Daddy’s Thing was originally built and raced by Frank Marshall of Naperville, Illinois around 1969/1970 and campaigned at tracks all around the midwest. It was a regular hitter in the Run Tuff Eliminator class at Oswego Dragway, where it frequently battled the likes of Animal Jim Feurer’s Big Animal 1957 Mercury, as well as at tracks like Lake Geneva, US 30 and Great Lakes Dragaway. The name “Daddy’s Thing” was inspired by Frank’s seven daughters, who often served as crew members at the track.
Health issues eventually forced Frank to sell the car in the late 70s. The new owner redubbed the car “Mad Wally” and raced it for a couple more years until Oswego closed in 1979. It would change hands one more time but mostly it sat parked until we bought the car in 2005. By then the car was a long ways away from its glory days and rust had taken its toll.
The car required a complete ground up restoration. Unfortunately, Frank Marshall had passed away by that time, but with the blessing of his family we restored the car back to the way people remembered it. Although it was originally intended to just be a show car, the Midwest Gassers approached us and convinced us to start racing the car with them. After a couple of years it was temporarily parked again when we started racing Uncle Sam, but Daddy’s Thing is now back on the track where it belongs.
