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By David Conwill

Bill “Maverick” Golden, 1933-2015 | Hemmings Daily
Bill 'Maverick' Golden. Photos courtesy of the NHRA Museum We recently learned that Bill “Maverick” Golden has passed away

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We recently learned that Bill “Maverick” Golden has passed away. Golden was well known to drag racing fans for his Dodge A100 exhibition wheelstander, which was immortalized in plastic by IMC Models shortly after it began appearing on dragstrips.
Before he drove the Little Red Wagon, as the A100 was known, Golden was a conventional drag racer. A Midwesterner by birth, he settled in California following his 1956 discharge from the United States Marine Corps. He acquired his “Maverick” nickname from drag-race pioneer C.J. “Pappy” Hart due to his then-unusual preference for racing a Dodge—initially a 1958 Dodge Custom Royal powered by a four-barrel 361-cu.in. V-8.
Golden is credited with helping to change focus at Chrysler Corporation from drag racing its cars with three-speed manual transmissions to developing factory support for the Torqueflite automatic. Golden and a racing friend named Marvin Ford experimented with Golden’s Cross-Ram ’60 Dodge Dart until they were able to modify the Torqueflite’s 2-3 shift point from its factory 3,200 RPM setting to 5,000 RPM.
Golden’s next ride was a 1962 Dodge Dart 330 with a 413 Max Wedge, sponsored by his employer Bob Smith Dodge of Glendale, California. He famously drove the ’62 Dart to defeat “Dyno Don” Nicholson at the 1962 AHRA Winternationals. That victory was due both in part to Golden’s driving ability and his skill as a mechanic, which allowed him to modify camshaft, valve spring pressures, distributor advance, exhaust headers and intake manifold to maximize the performance potential of his engine.

Impressed with the performance of Golden’s ’62, Dodge asked the racer to make over a new, 426 Max Wedge-powered 1963 330. After repeating his modifications from the ’62, and performing some groundbreaking (though ultimately outlawed) work with traction devices, Golden went on to create one of the best-known Super Stock entries of the era—jocularly known as the “Yellow Cab” due to its taxi-yellow hue.

The pinnacle of Golden’s NHRA career was driving the 1963 330, upgraded with aluminum body parts and a “Stage II” factory engine package, to victory at the 1963 Midwest Super Stock Championships in Martin, Michigan, with a best time of 11.55 at 125 MPH. Following that, Golden began refining a 1964 Dodge 330 Max Wedge for AHRA Ultra Stock competition the next year. He was also involved with preparing the two-car “Dodge Chargers” match race team fielded by Dodge public relations. That involvement with Dodge PR would lead to Golden landing behind the wheel of the Little Red Wagon.
- See more at: Bill ?Maverick? Golden, 1933-2015 | Hemmings Daily

 

Bill “Maverick” Golden with the Little Red Wagon Dodge A100 wheelstander.
The Little Red Wagon was constructed as an outgrowth of Dodge’s experiments in fitting hot big-block V-8s to its D-series trucks. The A100 compact pickup was new for 1964, and the company decided to build one with the equally new 426-cu.in. Hemi V-8s.
The drag-strip manners of the mid-engine, short-wheelbase, cab-forward pickup were far from optimal and Dodge’s original driver quickly bowed out. But while the vehicle proved poorly suited for its intended A/FX competition, the A100’s tendency to pull the front wheels for long periods of time was recognized as ideal for exhibition racing. Golden, due to his previous relationship with Dodge PR, was tapped to fill the driver’s spot for a commercial shoot. After driving the truck enough to decide he could tame it, and recovering from injuries due to said antics, Golden purchased the truck from Dodge and took it on the road.
From January 1965 to 1969, Golden toured the country with the original Little Red Wagon, drawing packed houses to the delight of strip owners. They in turn made sure Golden was compensated appropriately for his appearances with the wheel stander. In 1967, Golden turned a 1965 A100 into a second truck for non-racing show appearances. The original exhibition racer was destroyed in a crash in 1969, as was a replacement in 1975. Eventually, Golden converted the 1965 show truck into his exhibition racer and drove it until retirement in 2003.
During his exhibition career, Bill Golden applied all the same ingenuity to his craft as he had when racing in competition—making wheel standers simultaneously more exciting to watch and safer to drive. He also branched out into other motorized showmanship, with endeavors into tractor pulling and constructing a display version of the 1960s-era truck for the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing. Quarter-mile fans of all stripes will miss “Maverick.”
- See more at: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2....YhFD7oJV.dpuf

 

DICK CORBETT

Bill was a true master-mind with the early mopar , and…had more tricks up the sleeve than an out-law poker player , all-ways willing too bench-race with the best of em’. His military training took the no-hold’s barred approach too modern-day drag racing . A true to life pioneer with the science of traction,volumes could be written about all the concepts,ride on with the storm-troopers till we meet again !!!!!
- See more at: Bill ?Maverick? Golden, 1933-2015 | Hemmings Daily

 

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