It took just one run for the 1986 Chief Nationals at Billy Meyer's all-new Texas Motorplex to establish itself as one of the greatest races in NHRA history.

As the first Professional driver to test the all-concrete quarter-mile, Darrell Gwynn rocketed to a 5.28, the first Top Fuel pass in the 5.2s and .06-second quicker than "Big Daddy" Don Garlits' 5.34 elapsed-time record.

Gwynn's run was the first of many memorable performances during the weekend. By the conclusion of the event, all of NHRA's fuel-racing records had been smashed.

Top Fuel eliminations provided the latest chapter in the ongoing battle between Gwynn and Garlits that highlighted the battle for the 1986 Winston Top Fuel title.

Darrell Gwynn, far lane, who earlier had established an NHRA record at 5.26, fell to Don Garlits in the 1986 Chief Nationals final when Garlits parlayed a huge holeshot into his 34th career victory.

Gwynn, who benefited from the tuning expertise of Kenny Bernstein's crew chief, Dale Armstrong, later improved to a 5.26 at 278 mph, setting both ends of the Top Fuel record. Gwynn never ran slower than 5.38 in eliminations and easily reached the final round with a 5.27 to 5.56 win over Hank Endres.

As had been the case a few weeks earlier at the U.S. Nationals, Garlits entered the final as a huge underdog. His Super Shops entry could muster only a 5.46 in his narrow semifinal win over old rival Connie Kalitta.

Garlits received a little help from above when a torrential downpour postponed the final round for more than an hour. Under the lights and in front of a packed house of more than 41,000 fans, Garlits — as he did many times in his career — overcame the odds and strapped an enormous .456 to .615 holeshot on his Florida neighbor. Hopelessly behind, Gwynn chopped the throttle as Garlits drove to a 5.39 victory, the 34th of his Hall of Fame career.

"No doubt the rain worked to my advantage," said Garlits, who used the win to help secure the 1986 Winston championship. "I remember Darrell came up to me and seemed a little nervous about the track conditions after it stopped. I told him that I thought the track would probably be better. The rain probably washed all the oil off."

If Gwynn's runs were stunning, then Bernstein's Funny Car performance was downright unbelievable. The reigning Funny Car champ, who had made the sport's first 5.5-second run a few weeks earlier in Indianapolis, buried that mark with a 5.42 from his Budweiser King Tempo.

Bernstein and Armstrong had been experimenting with a lockup clutch and had the whole field covered by nearly two-tenths. Not since Don "the Snake" Prudhomme ran 5.63 at the 1982 U.S. Nationals had anyone had such an enormous performance advantage.

With the rest of the field straining to run 5.5s, Bernstein met with little resistance, running a 5.55, a 5.57, and a final-round 5.54 against Tom McEwen's Coors Corvette to virtually lock up the Winston title.

"This is the best track in the United States and the best surface," said Bernstein. "Frankly, I don't think you'll see the Top Fuel [elapsed-time] record broken here until next year. My 5.54 might be broken, maybe at one of the Pomona races, but it will be tough."

Kenny Bernstein had one of his most dominant seasons in 1986. At the inaugural Texas Motorplex event, Bernstein drove his Budweiser King Tempo to a 5.42 and the win. The next quickest Funny Car run of the event was a 5.59.

Only Mark Oswald prevented a clean sweep of the event by Bernstein. The Candies & Hughes driver made three runs in excess of 260 mph, including a best of 268.09, to steal the speed record.

Warm temperatures prevented the naturally aspirated Pro Stock cars from taking full advantage of the superior track conditions at Texas Motorplex, but numbers took a backseat to Bob Glidden, who won the 50th race of his career. Glidden all but locked up the seventh of his 10 Winston titles when he drove his Chief Auto Parts Thunderbird past a red-lighting Warren Johnson in the final.

The performances in the alcohol classes were consistent with those turned in by the fuel cars. Bill Barney ran the sport's quickest Alcohol Dragster elapsed time, 6.24, in qualifying, and Vern Moats paced the stout Alcohol Funny Car show with a solid 6.30, but neither driver hung around long enough to collect a title. Bill Walsh won the T/AD title, and homestate favorite Chuck Phelps came all the way from the bump spot to collect his first Alcohol Funny Car title.

Other Sportsman winners were Randy Ross (Comp), Ed Burkert (Super Stock), Lyn Smith (Stock), and Melvin LeForbes (Super Gas), who won in his first national event appearance.

As incredible as they were, the performance numbers don't tell the whole story of the 1986 Chief Nationals because in many ways the facility itself was the star of the show. Texas Motorplex, built by Funny Car star Meyer, featured stadium-style seating, a paved pit area, an enormous tower and suite complex, and an all-concrete quarter-mile.

The track provided the ultimate in spectator and racer amenities and set the standard for the current crop of NHRA supertracks, including Houston Raceway Park, Heartland Park Topeka, and, later, Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Bristol Dragway, and the all-new Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.