Keeping NHRA Fans Up to Date
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'Home movies' from OCIR
With the exception maybe of Lions Drag Strip, no drag racing facility seems to be more canonized than one of my faves, good ol' Orange County Int’l Raceway. It seems that the love, admiration, and good memories of the SoCal…
Feedback Friday
It's Friday, the end of the working week for a lot of you, but with Bristol thundering along this weekend, plus the Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion and more going on around the country, it's going to be a busy weekend in the old NHRA.com…
Bet you're pretty tired of the streamliner stuff, but...
So, there we were, enjoying brewskies and fine bench racing at the annual Scott Kalitta memorial get-together in the Kalitta pit Saturday night in E-town. One well-lubricated PR type, a self-professed big fan of the column, leaned over and said…
Fish stories and other stuff
Response to my "fish tale" about the famed AMT Piranha was, like the fish itself, quick and strong and with a little bite.
Like me, many of you had heard of the car but not in much detail. It's always fascinating when I do these in-depth research…
The Piranha
I don’t know where car companies come up with the names for their models. What's a Sephia? A Camry? Heck, for that matter, what's a Camaro, other than one of the most famous car names ever?
In the mid- to late 1960s, animal names were the…
All wedges, all the time ...
Ho hum. Another week, and still more loose threads from the wedge discussion. Sorry for today's late-week posting and that this will be the week's only entry; the work overload on National DRAGSTER has been smothering with no letup in sight…
Today's topic: Wedge Top Fuelers (surprise!)
Previously on the DRAGSTER Insider, Steve Reyes had submitted a photo of an unpainted, unlettered, and, best of all for us, unknown wedge running at Orange County Int’l Raceway. He wondered if the Insider Nation might know…
One more thing before I go ...
Surprise, it's me! Yeah, I know I told you last week not to expect anything from me for the next week due to travel and a heavy National DRAGSTER workload, but you know me … a glutton for punishment. I got all of my stuff done and am…
The Thread That Won’t Die
Unless someone intervenes and adds a few more hours to the day, this might be the last Insider column for a week or so. I fly to Atlanta early next week for the "Big Go South" (catchy, eh?), and I’ll be thrashing on event coverage there for NHRA.com…
More of the same
Yeah, OK, I know it's Wednesday and not Tuesday; my apologies for not posting this yesterday, but I was waiting for return phone calls and e-mails on a couple of topics germane to our recent conversations here. Sorry 'bout that.
And now, on with…
Write slower, I'm drowning ...
Stuff is piling up in my inbox almost faster than I can sort and catalog, so I'm going to blast out the majority of it today before it swallows me whole. It's a rambling, multiheaded beast of a blog, so sit back, enjoy, and learn more stuff you…
The prettiest car to ever run only once
It was inevitable that our long-running and ongoing discussion of wedge-shaped Top Fuelers would eventually get around to the beautiful but short-lived John Buttera-built monocoque dragster of Barry Setzer. A…
Phoenix '92
As a rule, it’s usually not wise to question your superiors at work. And when it’s your first day on the job, that is especially true, but I feel that this subject must be addressed and sooner, not later, so here, in what is my first (and…
When pins were in
I used to have a really nicely organized garage. Really, I did. Stuff was where I put it and stayed there. My tools were all neatly organized, and I could always find the tool I needed. I could walk in and just smile at the neat racks of tools hung…
Still more on Kalitta's wedge crash
Sorry for the prolonged absence, but between travel to and from Charlotte for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, the rain delay there, and a jam-packed issue of National DRAGSTER that not only includes Charlotte results but also our in-depth…
More tales of the Kalitta wedge
I received a lot of great feedback from Friday's column about Connie Kalitta's wreck at the 1971 U.S. Nationals in Robert "Poncho" Rendon's wedge Top Fueler. Despite some effort, I…
The name may not be familiar, but ...
Sad news earlier this week sent by reader Craig Eagle, advertising accounting assistant at The Columbus Dispatch, pointing me to an online obituary for former NHRA event worker Ron Rickman…
Remembering Shirl Greer, and more reader feedback
Notes about the passing of former NHRA Funny Car champ Shirl Greer last week have dominated my Inbox, and there is some cool stuff worth sharing.
NHRA released a statement, lauding the former champ: "One of the true…
More Fan Fotos: The best of the Midwest
Welcome to another installment of Fan Fotos, galleries of great memories hauled from shoeboxes and dusty photo albums to share with your pals here at the Insider. This is always a real treat for me as well, sorting through the various submissions…
A salute to the March Meet
This weekend, the eyes of the drag racing world once again fall on Bakersfield, Calif., for the continuation of the rebirth of the fabled March Meet. This year, the event celebrates its 52nd birthday, and while we all realize it will never be the…
Your heroes, Part 2
Great American humorist Will Rogers once wrote, "We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by." That would be me, clapping on the curb to a parade of drag racing stars, past and present, and, from all…
More fantastic follow-up
It has been a busy two weeks with Pomona and Phoenix back to back, especially with Phoenix's drawn-out semi-conclusion. Don’t cry for me, Argentina, but it's going to be another busy week as we wrap up our Full Throttle coverage, prepare for Friday'…
Feedback, follow-up, and fallen friends
Jan. 18, 1961, at Golden Triangle strip in Florida, according to the caption
Welcome back, my friends, to the nostalgia that never ends, at least…
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…