Monday, May 28, 2007

Ted Cyr, 2 time NHRA champion







"Ted Cyr and original partner, Bill Hopper were one of the most successful teams in the country during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Escondido, California-based Cyr got his name in lights when he won the Top Eliminator title at the 1958 NHRA Nationals with a blown gas dragster, and really cemented his reputation by winning Top Fuel at the Bakersfield March Meet in 1960. As testimony to his prowess, the first Drag News Top Fuel top 10 list (May 1960) had the Cyr & Hopper dragster No. 2 trailing only Don Garlits. In late 1960 Ted had a racing accident and was hurt pretty bad.

When he recouped, Cyr built "The Lincoln" that was strictly his deal and it really ran well winning it's share of races on about 50% nitro. Cyr raced it until late 1963
After Cyr quit racing "The Lincoln" he parked it in the back of his shop and basically forgot about it. Aside from his involvement with Skip Schoefield in the 70s, Cyr has been a very good business man and has done extremely well financially. With some urging from some friends, in 2001 he dusted the old girl off and brought her out to play in Cacklefest II"
http://cacklefest.com/Cyr.shtml for a couple dozen period photos of the Lincoln racing, and getting restored, and appearing at Cacklefests