1961 NHRA US Nationals 

Interesting I see no overweight people.

Pete Robinson lived next door to my grade school. I was in the 6th grade and fascinated by all things mechanical. I walked to school or rode my bike and one day I noticed this odd-looking car. I was scared to get close, so I hid in the shrubs growing beside the carport and watched this guy work on his odd-looking car. I'm sure he had seen me hiding for several weeks when he said "hey kid" are you going to help me or hide in the bushes forever. That was the beginning of my love of racing. Pete took me under his wing and showed me how to do all sorts of things. I started out fetching things and sweeping the carport. Later I was given the task of dragging a magnet around the crusher run gravel on the playground of my school. The magnet would load up with iron ore which I would scrap off and put in a bucket. After a week or so I had a full bucket which we poured into the rear frame rails of his dragster. Pete was an engineer and made blower drives in his machine shop located in the basement. He was always inventing new ways to do things. He filled the water jacket his SB Chevy with cement to stiffen the block. He also came up with a lever operated jack that would lift the rear wheels of his dragster just enough to get them spinning - at the drop of the flag he would release the lever dropping the car onto the track. The NHRA outlawed it. He also had an immaculate 40 Ford with a Buick engine that he raced early in his career. Pontiac Tempest complete with that rear mounted 2 speed transmission. The forerunner to the Pontiac GTO. After starting high school, I lost touch. I was flying helicopters in Vietnam when I learned of his death. Ironically, he was killed on my birthday in 1971. To this day I think of him frequently.

"With cars, as with women, too much weight in the wrong place can create problems...." Man, I loved the 1960's.

I was around for the 50s and 60s and they were the years of real drag racing. It has evolved into big business with no room for the little guy.

Back when money didn't ruin the sport,( Run what you bring !)

I'd much rather watch drag racing back then than today. Today it's just like NASCAR, They are basically they're all the same cars with different paint jobs.

This was when NHRA had a nitro ban in place, this was all on gasoline, pump gas as there was no race gas then, no methanol no nitro. This was when all the other HRAs were started like AHRA, IHRA, UDRA, PDRA all so they could run nitro. I was too young to race here but I did my first race in 1963, I still have Hot Rod Magazines going back to 1957. I have never quit racing, but have taken pauses to regroup. Still race today although my 22 year old son drives. We have four dragsters, one is a simple DYO car, then a single mag injected nitro car, and a blown alcohol class car for Comp a BB/DA and still have a Top Alcohol car but dont race it now for a few reasons. I am only 77 now and if I can lose some weight I might get back in the seat for a bit.

I saw not a single obese person. No one even over weight at all. Not one.

16:47 - I saw TV Tommy Ivo run the four engine Buick dragster back in the 60's. Man what a smoky beast it was!

Look how much skinnier people are compared to no days lmao people used to actully go outside and do stuff. Our food must really be poison geeze

I saw Garlits when he was still running front engine dragsters, the Hemi Under Glass and several Jet dragsters (Green Monster was one) at Dover in N.Y. I raced a 66 Barracuda then a 68 Roadrunner at Raceway Park in N.J. We were all young and times were much simpler not perfect but simpler.

I was there! 10 years old, raised in Speedway, sitting just beyond the finish line with my brother. But I didn't recall that Sneaky Pete beat an A/Competition (dragster with a "full" body) car: could have sworn it was either Jazzy Jim Nelson in the Dragmaster with the 413 Wedge or Jack Chrisman in the side-by-side twin Chevy Howards cam dragster. Oh well. I'm old enough I've forgotten my first wife, too. And only vaguely recall the second.

My friends and I drove up from Columbus Indiana and were in the stands. An exciting day.

Back when you could campaign a nitro dragster out of a typical suburban garage.

Watching this brings back memories of my dad telling stories of his racing day's. A story of meeting Don Garlits at a race in California. The breaking of a tie rod during a quarter mile. I miss the stories of his wild day's. I miss you dad,❤.

Back when these guys were the driver,mechanic and sponsor of their cars….great stuff 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

The tires were definitely the weak point, many of these cars would have a second or more with drag slicks

Still using the same basic formula… big supercharged pushrod V8s. So much has advanced but a lot hasn’t changed in 60 years. Honestly these old gassers are far more interesting than the modern ones

I was there. This is the first time I've seen this film. Thanks for posting. Brings back a lot of memories. 😊

Love that comment about too much weight causes problems........

What a prize video for American History. Thanks for the post! This will live on no doubt.

Look how packed it was back then and look how many people had race cars. Now days if you drag race your considered rich and people can't afford to go and watch every weekend like back then. Country some how changed drastically and some where some how at some point we made some wrong decisions

Seems like just a bunch of good ol boys getting together to race whatever they had. Must have been a hoot.

I love watching this old stuff to see that almost everything has changed, at 18:27 you see him torquing the blower down to 30 foot pounds. In 1961 there were no burst panels and the "pop" valve on the inlet manifold actually did nothing but leak a bit. Years later we learned to use aluminum studs to hold the blower down and those torqued to 120 INCH pounds and would snap off if the compressed air fuel charge in the intake manifold found an ignition source. Putting straps on the blower to limit the travel when this happened also came later.

They mentioned Jess Van Deventer in this video, set the record for his class at 8.95 seconds and retired unbeaten, died recently in 2019.

I saw Eddie Hill's twin engine dragster in the video. He's still racing today! I love the old drag racing footage. Thanks for sharing.

It's fantastic that the technology exists to make these old videos looks so great! Thanks for posting!

Found my Dad's car at 4:50. #120 Orange front engine

The old DA tower and no bridge, a full quarter mile, and a flag man, yes.

I appreciate these legends and how they went fast. Old school tech and trial by error, unlike todays computers and wind tunnels…

A time when I had a hell of a lot of enthusiasm but no money.

Pure drag racing, no show ponies, no Christmas tree

That was FAN. TAS. TIC !!

Thank You! Still have a D-A tin can holding some parts. I didn't see any big castor angles, that's what really made an impression on me in 61 when the dragsters front wheels would almost lay on their sides when turned. That & Don Garlits black leather jacket with Swamp Rat pic &some low Roman Numeral painted on!

I remember going to Flamborough Speedway (Ontario Canada) early 1970's, loved the smell of the smoke and burnt tires, than when dusk would settle, and the temperature would cool down, all the lights from the strip would turn the area into a magic-land.

Those days are long gone sadly.

If I had a time machine that’s that’s where I would go!

I love these old videos I remember early drag racing I remember when Big Daddy Don was the first to go over 200 mph and later the first man to break the 6 second mark

I had a copy of the Hot Rod 1961 yearbook that just captured my imagination. It is very cool to finally see many of those pictures come to life!

The clarity of this video is excellent, thanks for posting. Was nice to see Pete Robinson take the win there. Unfortunately, I was to be witness to the run that took his life, at the 71' WinterNationals. It was debated whether or not to finish the race on Sunday...but was decided to so. The feeling at the Pomona fairgrounds that Sunday, was of such great sadness, you could darn near hear a pin drop between rounds, and the usual happy/smiling faces of race fans & participants alike, were conspicuously absent that day 😔.

I like this kind of drag racing better than the one that's on MTV!

This was my first, was 10yo and lost in this for life!

It's crazy that today, daily driver cars on the streets are faster

note, that the support cars are all within a few years of 1961

Back when these really were hot rods, every car was different even when they looked alike, there were no rules restricting the format of top fuel and ingenuity was king.

3:07...........the wisdom of our forefathers is ageless.

Excellent ! This is better than the stuff we watch today !

My ole man ran his D/G 57' Chevy " Shaker 2" there..

in between 1960 and 1970 they picked up 6 seconds, went from mid 13.s to mid 7s, it was fookin UNREAL as s kid 9 years old to see cars were going this fast, my mass car did a 19 second quarter, and it was fast, oldsmobile..

Excellent footage and color considering the age of this film!!! Very well done too!!!

The variety was what fascinated me. All kinds of combinations of engines, body’s, no limits to the imagination of the individual. AA dragster runs 1320 ft in 8.8 seconds @ 170, 63 years later Top Fuel runs 1000 ft in 3.7 seconds @ 338. While I really enjoy the pro classes today, it’s the sportsman classes that are still to core of NHRA.

Wonder how many of these poor fellas had to go to Vietnam war sucks.

Great video ❤️ And people look slim and healthy. No computer games, just outdoor hobbies.

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I REALLY ENJOY WATCHING VINTAGE MOTORSPORTS. I LEARN A LOT FROM THE PAST AND FROM THR PRESENT. GREAT VIDEO AND THANKS FOR SHARING.

It's great to see racing in its simple form, no protracted burnouts and other timewasting, just get up on the line and do it!!!

When "run what you brung" was alive and well

This is back when racing was good.

I was 14 that year and bought my first "hot rod" type magazine for about 25 cents, didn't get to go to the drags for another two years...

When times were simpler and we could afford new cars homes speed parts race cars . We built them ourselves fir less money and tjiseveith more money bought from speed shops and had built from speed shops. I miss those days speed shops were like a toy store to me. Hours in one

They started running the front engine class again and I’ve got most all the stuff to build one I need a blower lower intake for a sbc

I like the flagman who is now obsolete . Talk about old school

Beautiful cars during a beautiful time of American excellence.

Thank you sir! This is exactly the content I was looking for! Liked and subscribed, I endeavour to watch every one of your videos and look forward to seeing the evolution of drag racing.

1993 NHRA Top Fuel Champion Eddie Hill with the twin engines and dual slicks setup at 5:43. He had the right idea with 2x power and dual slicks, just too heavy, a bit short, and low on power at that time, Seen a photo of that twin car in a nostalgia edition of Hot Rod I think. He won races with that setup.

Ya don't know what you got until it's gone.But ya know it's good fun at the time.

Just think all this started on a dry California lake bed called El Mirage. As a kid in the 60s we were only a 20 minute drive away and visited El Mirage all the time. Loved it

Interesting blower setup on the car at 12:04 Looks like a supercharger is mounted *in front* of two side-by-side Chevy small-block V8s.😳 I've never seen anything like that before!

My dad won Little Eliminator that day in his roadster called "Raunchy" His small block Chevy outran three supercharged cars during eliminations. Semifinal @21:15, final @ 21:58, Trophy presentation @ 24:27

I was born in April of 1961 and I wish I could have gone I was about 3 months old it would have been great

Lions and Pomona where it all went down when I was a kid growing up in L.A.

I was three years old in 61. I didn’t realize they were so sophisticated this far back.

No tree, no rev-limiters no time trials just flat out drags

Now, it's turning nitro into three seconds of noise. I remember seeing TV Tommy's 4 engine dragster in Bozeman MT.

days of old .... love these vids , thank you

THANKS for posting these!

No over weight car pushers.

This is GREAT content, so glad I found it. Thanks!

Great footage!!

1961 - Checks fuel to make sure no one's running nitro 2021 - Everybody runs nitro

When “pump gas” was high octane leaded

Helped a guy at the San Fernando Drags one time do a quick plug change on his Chrysler powered rail and he went out and recorded the first 200+ MPH at that strip. I also got a kick out of the human 'Christmas Tree'. Earlier days of racing allowed fans to see more of a race due to more time on each run. Now it seems like 'bang' and it's over. JMHO

For a second i thought the moon eyes car was grandpas dragula.

Luv this stuff! Lots of different ideas about how to go fast!

I miss the old world

Great watch this was, it's one thing to see old Hot rods being built in the modern age but seeing the old atmosphere prior to all the modern technology (phones) and commentated on at the time is special.

The first car proves that Dominic Toretto could to a burnout and wheelie at the same time. Fast and Furious fans have vindication!

TV Tommy Ivo already running 4 motors in 1961~!

It's 10:00 pm, do you know where your kid's are at. Who remembers that?

Wow, 6 years before I was born. Great job cleaning it up!

Very cool! I've always wondered why Indianapolis 500 racetrack has been preserved and has a museum but this Dragstrip which I never knew existed has vanished I'm glad to see the vintage drag cars getting preserved and respect now

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL NHRA DRIVERS AND TEAMS.

The opening screen has a magneto w a brown crown & white dots,hefty wires out the side ..it's identical 2 the look of the one installed on my 1968 street Hemi equipd Road Runner...I REMEMBER start ups..VIVIDLY...

At this time the NHRA was just lame , the best cars were in the AHRA where you could run a long wheel base fuel car , I saw the Greer Black Prudome vs Vance Hunt car final for the AHRA top fuel , (Green Valley in Texas) at the time that was the show and finally the NHRA had to give in and allow the fuel cars in they where just so much faster and so exciting.

Super cool. There's a bunch of stuff I've not seen in a long time. Thanks

Walt owner of Walt's Puffer ,,I been to his shop many times, was Inkster Mi ,at Inkster Rd and Vanborn rd,,,I felt the history, he was a SUPER nice guy, I hadn't seen him hope he's good but I really think he left Michigan,,,shop sold ,,,,I really cared for the local heroes

Great Video! Early Ramchargers and future legends!

Amazing hand built machines. The real fast and furious

I think that the funny cars of back then had more character than todays cars do. Today it’s a really fast billboard more or less.

thankyou for uploading this piece of history ,just made my day so many memories of a better time,my reaction times arent so good these days but i still managed to hit the subscribe and get on board your channel i didnt red light

I wonder where all these cars are resting today?