TEAM INFORMATION:

Owner / Driver - Tom Butherus
Driver Bio - Tom attended his first drag race in 1964 and was hooked by the sights, sounds & smells of drag racing. “ It was heaven, I just loved it. I started racing whatever I had to drive, initially a 1959 Plymouth, then progressed to a 396 powered 55 Chevy street/strip car in ‘66, then in 1967, partnered with a buddy on a 64 Rambler AHRA A/Hot Rod; my 396 and his car, as I couldn’t keep axles in my 55 and he couldn’t keep motors in his car!”

He went off to college, which ended his active racing, but he attended every drag race he could in the Missouri/Illinois area as a spectator. And what a heyday that was. Front motored AA fuelers, gas twins, altereds and gassers, wow! Match races abounded and shows routinely included the early greats in all categories. Tom loved the altered wheelbase funnies, but his real favorites were the blown altereds and gassers. Borsch, Fitzgerald, Hough, Matsubara, Cook (SWC), Hess, Kohler, Montgomery and their glorious compatriots became his heroes, and he yearned to one day run a blown beast like theirs. After college, Tom moved to Ohio and acquired a ’67 Camaro in to which he put the trusty 396. A move to Kentucky found him regularly at Bluegrass and Edgewater running in D/Gas. The Camaro got totaled in a towing accident in ‘74, but that venerable 396 was OK. A glass 48 Fiat built on 32 Ford frame rails, a sixties era A/A was bought, and in went the carbureted 396. Tom had his altered, albeit less huffer. A move to Kansas City in the mid seventies and they (a wife and 3 kids by then) were at KCIR racing brackets and AHRA’s 9.90 Pro Gas. A final relocation in 1983 to Wichita, and racing started getting infrequent due to family necessities, but in 1998 with kids grown and a new partner, the car, now sporting a 23T bucket was stretched to 120 inches from the original 106 and a Ford 9 inch replaced the original early Chevy rearend. The driver’s compartment still sat on 32 Ford framerails, but the cage was updated to certify at 7.50. A used 6:71 blower was located and a blown 482 inch Chevy was born. He had his blown altered! Of course, after the first pass, he realized that it had him. They (Tom and his partner/crewchief/wife) began running with the Mid America 7.90 group. When that fizzled, they joined Marriot’s OFA group, which is all heads-up, blown altered racing. Nirvana!

Up to 2000, that old car ran a best of 7.50 , but needed to step up to keep pace with the group. It could not be certified quicker than 7.50, so it was retired for pure nostalgia racing and a new car was built. The current “Rude Rat Too” sports a 14:71 aluminum Chevy combo that has been in the sixes over 200 mph. Tom and Phyllis run with the OFAA group and plan to do some NPCA racing as well as selected open nostalgia races, and intend to keep at it as long as the parts and their aging bodies last.

CAR SPECIFICATIONS:

Body Style - 1923 T
Chassis - Victory Racecars
Engine - 496 KB Chevy
Horsepower - 1300
Trans - Bruno/Lenco
Rear End - Strange Top Loader

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