NHRA Winternationals Legends featured at NHRA SEMA Show Breakfast
Thursday, November 05, 2009
by John Jodauga, National DRAGSTER Associate Editor
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Legends from NHRA's first 49 Winternationals took the stage at the NHRA Breakfast at the SEMA Show to trade stories (and barbs).
On hand were Don Garlits, voted No. 1 by a select panel of NHRA experts in 2001, John Force (No. 2), Don Prudhomme (No. 3), Bob Glidden (No. 4), Shirley Muldowney (No. 5), and Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins (No. 8), all of whom recorded multiple wins at the traditional season-opening Pomona event.
Veteran NHRA announcer Bob Frey acted as the ringmaster during the lively exchange of hilarious tales and anecdotes about past Winternationals exploits and other racing adventures that kept the large audience of drag racing fans thoroughly entertained. Although many of the panel members claim to have mellowed, it didn’t take long for the intensity of the old rivalries to resurface. A few of the examples included Muldowney taking Garlits to task for “always wanting to have his own way” in lane-choice decisions in their frequent match races and Glidden reminding Jenkins how the rules makers always seemed to add weight to his Fords but never to “the Grump’s” Chevrolets. Force took a more complimentary tone when he told Prudhomme how he had patterned his career after “the Snake's” by copying everything that Prudhomme did, from his burnouts and staging procedures to even his “cool way of walking.”
Following the breakfast, the all-star cast of drag racing legends gathered in the expansive hallway area of the Las Vegas Convention Center for an autograph session near a display that featured many historic cars. Well before the drivers arrived, fans had formed a line that stretched as far as the eye could see, providing yet another example of how the thrills of NHRA Drag Racing have deeply touched so many motorsports enthusiasts.