Keeping NHRA Fans Up to Date
Follow our coverage through our newly designed news and videos sections. Don't forget to follow our social media posts.
The return of Fan Fotos
There has been so much to talk about lately that I’d forgotten how long it has been since I reached into the vault for Fan Fotos. In this column’s earlier years, I ran these pretty regularly as a way to thank everyone for their support and interest…
Another Memorable Motorplex Moment
First Top Fuel five: Missed it
First Funny Car five: Ditto
First 300: Not present
…
Fan Fotos: New England
" width="100%"
Welcome to Fan Fotos, the sequel! Steve Heuer – and quite a few others -- took advantage of my offer two weeks ago to display their 10 best fan photos, and here they are. Again, the purpose of this is to show off…
How the elephant crushed the guardrail
Even when you truly enjoy the subject matter, the reader response, and the thrill of telling a new story, writing a biweekly column can be tough. (I can’t imagine what I was thinking when I began this column more than four years ago as a thrice-…
Open houses, early chutes, and finals gone wrong
As I knew it would, Tuesday’s column about early shutoffs elicited a few more head-slapping incidents of drivers lifting too soon or woofing the chute prematurely. So let’s take a look at a few more prime examples, then we’…
Don't lift until you've heard the referee's whistle
I coached youth hockey for my son’s teams for a number of years, and one of the things I always worked hard to remind the kids of was to keep playing until they heard the referee’s whistle; until then, the puck is live, and play is ongoing. You may…
NHRA's first computers
Everyone who has ever owned a computer has a "my first computer" story. Whether your earliest experiences with the "ones and zeros" was a Commodore 64 that loaded programs from a cassette player or you just finally got wired and broke your computer'…
More Indy yearbook feedback ... and 'Jungle's' wedge
Back safe and sound and mostly caught up after the Big Go (my 29th straight!), and I thought I’d wrap up a few loose ends before moving on to our next topic. The 1977 NHRA U.S. Nationals Yearbook continues to be a favorite topic (I’m…
My favorite time of year(book)
Whether you’re lost in the woods or tortuously filling and tying off scores of water balloons for your 4-year-old grandson’s “swim party,” it’s good to know you’re not alone, and when it comes to admiration for the 1977…
The 1977 NHRA U.S. Nationals Yearbook
Drag racing fans still love the printed word (thank goodness for me!), which explains why a lot of us still have library-worthy collections of old drag racing magazines – Super Stock, Drag Racing USA, …
Chi-Town and 'Jungle': Farrrrrrrrrrr out!
Lots of thumbs-up (and one thumbs-down, as you will read) for last Friday’s column about the Chi-Town Hustler and “Jungle Jim” Liberman, which I guess should well be expected seeing as how they’re two of a handful of surefire winning column topics…
Clearing the table (again)
Like a busboy in an all-you-can-eat restaurant, seems like I can’t clear the plates fast enough to satisfy your rabid hunger, so I’m going to try to use today to wipe the table clean of some news and notes I’ve had scattered across my desk. (I wish…
The day that 'Jungle' drove the Chi-Town Hustler
It’s a fact of life that just when you think you know everything about something, you get slapped upside the head, which happened to me (again) this week.
Everyone knows the story of the great Chi-Town Hustler, how engineering ace John Farkonas,…
Open for business, again
As any of you who have been around this cantina for any length of time full know, it’s as much your own memorable morsel as the main course that I serve up that makes this column the popular potluck it has become.
Despite me hanging out the…
The slingshot's last hurrah
Who had the first slingshot dragster is certainly debateable, but Mickey Thompson long took credit for it with this car, pictured in 1954.
Tomorrow marks the anniversary of a very telling date in…
Second helpings
Yeah, and they have pretty cool t-shirts, too ...
Friday’s "Food for Thought” column about dragstrip delicacies may have been…
Food for thought
It may well be the most famous and photographed concession stand in drag race history, showing up in the background behind superstar racers burning rubber at Irwindale Raceway in the 1960s and ‘70s, and…
A farewell to Dave Condit
I was all set to kick off a discussion of dragstrip food when I learned yesterday about the passing of former Funny Car racer Dave Condit. I guess John Force mentioned it on the air during this weekend's ESPN2 show from Denver, but because I was…
And, finally, ‘the Snake’ weighs in
(Above) The "slightly off" Rapid Transit paint scheme and (below) the real deal.
(Above) The same Rapid Transit car, new '91 grille treatment, another kinda-sorta…
All Snake, all the time
Over the wails of frustration from the few residents of the Insider Nation complaining about the current “all-Snake-all-the-time” format … sorry ‘bout that, and here we go again.
Last Friday, I left the floor open for further comments/discussion…
What became of the original yellow 'Cuda?
I knew this would come up one day – I just didn’t know it would be two years later – but now seems to be about the perfect time considering the recent subject matter concerning Don Prudhomme and Barracudas. It may give you an excellent idea of what…
The 'other' black 'Cuda
(Above) Don Prudhomme shook down the Snake III 'Cuda at OCIR prior to its debut at the 1973 Supernationals. (Below) The fully decaled/painted car as it appeared at the Supernationals and Lions' Last Drag Race. (Steve…
Red Gooses, black Snakes, and steam catapults
After somewhat reluctantly (yet honor bound to do so) publishing mixed reviews of the replica Hot Wheels Duster Funny Car in last Friday’s column, I was glad to see an outpouring of support for the project from fans. Though…
That was then, this is now
Coming or going, you can nitpick the differences between the original, as shown in the first and third photos supplied by Bob Snyder and shot at the 1970 AHRA Summernationals at New York National Speedway,…
It's ready!
Just a real quick hit this morning while I try to dig myself out from the chaos that is my desk anytime that I travel to a national event. We didn’t get back into SoCal from our trip to Norwalk until late yesterday, so I didn’t get a chance to drop…
M&R revisited, and the tale of Bob Gibson
After posting here last week about Roger “Riceman” Lee’s upcoming re-creation of the Masters & Richter Top Fueler, it didn’t take me long to get the expected reply about whether it was the ex-M&R car that “Big John” Milner drove in More…
Top Fuel seasons, then and now
OK, Insider experts, what do Top Fuel racers Carl Olson, Don Garlits, Chip Woodall, Jeb Allen, Art Marshall, Gary Beck, Jim Walther, and Don Moody have in common? I’ll give you some time to think about it as the column progresses.
If you’ve been…
Filling out my to-do list
Dale Pulde, far lane, took on Dave Condit and the L.A. Hooker Mustang at Lions.
My recent mention of upcoming topics brought forth a lot of responses and, as always, some great help.
I’ve been…
It's ramped up and almost ready
Any trip to Englishtown is steeped in history — the names of heroes such as “Jungle Jim” Liberman and Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney are always invoked. The vast majority of the nitro racers who compete annually always…
The name game
Quite a few of you applauded my tongue-in-cheek strikethrough "mistake" in referring to the annual event in Englishtown as the Summernationals, which, of course, now is the name of the recently completed event in Topeka. I'd…