NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

This week’s Night at the Museum from the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California features the 1992 Top Fuel championship car of Pennsylvania’s favorite son, Joe Amato.

Amato won five Top Fuel championships and 52 races, and this car is the one he drove to the last championship of his career. He earned his last win in 2000 at his beloved Maple Grove Raceway. Host Lewis Bloom spoke not only to Amato but also to his crew chief at the time, Tim Richards.

Richards goes into detail about the car, built by the late Al Swindahl. He said that though the car was the standard of the day, the one thing that made it unique was the manifold he had on the engine.

Amato’s win at Maple Grove Raceway was special to him because, though he had earned five championships, he could never score a race win at the track where he earned his license in a beautiful injected Funny Car. That finally happened in 1999, and it's a win that Amato says is as big as any of his championships.

Amato and Richards both are enjoying retired life. Amato travels the world, and Richards spends time with wife Kim, daughter of Dick LaHaie, in Florida on their boat.