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My first Gatornationals
My first trip to the Gatornationals as part of the ND staff was in the cab of a race car hauler in 1984 as part of Jim DePasse's Alcohol Funny Car team. That's me at left, Willie Wolter driving, and Jim DePasse Sr. and Jr.…
Five Fave Fotos with Tom Schiltz and other hot topics
Five Favorite Fotos seems to be a favorite here, so let's rev up another one. This is a special get-well FFF, with a big shout out to my old pal Tom Schiltz, the veteran photographer from Division 3. You might recall his memorable pic of Bill Crites…
Fire in the hole
Generally speaking, unless it's pouring from the pipes on a twilight blast to low e.t., fire anywhere near a drag race car is not a good thing. It usually means that a connecting rod is no longer connected, that your…
Reliving a previous wet and waylaid Winternationals
For those of you wondered why NHRA didn’t just pick up and move the entire Winternationals mess to this weekend, you'd only need one look outside the window here at Chateau ND to know why. It' been pouring this morning, and is not expected to…
Fun with your photos
Response to my request for your Favorite Fotos has been amazing, and I'll present the first of them here. Submissions came from a lot of folks, including some whom I invited to participate instead in a full-blown future Fave Five feature. I was…
The one-day wonder
The 1965 Winternationals was an amazing race. All class and eliminator racing was completed in one day before a standing-room-only crowd.
This was Saturday's…
The Hawaiian's Winters wonderland
It didn't take long for the new partnership of 23-year-old driver Don Prudhomme and 20-year-old car owner Roland Leong to bear fruit as they won the 1965 Winternationals in their national event debut together. Leong's…
The return of Five Fabulous Favorite Fotos: Norman Blake
(Charles Denson photo)
One of last summer's popular Insider features was Five Fabulous Favorite Fotos, wherein I contacted some of the sport's greatest lensmen and asked for their best shots. I'm proud…
Jesus, Crites! Tales of our pal
Tomorrow, in nearby Azusa (motto: "Everything from A to Z in the USA"), we'll say a loving farewell to our old pal Bill Crites, the former ND photographer and art director who died suddenly about a week ago. I know…
A little bench racing anyone?
I had a whole 'nother column scheduled for today but had to move it back for a variety of reasons, but I didn't want to go too long without a new entry lest y'all forget about me. Each column generally takes two to three days to put together, though…
Bill Crites: Gone but never forgotten
This photo, of me and Bill at Griffith Park's Travel Town, tells you all you need to know about the big kid we all loved.
Me and Crites, Montreal…
A Munstrously Good Time
Here's a fun little extended follow up to the Fun with Fotos article that revolves around the '60s TV show The Munsters. Brendan Tobin was among those who chastised me for not remembering that it wasn’t…
Thanks for filling in the blanks
I could have entitled this entry "DRAGSTER Insider readers to the rescue … again" because y'all came through with flying colors following my Fun with Fotos article here a week ago. I had info on some of the pics presented and asked for the DI…
Leonard Harris, drag racing's shooting star
During a six-month span in 1960, there was no hotter drag racing pilot than Leonard Harris, whose career ended with his tragic death in October, just six weeks after his Nationals triumph.…
Fun with fotos!
In a year, a lot of stuff moves in and out of my e-mail box: photos, stories, Web site links, and I collect it all and store it like an animal preparing for hibernation, my own little collection of nuts and berries to get me through the winter.…
More historic horsepower haunts
By popular demand – and to begin to wade my way through the scores of requests – we're back again for another round of ghost-track hunting. As always, the vast majority of the coordinates I'll be giving you are supplied by our friends at the…
Going for 50, and other thoughts
Yesterday, we shipped the 48th and final 2008 issue of National DRAGSTER to our pals at Conley Publishing in ultrachic Beaver Dam, Wis., and, as tradition requires, we hoisted a few glasses of bubbly and toasted one…
Of new muscle cars and old songs
My son, Chris, busted through the front door Sunday all but out of breath.
"Dad, there's a new Challenger parked at the end of our street!"
The boy, 19 and strapping-big as an ox (and probably capable of actually busting the door open in a…
To the friends we lost: Thank you
Today is the annual day of thanks – thanks for the people and things we have in our life and, to me as well, thanks for the people we have had in our lives. As we sit around the table today, flanked by good company and good food, let's remember the…
The good guy in the black cowboy hat
My most enduring memory of Larry Sutton is from a cold and misty night at Orange County Int'l Raceway, where Sutton, dapper in his trademark black cowboy hat, was on his third tour of duty as the…
The DRAGSTER Insider answering machine
"Hi, this is Phil Burgess at The DRAGSTER Insider. I'm either out of the office or on another article right now, but if you leave your name and your question, I'll get right on it. Thanks for calling."
Beeeeeeeeeeep.
Q…
Pomona, now and then
It's Friday in Pomona as the 2008 season dwindles away to its last few days, and, hopefully, like that old coffee commercial, it's going to be good until the last drop. As noted previously, qualifying is a show unto itself for the championship…
Cleaning out the ol' mailbox
I don't know that there's a more wonderful feeling for an NHRA fan than the anticipation during race week when the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series is coming to your hometown. Man, you get to see all the cool cars and sleep in your own bed to boot!…
Back on the ghost-track trail
Like haunted houses full of the spooky apparitions for which they are named, it seems that there's no exorcising the demand for ghost tracks at casa DRAGSTER Insider, so here we go again. If you don't already have it, download a copy of…
OCIR Week: Your turn
Apparently, OCIR Week is that special kind of week that contains more than seven days. My Inbox has been flooded the last several days with heartfelt thanks and heartwarming memories from those who had the opportunity to…
The rise and fall of Orange County Int'l Raceway
(Above) From left, Mike Jones, Larry Vaughn, Mike McKenna, NHRA President Wally Parks, and Bill White unveiled the vision for Orange County Int'l Raceway at a November 1966 press conference. (Below) The final…
OCIR's Last Drag Race: The day the music died
(Poster courtesy of Steve McDermott)
Oct. 29, 1983. It was a day, 25 years ago today, on which many Southern California racers and race fans mourned, and mourned heavily.
Twenty-five years ago,…
Welcome to OCIR Week! Today: The '83 season
Welcome to OCIR Week at The DRAGSTER Insider, a triple-play week of nothing but stories of good ol' Orange County Int'l Raceway, beginning today with a look back at the fabled SoCal supertrack's final season. It…
The column with a little of everything
It's been a busy week here at The Big Show, what with all of the various series working their way down to championship scenarios – the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Summit Racing Series, Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series, etc. – and putting together…
Top Fuel domination, 1983 style
The 1983 Larry Minor-owned, Gary Beck-driven, Bernie Fedderly-tuned world championship entry was one of the baddest Top Fuelers ever, recording 16 of the season's 17 quickest runs, including a national record…