Pat Foster… More of the ‘Master Craftman’s Story’
Photos by Annette Barton, Story by Sandie McCollum

Pat Foster on his Candies and Hughes Top Fuel Dragster Restoration

"Paul Candies, long time NHRA fuel car owner, contacted me over a year ago about possibly restoring one of his Top Fuel cars from 1976. This car was the NHRA World Championship winner and also won Indy along with four or five other National events that year.

The car was driven by the colorful Richard Tharp of Dallas, Texas. Acting as crew chief was Leonard Hughes of Houma, Louisiana. When I went to Louisiana to talk to Paul about the restoration he also mentioned that he still owned a front engined car he and partner/driver Q-Ball Wale had run in the early sixties. This was a car that famous body builder Wayne Ewing had built in its entirety and was one of only two cars he had done as complete cars. This car was raced for about two years and then replaced by a new Kent Fuller car, in which Q-Ball succumbed to injuries received when a parachute failure caused an accident shortly after it debuted.

Paul pulled out of racing for awhile and then returned with the help of Leonard Hughes, starting with an SS/Mopar and continued through many iterations until they ran a full-fledged Fuel Funny Car, then moved to Top Fuel and a legend was born.
I agreed to restore both of these cars and the car you see here is the result of half of the project, the other car (the front-engined car) has been completed and is in Paul's hands as we speak. The rear engined car will be donated to the NHRA Museum in Pomona, California and is/was scheduled to be at the Winternationals the second weekend in February.

For those of you who might wonder: I have been involved in drag racing as a builder and or driver for about forty five years. What with the fairly new interest in the older cars and the advent of the various Cacklefest's it opened the door for me to have a chance to establish a little cottage industry and for the past five years or so I have restored and/or recreated a few cars of note from the Sixties and Seventies. At an age when many are on the couch, I am in my shop in Moscow, Idaho working about sixty hours a week and enjoying every moment of my life, a lucky man indeed.

I would love to be involved in building some of today's Nostalgia Top Fuel cars but have not been approached for whatever reasons. Unlike many others involved in things nostalgic I still think what today's Big Show teams do is amazing and think the talented crew chiefs and brave young men and women who drive these rocket ships are among the elite in all forms of Motorsports!

In what I do, I have no preference as to restoration, recreation or whatever. It's all a labor of love for me and I feel blessed to be chosen for each project. One of the real honors for me was to do a re-creation of the fabled 'Surfers' Top Fuel car from Santa Monica, California that ran in the early to late sixties. The lads who ran this car were friends and they kicked some serious ass during their brief but bright four year rein in Southern California.

I relocated to Moscow, Idaho a short time ago and am pleased to say, I can't find fault with this community and will probably spend the rest of life right here. Besides racing, fishing runs a close second for me and what better place to live to enjoy some world class angling?? Enjoy the photos of my shop and work and come visit if you would like," - Pat Foster - February 4, 2007

Pat Foster… More of the ‘Master Craftman’s Story’

On a sunny February 3, 2007 we got a call from Jim Robinson of Moscow, Idaho who told us if we wanted to see and shoot the Candies and Hughes Top Fuel restoration, we needed to hurry. We grabbed camera bags and headed out, the whole time wondering why on earth a renowned dragster builder would come from Southern California, via Wichita KS, to live and work in North Idaho?

Walking into Pat Foster's shop, we were greeted with nearly sanitary surroundings, the kind of shop Annette had always dreamed of as an engine builder, but never took time to build. Foster, a fit gentleman of 69 with graying hair recently shorn of a ponytail, was on his back applying the last few decals to the freshly painted Candies and Hughes Top Fuel rear engined dragster that Annette remembered seeing while in high school. I won't kid you when I say that we were overwhelmed being in the shop of a guy who has raced, built, restored and recreated AHRA and NHRA cars that most of us have only dreamed about seeing.

We were impressed with Pat's gracious hospitality in showing us the pictures of dragsters from the 1960s and 1970s such as Gas Coupes, Land Speed record cars and the Nissan exotic race cars with which he had worked. There was the 1979 S.W. Division F/C championship Wally on a cabinet and a framed pencil drawing of Foster and the Funny Car that took him to be the third driver to run a Funny Car through the 6-second barrier with a 5.99-second run - the 1979 'Super Shops' Plymouth Arrow. He showed us the jig that he created to build from ground up a Top Fuel chassis. When asked about driving a front-engined dragster, Pat replied, "sit low" reminding us that the early dragsters didn't have blower straps, transmission blankets or fire suppression, just a seat harness, a tight cage with no padding, grit and guts.

Pat took the time to answer our questions, to discuss the history of this car, all the time knowing he was under deadline to complete the car and have it loaded on a trailer 3 days later bound for Pomona, California.

Pat told us about the length of time it takes to correctly research each car, from the type of material used in the blower housing to the exact dimensions and angles of the chassis - answers that come from the guys who drove or built them originally if possible. He is proud of his restorations and rightly so. They are done to look, sound and perform just as they did "back in the day".

This rear-engined Top Fuel Car will be a static display at the NHRA Wally Parks Museum in Pomona, California; the Wale and Candies front-engined dragster, already delivered, was built to running condition for Paul Candies.

Pat also showed us pictures of his three boys and he literally beamed when talking about each one of them, as though they were his finest creations. He has had a hand in a few projects with his son, Cole Foster, who many of you may know from reading the likes of "Street Rodder" magazine.

Foster is the go-to guy for anyone wanting to delve into racing.