Keeping NHRA Fans Up to Date
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Show and tell
Drag racing in Vogue magazine; Top Fuel vs. Funny Car tug of war; handheld drag racing games
It’s been a busy week here at NHRA Publications Central, what with back-to-back national events, the production of the souvenir program for the National Hot Rod Reunion, and intense work on a super-secret Publications…
An irrepressible Force
An appreciation of the racing career and personality of John Force
I was never all that good at math in school, but you don’t have to be a quantum physicist to calculate that John Force had to average about two round-wins in each of his 501 starts to reach the 1,000-win plateau he crested…
Friday feedback frenzy
More memories of R. Gaines Markley, Shirley Shahan, and Clive Skilton
Heading into what promises to be a busy weekend of perhaps record-breaking performances at Gateway Int’l Raceway, I think it’s a good time to take it easy. I’m gonna back the feedback machine out of the trailer and fire ‘er up to share some of the…
The Drag-on Lady: Racer, pioneer, mom
The life and times of Shirley Shahan
Shirley Shahan then, in the winner's circle, Pomona, 1966 ...
... and now, at the 2007 NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion
Shahan's…
The loss of Gaines ... and Beck's 'secret'
Remembering Top Fuel racer R. Gaines Markley; Gary Beck is not Canadian
How's this for a cool find in our photo files? Beck, right, Markley, center, and Bob Painton with the Markley-Beck-Rhoades BB/GD in 1968. (John Dutton photo)
R. Gaines Markley --…
'The Big Bang'
The story behind Larry Brown and one of the most amazing Top Fuel explosions ever
Imagine if a photo of a cataclysmic event taken 36 years ago instantly brought your name to people’s lips. Imagine if, despite your other accomplishments in life and racing, this one moment frozen in time on film became your…
Danica who? What about Shirley ... and Shirley? And Judi. And Judy?
NASCAR's female star has a long way to go to top NHRA's female pioneers
If you listened really well this weekend, you could hear it from coast to coast and to the far reaches of the planet. It was the sound of a million drag racing fans going “Huh?!”
So, Danica Patrick is the first woman to win a major auto racing…
A life well Dunn, and strapping on the ol' feedback
Mike Dunn career retrospective; more four-wide madness; Warren & Coburn
Mike Dunn’s Final Take column that accompanies National DRAGSTER’s Pro coverage from the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series national events is one of the most popular weekly features in the magazine, and it’s always…
Monday morning mash-up
Mark Pieri recalls four-lane racing at Byron; memories of Bison Dragway; more on Kalitta's fireball
Explaining the basics of drag racing to your buddies down at the bar is pretty straightforward (pardon the pun), right? Two cars run in a straight line for 1,320 feet, right? Well, it wasn’t always two cars, as you’re about to read.
A lot of back…
Ridge Route Terror tales
Back in December, I published in this column some of my old personal photos from Irwindale, including the one at right, showing my favorite fueler of the time, the James Warren-driven, Roger Coburn-tuned Warren & Coburn (before and later Warren…
My Memory Lane is Riverside Drive
A trip back to NHRA's North Hollywood headquarters, where it all began for me
Journalist H.L. Mencken, one of the most influential American writers of the first half of the 20th century, once said of his time at The Baltimore Sun newspaper, “As I look back over a misspent life, I find myself more and more convinced that I had…
Racing on the cardboard quarter-mile
Remembering (and replaying) the Vallco Drag Racing board game
If kids today want to buckle into John Force’s Castrol GTX Mustang and take on Gary Scelzi, all they have to do is fire up the PlayStation 2 and drop in a copy of ValuSoft’s Countdown to the…
A little bit of this and a little bit of that ...
Connie Kalitta's E-Town boomer; Fremont body snatcher caught in phone booth; and much more
Here we are, at just the 330-foot mark of the year, and already it’s been a sad, sad one. Pat Foster, Al Hofmann, John Shoemaker, Lew Arrington, Dick McClung, Jon and James Herbert, John Buttera, Boyd Coddington, and then in the last week, in quick…
Five Fabulous Favorite Fotos: Steve Reyes
The dean of drag racing action photographers shares a handful of his famous and unforgettable photos
Steve Reyes needs little introduction to most longtime drag fans. His is probably one of the best-known names in the business, and there isn’t a single photographer past or present who doesn’t admire and respect his body of…
NHRA's Euro hero: 'No Jive Clive' Skilton
Recounting the NHRA career of English Top Fuel racer Clive Skilton; reactions to the passing of Pat Foster
Some ado was made about European FIA champ Urs Erbacher’s first-round Top Fuel victory in Houston, which, as best as anyone’s records can tell, was the first round-win by a European Top Fuel racer in more than 30 years. A lot of European racers have…
50 years ago in Texas ....
Ed Mabry recalls Don Garlits' conquering of the Texans and Californians in 1958.
The NHRA is in the great state of Texas for the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals, making this an appropriate column to share some tall Texas tales, which I will shortly.
But first off, of course, is the sad news about Patty Foster taking his last…
Memories of Al
Reactions to the passing of Funny Car racer Al Hofmann, including reader memories
Al Hofmann’s unexpected passing last week took a lot of people by surprise because the last we heard of him, as reported by National DRAGSTER’s John Jodauga in one of his popular Where Are They Now? columns, he had retired…
From the mailbag ...
Steve Swaja talks about the creation of Tony Nancy's Wedge dragsters; Don Roberts on the front- to rear-engined Top Fuel transformation
One of the (many) great things about writing a regular column such as this is that it sometimes becomes self-sustaining. Things you write are responded to by our always enthusiastic and knowledgeable community and become items unto themselves. I’ve…
Five Fabulous Favorite Fotos (From Fischbeck)
Longtime drag racing photographer Mike Fuschbeck shares his favorite images
The Internet constantly evolves. I remember when I thought that upgrading from a 14.4K modem to 28K was like going from riding a wagon to flying in a spaceship. Back when everyone connected to the Internet through AOL or Prodigy or CompuServe, back…
History lessons relearned
The debut of the Garlitsglide and how it led to the first successful rear-engined dragster
Flying home Monday, the battery in ol’ Lappy went dead in mid-sentence of the sixth paragraph of the event-overall story I was writing for this week’s coverage. No warning, no flashing lights, no dropped cylinder or…
It's good to be back in Gainesville
Reliving "the Gators curse" in my first return to Gainesville in six years
It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been to Gainesville Raceway, and the old gal has changed quite a bit. Actually, as these photos at right, from 1971 and 2007, attest, it’s barely recognizable from its…
'Backdoor Bob' Struksnes
The life and times of Top Fuel racer Bob Struksnes
Theirs is not a household name to the casual drag racing fan, yet they twice finished in the top four in the Top Fuel world championship race, including a third-place finish in 1977…
Welcome back, 'Mr. Everything'
Legendary Funny Car racer Pat Foster battles back from health issues
(Above) The Barry Setzer Vega was unchallenged on the match race circuit in the early 1970s and went to three straight national event finals in 1973. (Below) Pat Foster, left, son Cole, and team owner…
Where have all the nicknames gone? We've got 'em right here …
A super-dumb column in which we decide to give modern-day drag racers nicknames
"The Snake" and "the Mongoose" and "the Zookeeper."
"Big Daddy" and "the King" and "the Ace."
"Superman" and "Dandy Dick" and "the Smilin' Okie."
Where have all the nicknames gone? Back in the day, a great nickname…
Obsolete skills, part 2: Off the track
Pit-area prowess that's no longer needed
Those now-growing-rusty skills weren't just things used on the track, but in the pits and other places, too. Adjusting clutches, mounting tires, restripping blowers, and more are all topics of changing conventions, as were the accommodations to…
Obsolete skills, part 1: On the track
From dry hops to push starts and real bleach in the "bleach box," things we don't see at the drags anymore
"Remember when the music came from wooden boxes strung with silver wire." – Harry Chapin
Technology is a wonderful, wonderful thing, and it's easy to get nostalgic about the good old days as singer-songwriter Chapin did in his 1980 song, and in…
Five Fabulous Favorite Fotos ... er, dandy drawings
Famed drag racing illustrator John Jodauga shares some of his favorite works of art
I'm going to throw a slight change up at you for this week's Five Fabulous Fotos and deliver a dandy dose of drag drawings from our own in-house artist, John Jodauga. J.J., who was part of the staff at DRAGSTER in the 1970s…
Obsolete skills
Technology has made obsolete some longtime automotive and drag racing skills
Here's a little bench-racing discussion starter. The other day I came across the Web site ObsoleteSkills.com. It's a funny little place where there is a huge list of "skills" that are no longer required for humanity to master, such as dialing a…
Gator madness!
The Phoenix event may have finished just a day ago with high drama in the desert, but it's pretty clear that a lot of people are Gators-obsessed already, even though the event is still three weeks away.
Track…
Friday's Five Fabulous Favorite Fotos: Joel Gelfand
Longtime drag racing photographer Joel Gelfand shares his favorite images
It's Friday which can only mean one thing (at least in this column): Time for another round of Five Fabulous Favorite Fotos. This week we reverse the lens and point it at someone outside the DRAGSTER staff: Southern…