Keeping NHRA Fans Up to Date
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Of fading friends, heroic moments, kind deeds, and good memories
The news of the passing of "Smokey Joe" Lee earlier this week and the loss this morning of 1974 NHRA Funny Car world champ Shirl Greer was a double tough blow to longtime fans like me and many of you who remember these guys in the nostalgic heyday…
Keeping it in the family
Racers love competing at the Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline for a lot of reasons. Eastern-based competitors love to head to SoCal for sun and fun. And the facility is conveniently accessible from several major freeways,…
Your Heroes, Part 1
Way back in early January, I asked the readers of this column to submit their list of racing heroes. (You thought I'd forgotten, didn't you?) Response to my request was a bit overwhelming, so I'm going to parcel these out in two columns.
I have…
Fan fotos: SoCal doorslammers
Long before there were nitro Funny Cars and even what we know as Top Fuel dragsters, door cars and roadsters often attracted the same fanatic love to which we now assign the nitro cars. I know that I have a fuel-racing mentality – particularly for…
Feedback (and rain) by the bucketful
Reactions to Monday's column about Russell Long and yesterday's about Dick Wells came by the bucketful, kind of like the rain we're getting here this week in SoCal. We're getting absolutely drenched, and the biggest storms…
Thanks for the memories, Dick
A few years ago, Dick Wells sent me this great photo of him, left, with DRAGSTER's first photo editor, the late Rich Joy, standing next to a nice sedan delivery with DRAGSTER signage. Wells said the photo was taken by Wally…
It's a Long story ...
Former Funny Car racer Russell Long with orphans in Haiti
"240 Gordie" Bonin and others tipped me off to a great story about former nitro Funny Car racer Russell Long, driver…
More bobsledding fun
The continuation of my diary from the Lucas Oil Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge presented by Whelen Engineering in chilly Lake Placid, N.Y.
Now in its fifth year, the event helps raise funds to build quality bobsleds for the U.S. Olympic team,…
Sledding and sliding, part 1
Yeah, sure is cold and snowy out there.
Recapping my trip to Lake Placid, N.Y., for the Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge with Jeg Coughlin Jr.
3:50 p.m.: After an…
Some Christmas wishes
Merry Christmas to the Insider Nation!
In the spirit of the season, I worked with National DRAGSTER staff to create the list below (which also appears in ND's year-end issue, in my Staging Light column), which represents our Christmas…
Fan Fotos: West Coast pits
If you've read drag racing magazines for any amount of time, the name Cliff Morgan should be familiar to you as a regular contributor to various "letters to the editor" columns, including in National DRAGSTER. A…
So long, 'Wooz'
Longevity in any field of work is a dual-edged sword. On the positive, the longer you’re around, the more people you meet, and the friendships you make can last a lifetime. The downside is that the more people you meet, your…
More Fan Fotos: East Coast action
Hey, I'm back. Sorry about missing my usual Friday update, but I got ambushed Wednesday night by the stomach flu and was out of action pretty much the rest of the week -- kind of hard to be creative and do research when you’re subsisting on a…
Fun with Fotos revisited, Part 2
Hello from Pomona, where I'm ringside for the second day of the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, and welcome to Part 2 of my reprint of my Fun with Fotos column, which originally ran on the Insider last December and has been…
Fun with Fotos revisited
It's probably every writer's dream to come up with something so cool or so original that it is handed down from generation to generation or becomes so widely distributed to the masses that it takes on a life of its own. Whether it's an oft-quoted…
Presto! Conjuring up 'the Wizard'
I wanted to share what has become a pretty typical thing with this column, and one of the things of which I am most proud. In Tuesday's Fan Fotos edition from Mark Collins, we had a shot of Bennie "the…
The life and times of Jay Howell
For many NHRA fans, Jay Howell may be among the most unsung drag racing heroes they never knew about. Regular readers of this column may be familiar with him from occasional mentions, but those old-time racers we all know…
Fan Fotos: Early Funny Cars
Welcome back, race fans, to another installment of Fan Fotos. We're going to take you back a few more years than past installments today, thanks to reader Joe Kerr, who sent me a bunch of photos from his late-1960s Southern…
Remembering Bobby Rowe
Former Funny Car racer Bobby Rowe, who died late last week at age 64, left behind not just a legacy as one of the many great Funny Car drivers to come out of the early 1970s, but also a story of hard work and perseverance.…
The new National DRAGSTER, Phase 1: In living color
You would have thought it was Christmas around the National DRAGSTER office yesterday when the week's new issue arrived from the printer. Staffers were running around to one another's offices and cubicles like…
Fan Fotos: The Midwest
The response to my Fan Fotos offer has been overwhelmingly positive, and I already have a good stock of photos that, combined with other subjects I am working on and the culmination of the Misc. Files (thought I…
Wins and losses
For as long as I can remember, "Low e.t. can cure cancer" has been a popular saying in the pits, but after yesterday's Miracle Monday in Memphis, I wonder if a win can cure a broken heart.
Jeff Arend's Funny Car win was…
On my radar screen ...
During a typical workweek, I am bombarded with interesting stuff, either by phone or e-mail. Whether it's feedback or additional info from a previous Insider column or just a helpful racer or fan directing me to an interesting Web site or passing on…
Four-wide mania
Sunday's four-abreast extravaganza at zMax Dragway was a sight to behold, even on TV, my vantage point for the weekend. National DRAGSTER Associate Editor Candida Benson, who was covering the event for…
Great rivalries over the years
Tony Pedregon and John Force, 2003 .. happier times.
The John Force-Tony Pedregon top-end tempest at Indy got me to thinking about great rivalries in our sport.
Rivalries can be created and…
Fan Fotos: Minnesota
There's no doubt that Fred von Sholly's photos, which I showcased here a few months ago, struck a nostalgic vein, as did Al Kean's photos from Seattle. Though von Sholly was a credentialed pro shooter (in fact, NHRA's official Division 1…
The Misc. Files: One L of a good time
The L folders of our Misc. Files were a veritable treasure trove of stuff. Too much, in fact.
Generally, I grab the folders from the National DRAGSTER library, prop my feet up on my desk, and let my fingers do the walking, using a mixed…
Indy: Did You Know …
We arrived last night in Indianapolis, the only state capital exactly in the center of its state (True fact! Look it up!) and, for this weekend certainly, the center of the drag racing universe.
Indianapolis also may be known as the Circle City,…
Mopar to ya
My good pal Darren Jacobs, who does PR for Mopar through publicity powerhouse J.R. Thompson, asked for a little assistance with a research project last week. If you read my last two installments, you know it was a busy week around ND …
From the burnout box to your mailbox for 50 years
Welcome to our exhibit!
The walls of the Parks NHRA Museum are now adorned with covers and articles from past issues of National DRAGSTER.…