Performance Associates HistoryIn the factory Super Stock wars of the early 1960s, when victories at the dragstrip on Sunday translated into sales boost on Monday in dealer showrooms, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler fielded race teams with the with the most elite drivers inthe country. Among the luminaries on Ford’s roster were Gas Ronda, Dick Brannan, Phil Bonner, and Les Ritchey. Known as one of the best four-speed handlers in the sport, Les Ritchey earned even greater distinction as perhaps the best mechanic of this group and played a major role in the success of other Ford campaigners, especially Ronda.
Les Ritchey, an old-school tuner, put many hours into his work and paid extra attention to detail. His legendary tune-ups turned many docile grocery-getters into consistent class trophy winners, which made his Southern California shop, Performance Associates, a house hold name a mecca for Ford Racing enthusiasts. Les Ritchey developed much of his mechanical background while working for an aircraft company, as a flight engineer with the Air Force, and as service manager for San Marino Motors before he founded Performance Associates in 1958 in Covina.
He had actually begun his racing ventures a couple years earlier when he won 33 class trophies and held class records at five dragstrips with his black ’56 Ford Victoria powered by a 312-cid Interceptor engine.
As Ford begun producing more powerful engines, such as the 300 horsepower, 352-cid version in 1958 and the 401-horsepower, 390-cid power plant in 1961, Les Ritchey’s rides became decidedly faster. He began competing in the burgeoning Super Stock classes at NHRA dragstrips, which became the battlegrounds among Detroit’s Big Three.
Automotive-manufacturer representatives began to recruit drag racing’s best drivers and tuners, and Ford selected Les Ritchey. He was given one of the first ’62 Galaxies equipped with the 406-cid, 405 horsepower engine, and Ritchey used it to become one of the dominant campaigners in A/Factory Experimental. In 1963, Ford also handpicked Les Ritchey to drive a lightweight Galaxie fastback powered by the new 427-cid, 425 horsepower engine. This was the first Ford Super Stock entry to come from the factory with fiberglass doors, lightweight bucket seats, and other forms of custom equipment. During this period, Les Ritchey established his relationship with Ronda. Said Ronda,“I was racing a Ford Starliner in 1960 while living in San Francisco area, and we were having parts-breakage problems. with our blueprinted engines. Les called and offered me one of the special nodular iron blocks that he had recieved from Ford, which solved the engine breakage. He talked me into moving to Southern California, and before long, he was not only doing all of my engine work and setting up my race cars, but he also modified stock Fords into race cars that I sold through the dealerships where I worked, first Downtown Ford in Los Angeles and later Russ Davis Ford, which was just a mile from Les’ shop. From then on, Les did all my engine work and prepped my cars. I had another mechanic, Cliff Brien, accompany me to the races, but Les was always the main guy.”
Ford really upped the ante in 1964 by shoehorning the 427-cid engine into the mid-size Fairlane body, a custom-built combination that became known as the Thunderbolt. About 200 such cars were constructed that year, and the first 12 were given to the top Ford factory drivers, including Les Ritchey and Ronda.
 
Les Ritchey’s Performance Associates shop had also become the official West Coast headquarters of the Ford factory team, and Ritchey and his expert team prepared all of the factory cars.
With the Thunderbolt, Les Ritchey’s association with Ronda began to produce significant results. Ronda earned the 1964 NHRA Super Stock world championship in his Thunderbolt and won the inaugural Hot Rod Magazine Championships that season.
In 1965, Ford produced an even more exotic combination for A/FX with the introduction of a small number of custom-built Mustangs powered by the new 427-cid SOHC engine. With one of them, Les Ritchey enjoyed his finest season; he won the A/FX class trophy at the NHRA Nationals by defeating Ronda. Said Ronda, “I always hated to get beat by anyone, but this time was different. I have always felt that if Ford had given Les enough money so that he didn’t have to run his business and could have devoted all of his attention to his race car, he would have been an even more successful racer. I was so glad for him when he won and made a point of being the first one to congratulate him.”
Though the original ’65 A/FX Mustangs were equipped with dual four-barrel carburetors, Les Ritchey found performance gains by switching to the more exotic Weber carburetors. Les Ritchey’s son, Randy, obtained a second set of these now-out-of-production Webers and installed them on a 500-cid SOHC Ford Hemi engine in Bob Funari’s ’65 AC Cobra, which is now valued at $1 million.
1965 was the year of the Funny Car evolution, initially sparked by the altered-wheelbase Dodge and Plymouth A/FX cars that were declared illegal by NHRA for that class. The bulk of the Mopar drivers took their “Funny Cars” on the match race trail, where they began replacing carburetors and pump gasoline with fuel injectors and nitromethane. Many drivers converted their vehicles into Funny Cars at midseason, but Les Ritchey and Ronda finished the season with their legal A/FX cars.
For 1966, Les Ritchey updated his Mustang for continued competition in A/FX, and was runner-up in the class final at that year’s Winternationals. Said Ronda, “We had met with Ford officials at the end of 1965, who asked us what kind of cars we wanted to drive the next year. Les told them he was content to stay with the A/FX cars, and I wanted the biggest, baddest Funny Car could get. Les told me I was crazy and that I might get hurt in one of those, but I told him that our situations were different. he had a business to support himself, but I made my money match racing, and needed a faster car to guarantee bookings.”
For 1966, Les Ritchey updated his ’65 A/FX entry with a number of innovations and a bright candy apple red paint scheme from Colormaster of Azusa, Calif. Mel Burns Ford of Long Beach, Calif., sponsored the car.
Shortly thereafter, Les Ritchey, while racing Hayden Proffitt’s Corvair in a match race at Fontana, suffered fatal injuries when his car hit the guardrail. Said Ronda, “My car was running very good on injectors and nitro at the time, and we had just won the Bakersfield March Meet. But Les’ accident affected me very deeply. Not only did he build my engines and prepare my cars, but he was also my best friend. I remember him warning me about moving up to a faster car, and it ended up that he was the one who would have a bad accident. I intentionally slowed down from the eight-second pace that we had been running, and it took me a long time before I ran at full speed again.”
Les Ritchey’s son , Randy, who was 15 at the time, said, “It had always been my dream to follow in my father’s footsteps, but I was too young at the time. So Performance Associates became dormant until 1979, when I joined forces with my dad’s brother, Dwight, and we reopened the operation in Corona, Calif.”
The younger Ritchey took over the entire operation himself two years later and moved it to its permanent location in San Dimas, Calif. Ritchey performs work on everything from restored and replicated versions of the muscle cars of yesterday to today’s high-tech marvels. Like his father, he has assembled a toptiered technical staff that can provide tremendous increases in in horsepower and performance without sacrificing daily street drivability. Said Ritchey, “We take on anything from the simplest of tune-ups to a customer’s wildest dreams, like the 2005 Corvette C-5 that we modified to produce over 1,000 horsepower. We like to think that through our work my father’s legend lives on.”
Article by John Jodauga |
