of the project.

A Woody Gilmore auto was ordered, and Segrini wisely chose Kenny Youngblood to dream upwardly a pigment scheme for the automobile, which was to be named Blackness Magic. Youngblood responded with 1 of his all-fourth dimension peachy designs, a flowing trio of stripes – orange, red, and yellowish – on a brilliant black background. Famed SoCal painter Tom Stratton applied the colors, and 'Blood insisted on doing the lettering and airbrush work himself. The car also featured extensive chrome and smooth and revolutionary faux-marble anodizing. "Oh my god," Segrini withal marvels today. "That car was beautiful."

The car was named Best Appearing Car in its debut at the 1974 Gatornationals, where the squad also nerveless Best Actualization Crew honors, an unprecedented feat in those times.

"Back then, it was the Dark Ages; everyone wore greasy T-shirts and shorts, only Jim and I designed uniform crew shirts, and anybody wore matching black Levi's," he said. "Someone told me later that when nosotros pulled upwardly for our first qualifying run that the [NHRA officials] in the tower went to the drinking glass to meet information technology and that [NHRA founder] Wally Parks pointed to information technology and said, 'That's the future of elevate racing there, guys.' Shortly, everyone had uniform shirts."

Segrini collection the Black Magic for three years, only the biggest highlight came early, in the 1974 season, when they reached the final round of the Summernationals and pulled in to confront none other than Liberman, who also was appearing in his start national issue final round.

"Unbelievable," mused Segrini. "I go from a child hanging on the fences watching those AA cars run to racing my hero in the final round."

That final round was one of the almost memorable in the outcome's long history. Segrini, fresh off an upset win over Prudhomme in the semifinals, smoked the tires while Liberman – in true fashion – carried the front end end 3 feet loftier well past half-track before being forced to elevator. Segrini gathered in his mount and crush him to the stripe, six.83 to seven.14.

"I could see his front tires up in the air out my window," Segrini recalled. "I wouldn't lift, and he wouldn't lift. I was smoking the tires trying to keep it directly, and he was in this big ol' wheelie that I couldn't believe. We ended upward chirapsia him, and I remember seeing him on the render road with his head downward. It was emotional for me because he was my hero, but he told me, 'Practiced job, kid,' only he won [the Summernationals] the next year, so I was happy to run into that."

Beattie brought a second car – the Black Stang, driven by Pee Wee Wallace – into the fold, just Segrini had misgivings about the way that Beattie had the machine congenital. Offered a take chances to bulldoze the sick-handling car at a lucifer race, Segrini refused. "Beginning, I didn't want to embarrass Pee Wee, and, second, that car was evil," he said. "And that was the beginning of the end for me and Jim."

In 1978, he began driving for Fred Castronovo and the Custom Body Enterprises team, in a beautiful H&H-built Pointer. "Driving that car was similar owning a Rolex picket," he marveled. "Everything fit perfect – the levers, the tinwork, the manner the body clicked into place." The pretty car was destroyed in a crazy crash at the 1979 Summernationals due to an ongoing problem with exhaust-valve heads that would break off and punch a hole in the piston, leading to a dieseling problem when the engine would not shut off.

The problem came to a head on its opening qualifying run. Segrini got the auto stopped merely past the lights, but the engine wouldn't close off. Oil coming out of the headers from the holed piston caught burn and set up the entire car debark. Segrini finally had to bond out of the cockpit, and the car took off, idling down through the shutdown expanse before crashing headlong into the retaining runway at the top end. "The automobile pretty much committed suicide," said Segrini.

The team rebuilt, but the entire operation was stolen overnight while parked exterior the habitation of a friend in New Jersey in training for running in Englishtown the next 24-hour interval. The truck and Chaparral trailer were constitute at a nearby aircraft dock, just everything inside the trailer – the machine, every part, and even the cabinets – was gone and never seen once more.

Once again rideless, Segrini got a lead on a high-ranking contact at cosmetics maker Faberge from a mechanic friend. "He was just a greasy old mechanic at a greasy former shop, but he told me that this kid who used to clean toilets for him at his gas station at present was a large bicycle at Faberge," Segrini recalls. "I was pretty sure he was full of [baloney], but he picks up the telephone and calls the guy and gets me a meeting with the head of sales, Steve Hainsworth. I bring a rendering to the coming together of what a car could expect like, and tells me he's going to show it to Craig Barrie, who was in charge of marketing. Craig's begetter, George, was CEO, and his brother, Richard, was the president."

Segrini traveled to New York – his first trip into the Big Apple tree – and to the massive Burlington Business firm skyscraper on Avenue of the Americas, where Faberge, then the top fragrance maker in the land with spokespersons such as Joe Namath and Farrah Fawcett, occupied two full floors of Andy Warhol-decorated offices. Craig Barrie, equally it turns out, is non some stodgy executive merely a young guy with long hair and gilt bondage who is a big fan of racing. He's all for the idea and carries it up the chain of command. Segrini's asking toll is $125,000, non a small sum and so. After several meetings over many weeks, a deal is struck, but the contract is for only $100,000. Only as Segrini is walking out afterwards signing the 40-folio, legalese-filled contract, Craig walks up to him and hands him an envelope. Inside is $25,000.

"I didn't fifty-fifty own a spark plug at the time, and then I had to get going pretty quick," he said. "Fortunately for me, Tom Prock and Pancho Rendon had simply split up, and Pancho leased me their old automobile [the Gratiot Auto Supply Arrow], motors, parts, and a trailer. I took information technology to [Bob] Gerdes [at Circus Custom Paint], who painted information technology that dark green. We debuted it at Gainesville [in 1980], where Faberge guests on manus were impressed that the fans knew who they were."


Segrini, left, Craig Barrie, and their cute Faberge eighteen-wheeler

Subsequently a successful 1980, in which Segrini besides appeared at regional sales meetings, the deal was renewed for 1981, with Barrie, who likewise liked to work on the car, leading the way. This contract was worth $225,000. Barrie also took notation of the xviii-wheelers that were condign more than pop and decided that what was essentially a traveling billboard for about the cost of a billboard in Times Square was a practiced investment and deputed Segrini to get them one.

Segrini and Faberge finally enjoyed the sweet scent of national consequence success at the 1982 Winternationals with the Super Brut Omni, winning a final-round battle of the fragrances confronting Raymond Beadle'southward English Leather-backed Blue Max. It was the first of iii Winternationals wins in 4 years for Segrini, 2 of which ended in spectacular way.

Segrini went to two more finals in 1982 – losing to Frank Hawley in both, at the Springnationals and Cajun Nationals, and finishing a career-high 6th in points -- but, surprisingly, did not qualify for the 1983 Winternationals even so went on to win the Cajun Nationals later that twelvemonth with his new Trans Am after Steve Plueger worked on the chassis. He once again finished sixth in points.

Segrini chalked up his 3rd win and second in Pomona when he crush Tim Grose in a memorable final round in 1984. The camshaft snapped right in the lights, leading to a massive blower explosion that blew out the windshield and damaged the body. The win was bloodshot for Segrini.

"At breakfast that morning, I had been told that the Faberge bargain was over," he said. "At that place had been a corporate takeover, and George Barrie only had 49 percent of the stock. Talk about a loftier and low all on the aforementioned day. We finished the year with Faberge on the car, but the bargain was over."

Segrini's reputation equally a solid commuter earned him a chance to win the Winternationals again the next year. Joe Pisano had just finished development of his new engine cake, the JP-1, and asked Segrini, who was like family and usually stayed at the house of "Papa Joe" on his Due west Coast trips, to drive his new Daytona. They won the race, and again Segrini was spectacular in victory. You know the old proverb, "If you can't win at least be spectacular"? Segrini did both for the second straight yr as the clutch let go in the lights, sending a shower of sparks out of both side windows as he crossed the finish line ahead of Dale Pulde.

Don Gillespie

"He was running just a three-disc clutch at the time, so we were feeding it parts after every round," recalled Segrini. "Every bit we went to push the auto away from the trailer for the final, it wouldn't roll backwards, just forward. I knew something was wrong, but I knew I had to give it a shot. After the burnout, it wouldn't go into reverse. Information technology was vibrating existent bad. I held the brake and whacked the throttle and went into reverse and had to practice the same thing to go information technology back out of reverse. The motorcar went well-nigh 2 automobile lengths before the clutch welded itself, and information technology was like a lockup clutch earlier we had those. Information technology opened 4 car lengths on Pulde. Near ane,000 feet, it was shaking and rattling, and just every bit I lifted, [the clutch] came apart. The sparks were from the titanium tin can, which held up fine, merely I couldn't run across anything, and I had my left leg tucked back every bit far every bit I could and my right foot in the top hook of the throttle simply in example information technology came apart. It was spectacular, but we won."

Segrini collection a few more races for Pisano that year with no real success, and despite his best efforts, Segrini was not able to put together another ride. It wasn't until the early on 1990s that he resurfaced, this time in the dragster of former Meridian Fuel racer Baton Lynch. The Swindahl-built auto had the best of everything, except luck, and after two seasons, they parted company.


Segrini, right, with longtime friend and nitro racer Paul Smith at last twelvemonth's NHRA New England Nationals. In 1974, Smith finished second in the world championship race; Segrini was 6th in the Black Magic car.

Segrini'due south concluding ride was for his one-time pal Plueger, in Sonoma in 1997. His precipitous driving got them into the Funny Motorcar field, but they lost in round i. Well-nigh 20 years afterward, he all the same maintains a presence in the sport. In addition to serving as the one thousand align at last year's New England Hot Rod Reunion, Segrini took part this twelvemonth in a panel discussion at the Winternationals, and he helps his buddy Mike Hard, who has the Hard Guys Nostalgia Funny Car that Mike Smith drives.

"I had some practiced moments in my career, and I think I brought a lot of stuff to the sport, like the uniforms and the sponsorship of a major company like Faberge," he reflected. "When I look dorsum at the Superlative fifty [Drivers] list [from 2000], I remember I could accept been on that listing, too. Me and Dale Pulde -- who I think is one of the greatest drivers always -- both. I was glad to meet Dale had a car in that [Funny Car] top 20 because he deserves it, and it kind of hurts my feelings that none of my cars were. I think I did a pretty good chore of representing NHRA, and some of the stuff I did, I feel like I was way alee of my time, but I know it's not personal, just puzzling."

As I said in opening this column, lists are a tricky thing. There are probably 50 cars for which I could make an statement for inclusion on that top-xx listing, and even though 20 was all I got, information technology's hearing stories like Segrini's that brand me want to make information technology a top-100 list.

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Source: https://www.nhra.com/news/2016/al-segrini

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