By John Thawley

    At times Tim and John Mulligan appear to have just stepped off the drawing board of the prolific and painfully amusing Al Capp. But the ink never dries on Beebe and Mulligan, and the characterizations never set. They are characters, but they are real characters, not interpretations locked in newsprint.
   Tim answers to "Chops."
    "Why do you call him Chops, John?"
   "Well, I used to know this guy and ho was sorta round and we called him Pork Chops. Then Chops came along, and we just sorta started calling him Chops and ..."
   "Yeah, sure."
   OK, so Chops is the engine-building and tuning half of this well-respected drag race team, and he is knowledgeable far beyond his years (27) in the ranks of those who build supercharged, fuel-burning Chryslers.
Beebe appears older than 27 - long hours extract an exacting toll. A small bag under each eye attests to a continuing dedication to the sport.
   "No matter where I am or what I'm doing, I just keep trying to think of new things to make the car run just a little better."
   And so the car continues to run better. After winning the 1969 NHRA Winternationals and placing second in the Stardust meet two weeks later, the team appears to have latched onto a streak of good luck that was not quick to come, despite the fact they've held the NHRA speed record at 229.50 for many months. "The Fighting Irish" hold e.t. and speed

records at a number of strips and have the dubious honor of claiming the runner-up positions at six major meets in less than 15 months. This prominence in a highly competitive sport did not come overnight for either member of the team. Tim comes from a large racing family. His father was a charter member of the California Roadster Association, so there was always a sprint car or roadster being torn down in the garage, and young Beebe started out cleaning parts for roundy-round racers. For basics, he sat in on an auto shop class in Westminster High and did "homework." He earned some parts money by moonlighting in a body shop. The parts in those days were for a '49 Chevy. Naturally, it was stock-two carbs, bored, et cetera - just like any other stock Chevy you'd run across: Following high school there was on year of junior college, augmented by job in a combination market/service station and one later as a fix-it mechanic in a rental operation. "Used to do tune; ups on those Briggs and Strattons. . . ."
   Beebe brothers Gerald, Dave, and Tim invaded the gasser ranks of Southern California, and Tim picked up the duty of engine builder for the team along the way. The duty held into 1962 and the association of John Mulligan with Tim and brother Roy (he's got five brothers) when they campaigned a blown fuel Chevy altered. "Moe" (Mulligan) handle the driving end of this weekend effort while holding down a succession of job - gas station attendant, "pearl diver" [dishwasher), and driver of a milk truck.

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