David Cook interviews Lee Cummine.

The main reason for this was because he married an Australian lass, Lee (Cummine) who was in attendance on the night. Keith died in 2015 however local drag racing journalist, Lex Swayn interviewed Keith for the 40th reunion and found out that he still had the original body panels from the car that he toured with. Long story short, though he tried and tried Keith could not find his original Kent Fuller chassis and though he had recently retired Fuller said he would build one more car to his 1965 specs. Add to that the fact that the original engine builder, Arnold Chaves still had the specs for that engine and all the parts made their way to Australia where the car was assembled and shown at the 2011 ANDRA Winternationals.

Swayn said at the time in the Willowbank raceway track paper – The Elapsed Times: “Without Bob doing the searching and finding of parts there is no way this vehicle would ever have been as truly authentic as it is,’’ said Swayn. “His detective work was pretty impressive. I would never have been able to find the stuff he has located, and I would not have been as sure when I found something that it was the same as the original anyway. "But once we decided to make the car as authentic as possible, then there was really no better person to locate all the bits than the man who originally owned the car”.

During the ANFA presentation David Cook related the tale of how a spectator came up to Bob and had a word to him at the Winternationals event. “I’ve got to thank you for bringing that car out in 1966. My dad took me to the Drag Fest at Surfers Paradise when I was ten year old and since then I have taken my children and my grandchildren to watch the racing”, he admitted.

With that he turned and walked away. Cook said to him, “You are probably responsible for bringing thousands of people to the drags down here, with guys like him that still coming”.

Keith was a bit taken back as the reality soon set in.

The Gold Digger

The Awards were followed by some sausage sangas (sandwiches) and while beverages of a more potent ilk were being imbibed. The “Gold Digger” front engined cackle car was fired up with 1960s Top Fuel legend, Graham Withers at the butterfly. The car was running a rich fuel mixture that soon filled the air with flames and the smell of nitro. The assembled throng then sat around and benched raced about the old days with some lively banter piercing the peace and quiet of the night.

Sunday dawned bright and clear turning into a stunning 72 degree day that bathed around a hundred show and shine hot rods and customs in bright sunshine. While it was a small crowd on hand they were very eager as that area was chock a block full of spectators all day long. It was a similar picture in the pits as a combination of stockers, vintage gassers, middle eliminator and fuel cars were being towed to and from the track.