LITEROTICA PODCAST
LIT CAMS (200 Free Tokens)ADULT TOYSVOD MOVIES

Recalling the days of BIG Drag Racing

jaF0

jaF0

Moderator
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Posts
39,168
The radio and TV used to boom the announcements daily ......

Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY at _____ Dragway ....

ABC Wide World Of Sports would spend several hours on them.


Names like Connie Kalita, Don 'The Snake' Prudhomme, Tom 'Mongoose' McKewan, Big Daddy Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney

Funny cars, Top Fuel rail dragsters and eveything in between.

I'm sure they still run the races, but they don't get the airplay and notoriety any more.
 
Yeah, I remember all that. I've sorta wondered what happened to all that, too.
Not long ago there was something going on on Sunday and I said to one of the kids "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!" He didn't get it at all.
 
They have nostalgia drag racing. Check your local tracks.

I worked in drag racing for a while and grew up around it and at least two of the people you mentioned and I know quite a few old school racers, pros, and amateur.
 
jaF0 said:
Funny cars, Top Fuel rail dragsters and eveything in between.
Click to expand...

There are 4 Professional classes in the NHRA:

Top Fuel
Funny Car
Pro Stock
Pro Stock Motorcycle

TF and FC are the top 2 classes, so there is nothing, let alone your "everything", "between" them.

All the other more than 200 other classes follow after the Pro classes above, as clearly illustrated and explained here in NHRA 101:

http://www.nhra.com/nhra101/classes.aspx

BTW: NHRA drag racing attendance is great and so is broadcast coverage of it, whereas ABC's WWS used to offer selected and highly edited offerings of 1 or 2 main events, today a viewer can gorge her or himself on live coverage by Fox Sports 1 of every session at every event, live:

http://www.nhra.com/nhraontv/melloyello.aspx
 
I won the 1989 Canadian Dragbike Challenge in Shannonville. Had only been racing a month. Brand new Dyna ignition system helped. Right lane had 13 redlights out of 17 passes I did. Avoided right lane like the plague. Most places let faster dial-in choose lane. I pushed bike up early and took left lane. Only one guy thought of choosing a lane. He chose right and red lighted. I was slowest bike in the field. Because we had a slick on, we had to go into Fast 32. Had to race 8 second nitrous GSXRs. Only dialled in at 12.32 seconds. 76 KZ 1000, stripped and lightened of anything not required to get me to end of 1/4 mile. add a wheelie bar and a slick. Was just learning. Same bike ran 11.97 a couple months later. Added 29mm smoothbores and a stage 1 head job and ran 11.02 at 122mph.

Got 6th one year at St. Thomas Dragway Sunoco series. Crashed once there too. Wheelie bars were put on unlevel. When bike went back on the wheelie bar it did a right turn towards Christmas tree. I was halfway through bailing off when bars tagged guardrail. Made bike whip ass end around and catapulted me over the Christmas tree in to the other lane. I was somewhat okay. Had to be helped on and off the bike for the rest of the day and took two days off work. Bike kept going for a 100yards or so. Kill cord shut off motor as I was thrown off. Eventually bike just fell over. A few scratches. Except for Hindle Sidewinder drag pipe had a huge dent in it from the newly installed 60' timing lights. Was 2nd run of the first day of the season. Owner was pissed at me.
 
When I was a kid in Minn, there was nothing else to do at 3:30 on a winter saturday afternoon.
ABC's WWS
I used to like those crazy frikken cliff divers.
I haven't seen cliff diving since WWS ended.
I loved that show.
 
I used to race drag bike too. Went to Indy for some bracket nationals deal that I qualified for with points.

Had a Z-Max that went low 11's.
 
I seem to remember a MunsterMobile kind of thing. Gravedigger keeps coming to mind, but that was truck pulls, not drag racing.
 
pensivepoet said:
When I was a kid in Minn, there was nothing else to do at 3:30 on a winter saturday afternoon.
ABC's WWS
I used to like those crazy frikken cliff divers.
I haven't seen cliff diving since WWS ended.
I loved that show.
Click to expand...

the high diving is still around, only now on tour sponsored by Red Bull. Instead of cliffs now they use platforms off bridges or whatever.

Think it was on NBCsn or CBS sports last week.
 
gotta get to bed but i LOVED going to watch drag racing - nothing else like it

also diving is a sport i'll always watch
 
Last edited:
ryan8558 said:
the high diving is still around, only now on tour sponsored by Red Bull. Instead of cliffs now they use platforms off bridges or whatever.

Think it was on NBCsn or CBS sports last week.
Click to expand...

I was a rotten kid.
I used to watch hoping someone would bounce off the wall.
Never happened.
I didn't know diving still is shown.
 
jaF0 said:
The radio and TV used to boom the announcements daily ......

Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY at _____ Dragway ....

ABC Wide World Of Sports would spend several hours on them.


Names like Connie Kalita, Don 'The Snake' Prudhomme, Tom 'Mongoose' McKewan, Big Daddy Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney

Funny cars, Top Fuel rail dragsters and eveything in between.

I'm sure they still run the races, but they don't get the airplay and notoriety any more.
Click to expand...


I just read that Shirley Muldowney was diagnosed with cancer. I love the drags, a track near me has great vintage drags every year. Very casual, pits are open to visitors. The "Orange Crate" runs most years and the "Glass Slipper"
 
We used to go to Cayuga Dragway and party. Never really watched the races. I always found them boring to watch. Same as stock car racing. When we went racing ourselves, the pit/racers area was cleaner, quieter and the toilets weren't backed up to overflowing by the Monday. Best seat in the house is the drivers/riders seat. View from trackside at a stock car race is better too. Never got a chance to drive the stock car. Usual driver was feeling poorly one night and I was reaching for the helmet when he decided he was okay to drive. Bastard! That would have been fun. 50 car endurance race at Delaware. We destroyed a Buick LeSabre and three TransAms before we quit.

When we drag raced one year the winner of the Trophy car class was an older lady who rolled up the windows on her four door family car, turned on the A/C and cranked Neil Diamond as racing music. Ran consistently 17 seconds. You don't need to be fast in a bracket race. Consistency is everything. That and nailing lights.

Remember, don't wait for the green light. You should be launching on the last yellow.
 
If you've ever landed at John Wayne Airport, you've landed on hallowed ground in the world of drag racing.
 
Denny---<-----that's me! The male half

Sadly most drag strips are long gone.
On some of our earliest dates with my now wife, I'd take her to motorcycle and car drag races and circle track races.

We spent time at tracks in northern Illinois and Indiana, now gone, US 30 Drag strip was only one of them. Most are shopping centers or subdivisons now.

As I type this, we live maybe 60 miles from the famous Gainesville Dragway where we'd ocasionally watch our adopted son race.
We are also not far from Big Daddy Don Garlits museum where he still sponsors various car shows.

Racing and racers are still alive and well. It's just not like it used to be and far from cheap to be part of it or watch. Our son also worked and built the worlds fastest sports bike, winning many races throughout the south.

attachment.php
 
Nhra Drag Racing!

JeanLaFlu said:
There are 4 Professional classes in the NHRA:

Top Fuel
Funny Car
Pro Stock
Pro Stock Motorcycle

TF and FC are the top 2 classes, so there is nothing, let alone your "everything", "between" them.

All the other more than 200 other classes follow after the Pro classes above, as clearly illustrated and explained here in NHRA 101:

http://www.nhra.com/nhra101/classes.aspx

BTW: NHRA drag racing attendance is great and so is broadcast coverage of it, whereas ABC's WWS used to offer selected and highly edited offerings of 1 or 2 main events, today a viewer can gorge her or himself on live coverage by Fox Sports 1 of every session at every event, live:

http://www.nhra.com/nhraontv/melloyello.aspx
Click to expand...

Ok where do I start! I have been in and around Drag Racing since I was young enough to walk. My dad raced in NHRA.

We had one friend who raced a Funny Car and is still a major part of NHRA to this day.

We have another friend who ran Top Fuel as a Independent and became a crew chief after retiring as a driver/owner.

I attend two races a year. I watch every race religiously on TV.

I had a racing collectibles business for 20 plus years that we traveled the 5 western states. We specialized in hitting as many division races and nostalgia races as possible.We carried all the top names.

You say attendance is great? I disagree, case and point NHRA has gone to covering seats with tarps similar to NASCAR to condense the fans. That would of never happened 5 years ago.


Reasons why fan attendance is down at races?

Death of 1320
Continual ticket increases prices year after year!
Decreased Pro Car Counts
Poor Show quality
2 long down time/between oil down
To Long of lines at concessions
4 a family of four w/o souvenirs your looking at $500.00 easily for the weekend.
Pomona now charges for parking $20.00.



NHRA doesnt do anything to help teams find sponsore. Funnels sponsors to bigger teams.
Keep cost per run down
Develop Younger Talent
Have the older retired drivers seek out sponsorship!
The higher up dont care as long as they get paid.
They want fan input but they dont use the input.
The first super team that collapses will be the end of NHRA in any division. NHRA cant take anymore car count hits they are on life support as is. Rumbling in Elite as we speak!
 
Ahh, the smell of burning rubber and nitromethane.

Back in the 80's we tried to develop a computer system for drag cars. The big boys had them, we were after the little guys. I didn't make any money on it but had a lot of fun. We did sell a few hundred practice trees. We used the actual lamps and I wrote the software for the timing. That one even paid a little money.
 
I wrote a program for a tree in '92. Was going to disassemble an old keyboard and wire it in to a set of handlebars. Used TurboBasic I think. Maybe GWBasic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Dillinger
Over Reacting - Radio Networks List of Banned Songs
Replies
22
Views
374
plasticman33
plasticman33
I
Did you know?
Replies
10
Views
1K
the_single_gal_unconfidential
the_single_gal_unconfidential
Back
Top