| Bill Golden | |
| Birth Date: | 31 December 1933 |
| Birth Place: | Shawnee Township, Illinois, US |
| Occupation: | Drag racer |
| Known For: | Driver of the Little Red Wagon A/FX wheelstander |
Billy Lawrence Golden (December 31, 1933 – September 14, 2015),[1] nicknamed "Maverick", was an American drag racer. He is probably best known for driving the Little Red Wagon A/FX wheelstander pickup exhibition racer.
Born in Shawnee Township, Illinois, Golden joined the US Marines and first became interested in drag racing while at Camp Pendleton.[2]
Golden was given his "Maverick" nickname in the late 1950s by an announcer at a Southern California dragstrip, because he chose to drive an unconventional 361cid-powered Dodge Custom Royal.[2] He started racing in AHRA Super Stock, driving Dodges for several years. He was one of the first drivers in AHRA S/S to successfully run an automatic transmission.[3] In 1960, Chrysler offered to provide him parts, when he was driving a Dodge Phoenix, powered by a 330hp 330cid with twin Carter carburetors and cross-ram intake manifold; the car was capable of quarter-mile times of 13.7 seconds.[4]
By 1962, he was a factory driver,[3] driving an S/SA Dodge. At the 1962 AHRA Winternationals, driving his bright yellow hemi "Taxi Cab" Dodge 330, he scored a "stunning" victory over "Dyno Don" Nicholson's 409cid factory Chevrolet at Fontana Drag City,[2] to take the Stock Eliminator title,[3] [4] Chrysler's only Nationals win for 1962.[4]
In 1963, Golden worked with Jim Nelson of Dragmasters to improve the car, and won seven Super Stock races out of eight events, taking the Midwest Championship.[4]
At the end of the 1964 season, Chrysler proposed Golden drive the Little Red Wagon A/FX pickup.[3] which became drag racing's first wheelstanding truck.[5]
Little Red Wagons first outing, at the AHRA Grand American event at Lions Drag Strip, was an 11 second pass at 120mph.[2] The crowd's very enthusiastic reaction prompted Golden to turn the A/FX truck into a wheelstanding exhibition racer, which he developed a steering mechanism for himself, relying on experience from his day job at Douglas Aircraft Corporation.[2] The wheelstander was wrecked in 1969, 1971, and 1975; the third crash was nearly fatal to Golden.[3]
Golden retired in 2003.[2] He died on September 14, 2015.[3]