Ask any longtime drag racing fan what stands out most in his mind about the 1976 U.S. Nationals and the answer will probably involve either Don Prudhomme or Gary Burgin.

The two Southern Californian veterans squared off in the final round of Funny Car at the 22nd edition of the U.S. Nationals and — although neither knew it at the time — when Burgin pulled off a major upset by defeating "the Snake," he prevented what likely would have been the only season sweep by a racer in NHRA history.

Dave Settles scored a rare A/Fuel Dragster win in Pro Comp with the Settles & Berry entry. Reigning Winston champ Dale Armstrong, winner of the previous two U.S. Nationals, red-lighted in his blown alcohol dragster.

Prudhomme and his vaunted Army-sponsored Monza had won the season's first five races and went on to win the season's final two events, but Burgin stopped him short in the Indy final. His 6.25 was good enough to win after Prudhomme's mount shook violently and then smoked the tires to a losing 6.46.

The loss left "the Snake" with seven wins in eight events in 1976, and actually ended a seven-race winning streak for Prudhomme, who also won the final two events of the 1975 campaign. Ironically, Prudhomme's last loss before then came in the final of the 1975 U.S. Nationals, where he lost to Raymond Beadle in a season in which he won six of eight events.

That a 6.25 would win the Funny Car final in 1976 was amazing considering the preliminary action. Prudhomme, the first to run in the fives in a Funny Car at the 1975 season-ending World Finals, dipped into the fives again for an NHRA record of 5.97 — backed up by a stout 6.03 — and the Funny Car bump spot was Stan Bowman's 6.269, an all-time low.

Burgin made consistent qualifying runs of 6.16, 6.14, and finally a best of 6.12, while Prudhomme ran 5.97, 6.03, 6.05, and 6.13 before eliminations. "The Snake" was just as consistent in eliminations at 6.05, 6.13, 6.15, but Burgin's consistency did in Prudhomme in the final. Burgin's Orange Baron Mustang II also set the meet's top speed of 238.09 mph, then the second fastest in history behind the 241 mph top-end mark recorded by Prudhomme at the '75 World Finals.

Joining Burgin in the winner's circle were Richard Tharp (Top Fuel), Wally Booth (Pro Stock), Dave Settles (Pro Comp), T.C. Christenson (Fuel Bike), Don Carlton (Comp), Don Coonce (Modified), Dave Boertman (Super Stock), and Tom Reider (Stock).

The only time in 1976 that Don Prudhomme wasn't in the Funny Car winner's circle, Gary Burgin was. He stopped "the Snake's" Army Monza in the U.S. Nationals final.

Tharp and the Houma, La.-based team of Paul Candies and Leonard Hughes added to victories at the Cajun Nationals and Summernationals and a runner-up at le Grandnational-Molson with a big win at Indy en route to the 1976 Winston Top Fuel title. Tharp qualified No. 2 at 5.85, 246.57 mph, then overcame tire shake on virtually every run to record times of 5.94, 6.15, 5.85, 5.99, and a final shot of 6.11 against red-lighting John Wiebe and his Donovan-powered entry. Low e.t. went to Gary Beck with a 5.79, but an oil leak in the semi's ended his run. Tharp also set top speed at a sizzling 247.93 mph.

Booth, who appeared to have the field covered at the 1975 U.S. Nationals before red-lighting in the semi's, atoned for that miscue by piloting his AMC Hornet to his second win of the 1976 season. Booth turned the tables in the semi's, taking out performance leader Larry Lombardo, who broke a valve in the Team Jenkins Monza, then defeating first-time finalist Frank Iaconio, who red-lighted away an 8.81. Booth's final-round 8.68 was the second-quickest clocking of the meet behind Lombardo's 8.65 in qualifying.

Settles' Pro Comp victory was a major surprise, as he was wheeling an A/Fuel Dragster, a combination that 25 years ago was not as potent nor as competitive as it is today. Settles, who would go on to become one of the sport's better Top Fuel tuners, battled throughout the event with two other future fuel crew chief greats, Dale Armstrong and Ken Veney.

Settles led much of qualifying with a 6.74 until Armstrong trumped him with a 6.65 to lead the sport's first all-6-second, 32-car Pro Comp field. Settles put away Veney's BB/Funny Car in the semi's, 6.76 to 6.92, then faced off with reigning Winston champ Armstrong's blown alcohol dragster. Armstrong was going for a unique hat trick at Indy, having won Pro Comp in 1974 in a blown alcohol roadster and in 1975 in a BB/FC, but red-lighted away a winning 6.71. Settles shook hard and, not seeing Armstrong's foul, shut off, apparently thinking he had been defeated. It was just the third win in NHRA history for an A/Fuel Dragster.

The Modified final, which featured a pair of early-model Corvettes, was also memorable. Moments after Jerry Ault fouled in his H/Gas entry, he blew the engine and crossed the centerline, narrowly missing the Christmas Tree and Coonce's G/Gasser