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At the begining of the 1984 race season Tony went to the Easter Event at Santa Pod Raceway and met British dragracer Dave Gibbons. Dave told Tony that his racecar was up for sale but at the time Tony did not have the cash Dave was asking for the car. Sometime around August Tony got a call from Dave asking if he was still interested in his racecar, they came to an agreement and in September 1984 Tony was the proud owner of a 23' Roadster at the age of 22.
After Dave had made a new rollcage for the Model'T and welded it on it was time for Tony to try his new ride, so in November of '84 at a very cold and almost snowing Santa Pod Raceway Tony made his first run in his new race car. Tony said tat he did not know if he was cold or scared because he was shaking so much. |
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A question Tony has been asked many times is "how he got the Nickname "Chunky".
It started at a dinner table in Wellingbrough England. After Tony´s first race with the Model 'The was having dinner fellow racers and John Price the Commentator at Santa Pod Raceway. John had asked Tony "do you have a nick name" Tony said "no don't have one" and John said "well if Dave Gibbons has the nickname "Funky" and he had to make your rollcage taller then you have to be Chunky right". The next day as Tony drove up to the burn-out box in Santa Pod he heard John over the PA say"here comes Tony Chunky Morris" .After the run a lot of people in the pits asked hey Chunky whats the story on the new name and since explaining that "Chunky" is the guy that needed a taller rolecage - well that´s him Tony "Chunky" Morris.So now Tony had an 8 second race car, that was 2.5 seconds faster than his last race car and was equiped with N2O (Nitrous) and his plan was to go one step at a time. |
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1985 - The season of 1985 started and together with his team mate Lutz Bernhard, Tony visited the first race of the season, the Easter Event at Santa Pod. Four days of great racing where promised, but because of rain only four runs where made, as the race had to be cancelled. Tony said he remembers the best run he made that weekend was 10.02 seconds just using the trans brake and without the nitrous! By the end of the year the team had raced in England four times and once in Zaandvoort, Holland. There was only one race in Germany that year which took place at Giebelstadt but it too got rained off which meant there was no club championship that year, which surely Tony had a good chance of winning due to the way things had worked out that season. But he did get a trophy for the fastest German car that year, for a 8.67 ET that he had ran at the World Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in September. |
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1986 - Again the team was off to Santa Pod to get more seat time at the Easter Event.
1986 was the year when the german drag racing went from racing on small airfields to the famous Hockenheim F1 circuit. Before the event Tony was asked by the promoter of the Hockenheim NitrOlympics Rico Anthes if he was interested in making a run on live TV in front of millions of vierwes, on the popular TV show "NA SOWAS" moderated by the famous german showmaster Thomas Gottschalk. The TV-Show was a great opportunity for the sport itself and really cool and fun for Tony as Rico and him ran each other with a flag start! The day before the live show Rico and Tony where both asked to run in the pouring rain, so the production crew could get the camera angles and timing down for the show. Tony was a driving sponage, but he said he will never forget the great weekend they had. In 1986 Tony was the Winner of the 1.DVD Club Championship and for the first time the Winner of the HARA Club Points-Championship. |
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1987 - While Tony was in England for the 1986 World Finals he started laying out the plan for the season 1987 together with Dave Gibbons of Rough Diamond Racing. Over the winter months all the parts that they needed where ordered and the race car was shiped off to England so Dave Gibbons could go to work on it. |
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The following weekend the team raced at Zandvoort in Holland, at the last race held there. In the second round Tony was up against Russ Carpenter in his small 2.5 litre V8 Heim Dragster. Tony knew he needed to step it up as Russ was much faster.
Tony decided to use the nitrous for the first time on the new engine. About 100 meters out the engine went south because there was not enought fuel for the nitrous and the damage was done. After the run Tony said "oh boy - was that a mistake". The team got to work and replaced the motor with the old proven set up that Tony had ran before. They ended up winning a race or to, one or two, one of which was the World Finals in England against fellow racer Rico Anthes in his "Rico´s Benz" and Tony also won runner up at the Euro Series event in France at St Quinton near Paris. |
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1988 - For the 1988 racing season the injected engine had to be rebuilt and after Dave took care of that the team went to the opening event at Santa Pod Raceway in England. The team decided that for the complete season they would run without the nitrous, to try and get a handle on the injected engine. Their best runs were in the low nines for that season. |
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1989 - F 1989 was a great year for the german drag racing scene, as the propierters of the Hockenheim Ring went ahead and built a purpose built drag strip. The first 1/8 mile of the surface being soley for dragracing and the rest of the racing surface being part of the Formula1 circuit and also with plenty of run off to stop. The promoter of the Hockenheim NitrOlympics Rico Anthes again asked Tony, if he would be interested in doing a burn-out on live TV on the popular german weekend show "Fernseh Garten" - which Tony was very happy to do. Rico himself ran his jet car in the TV-show, the idea was to advertise the new track and get more spectators |
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The appearance on TV must have worked, as 70.000 fans showed up and the rest is history! On Tony´s second run down the new Hockenheim 1/4-mile, he broke both rear axles - so he knew then how good the new track really was! With the help from the Team Peter Schöfer (today Top Alchohol Dragster) Tony was ready for the next run. He lost in round one with a run of 8.60 @260km. That year Tony missed participating at the World Finals in Santa Pod and went to Denmark instead, which was the only time he ever got to race there. |
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1990 - This was going to be the last year in which Tony was going to race the Model T. The publics interest in drag racing had increased over the last few years in Germany, the racers themselves were investing more time and money into the sport, new cars where arriving on the scene and bigger engines where being inserted and some racer drivers were stepping up to higher classes. Tony knew that the his racecar needed to be upgraded if he wanted to go faster and also be safer. So again the car was shipped off to England early that year where Dave Gibbons went to work on it, replacing the front end with a better one - now the car was fitted with tripods and the rear end had the drive-shafts replaced with some custom 31 spine axles from Mark Williams. Dave had the idea of raising the spoiler above the roll cage and Tony gave the go ahead. Kai Liebig from the company 10.000rpm Nitrous Systems added a further nitrous kit to the engine and the team expected some good time slips from these changes. The teams first race was again at the BDRA (British Drag Racing Association) Easter Event at Santa Pod Raceway in England. Tony ended up in the Finals running against Brian Thomas, a man that never left anything at the start line and again won the event giving Tony yet another runner-up finish. The second event of the season for the team, was at the Long Marston race track which was re-named that year to Avon Park Raceway. This was the first event on the track with the brand new surface and some upgrades, which proved to be a little tricky as Jeff Hauser crashed his Ford Sierra and went off the track surface, resulting in the event being changed to a 1/8 mile race. In the second round Tony was again up against Brian Thomas and again Tony lost. The team travelled back to Santa Pod for the next event, which was cut short for Tony because of a a problem with one of the rear axles. Within a week the car was back on the track (with a lot of help from some good friends) at a run what you brung event at Santa Pod. Tony said he needed to know that all was well before leaving England, as he had planed on running the following week in the town of Orange in France where a Euro-Series event was being held. Two good runs where made - a 8.40 and a 8.38 which was the fastest time Tony had run up to then. After only two days of being home in Germany, Tony was on the road again to Orange in France. The race in Orange was the only round of the Euroseries to be ran that year, so whoever won the race would be crowned the champion. The two drivers met in the final and Tony's plan was to get a hole shot on Robin - Tony thought by doing this Robin might try too hard to catch up and as the track was in bad shape, it might make Robin over rev his engine and by doing so maybe be break his manifold again. Tony got his hole shot and heard the manifold pop on the track while in front of Robin. So after five years of trying Tony had won the Euro-Series which was a big highlight for him and his team that year. There was alot of great racing in that year for Tony as he went on to win in Mulhouse France, then as runner-up to the Hot 13 of Bernd Seminati in Zeltweg Austria, which was a semi final finish to good friend Werner Habbermann and after that another win in England at the World Finals against Ian Lloyd in "Gonzo the great". |
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Tony ended the season with his 5th titel of the 1.DVD Club Champion and his 4th titel of the HARA Club Champion and for the first time the titel as the Euroseries Champion. Tony also recorded his fastest time in Hockenheim in May with a 8.16 @160mph.
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1991 - After a Tony had been on a trip to Florida in February of 1991, he decided he needed more racing! So plans where made to sell Tony´s race car, so that he could travel to the United States later in the year, to purchase a new car and then race in the USA.
The old engine was put back into the Model `T - the engine the car had originally been equiped and raced with by Dave Gibbons and Tony. In May of 1991 Tony entered the Hockenheim NitrOlympics for the last time and it was there that he sold the car to the new owner Peter Hug. But this would not be the last time Tony would race in Germany!
At the last minute a plan was made and Tony's former injected engine out of the Model `T was then built into "The Beast". From north Germany the team travelled on to Alteno in east Germany and further on to Zeltweg Austria, finally ending up back in Hockenheim in central Germany, where Tony did a huge wheelie off the |
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 On December 9th Tony flew to Florida and within 8 days was taking his licence at the Orlando Speedworld Dragstrip in Robby Gentry's (owner of the A1 Speedshop in Orlando Florida) 1970 Super Gas Nova.Tony ran a 10.16 and then went on to run a 9.66, which was too fast for the track manager who kindly asked Tony to make a slower run on his last pass. 10 days later Tony and Robby again showed up at Orlando Speedworld to finish Tony´s licence runs, which he did with no problems. On the same day Tony entered a bracket race at Orlando Speedworld in Super Pro, this was a whole new experience as Tony was racing against racers that where used to racing all year long and also used delay boxes. The Nova Tony was driving was not equiped with a delay box. But as Tony felt comfortable as he was used to leaving on the  bottom bulb anyway. When Tony won the first round it was a great end to the year for him - even though the next-round he red-lighted. |
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There have been many people who have helped Tony´s desire to race, but Tony said his biggest supporters where his parents and they had to put up with alot! Without his parents the first twelve years of his racing career would not have been possible. Without a doubt Tony´s european racing career between 1980 – 1991 would never have been the same without the dedication and support of the following indivuals and these are just some of the people Tony would like to thank: |
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Roland Morris & Susan Morris
Hans-Joachim Kloss Jerry Lackey Willi Hestermann Fred Hestermann Heini Habermann Werner Habermann Rolf Nohl Lutz Bernhard Ferdinand Schwintek Dave Gibbons Dick Hogben Jack and Rosie Davis Bob Cote Brian Thomas Robin Reed Christian Petzold Rico Anthes Peter Jansen Kai and Kerstin Liebig Eric Schenkenberger Matthias Seidler Peter Schöfer Racing Rick Burdette |
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In 1986 the body was repainted by Christian Petzold at the workshop of Metalflake Germany - and it looked really cool in it`s new colours:
But the highlight of the year was winning the Euro-Series Event in Zandvoort Holland in Competion Car, which at the time was heads up:
or the 1989 racing season Tony had the car repainted and again Melalfake Germany did a great job painting the car in complete new colours. Two new sponsors where found that year, being Kai Liebig Performance the distributor of 10.000rpm nitrous systems and Cardue O2 a specialised supplier of gases (nitrous) - so the year 1989 Tony was back on the gas.
Tony´s team mate and friend Rolf Nohl offered Tony to race his car "The Beast" an Opel GT as Rolf knew that Tony was organizing his departure to the States and had no time to organize a another ride after selling the Model`T.