That footage brings back lots of memory's. Great lakes dragway that my home track I spent lots of time there! I still have lots of picture of all the great's that ran there like Don Garlits, Hawaiian, Jenkins, Tommy Ivo, Bill Golden & on!!! Great Video Thanks for the ride down memory lane!!!
I was pretty surprised to see the funnycar bring the front tires up so much! And the “new” rear engine top fuel with no rear wing. Things were pretty different the year I was born, 1971!
That was a transition period in Top Fuel. More teams gradually switched to the rear engine configuration, and the slingshot was phased out of Top Fuel competition by the end of 1972.
Thanks for this footage. I'd only seen many of these cars in magazines back in the day. It's nice to see them in action. Seeing Garlits, Prudomme, and the Ramchargers actually racing is a thrill.
Cool! Thanks for sharing My dad had a rear engine top fuel dragster in 1971, but only toured the Midwest.. beat garlits, greek, and kalitta all in one race though He had to raise a family, but did it by building thousands of other's high performance engines
Love it all...but I remember the wheelstander's at Irwindale especially. Saw all the greats, including the "back-up pickup"...header flames and a shower of sparks from the rear (good thing the track was in an industrial zone, with a rock quarry at the top end) made the night shows awesome. And the 71' Winternationals...I was there. Epic for Garlits RED, sad for the loss of 2 lives. Thanks again for the memories ✌😎
Great to see Prudhomme and McEwen in their Hot Wheels slingshot fuelers. I had the Hot Wheels Snake and Mongoose drag strip and saw them run at the US Nationals.
