Racing Career
Chrisman began drag racing in 1953 when he raced a 1929 Model A. He switched to a Chrysler car, continuing to race at Southern California such as Lions, Ponoma, San Fernando, Santa Ana, and Saugus. He purchased the Purple Car from Ed Lusinski, and used the car to win drag races at many of these tracks. He started racing Top Fuel for Pat Akins. Masters & Richter flew Chrisman to the Bay area to race in their Top Fuel dragster.
In 1959 he started racing in Chuck Jones Sidewinder dragster. The car, wrenched by Joe Maillard, had its motor mounded sideways. It was shorter than the 100-inch (254 cm) common at that time. The car consistently recorded 9.0 second elapsed times (e.t.) at 160 miles per hour (260 km/h), which typically defeated local competition.
In late 1960, he moved to Howard Johansen's team. He raced the Howard Cam Twin Bears gas dragster, which featured two side-mounted engines. In 1961, he used the car for the first 8 second run in NHRA national event history, when his 8.99 second pass beat Dick Rea in the Top Eliminator (Top Gas) final at the first Winternationals. That summer he drove to a 8.78 e.t. at Caddo Mills, Texas, which was the lowest e.t. of the year. Chrisman won the 1961 World Championship after winning in national, regional, and divisional meets throughout the United States.
Chrisman changed to Mickey Thompson's team in 1962. The Tommy Ivo-built machine ran on either gas or nitro. Chrisman set new top speed record of 176.60 miles per hour (284.21 km/h) at York, Pennsylvania and a new e.t. record in A/GD (A/Gas Dragster) with an 8.34 second pass. The team debuted a new Pontiac Hemi engine a few weeks before the U.S. Nationals at Indy, and won the Top Eliminator crown.
During a regular afternoon event at Ponoma in May 1963, the dragster's rear end broke. Chrisman spent 42 days in the hospital recovering. After he had recovered, he started working advertising for National Dragster. Chrisman intended to drive Thompson's dragster to defend his title at Indianapolis, but Thompson's hauler tipped over while transporting the vehicle to the dragstrip.
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