Hemi Under Glass: Bob Riggle and His Wheel-Standing Mopars

by Rich Truesdell, Mark Fletcher

Look up to the skies through Bob Riggle's eyes in this wheelstanding, must-have Mopar history book on Hemi Under Glass! While the established stock and modified brackets are long-recognized as the heart and soul of drag racing, it was the wheelstanders that more often than not put butts in the bleachers. In that category, some of the most well-known names included Bill "Maverick" Golden's Little Red Wagon , Bill Shewsberry's L.A. Dart and Chuck Poole’s Chuck Wagon . Although, most memorable of all was the Hurst Hemi Under Glass Plymouth Barracuda campaigned by Bob Riggle. Riggle started his career in the early 1960s as a car builder and mechanic for Hurst-Campbell and eventually ascended to pilot the Hemi Under Glass . When he left Hurst in 1969, the Hemi Under Glass franchise transferred with Riggle. He continued for six more years as the owner/driver of a succession of Hemi Under Glass renditions. In the 1990s he resurrected the concept of the original car―making four different versions (1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969)―and continued to thrill drag racing fans with his wheelstanding antics. At the time of this writing, Bob’s last run with the Hemi Under Glass was in the summer of 2019. He claims to have retired (he was 83 years old at the time), but he’s claimed that before! For all the success he enjoyed over his long and distinguished career, which is believed to be one of the longest in all of motorsports, he’s best remembered for a run at Irwindale Raceway in early 2016 with comedian and car buff Jay Leno in the passenger seat in a video that has been viewed more than 10 million times. This is Bob’s story, one that Mark Fletcher and Richard Truesdell, co-authors of the 2012 book Hurst Equipped , are honored to share. They say the story was easy to tell―given their unprecedented access not only to Bob but also to his vast archive of photos that reflect his ongoing popularity. Many of the photos in this book are seen in print for the very first time.

160 pages, Paperback

Published September 23, 2021

Reviews

[Randal White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up in the 60's and early 70's, I loved watching the Wide World of Sports and other television shows about drag racing. As well as reading the magazines pertaining to drag racing. One of my favorite cars was the wheel-standing drag racer, the Hurst "Hemi Under Glass". The excitement of watching this car run the quarter-mile on two wheels was incredible!
Now, all these years later, the authors have written an excellent history of the Hemi Under Glass. It was like a trip down memory lane. Just viewing the hundreds of beautiful photographs was amazing!
The photos alone are worth the price of the book, but that's just a small portion of what you get in the book. It's an entire history of the cars. Of the driver, Bob Riggle. Of the Hurst shifter products (what young man did not want one?). Of the beautiful spokesperson for Hurst, Linda Vaughn (every young man's fantasy girl). Of the racetracks they were at.
Also in the book is a great section on other wheel-standers. Including one of my other favorites, the Dodge "Little Red Wagon". And finally, of the restoration of old Hemi Under Glass vehicles.
It's an amazing book that brought back so many memories to me, and left me with a huge smile on my face!

[Rick Fifield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting book from Car Tech Book about the Hemi Under Glass, that was driven by Bob Riggle. This was a wheel standing car that performed at drag strips starting in the mid sixties and continuing into the 2010's. As with most Car Tech books I have read there is a lot of repetition of material in the text. The strength of this book is the amount of pictures that tell the story.