1001 Drag Racing Facts. Doug Boyce
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5.91.
131 The last member to join Cragar’s 5-second club was Frank Bradley, who ran a 5.94 at Orange County on June 29, 1974. Bradley was also around long enough to become the 10th member of the 4-second club, hitting a 4.998 at Pomona on October 25, 1989.
Mike Snively, driving “Diamond Jim” Annin’s rear-engine car used the NHRA 1972 season-ending Supernationals to ring in a new, quicker age in Top Fuel. (Photo Courtesy Peter Quinn)
132 The success of Garlits’ rear-engine Swamp Rat in 1971 really rejuvenated interest and innovation in Top Fuel. Roy Fjastad (SPE Chassis) went to work building a hexagon-shaped wedge car that customer Fred Fardon fell in love with and just had to have. When a divorce ended that dream, Vince Rossi and Tommy Lisa scooped up the car. The Tom Hanna hexagon-shaped body wrapped Fjastad’s 180-inch wheelbase chassis and power came from a Keith Black 426. Bill Tidwell, Danny Ongais, and Jack Martin each drove the wedge. According to Rossi’s son, Jim, the wedge was the first Top Fueler in the 5s. Bill Tidwell hit a 5.99 at Lions in 1972, but track manager Steve Evans refused to recognize it. Ongais eventually got the wedge into the record books with a 243.24-mph time, recorded at Supernationals in 1972. They ran the wedge into 1974 before selling it to Harry Nunn in Texas.
133 Tony Nancy, drag racing’s custom upholsterer extraordinaire, holds the distinction of being the only Top Fueler to smoke the Goodyears down the famed Hollywood Boulevard. It was during the grand opening of Petersen’s Motorama Cars of the Stars show on March 20, 1975, that Tony donned a fire suit over his shirt and tie.
134 Shirley Muldowney became the first woman in drag racing to earn an Unlimited Fuel driver’s license, accomplishing the feat during the summer of 1973 at Dragway Park in Cayuga, Ontario. Muldowney borrowed Bobby “Poncho” Rendon’s Top Fuel Frito Bandito. On hand to witness the accomplishment were partner Connie Kalitta and fellow racers Tommy Ivo and Don Garlits.
Shirley Muldowney never cared much for her “Cha-Cha” moniker. She joined the Funny Car ranks in 1971. (Photo Courtesy Roger Phillips)
135 Jim Bucher of West Chester, Ohio, was on a quickly shrinking list of those running a big-block Chevy in Top Fuel. He was also one of the last to win an NHRA national event with a Chevy-powered Top Fueler. Bucher’s rail featured a Stebbins chassis and was powered by a 468-inch aluminum Chevy. At the rain-delayed 1975 Summernationals, Jim faced Gary Beck in the final. Jim, who had been running consistent 6.50s on the bad track, had an easy go of it in the finals after Beck hazed the tires off the line. Jim and his Chevy first drew national attention in 1973 when he set the Top Fuel ET record at 6.07 at the Gatornationals. The best time for the Chevy was a 5.91 at 248 mph.
136 Garlits sets both ends of the Top Fuel record in October of 1975 with an unheard-of 5.637 at 250.69. The record held until July 1982. He ran the phenomenal numbers during the NHRA World Finals at OCIR.
137 Mark Oswald in the Top Fuel car of Candies & Hughes was the one who finally put away Garlits’ long-standing record. At the 1982 NHRA Summernationals at Englishtown, New Jersey, Mark qualified the dragster with a string of 5.60s before hitting a magical 5.61 at 252.80 mph. At the end of the meet, Oswald walked away with both ends of the record, 5.61 at 254.23 mph, and won it all by defeating Jeb Allen in the final.
138 Marvin Graham seemingly came out of nowhere in 1974 to take Top Fuel honors at the NHRA U.S. Nationals. Marvin, an Oklahoma TV repairman, defeated Gaines Markley with a 6.17. Escalating costs saw independent Marv retire in the early 1980s.
139 As tough as it may be for the Warren, Coburn & Miller faithful to fathom, James Warren only won two national events in his fabled Top Fuel career: the Winternationals in 1968 (with the front-engine dragster) and the 1976 Gatornationals. The Ridge Route Terrors were runner-up to Frank Bradley at the 1976 winter meet and then beat Chevrolet stalwart Bucher in the final at Gainesville. Top Fuel wins also came at Bakersfield in 1975, 1976, and 1977; and Division 7 points championships were garnered five years running between 1972 and 1976.
140 Don Garlits’ Navy sponsorship ended in 1977 due in large part to a critical editorial written in the Los Angeles Times. The Times raised the point that Garlits’ religious cross and the wording “God Is Love” written on the cowl of Swamp Rat 24 conflicted with the military’s philosophy of neutrality of faith.
141 Mark Prudhomme, nephew of the Snake, briefly followed in Don’s shoes, spending time in an econo dragster during the mid-1970s. By 1979 he was partnered with Coburn and drove the Coors Rain For Rent Top Fueler after James Warren called it quits. The partnership lasted through 1983, when Coburn retired. Mark later drove the Neuman & Kerhulas car through 1985.
142 Jeb Allen holds the distinction of being only one of two drivers to win championships from all three sanctioning bodies. And he accomplished the feat while still in his 20s. Jeb first struck in 1977, winning the AHRA title. In 1980 he grabbed the IHRA title, and in 1981 he took the NHRA title. The other driver to grab championships in all three? None other than Big Daddy Garlits.
143 Although drag racing may be an American sport, the thrill of it all hasn’t been lost on the rest of the world. The sport caught on in Europe around 1960, and since then, a lot of British fans have jumped the pond to race in the United States. The most successful of the lot was Clive Skilton, who first competed in Top Fuel at the 1973 NHRA Winternationals. He became a permanent resident of California in 1976 and purchased the Woody Gilmore car of Kuhl & Olson. His best showing came the following year at the Springnationals where he faced Muldowney in the finals. It appeared the race was Clive’s until Donovon’s 417-inch let loose on the top end and Muldowney drove around him with a 6.11 to Clive’s close 6.15.
144 Skilton was no newcomer to drag racing, having established himself in Europe before leaving his mark in the United States. In 1969, he became the first European to make a 7-second pass, accomplishing the feat in Sweden with his blown rail. He was the first to break 200 mph (in 1971 at Santa Pod Raceway). In 1975, he made Europe’s first 6-second Funny Car pass at Snetterton in Norfolk, England. Clive is Europe’s version of Big Daddy and his name fills the history books and halls of fame.
145 The first 6-second Top Fuel time outside of America goes to England’s Dennis “Mr. Six” Priddle, who accomplished the feat in May 1972. He propelled his 392-inch Keith Black front-engine dragster to a 6.995 at Santa Pod and backed it up with a 6.93 at 203.
146 “King” Richard Tharp’s off-track stories are memorable and include such antics as making the FBI look like keystone cops as they attempted to nab him for avoiding the Vietnam draft. They finally caught up with him hiding in Jimmy Nix’s coat closet. Tharp’s first national event victory came at the 1976 NHRA Summernationals. Driving the Candies & Hughes Top Fueler, he defeated Jeb Allen with a 5.99 at 244.56 mph to a 6.04 at 231.36 mph. Tharp parlayed the win into a season-ending world championship.
147 The last big-block Chevy to win an NHRA national event was a Dwayne Lidtke and Ray Zeller car, driven by Stan Shiroma at the 1977 Fallnationals. The team accomplished the feat using an iron-block Chevy. The final-round opponent, Rance McDaniel’s Rodeck-powered rail, died on the line and Shiroma singled for the win. And yes, this was also the last all-Chevy Top Fuel final.
148 When Kelly Brown came back after his three-year hiatus in 1978 to win the NHRA Top Fuel Championship, many wondered who he was. Kelly was runner-up to Prudhomme at the 1969 Nationals and had spent time driving Don Rackemann’s Wonder Wagon Vega Funny Car before retiring, or so we thought, to a life as a Hollywood stuntman. Kelly’s world championship came in convincing fashion