NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The first Top Fuel competition at Houston Raceway Park at the 1988 SuperNationals was not just a history-shattering event with the first four-second pass in NHRA history, recorded by Gene Snow in qualifying, then later a new national record, and then the quickest pass in drag racing history, both by eventual winner Eddie Hill.

But Hill's histrionics almost didn’t happen at all. On three straight qualifying passes, Hill's Super Shops/Pennzoil dragster bombed the supercharger shortly after launching. Total under-power time: nine-tenths of a second. The team, nearing the end of a less-than-successful season, was ready to toss in the towel Saturday and head home without even making the final qualifying pass. The team even issued a press release announcing its withdrawal from the event: "We got to the end of the money before we got to the end of the season,” it read in part.

The press release had no sooner been distributed at the event when the community that is drag racing rode to the rescue. Teams flocked to the popular pilot's pit with offers of parts and help. Mallory's Brian Clark — working with Hill's crew chief, "Fuzzy" Carter — traced the problem to an improperly grounded coil. Fellow Top Fuel racer Earl Whiting loaned the team a supercharger while others offered valves and other spares.

Late in the final qualifying session, facing a 5.281 bump spot, Hill punched his way into the show with a 5.036 to the thrill of the partial Texas crowd. In the cruelest of twists, it was Whiting whom he bumped from the field.

The .03 had earned the man they call "the Thrill" the No. 3 spot, and he followed with runs of 5.046 and 5.059 in the first two rounds to beat Dennis Forcelle and Darrell Gwynn.

Hill and Snow squared off in the semifinals, where Snow's white and black dragster looked more as if it belonged on the launchpad at nearby Johnson Space Center, launching into a spectacular, tire-smoking wheelie that he rode for several hundred feet before shutting down and watching Hill not only win the round but also steal his low e.t. with a 4.990.

Hill's 4.990 was recorded six months to the day from his barrier-breaking Motorplex run, for which Snow also was in the other lane. 

Final-round opponent Amato and crew chief Tim Richards knew they were in trouble. They had run just 5.13 and 5.18 in the first two rounds, and their semifinal 5.07 conquest of Connie Kalitta had been on the verge of smoking the tires. "I don’t know that we can [try to] run a four without smoking the tires," Amato admitted dejectedly before the final, and he was right. Amato's red TRW machine smoked the hoops at the green, and he watched history unfold beyond his windscreen.

Hill's yellow charger went nuclear with a 4.936-second blast at 283.10 to emphatically seal the victory. Even his crew on the starting line seemed stunned when the number popped up on the scoreboard.

The run was so good that it was too quick to be backed up by the earlier 4.99, which became the new record, but that didn’t bother Hill and company.