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Early in 1967
Jack Wayre gave up racing, and John went to driving for the Beebe
brothers once again. They wanted to tour the car, and Dave couldn't
take time off to drive, so John was given the reins of power
again and off they went. The first year on tour wasn't bad, but
wasn't as successful as others have been since. Even though they
made money, they came home right after the Nationals at Indianapolis,
rested, and then took home the loot from a big meet at Long Beach.
Bakersfield of 1968 was almost the end of Mulligan's
career as a driver. A fire that followed one of the most powerful
blower explosions ever witnessed, burned John's eyes around and
under his goggles, and he was rushed to the hospital in great
pain. With John in the ambulance, work was started on swapping
engines, and Tom McEwen got ready to drive in the next round
(John had won even though he lost the blower). Then the track
management vetoed McEwen driving the car, knocking them out once
again. John still bears the scars from that fire. |
Blossoming dual chutes from
the Beebes' rail, Mulligan closes down another top speed run.
Later combine with brother Tim fostered impressive 1968 AA/FD
(bottom) that earned "bridesmaid" tag for the duo.
Flashy green strips are "Fighting Irish" colors. First
of his stripe cars was '66 A & W rail (below) that churned
with power by injector expert Adams' Chrysler.
From
such a disastrous beginning, the year of 1968 was really quite
successful for the team, as they set 28 new strip records throughout
the country in such places as: Carlsbad: 231 mph, Las Vegas:
6.85 sec, Bakersfield: 231, Orange County: 229, Aquasco, Md.:
6.86, Cecil County, Md.: 6.85, Englishtown, N.J.: 6.65-232, Indy:
233, Martin, Mich: 6.66-224, Bristol, Tenn.: 6.87-227.
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