My first drag race I was at was Bristol fall nationals 1986, my dad and I had pit pass and watched in awe at Buddy's twin turbo set up thinking wow that's cool. It's the most amazing set up I had ever seen. Very few people can appreciate what I seen that day, I was 12 years old.
I remember this. You could buy a turbo V6 in a Regal but you couldn't buy a mountain motor in any of the Ford, Chrysler or Chevy offerings. The other racers were bitching about Buddy's car racing in Pro Stock but his was the only legitimate representative of a vehicle you could buy off a showroom. They were afraid he could turn it up at will whenever he needed to in order to beat his opponent. The other racer were just scared of that bad Buick.
Man did you ever hit the nail on the head! I was at Bristol and saw Buddy beat them one by one. We all loved it. He went to the finals but lost to Glidden. We will never know what could have been if Buddy had been allowed to stay in Pro Stock. The crying and the money put a stop to that.
I saw Buddy run his Regal in Comp eliminator at Indianapolis in 1985. He was running quicker and faster than the Pro Stocks of the day, so I thought he should be allowed to run with the "big boys". The pro stock prize money must have been much larger than winning in comp. Buddy Ingersoll was a true innovator in drag racing. Anybody that can build a 268 cube engine to run with 700 cube engines deserves a lot of respect as an engine builder. I saw his twin turbo V6 Skyhawk with liquid Nitrogen intercoolers at Englishtown in 1987. Awesomely fast, too. He was definitely an innovator.
@@davesilva75 Then it wouldn't be "stock". Back in the 80's, you could actually buy a turbocharged, electronically fuel injected V6 Regal. You couldn't buy a 700 cubic inch, dual 4-barrel Thunderbird. And besides, the Wayne County boys were busted in the 90's for using nitrous. Apparently the NHRA thinks using nitrous in Pro Stock is cheating.
Fortunate enough to see Buddy Ingersoll test and tune at OCIR back in the early 80's. Orange County Raceway was the hangout for racers Wednesdays, Fridays and the weekends.
My thoughts are with you and the rest of Buddy's family. Your uncle was a true innovator and what he accomplished, IMHO, with his twin turbo is truly amazing. His innovation in racing has to be compared to the innovation of Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. That is saying something. He deserves much more credit than he has received.
This footage is priceless for a drag racing fan. Its 1 thing to see that car make a exhibition run but to see it actually run in competition is cool! 5 stars!
+Chris Stavro --- Way easier to build horsepower with the boost of a turbo or supercharger than with a naturally aspirated engine. Buddy was one of the first to have success with turbo's in drag racing and he was a total terror. He ran 9's with a 4 cylinder Ford Pinto in Modified Eliminator before he went to the Buick in IHRA Pro Stock. Also Buddies times in this race would even be a honorable mention against todays 500 CI Pro Stock Motors that run 6.40 quarter mile times at over 215.00 MPH. So you got a little carried away with your 30 year later comment.
1951RKP He still did not beat Gliddens refrigerator of a motor. Now it was a shotgun Hemi. Not a GM whatever. Big difference. But I must admit if he would have time to develop that motor he would have been a handful. It was outlawed shortly after this.
i was there,that was the most awesome thing i ever saw,the mountain motors would leave first,but he handed them their butts at top end,way to go Buddy!
What P/S SHOULD'VE BEEN! Yes, the Buick wasn't N/A but it WAS an availible motr/car combo from the factory, which is what P/S was originally planned for.
well buddy should have argued that back in 1970 when the Pro Stock class was formed. Not show up after 16 years expecting all the drivers in Pro stock to change for him.
Yes that is right. Buddy should have been allowed to run his V6 buick against all pro stock guys. But without a turbo. I suppose if I could get my electric toyota to build more power than the pro stock guys. I should be allowed to race against them. Even though the rules were written 45 years ago. Besides buddy could have ran a big block buick in his car. Why didn't he? lol
Guys, these sanctioning bodies change their rules so fast, sometimes in mid season. I'm just glad they let him compete. I remember Tom Sneva qualified #1 Indy 500 with a Buick V6 block, but with the boost he was running, and on ethanol, the engine only lasted 100 miles, about. Buddy,, with his engine lasting the whole race, this was history made here, I'm in awe of Buddy the more I find out about him, an unsung hero.
@@bbfboss4296 He was actually running an engine you could buy at your local Buick dealer. His car was way more Pro "stock" then anyone there running 500 cubic inch mountain motors. And Glidden and the other pussies had him banned as they FEARED his lil V6 Turbo, LOL.......
In 1993, Tom Lorek driving a single turbo 234 cid Stage II Buick engined car beat Billy Glidden's 310 NA Ford at the Grapple at Gateway II. Tom ran a 9.90 which was one of the fastest single turbo runs in the country. Lawrence Conley (Tweaked) couldn't make it to the event. He was running around 9.76 at the time. Would've been cool to see them together. The neat thing about the Buick V-6s is that you can run 11's at the strip and drive them home with the A/C on!
I grew up on Elm street in Zeigler Illinois, Buddy's garage was about a block from us , we had no AC , windows open in the summer , he worked on those cars all night
Wow, Thanks for this video! Bob Glidden was in his heyday and Buddy Ingersoll was on his way up. Too bad rulles killed the Buick V-6 and he later switched to a V-8. I really miss the turbo-6. Bob Glidden has over 75 wins in NHRA Pro Stock and is surely missed. There is nothing, and I mean nothing like a WJ and Bob final.
What a great video of how exciting Pro Stock drag racing used to be. Brand recognition, cars that resembled production cars, legendary driver's and rivalries. All the best things that are gone from NHRA Pro Stock today.
thanks for sharing this clip. I have heard about it but never thought I would get to see it thanks so much for posting it. No thanks to ricky smith who complained and got buick kicked out big chicken. go buick.
Yes he did. I'm glad I found this and I have wanted a turbo regal since 1988. I finally bought a 1986 Grand National in 2008. Wow it is amazing what this man did. It took a long time for the turbo v6s to catch-up with his accomplishments. Beating Smith I read was the end for Ingersoll as Ford was going to pull their sponsorship of IHRA. They gave Buddy the boot and imagine what he could have done had he continued, he would have been in the high 6s by the end of the 80s.
BUDDY INGERSOLL - THE DAY MODERN TECHNOLOGY SCARED PRO STOCK. Ingersoll reached the final round of the 1986 IHRA Fall Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., and afterwards found himself banished back to NHRA’s Competition eliminator. If it hadn’t been for a burned up clutch in the final round against Pro Stock icon Bob Glidden, he might have been tarred and feathered in the pits.
Damm i remember this buddy ingersol at pomona back in the late 80's early 90's i believe he ran in the modified class he'd run rail's and didn't win much but he was FAST for a v6! dig the video!
I have loved turnos since I was a kid and the grand nationals were killing everything on ant street with that little V6. There were always a few guys who would build turbo cars and just murder everyone, instead of others seeing the light, they would ban turbos or just not switch over. Tom Nelson talks about tearing down turbo 1500 plus street engines and the bearings look new. Gale Banks talks about his turbo off shore boats in the 70s or 80 just obliterating everyone and lasting the whole season with no damage, of course they were banned in favor of inefficient roots blown motors with less HP, that costs more and didn't last.
All you glidden guys can say what you want but I know Buddy gave glidden that race . He knew the protests ready had he won . all buddy needed to do was push the panic button and he would have had plenty of boost to walk right past Bill mid track . But Buddy proved his point and did it 30 yrs before everyone else even started using Dryer's ...Case closed..
Buddy might have hurt the car. But he did not give the race to Bob. Nothing to be gained by giving the race to Bob. To much money in racing at this level. Buddy was no loser and would never give a race away.
Clutch let go, he didn't give anything. Thats a huge insult to buddy. How do you know buddy had a scramble button? You do realize this wasn't common, and no one knew what to do to make power right? He couldn't go on ebay and get a boost controller....
As much as I liked seeing this car run and what a great story this race was, I agree that the car shouldn't have been in the class. It was easy to see where power adders were going and I'm glad we saw a split here to keep Pro Stock naturally aspirated and give rise to Pro Mod just 3 1/2 years later!
Charles W MCCray Jr bob never used nitrous. Other teams did. It was billy and rusty that were always telling him that other teams were using and passing tech. Bob did it once, never raced just to show the techs how easy it was to hide it. Thats when he was accused of using.
They let the Buick run because it had a V6 in it. No one knew what twin turbos were or what they could do. You could have heard a pin drop on Saturday night when he became the #1 qualifer. It was still "run whatcha brung" for everybody else. Fords at the time were the biggest with their 672 cu in motor. Can't remember the Chevys,but nothing sounded or ran like a Reher-Morrison-Shepherd motor. Good Times!
I'm confused here... 7.20's @ 190+ for pro stock in 1986??? i'm guessing there were different engine/weight combos allowed in IHRA vs NHRA in those days. can someone enlighten me? was glidden running a lighter car or more CI's for IHRA races? sorry if the question seems dumb, i wasn't even in kindergarten yet in 1986.
You can tell alot of people don't understand forced induction and power adders. they want to talk about a V6 going against a V8. The truth is Back when the Pro Stock class was formed. They did that to get away from bracket style racing. And there was a set of rules for that class as well. Some racers demand heads up racing. And some didn't mind bracket racing. but the Pro Stock guys loved heads up racing. And I think they saw Buddy as a intrusion on there way of racing in that class. They were worried it would ruin the class if they started letting turbo assisted cars run in Pro Stock. Kinda like the guys that only want a car with matching numbers. They are called purest. versus a car that is the same as the matching numbers cars. But there car doesn't have any matching number parts. Matching numbers cars bring more money when they go up for sale. So Pro Stock drivers like it that way. I don't think any Pro Stock driver watching Buddy Ingersoll run his car as fast as he did that day had any doubt it was only a matter of time before Buddy would be winning alot of Pro Stock races. Is was more of an intrusion on there class then it was they were afraid of a turbo power car being faster than a natural aspirated car. Because anybody that knows engines would already know horsepower and torque is KING. It would be no different if a electric car raced in Pro Stock. It just doesn't fit in the class or the rules. If you disagree with me. Then lets run a top fuel dragster against Buddy's car and see who wins. Each class has rules for a reason. Drag racing is not about having the fastest car on the planet. It about having the fastest car in your class. Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny cars are the fastest in a thousand feet. You won't see a Pro Stocker racing against a top fuel powered car period. They are not in the same class based on the rules for each class. Consider this. Look at Pro Mod cars. They run 5.78 E.T. times at over 250 MPH. Those cars have power adders on them like buddy had. Current Pro Stock record naturally aspirated only run 6.50's at 213 MPH. Do you think Pro Mod and Pro Stock should run heads up against each other? I don't think so. My hat go's off to Buddy Ingersoll for reaching the level he did. But if his car was legal according to the rules. He wouldn't have been allowed to run that day. I think it was done on purpose because all the attention it received in the drag racing world and all the publicity it received made alot of people go by a turbo for their car or truck. And people got rich off of installing them on customers cars. Think about it. Maybe Buddy could have beat Glidden that day and decided not to beat Glidden because it would have caused too many problems all around. It was also rumored that buddies clutch was pretty worn out by the final round against Glidden. Some guys love power adders on their cars. And some don't. Back then during the Glidden Ingersoll race. Most guy's didn't care about power adders. Today more guy's want power adders more then guy's who want just raw power. Its a matter of personal chioce and generations that come and go. One day we will all be racing Electric cars. I could strap myself to a rocket and go top fuel racing i suppose. If NHRA let me. I'd say NHRA is going to piss off some top fuel people. Especially if I can get to the 1,000 foot stripe before anyone else. Top fuel people would be protesting the same as the Glidden Ingersoll race drivers did. It was cool to watch though.
Everyone complains about the 500 inch motor not being available in OEM cars. It wasn't the manufacturers fault. NHRA made this rule because of all the weight/CID issues and the tech people constantly bending rules for some and hammering other drivers. So THEY decided on the 500 CID rule.
The 500 cubic inch rule was to eliminate the total dominance of the Ford Cleveland. NHRA put weight brakes on pro stock so the Clevelands Fords had to run hundreds of pounds heavier than any other manufacturer.
Of course it was outlawed. That's what people do when they can't compete AND WIN against something. They gang up and start whining until they get their way. 🙄
An engine on two wheels can hardly be compared to a complete car.The horsepower to weight ratio is WAY in favor of the bike.Its ignorant to even compare the two.........
We all know Glidden was cheating back then.....he was the master! The question is, where was he hiding the nitrous? Billy is takin that one to the grave lol! It's funny that after all those years Pro Stock is about to change rules and go will small engines with turbos.
+philjg59 Glidden didn't cheat. Fords just destroyed Chevys back in the day. Get over it. It took the NHRA making a bullshit rule to make Fords add more weight per cubic inch to stop Glidden and other Ford drivers from dominating the sport. Anyways I think it's mighty petty of Glidden to bitch about Turbo V6's in the class. Even the Chevy guys running big motors hated Buddy. Every time somebody goes against conventional wisdom, thinks outside the box, and then succeeds is always hated.
+philjg59 Bob Gliden retired from Pro Stock because of all the cheating and NHRA looking the other way cause it got them more separators to come to the tracks to see records broken. BTW one of the places they hid the nitrous was it was built into the hood.
I remember hearing about this a long time ago. From what I remembered there weren't too many people in the drag racing community, especially the professional class, that liked the idea of getting their asses kicked by a V6.
d square The guy Buddy beat in the previous round went to the officials and complained his ass off. Buddy would have won the final but his clutch started slipping mid track. Due to the big money being put in by FORD they didnt take to kindly to having their asses handed to them by a small cube v6 so he was banned from the class.
+ericou812 NHRA didn't want power adders in the class becuase it would turn Pro Stocks into Pro Mods. Unlimited NA cars would have been a thing of the past
Glidden qualified at 7.25 and ran a 7.28 in the final against Buddy. Buddy's previous two passes were 7.33's, and he ran a 7.33 against Glidden. He couldn't have won on that day. He even had a better reaction time in the final, but Glidden drove around him.
so you people are all worked up over your twin turbo Buick beating some naturally aspirated V8s. please. put some turbos on that big Ford of Glidden's and it would make that Buick look silly. Buick ain't never had shit.
Rudy Rosales yes and that's why you've seen so many of them down through the years, and Glidden's car was not on nitrous. you don't know shit pro stock was always carbureted all motor class until a couple of years ago when they ruined it.
A power added race motor against naturally aspirated race engines. This is like a blower powered car against a non blower powered car. Nothing magical here. F-15 vs a By-Plane. So they let a F-15 jet powered plane race a By -plane combustion piston powered. But honestly it was probably done as a stunt. Just to have a GM beat a King Ford. 😂 This race should have never really been allowed.
