A little bit of this, a little bit of that
If it’s Friday, this must be Houston and leg two of back-to-back weekends on the tour. We got home from Charlotte Monday – fortunately no hassle with the flights despite the beginning of the sequestration-caused flight-controller shortage – and I…
Remembering another magic night on the ball field
Darrell Gwynn threw out the first ball at the inaugural Darrell Gwynn Benefit Softball Challenge, held Sept. 13, 1990, in Reading.
I didn't land in Charlotte until last night and missed Thursday's…
The Keeling & Clayton story continues
It’s really gratifying when one of my columns develops into a multi-column thread that has a life all of its own. It has happened several times, with ramp trucks and wedge dragsters and my early favorite, “Growing Up Boy,” and the Keeling &…
Schultz & Glenn: 1971's killer team
Even though the main trunk of the Keeling & Clayton thread continues to grow, today I’m branching out a bit to address growing questions about a guy whose name has been part of the story even though he never drove for…
K&C, Part 3
For a team and a stable of cars that only existed for seven years, the love that’s being bestowed on the Keeling & Clayton California Chargers is pretty impressive; I wish John Keeling were still with us to share the glory with Jerry Clayton…
More Keeling & Clayton
As if I really had any doubt, feedback after last Friday’s column about the Keeling & Clayton California Chargers was pretty huge and cemented my belief that they had one of the West Coast’s most popular teams in the 1970s.
To illustrate as…
California Chargers: The Keeling & Clayton story
You probably can’t call yourself a true fan of Top Fuel’s history if you don’t still salivate over the beautiful Keeling & Clayton Top Fuelers of the early 1970s. The original slingshot and the later rear-…
More of Mickey's machines
I originally had intended for today’s column to be about the Keeling & Clayton team – as promised at the end of last week’s column – but in the days since then, I’ve been flooded with requests for more Mickey Thompson info and photos from…
The Thompson Files
Until his murder on March 16, 1988, Marion Lee “Mickey” Thompson was the multifaceted face of American auto racing. We all know him for his drag racing exploits, first as a driver then later as a team owner, track operator,…
Some sweet photos of Mickey's machines
Thanks to everyone for the great photos and comments submitted the last two weeks to supplement my columns on Mickey Thompson’s Revelleader Grand Am Funny Car, and, apparently, no one is quite ready to let the thread end yet.
I heard from quite a…
A Grand (Am) photo gallery
From the outpouring of love and photos surrounding the story of Mickey Thompson’s Grand Am Funny Car, it seems I’m not the only one with a soft spot for “Thompson’s Torpedo.” Below is an amazing collection of images of the car sent in the last year…
Mickey Thompson's Grand Am, Part 2
After a somewhat tumultuous debut in 1973 that included driver Dale Pulde’s sudden replacement before the season opener and a nasty fire that sidelined his replacement, Butch Maas, and allowed Pulde to hop back into the…
Mickey Thompson's Grand Am, Part 1
We all have favorites in our lives. Favorite song, favorite band, favorite movie, favorite actor, favorite color, etc., etc., but for drag race nuts like us, none of them holds a candle to memories of our favorite race car.…
It was Wally's World; we were just lucky to live in it
Wednesday was a somber day around here for many longtime members of the National Dragster staff. It was Jan. 23 and marked what would have been the 100th birthday of NHRA founder Wally Parks. It's hard to believe it…
NHRA's nitro-burning females
The Force females joined Brittany, far right, at yesterday's press conference. From left is John's eldest daughter, Adria (wife of team Funny Car driver Robert Hight), as well as Ashley, Courtney, and mom Laurie.…
Friends we lost
Although the Mayans were wrong and the world didn’t end on Dec. 21, the road did end for a number of our friends since I last wrote a column here before the Christmas break, so before we move further into 2013, I’d like to…
Wrapping up 2012
Well, here it is, just five days until Christmas, which can only mean one thing: Only four more days until I begin shopping for gifts. I kid. Well, sorta.
Anyway, with that special day just around the corner and NHRA HQ about to shut down from…
Roaring with appreciation at the Lions Reunion
Compared to its Fancy Dan contemporaries Orange County Int’l Raceway and Dallas Int’l Motor Speedway, Lions Associated Drag Strip was a dust bowl wedged between freeways and refineries. Yet Lions left an indelible impression…
I'm such a T's: Traxxas, Tripp. and Tributes
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got to spend time with your loved ones to share your thankfulness. My folks – both of them big racing fans -- drove down from Oregon, and after a couple of days of sightseeing, we met up with the rest…
Bits and pieces, Part 4
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, more body parts began to surface. OK, sure that sounds like the beginning to a Jaws sequel, but it’s really just a toothy intro to another installment of Bits and Pieces, Part 4…
We be trippin'
It’s a sad fact of life that we don’t often enough get to tell people how we feel about them or to truly appreciate them before we lose them. I’ve felt that way numerous times, and every time that I write about someone we’ve lost – be it last week…
Remembering Tripp Shumake
When I joined the National DRAGSTER staff in early 1982, one of the first people to openly embrace “the new guy” was Funny Car racer Tripp Shumake. Slight of stature but big of heart, I don’t know that…
Bits and Pieces, Part 3
With Las Vegas in the rearview mirror and Pomona and the season finale in our sights, it’s time for one more spin of the jackpot wheel and the Insider finale (for now) of Bits and Pieces, your stories of salvaged strip scrap. It has been fun to see…
Bits and pieces, Part 2
Thanks to everyone for the kind and inspiring words concerning what, at least for the short term, will be a change in the publishing schedule here. I’m committed to keeping this great watering hole alive and well, which means I expect to have at…
Bits and pieces
A couple of weeks ago, in the wake of the story about Dale Emery’s memorable crash at the 1977 U.S. Nationals that made multiple mini-souvenir pieces of Mike Burkhart’s Camaro flopper, I solicited your photos and stories about your own post-crash…
Simply terrifying
After it was mentioned in a couple of the Southern California-based First Race stories, I got a few inquiries for more details about John Smyser’s…
Your first race, Part 3
I wasn’t really planning a third installment of Your First Race, but the entries just keep rolling in and so do the cheers for the topic, so here we go with round three:
Jim Lagler: “I had an older (…
Your first race, Part 2
Here’s Part 2 of Your First Race. I have to say it has been really cool reading through the submissions. Some of you I don’t know at all, and some have been previous contributors to the column, but I find all of the stories enthralling. As I prepare…
Your first race
Just got back from a great trip to St. Louis. For all the traveling I’ve done over all the years, this was my first trip to the city and to Gateway Motorsports Park. It’s one of the few tracks on the tour I hadn’t been to, so it was fun to have a…
Follow-up Friday
With this week’s Indy semi-coverage issue of National DRAGSTER safely at the printer, it’s back to Indy for the Big Go, round two. Three days at home was just enough to get the issue completed, proofed, and electronically bundled off to…