NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

In recent years, I’ve seen a flood of articles across different sports all asking the same question: Who's on your [fill in the sport or team] Mount Rushmore?

The reference, of course, is to the famous national monument where the faces of four U.S. presidents — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln — are carved into a South Dakota mountain. While all four are undoubtedly deserving, many have debated whether other figures should have been honored instead. With only four spots, hard choices had to be made, and they had to stand the test of time.

So, when Antron Brown won Top Fuel two weeks ago in Charlotte, which gave him 63 career wins in a fuel dragster, breaking the tie he had with Larry Dixon for second place on the class’ all-time wins list, I started thinking about who should be on a mythical Top Fuel version of Mount Rushmore, one that would still be valid 10 or 20 years from now.

In Charlotte, I joked with Brown that after his 63rd win, he "only" had 24 more to catch Tony Schumacher. Lo and behold, Schumacher then won in St. Louis last weekend, pushing his total to 88. As I reflected on the careers of Schumacher, Brown, Dixon, Doug Kalitta, and Steve Torrence — currently the top five in career Top Fuel wins — it made me wonder how future generations will view their legacies. Each of these drivers has years left to add to their remarkable careers.

It’s a bit of a shame that the accomplishments of today’s Top Fuel drivers are often overshadowed by the legendary names of the past. No matter how impressive their records become, they’ll likely never escape the long shadows cast by Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney.

This is especially on my mind as we prepare for NHRA’s 75th anniversary celebration in 2026, where we will unveil the 25 modern-day racers that we will be adding to our original Top 50 Drivers list from NHRA’s 50th anniversary in 2001.

(At one point, we considered starting from scratch with a new "Top 75" list, but that felt unfair. Following the examples set by NASCAR and the NBA with their own Top 75 lists — where they added 25 names without removing anyone from the original 50 — felt like the right move.)

Back in 2001, Garlits topped the Top 50 list, edging out John Force by a surprisingly large margin (25 first-place votes to 5), despite Force's superior statistics. But Garlits is a revered figure, and his place in drag racing history is undeniable.

The careers of Brown, Schumacher, Dixon, Kalitta, and Torrence had barely begun in 2000, so none were included on the original list, but it’s almost certain that the select group of judges I have empaneled to help with the new selections will include them all this time.

It has been more than two decades since Garlits last burned nitro at an NHRA event, and I wonder how he’ll be regarded 20 years from now — especially if Schumacher reaches 100 wins or Brown and Kalitta win a few more championships. Will Garlits still be seen as the king of Top Fuel?

Certainly, few did more to inject innovation, drama, history, and fame into the Top Fuel ranks in the 1970s and ‘80s than Garlits, who revolutionized the class with the first successful rear-engined dragster, and, of course, Muldowney, who not only blazed the trail for women in the class but was Garlits’ main rival. Their battles raged across the country, often far from the national stage, played out at match races at tracks big and small over an often tortuous appearance schedule.

You could say the same about Joe Amato’s impact in the 1980s and ‘90s. He didn’t run many match races but won five world championships and, with crew chief Tim Richards, also changed the face of the class with the tall rear wing configuration. People also forget that more than two decades after he hung up his lucky Snoopy underwear, Amato remains the sixth-winningest driver in Top Fuel history with 52 wins, so here's your reminder.

So, I ask again, who belongs on Top Fuel’s Mount Rushmore?

Well, you gotta have Garlits, right? And Muldowney seems like another no-brainer, even though their combined career NHRA wins total (53) barely passes Amato. Does Amato make the cut? It feels right historically, but is it fair to give three out of four spots to racers who haven’t competed in more than 20 years?

When you consider Schumacher’s dominance — with eight NHRA championships and 88 wins — he certainly deserves a place. His record easily outshines Garlits' three NHRA titles and 35 wins, although Garlits’ career spanned different eras of competition and innovation.

(A quick mea culpa: Here I’m focusing on NHRA numbers. Between NHRA, AHRA, and IHRA, Garlits claims 17 world championships and 144 wins against varying levels of competition.)

Garlits only competed in 119 NHRA events due largely to the single-digit event schedule of most of his early career — the schedule didn’t reach double digits until 1979, by which time Garlits had been racing in Top Fuel for 16 years and won 18 events, or more than half of his career total — while Schumacher will start his 573rd next weekend in Dallas. Garlits won 30% of the races he entered, while Schumacher has won 15%, a testament to how tough competition has become. Yet Schumacher’s Indy wins (10 to Garlits’ 8) and his sustained dominance over 20-plus-race seasons makes a strong case for his inclusion.

Garlits’ main career stretched about 25 years, about the same as Schumacher's, but they raced in completely different eras.

I’m not saying that the level of competition was greater or less in Garlits’ time or that racing was easier or harder or required more money or technology or sponsor commitments in Schumacher’s, but it’s hard to measure them against one another. 

As a driver, no one seemed more focused and drove, as Schumacher liked to refer to it, like “a machine.” Sure, Alan Johnson brewed the power that carried Schumacher to the bulk of his success, whereas Garlits and a rotating Swamp Rat Pack of accomplices built and tuned his cars, but Schumacher always got the job done behind the wheel.

Brown has three world championships and is leading the pack with three races to go and a fourth in his sights. He’s a bright, articulate, talented driver and now team owner, and many would say that he’s the new face of Top Fuel. Does that face belong on our Mount Rushmore?

Dixon was Schumacher’s co-star in the 2000s, and if it weren’t for the existence of the other, both of their totals would probably be much higher. Both are second-generation nitro pilots who made their fathers and the class proud. He’s a true lover of the history of our sport and one of the class’ finest wheelmen.

And what of Kalitta? No one has had a longer career in the class than “Air Doug,” who earlier this year started his 600th career event. Kalitta has raced a full season every season since 1998. He’s been there through thick and thin, always shows up, and always is a threat to win. (Schumacher is close but ran several partial seasons early in his career and sat out all of 2019.)

And while we’re mentioning the Kalitta name, what about Connie? Even though he won just 10 national events as a driver, he has been an active part of Top Fuel for more than 60 years, and he can easily be viewed as the architect of all of Doug’s wins and his long-awaited championship last year, as well as all of Scott Kalitta’s wins (17 plus two championships), plus assorted Top Fuel wins for drivers like Shawn Langdon, J.R. Todd, David Grubnic, Richie Crampton, Muldowney, and Hillary Will. Would you put his face on our monument?

I also have to throw Torrence’s name in here. He’s got four Top Fuel world championships — more than anyone not named Schumacher or Amato — has a higher winning percentage than Schumacher (16.7 to 15.3) and is the only driver to sweep the six-race Countdown to the Championship in any class. Is there room for a cowboy hat on the hill?

Kenny Bernstein and Gary Scelzi also are on the list of top 10 Top Fuel winners and would be higher if both didn’t split their careers between Top Fuel and Funny Car. Bernstein also has the first 300-mph card in his hand. And then there’s my old buddy Cory McClenathan, who never won a championship but won the NHRA U.S. Nationals twice and has just one fewer national event win than Garlits. Regrettably, I don’t think any of these three make this list.

So, I wonder: Who’s on your Top Fuel Mount Rushmore?  These guys? Anyone else I forgot? Let me know who and why. The address is below. Then we can start chiseling.

Phil Burgess can be reached at pburgess@nhra.com

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