Phil Bonner also known in racing as “Daddy Warbucks”.

Phil Bonner started drag racing in 1954 at Fairbum Dragway, in those days it was a dirt strip. Many times he raced people from all over the south. He thinks, but not sure, that it was the first dragstrip in the Eastern United States. He raced there 1954 thru 57.

In 1961 he started to race professionally, that means for money instead ofjust a trophy. As far as he knows Yellow river Dragstrip was the first to pay money. It drew racers far and wide, and became a meeting place for many future top racers. During this time he worked for Al Means Ford in Decatur Georgia. He raced on the week end and sold cars on Monday. Ford Motor Company heard of him thru this medium. That year he was contacted by Ford by their racing program; he agreed to go to Dearbom Michigan for an interview. There he met many people, that he will work with for many years, especially one of his best friends Dick Brannan whom was responsible for getting the people in the program. Shortly there after, he was advised to come pick up his new light weight 1962 Ford Galaxy with 406 racing engine. At this point it became very clear this was no part time adventure. The number of races grew so rapidly that he could not possibly race at all of them. This racing took him to many states and different countries. Over the years he probably had 600 races more or less. He nearly always had two or three a week, and many times more than that. Once he had six races in one week.

He raced in many different classes through the years, starting with supee stock then on to AFX (factory experimental). After that he advanced on to funny cars both on gas and nitro methane. He won eight national events back when you only had few each year..For example he won four AHRA (American Hot Rod Association) nationals, two IHRA (International Hot Rod Association) one Nascm at Deland Florida. And finally one East coast national in Maryland. Most of his races were match races coast to coast. A lot of them were just two caxs best three out of five bu! many more multiple cars. His win ratio was approximately 85% on gasoline about 60 on nitro. Once he won 49 races in a row.

One other thing he did in racing, when Nascar didn’t have many races, he supplied cars for such drivers as Fireball Roberts, Fred Lorenzen and Curtis Turner. They would race against one another such as Junior Johnson and more, They would also run local favorites. he also had several races with Richard Petty before he had that crash at Dallas Ga. He said It’s very nice now, to get to see a lot of his old friends in places like the moonshine festival an the hall of fame gatherings.

  • Became member of Ford Motor Company Race Team in 1962
  • Matched raced from coast to coast in 1962-1963
  • Won National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) National meet 1963. Green Valley, Texas. Estimated 164,000 fans in attendance.
  • Won American Hot Rod Association (AHRA) Nationals. Dallas-Forth Worth, Texas 1964. Time 11.29 123.8 miles per hour (1/+ mile).
  • V/on Southern California West Coast Nationals 1964. Lions Drag way.
  • Won 2 AHRA Nations in 1964
  • Won 3 AHRA Nationals and NASCAR Spring Championship in Richmond
  • Won Cars Magazine Classic. Cecil County Drag way, Maryland 1965
  • Won Match race Union Hill Drag way, Nashville Tennessee 1965 against NASCAR’s Richard Petty. Petty competed on drag circuit during NASCAR ban-ran Hemi powered Barracuda 43 Jr.
  • Won NASCAR Winter Championship in Florida in 1966
  • Won 2 Fuel Funny Car Championships for AHRA in 1967
  • Won American Hot Rod Association (AHRA) Funny Car meet in Center Moricities, New York, 1967
  • Won Miami Drag way Funny Car Championship in Miami, Florida 1967. Speed 157.34mph.
  • Induced into Super Stock Hall of Fame in 1995
  • Campaigned New Ford Factory Race Car in Thompson, Ohio.
  • Won NASCAR Drag Race Division Super Stock Championship February 1965. Deland, Florida.
  • Phil competed in over 600 races during his career from 1954 until 1970. His winning ratio was around 85%. This was the other Georgia notables such as Hubert Platt and Dick Brannan.