Les Shockley's career began in 1960 at the age of 16 driving stock cars at the San Gabriel drag strip in California. The Shockleys are originally from California, but moved to Galena, Kansas in 1979 to be more centrally located for racing and exhibitions.

By 1963 Les had landed a job driving the Milne Bros. sponsored Plymouth super stocker. Imagine a fully sponsored racing outfit at the age of 19! He went on to drive other stocks for such notables as Hayden Proffitt, the era's super star of stock classes.

While with Proffitt they won the biggest funny car race ever staged. 8.14 elapsed time (et) and 167 mph was more than any of the 84 competitors could handle.

In 1968 Les built the funniest of funnys - a Rambler Rebel with an honest to goodness Rambler engine. This car debuted at the Nationals in Indianapolis that year, and to the surprise of everyone, set top speed during qualifications on its maiden run. The year this Rebel ran, combined with a strong advertising campaign, saw American Motors in the black for the first time in 7 years.

After setting other funny car records, Les drove street roadsters as a family project, and sold all of his assets to build his lifetime dream, a jet-powered dragster.

Les spent five years researching the project, inquiring with several engineers in the aircraft and race car fields, including Gil Peers, an engineer for Steward-Davis Aircraft who was involved in designing the J-34 jet engine.

The knowledge that Peers shared with Les helped him to produce the most powerful jet engine of its type in racing without sacrificing durability and safety. This 6,000 horsepower engine has propelled SHOCKWAVE jet dragsters to speeds in excess of 350 mph in exhibitions across North America, with runs of over 290 mph with 5-second elapsed times for the standing quarter mile.

In the first year of jet competition, Les kept his winning ways by winning the National Jet Car Championship title at the world famous Orange County International Raceway in 1978. The 1979 season brought Les track records enroute to winning the National Championship for the second year in a row. In 1980 Les drove his second jet dragster to set still another world record at 5.91 et. and a speed of 278 mph, and he became the first person ever to run a 5-second et. with a jet-powered racing machine under the auspices of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).

The 1980 season wasn't complete until Les won 135 races with only 6 losses, and set 72 track records. In 1981 he hit the 100 mark in setting jet dragster records with his all-time best time and speed of 5.61 et. at 294 mph in a quarter mile.

In 1982 Les' attention went from jet-powered dragsters to jet-powered funny cars. By the end of the '83 season, the Shockwave Mustang Funny Car had run at more than 120 exhibitions and was featured in more magazines and television promotions than any of its predecessors.

Not lost for challenges, Les and his son Kent built SHOCKWAVE - a triple engine Peterbuilt truck capable of producing 36,000 horsepower at the speed of sound. They spent 4,000 man hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars building what has now become one of the most sought after acts on the circuit today.

The decision to build SHOCKWAVE didn't come easy says Les. "Always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to entertain people, my oldest son, Kent, told me that the massive size and performance of a semi tractor would make it the most popular vehicle that anyone had ever ran. Boy was he right! It took Kent two years to convince me to build the truck and it took us two more years to actually build it."

THE DECISION TO GET INVOLVED IN THE AIR SHOW ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY CAME BY COINCIDENCE

Many in the air show industry claim to be the first ground act to perform at an air show, the truth is Les ran his jet dragster at the Mojave, CA airport Air Race and Air show in 1978. At that time, Les was asked by air show promoters to perform at their shows, but Les's busy schedule at racetracks would not allow him to do it. In 1987, the producer of an air show in Enid, Oklahoma saw the Shockwave at a Truck and Tractor pull in Oklahoma City and wanted to book him at his show. Les has been a longtime aviator and remembered how much he enjoyed the show at Mojave in 78 and decided to do the Enid Oklahoma Show.

Les decided to actively book air shows for 1988 and saved Aug-October for air shows.

Les took the Shockwave to the first ICAS (International Council Air Shows) convention in December of 1987. When he left the convention, he had booked 12 dates for those three months saved for air shows. He enjoyed doing air shows so much that since 1988, he has booked air shows first and fill in with other events.

So instead of racing other dragsters, he began racing air show planes and burning up old cars and school buses with the fire blasts created by the jet engines. The nighttime rage which has hit air shows also couldn't have come at a better time. SHOCKWAVE lights up the entire runway.

Wherever SHOCKWAVE goes, it gets attention and plenty of publicity, and Les is one fine promoter. The truck's best performance has been 376 mph on a two-mile runway, as recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. "Stand her straight up and she'll pick up 3 g's, the same as what the NASA space shuttle will do."

APPEALING TO MORE THAN AIR SHOW FANS

"We not only give the fan the finest entertainment available," says Les, "but the act appeals to the race fan and truck fans who might not otherwise attend an air show." Les claims that crowds grow by as much as 50 percent at repeat show sites.

We were not able to fill all the requests that promoters had. We built a second truck, the Super Shockwave, in 1993. We took all of the features that made the Shockwave so popular and added the nostalgia of the classic 57 Chevy into one, the Super Shockwave jet truck.