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The Fred Files
Wow, it's been a busy week, and I've been swamped in all sorts of meetings that have sucked away the precious time I had planned to dedicate to a new installment of the Misc. Files for today, but my loss is your gain with an…
Your turn
One of the greatest things about this column – other than getting to dig elbows deep into drag racing history and reconnecting with heroes past who stunningly discover that we still remember them – is the exchange of information between me and the…
The Misc. Files: H is for 'heroes'
Welcome back for another thrilling installment of the Misc. Files, brought to you today by the letter H.
Poor ol' H, often the unforgotten and silent letter in words such as "rhyme" and "hour" and "honest" and even sometimes in "homage," but…
History lesson in a book
Our dear ol' pal Richard Brady, a longtime Division 3 photographer and a steady source of dependable and indispensable help to the National DRAGSTER staff at more than a dozen Full Throttle Drag Racing Series…
More 'Snake' sssssssssssstuff
Longtime photo buddy Tom Schiltz sent along this great shot of "Snake's" truck and the 'Cuda being unloaded in York, Pa., in 1970. Glen Brown shared this photo of "the Snake's" yellow '…
All 'the Snake's' horses
From the cramped confines of the back bench seat, if I squint just right, I can pretend this is my dream come true, that I'm on the road with Don Prudhomme in the 1970s, crisscrossing the country with "the Snake" from match…
The Durachrome Bug
Warren Gunter's Durachrome Bug Funny Car of the late 1960s and early 1970s was emblematic of the class' evolving nature; no experiment or idea was too radical, no gimmick too out there in the pursuit of bookings and fan…
The Misc. Files: The G Force
Welcome back to the Misc. Files, brought to you today by the letter G. Two full file folders awaited me yesterday, and as I began rifling through them, there were so many fun photos and cars that I had trouble limiting it to my self-imposed 10…
Chicago: The Name Game
Well, here we are in fabulous Chi-Town – well, actually J-town, Joliet, just outside of Chicago – for this weekend's United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals. I've been to almost every venue on the Full Throttle Drag…
The Misc. Files: Meet the F Troops
We're back for another trip through the sometimes fractured files of the vast National DRAGSTER photo library, digging into the black hole of forgotten friends who somehow never accumulated enough photos to warrant their own driver folder…
Battling back: How 'the Snake" reconquered Top Fuel
Our scheduled trip to Don Prudhomme's shop Thursday to see his collection of restored Funny Cars was cancelled at the last minute and rescheduled for the middle of next month, kayoing the column I had planned for today.…
The Misc. Files: An E-Ticket ride
The letter E may be among the most frequently used vowels in the English language, but its pickings are a little slim when it comes to surnames in the Misc. Files of the National DRAGSTER photo archives, yet I still found a hardy enough…
It's a two-for-one celebration special
Just in case Facebook/Outlook/your local authorities didn't alert you, today is my birthday. The big 4-9 … woo-hoo! Sunday also will be a huge day of celebration, speeches, and downtown parades hosted by The Society of Friends and Fans of Phil…
Funny Car vs. Top Fuel Showdown revisited
John Force won the historic event in his Superman-themed Castrol GTX Mustang, defeating Top Fuel driver Bob Vandergriff Jr. in the $200,000-to-win race.
This past weekend's ESPN coverage of the NHRA…
The Misc. Files: D-lightfully D-verse
Well, devoted dudes and dames of dragdom's days distant, it's due time to dive back into the delectable depths of the DRAGSTER Photo Department drawers again, digging to discover dandy dragstrip diamonds to digitize and document to delight…
A little piece of her heart
Jack Muldowney bent the tubes and gas-welded together Shirley's first car, this gas dragster in which she earned her license.
Shirley Muldowney has had a lot of memorable firsts in her Hall of Fame…
The Misc. Files: From C to shining C
By popular demand, it's time to take another dip into the Misc. Files of the vast National DRAGSTER photo archives. During ND's 50 years of publication, and even in the years leading up to its launch in 1960, the staff has…
'Snake's' restorations just truckin' along
In the last couple of years, Don Prudhomme has amassed a pretty good collection of the cars that made him famous throughout the years, including the yellow and white Hot Wheels Barracuda Funny Cars…
The Misc. Files: Welcome to the 'A' list
Even in this digital age, my desk is covered with scraps of paper and Post-it notes filled with chicken scratch that sometimes I can't decipher a few hours later. There are random phone numbers without any name next to them, e-mail addresses to god-…
The Misc. Files: The I's have it
I know a good thing when I see it, and last week's first dip into the Misc. Files was apparently a very good thing based on your feedback (and follow-up, as you will see lower in today's entry), so I randomly grabbed another letter from the drawers…
Bob Bommarito, and welcome to the Misc. Files
Tuesday's story about the OCIR Constructors Championship had the desired effect of creating some buzz from fans who remembered it and those who had long forgotten about it, but the most interesting feedback was from a racer mentioned in passing, Bob…
'73 OCIR Constructors Championship: Independents Day
Keith Black Ed Pink Sid Waterman
Today's nitro crew chiefs can almost be as big a star as their drivers, household names…
You know you’re a drag racing addict if…
American muscle is prevalent at the drift races. Here, Vaughn Gittin Jr.'s Mustang leads Daijiro Yoshihara's GTO into a turn at last year's event in Sonoma.
Today is Good Friday and an official…
Pedal power: Mike Dunn's first drag race
Like a lot of you, my first introduction to Mike Dunn came in the movie theater, where the future 22-time national event winner was racing his Schwinn Sting-Ray in bicycle drags, complete with a blossoming chute, in the…
April Fools ... the aftermath
As you can see, the reports of this column's demise have been greatly exaggerated, but Wednesday's April Fools' stories here on the big .com (more on them later) not only continued an online tradition dating back 10 years but also an NHRA…
The Insider … out!
If you follow this column with any regularity, you probably know that I usually post new columns on Tuesdays and Fridays. So you probably were wondering yesterday where the new stuff was. Some of you might have assumed I was…
Spaced out in H-town
Although I readily acknowledge that I have one of the coolest jobs in the world, the traveling part is not always all that it's cracked up to be. Because we're working on the current issue of National DRAGSTER through Wednesday night, we…
A real Thrill ride, plus more flyin' Hawaiian
Eddie Hill won the 1988 Supernationals in front of his home-state fans in Houston, and while it certainly wasn't easy, it was very thrilling.
What if Bobby Thompson had run out of baseball bats…
Larry Reyes: The flyin' Hawaiian and other stories
Former Hawaiian driver Larry Reyes, left, caught up with his old car owner, Roland Leong, a few years ago. The two made history together in the early 1970s and have remained friends.
As a…
Great Gatornationals moments, part 2
Welcome to Part 2 of Phil's Fabulously Fantastic and Famous Florida Favorite Flashback, recounting some of the most memorable moments from Gatornationals history. My first 20, covering the race from 1970 through 1981, can be found in the entry below…