Emery raced Fuel Altereds and Funny Cars, and briefly in wheelstanders,[2] as well as serving as crew chief for several top teams.
When Don Petrich quit the Pure Hell team in 1965, Emery replaced him, and stayed five seasons; he frequently match raced his friend "Wild Willie" Borsch.
[2] Starting a Funny Car team in 1973, Jeg Coughlin, Sr. hired Emery to drive for him; he was joined by Gantt (then on Willie Borsch's crew) and Miller.
[2] Coughlin's Chevrolet Camaro won the IHRA national event at Bristol that year, taking a win over Pat Foster in Barry Setzer's Vega.
"Moogoo$e" McEwen, though successful as a match racer, had yet to win his first NHRA national event;[2] his 1973 Duster qualified #17 and only made the field at all after Bobby Rowe could not race.
[2] Replacing the destroyed one with a new, lighter body (Emery always passionate about weight reduction[1]), qualifying #6, the team defeated "Snake" Prudhomme and Dale Pulde, to meet the 1973 Vega of Frank Hall in the final, and win Funny Car, at the Winternats in 1974,[2] taking home a purse of US$13,800.
Though track marshals had to cut him from the car, Emery suffered only a broken bone in his left arm, which was pierced by the lever of the fuel shut-off valve.
[2] In 1979, Emery tuned Blue Max to final round finishes at the Winternationals, Springnationals, and Mile-High Nationals, and wins at the Summernationals and Fallnationals, just edging out Don Prudhomme.
[2] Beadle's increasing attention on NASCAR left the Blue Max suffering, though Emery tuned the car, driven by "Lil' John" Lombardo, to a win at Indy in 1985; it was eventually sold in 1990.
[2] While racing at the 1977 U.S. Nationals, Burkhart's silver Camaro fuel funny car got out of shape, veering toward the centerline (reminiscent of an Altered), then swerved toward the guardrail and abruptly stood on its nose, something never seen before or since (through 2012), rotating along the rail two or three times before coming to rest.
[13] Though track marshals had to cut him from the car, Emery suffered only a broken bone in his left arm, which was pierced by the lever of the fuel shut-off valve.
[2] Besides being a driver, Emery was a skilled innovator and engineer, able to conceive and build parts when needed, including the team's first sixteen-plug heads,[1] as well as a revival of an old idea, dual magnetos.
[2] His ability to innovate, and to build from scratch, has been compared to Dick LaHaie, Alan Johnson, Tim Richards, Austin Coil, and Don Garlits.