“One day I put my foot down a bit too hard and the front wheels sprang up by accident,” said the man who invented wheelstanding. “I scared myself half to death but the crowd seemed to be enjoying it so I just left them up.”
Soon after Wild Bill Shrewsberry sold his Californian trucking company and began touring the globe as a kind of automotive freak show. In 1970 he made his first tour of Australia in his latest wheelstander, the orange and white striped LA Dart. This was a 1969 model Dodge Dart with the standard engine replaced by a 473 cubic inch Hemi Chrysler plus Detroit Diesel 671 supercharger. This sat where the back seat should have been, punching out a claimed 1,200 bhp. Bill sat in the normal position, protected from the blower belt drive a foot or so from his head by a thin aluminium scatter shield.
The position of the engine, and its massive torque, meant that Wild Bill could travel the entire length of the quarter mile with the Dart’s front wheels in the air. He’d do this at close to record speeds and, to add to the spectacle, a metal skid pad was fitted to the rear so that he trailed a shower of sparks. The angle of wheelstand was controlled by use of the throttle but on at least one occasion Shrewsberry managed to do a complete back flip.
Once in motion the driver had no forward vision so he steered the machine (using a handbrake connected to each of the rear wheels) either by looking out the side window or by carrying a passenger in the right front seat. This brave soul would indicate to the driver that he needed to move to the left or the right and, in some cases, he needed to do this very, very soon.
Shrewsberry’s 1970 tour of Australia was the sensation of the year even if some of the more traditional drag racers were upset that he was upstaging them (and being paid a hell of a lot more). Wild Bill dismissed all this by saying that he saw himself as a bit of comic relief in a sport that was starting to take itself too seriously.
“That’s dull, man … even for the really serious fans. What the public wants is to be amused – and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
After Shrewsberry’s visit there was a bit of an Australian wheelstander fad. Local racers realised that the easiest way to make cars sit up and beg was to stick the motor in the boot. VW Kombis, FB station wagons and Mustangs were all converted but the most spectacular was the Moon-Shot Monaro, driven by Bob Skoglund and Mick Petrowsky. Powered by a Chrysler Hemi, it began its life as the famous Shaker Funny Car.
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