The Wards’ ’Vette is Meaner Than the Jersey Devil!

URBAN LEGENDS ARE THOSE UNBELIEVABLE STORIES THAT GET CIRCULATED THROUGH A TOWN OR CITY, BIG OR SMALL, AND CONTAIN JUST ENOUGH PLAUSIBILITY TO ENSURE THEIR SURVIVAL IN THE COMMUNITY’S FOLKLORE AND SOCIAL HISTORY. They can be scary, creepy, absurd or even funny, and the longer they endure, the more exaggerated they become. Our Urban Legend began in a most unlikely spot, Mesa, Arizona. There, in a garage next to an old house that bore striking similarities to the one used in the movie Psycho, Ron Ward found the treasure he’d been seeking. The year was 2005, the subject, a one-of-a-kind ’59 Corvette body.

Ward, whose passion for drag racing went back to his youth, always dreamed of building and racing a Funny Car. After years away from the sport, Ward attended a race at Sacramento Raceway in 1993. It was a nostalgia event, and the front-engine Dragsters, Altereds and era-correct Funny Cars rekindled memories of the race cars he so loved in the ’70s and early-’80s.

Why had he stopped going to the drags in 1987? “I did not care for the new style of race cars and all the electronics everyone had started using,” Ward told us. Fortunately, his renewed enthusiasm spurred him to attend Famoso Raceway’s March Meet, the premier nostalgia drag race on the West Coast (and arguably the nation). According to Ward, “In the 1970s, the Funny Cars were my favorites. They had cool names, colorful paint jobs and looked a lot like the cars we drove on the street, but much louder and faster! I graduated from high school in 1979. I lived in Portland, Oregon, and the drag strip in my area would host 32- car and 64-car Funny Car events. That’s when I thought to myself, ‘I am going to own one of these someday.’” The hook was set.

The saga of this Urban Legend is set in Hanford, California, an important commercial and cultural center in south central San Joaquin Valley. Home to Ward, wife Jennifer and daughter Avelynn, it’s here one will find Wardworks Fabrication, where the 1959 Corvette body and the Urban Legend Funny Car took root. Wardworks Fabrication was conceived as a business specializing in custom race cars. However, family and a full-time job as a manager with CED Greentech in Fresno caused Ward to scale back his vision to a shop just for his own creations. “I fabricate as many of the parts as I can, and I can finish pretty much anything out of metal,” Ward said. He’s no stranger to building cars, either, “My very first car was a ’64 Malibu SS. It had a 283 cid with a Powerglide. I like to be original, so I modified it and transformed it into a drag car. I built a 396 BBC, fabricated a tilt front end and opened up the rear fenders to be able to get NSO-50 tires under it—remember those? Over the years, I have built several fast cars, including a ’71 Triumph TR6 with a 327 motor and M-22 four speed, a ’70 Porsche 914 with an Olds V-8 mid-engine setup, a ’71 Jaguar XJ6 and a ’73 Jaguar XJ12.”

One of the things that makes this Urban Legend so unique is the 1959 Corvette body. It was the only body of its kind made by David Tucker and his brother-in-law for Steve Tryon, a California Independent Funny Car Association (CIFCA) regular back in the ’90s. Ward remembers, “Looking for something unique, I thought it was the coolest Funny Car body ever when I first saw it. I wanted something special, something that would stand out from the crowd. I came up with a plan and went to work building my dream car.” It took Ward eight years to complete. In the interim, he joined Ray and Becky Sylvester’s California Rattler CIFCA Funny Car team where he served as co-crew chief. He told us, “The CIFCA Funny Cars were my favorite. I liked the way all the racers in the association help each other, especially CIFCA past President, Jim Maher Sr. It was like a big family and all the racers support one another.”

It was a challenge transforming his Corvette body into a CIFCA Funny Car. Ward built most of the Flopper himself in a two-car garage, including the jig on which the chassis was built. There were several times he considered abandoning the project. “It is always good to have a plan, but determination and persistence are equally necessary. Not wanting to waste the money already invested in the project, I persevered. It took sheer will to not stop what I had started. Eight years was a long time, but it came out better than I could have possibly imagined,” Ward tells us.

the hard work finally paid off. I had come full circle at the drag strip that first gave me the inspiration back in 1993 to build Urban Legend.II—Ron Ward

The Urban Legend made its debut in 2013. Ward felt very comfortable in the car and licensing went smoothly. Racing was a different matter. Performance was uneven and new car gremlins kept showing up. The car’s performance was frustratingly inconsistent. The team was getting discouraged. Ward felt that he had built a show car that he would never be able to race. Throughout the winter of 2014, the team identified several issues and made the necessary changes. Although they missed the first CIFCA race for 2015, they qualified for the next one, but lost in the first round. The third race of the year was in Tucson, Arizona, for the Super Chevy Show. Ward had never raced there and didn’t know what to expect. Despite all of the uncertainties, he stayed focused. So much so, that he nailed six consecutive superlative reaction times, a big factor in propelling him to his first winner’s circle.

The last race of 2015 was Sacramento Raceway’s Governor’s Cup, the track’s premier event of the year. Mathematically, Urban Legend still had a slim chance of winning the CIFCA championship. If points leader Rough and Ready Racing lost in Round One and Ward won the event, the title would his. Ward came close, winning the prestigious event and placing second in the CIFCA standings. He tells Drag Racer, “All the hard work finally paid off. I had come full circle at the drag strip that first gave me the inspiration back in 1993 to build Urban Legend. As for our future plans, we will continue to race all the CIFCA events, and possibly, some with the Pro Nostalgia circuit in the Northwest.”

Every urban legend has its share of embellishments and exaggerations. Jennifer Ward will tell you that the expense of building the Urban Legend Funny Car prevented her from buying any new shoes during that time. That definitely sounds like a tall tale to us.

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The Urban Legend Team

Owners: Ron and Jennifer Ward
Crew: Pat McLaughlin, Thom Ward, Avelynn Ward, Jonathan Rosario, Tony Webb and Chris Lunday

TECH SHEET

Car Builder: Ron Ward, chassis 2008 Wardworks Fabrication 125-inch wheelbase

Engine: 557-ci big -block Chevy (KB500 aluminum block)

Engine Builder: Ron Ward, Machine work by Boghosian Racing Engines

Induction: Littlefield 14-71 Hi-Helix, blower belt polished by Meclec Metal Finishing, anodizing by Ano-Tech

Manifold: Indy

Cylinder Heads: Dart 360 Solid 2.30/1.90, port work by Killian’s Porting

Camshaft: Lunati roller

Lifters and Springs: COMP Cams .903 Elite Race and Nextek springs

Valves and Rocker Arms: Titanium intake/Inconel exhaust, T&D shaft rockers

Crankshaft: Bryant

Rods and Pistons: Venolia and CP Carillo

Oil Pump: Titan

Fuel System: Enderle, set-up by FIE

Fuel Pump: Aeromotive

Ignition: Mallory Supermag IV, FIE

Transmission: Three-speed Lencodrive

Shifter: Lenco air shift

Torque Converter: Neal Chance

Front and Rear Suspension: Solid mount

Tires and Wheels: Rear –17.0/34.6-16 M&H on 16×13 Magnesium Halibrands; Front –American Racing Torque Thrust spindle mount wheels fitted with Goodyear tires. Strange adjustable spindles and Mark Williams brakes with floating rotors, Ward-fabricated A-arms, all polish and chrome work by Meclec Metal Finishing

Rearend and Axles: Mark Williams full floating 9 ½-inch modular gun-drilled one-piece axle

Fluids: Engine–Lucas 50w and stabilizer; transmission–Amsoil 20w compressor oil; differential–Torco 85W-140

Safety Equipment: Taylor Motorsports

Fire System: Safecraft

Bodywork: Tom Jackson

Paint and Airbrush: Jesse Kuntz