One of my oldest memories is that of my Mother racing our 66 Comet in the late 60's. I recall my Father being mad because she had to race against big block cars, as there weren't many women racers (powder puff race), the little 289 didn't stand much of a chance. As a little kid, it was cool to see Mom on the track and I'll never forget it.
I had a friend that had a '66 Cyclone 390 GTA. It was built up & it was pretty fast. He beat a '69 Chevelle w/396 cowl induction. Also a '68 Firebird w/400.
I have a 66 GT390 Cyclone... 390 was breathing heavy so it got refreshed to a 445 FE.. My mentor tuned on Ongias driven cars as well as other MT rides (*RIP Amos Satterlee )
You had/have a cool Mother. My Mother is the opposite, she would have never done anything like that. I do remember her water skiing when I was a kid though.
Here's a little drag racing tidbit - In the 60s, in NHRA, stock cars were divided into classes using a formula. In fact, it was called "formula racing." The formula was advertised weight divided by advertised horsepower. There were classes "A" through "N" stock. Some stock engines made more power than they were advertised to have. Some engines made MUCH more power than advertised. Oldsmobiles were on of 'em, making them natural winners. We had 3 of 'em and ran K, L , M and N Stock for that exact reason. We easily set strip records everywhere we went. Super Stock was a prime example. Some Super Stock engines were ridiculously under-rated. Finally, NHRA wised up and started "factoring" the horsepower.
I don't recollect NHRA Stock racing ever being called formula racing. However AHRA had a class called Formula Stock. A single class would have three Formulas, one for two barrel carburetors, one for four barrel carburetors and one for multiple carburetors.
Nice work. I started drag racing in 1963 with my E/Gas Sedan, by 1964 I was racing my home built A/Altered which ran low 9’s. I have NHRA rules books going back to 1963. After an Asian holiday I returned in 1969 with my A/Dragster. I raced Top Alcohol Dragster with a blown alcohol Rodeck Chevy from 1984 to 1989. We won a bunch of UDRA events and Championships and some NHRA events as well. We low qualified at the 86US Nationals. After my wife died in 1990 I moved to Australia where I have built cars, built engines and flowed fuel systems for over thirty years. Good job with the history. Loved it.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Drag Racing veteran,,,,,You are also a legend of our sport................................................................................
I love the real history you’ve presented here Brian! Thank you for not simply romanticizing history. History is often times not as glamorous as we like to recall decades later.
Wow ! That must have taken hours of research , very well done . These episodes of yours are my favorites as is all drag racing. I will have to watch this one a second time at least. Greatly appreciated ,and many thanks Brian.
If you lived through those days, no research would be required. We lived Drag Racing and it was a fairly cheap sport to be part of.....unlike these days.
One of my favorite books is High Performance: The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing, 1950-1990 written by Dr, Professor Robert C. Post. That books ranks right up there on my all time list of sport books. Who would have figured that a Professor with ties to the Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology would write a book about the History of Drag Racing? Another great look at the history of Drag Racing Brian. I really admire your work.
,,,,,,,,let me get up and reach for the pen ; another gem of a book I need for my Library.......At 73 ,,,how much have I missed ; been an avid reader of Drag Racing since 1965......still have the dec. 1965 issue , my first car magazine ; there was a 66 GTO on the cover......It's here in my bedroom , and I have not looked at it in decades......It was an issue of Petersens Car Craft magazine [ the sibling of Hot Rod magazine ]
Boy, this one brought back memories. When we used to go to THE Nationals in Indy, we'd tour around to all of the motels in the evening watching the Top Fuel & Funnies being worked on, since like you said, no one was allowed to stay inside the track. Thanks, Brian, you made this 80 year old feel young again!
Thanks for the lesson. Our house was on same country road that Indianapolis Raceway Park (home of the National Drags on Labor Day weekend ) was on. Family moved in when I was 6 in 1967. Got to see the Kings and Queens of the sport. Still love to take 1st timers to watch their reactions to a funny car or top fuel burnout , from the bleach box area. I remember the staggered starts but they had the tree determine starts with green lights staggered, couldn't take off till your side gave you a green light. Loved funny cars, especially The Mongoose, Tom McEwen , The Blue Max, Raymond Beadle obviously Don the "Snake" Prudhomme, Don Garlits, Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney
Lots of great images that I have never seen before (OMG The Greek and the Zookeeper at Bristol!) but the Bill Lawton vs. Willie Borsch photo is an absolute gem - that made my day. Well done!
Love your drag racing history lesson. Grew up @ 2 miles from Irwindale raceway. We loved the 32 funny car meets,and the east vs west meets back in the 60's. We were there every week.
Thanks for this. When I saw Taska Ford funny car in your cover page I was in. Being 72 now I had started an interest in drag racing when the first funny cars began showing up. A wonderful time to grow up.
Excellent video. Thanks. My father participated in Drag Racing in the late 1950’s in the Southeast at abandoned military air fields. He said occasionally, the race promoters would have 1/2 mile drags. Dad said the cars really felt light in the front end as you approached the finish line at these events. Rear end gearing was crucial. Dad said he felt the speeds attained by these basically stock cars with stock tires was a bit unsafe. Dad also participated in some 1/4 mile “dirt” drags. Dad’s car was a heavy stock class car with an automatic transmission. Dad said this combination yielded great results against the lighter clutch 4 speed cars who couldn’t get good traction for half a track. I remember the staggered starts in the late 1960’s. The slower car was staged several car lengths down strip of the faster class car. The fans did get into these races. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for the history lesson,my first trip to a drag race was in 1967.Can never learn enough about this sport,may it always survive in a world where things are forgotten,and tossed to the side.😎
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,My first time was at 18 yrs young,,,,,,,in 1969,,,,,,,,,,,,New York National speedway , in suffolk county Long Island N Y ..................
I'm astonished by what I've just watched, for free. I live in the UK where we are forced to pay a TV licence for mind numbing trash, But yet again you've produced something the BBC or MSM could only dream of. FOR FREE. An absolute joy to watch.
Thank you so much for such a great video. Coming from a former competition eliminator competitor I thoroughly enjoyed the breakdown of all the classes that battled it out. Thanks again WONDERFUL VIDEO
Interesting video, my first trip to a dragstrip was in 1966, Nitromethane now on Hyperfules is on sale, for $19.99 reg $32.99, and a top fule dragster burns 16-23 gallons in warm-up, burnout, and 4 sec run, very expensive, Thank Brian, subbed. 👊 😎
Brian,I hope you do more of these,your knowledge of my favorite sport is amazing and I love any history about it, nothing like hearing the stories of the what I call the more fun times,I especially love the 70's,80's and 90's,the old pro stocks and funny cars,early pro mods,this with your amazing way to tell a story is something worth listening to,I also love your announcing on tv
Darn good content here- you just gained a sub. You can go back even further when the SCTA started; they began the practice of running regularly scheduled organized standing-start races with professional grade timing equipment to ensure the accuracy of the results. Instead of paper slips you could get a small brass plaque to put on your car showing it's top speed to 1/10 MPH to impress your buddies. They were also the first drag race sanctioner to incorporate as a business for legal protection and to obtain insurance for their meets. Regardless of what the Beach Boys sang about, cars which could do 140 were extreme rarities way back then, with most of the best hot rods running around 125 over a carefully measured mile. The later drag racing sanctioning bodies emerged from that on discovering that almost all the speed possible with cars from those times happened in a quarter mile so there was no real need to have tracks any longer, and that's where the 1/4 mile standard for drag tracks originated. Now to go into the rabbit-hole of your older vids 😊
If I remember correctly, R/C planes use nitromethane as fuel! That is where I grew to love the smell of 'nitro' exhaust when I was just a kid in the 60s! Yee haw!
Off on a tangent here, but the Funny Cars being transported on slant backs in the open, reminded me of the occasional interstate encounter of a top competitor en route to the next event. I distinctly remember our car passing The Hawaiian while headed north on I-5 in Oregon.
Wow , this is a great video. Very informative, and for me some great nostalgia. I was born in 61 and my Dad was Drag Racing up til then. So growing up I became a fan through the enthusiasm Dad had for cars . Model cars , local tracks , Hot Wheels , but he never went back to racing because of the expense, but we were and I still am a Huge Drag Racing fan. As you might be able to tell this video has really triggered some great memories . I got to see an awesome Drag Racing Era, the late 60's , 70's , 80's and 90's . Evolution continued with rules that has almost ruined Drag Racing . I absolutely hate 1/8 mile Racing, but what can you do. Awesome Video Thank You Yeah I hit all the buttons 😂
Thank you Brian! I started drag racing now and then in 1968 as Fremont Dragstrip was a few miles from home. I raced my daily driver, as that is all I had. Fremont was a place we went to watch and race in the 70s. The last car of my own I raced there was a '64 Vette with a L-88 427. I still have some time slips and trophies, and yes, I sometimes drove it to work.
Remember, it was a street car. 11:72 at 117. We can buy faster cars at a dealer these days, but that was quick for the early '70s. Thanks again, Brian. I have 6 motorcycles these days, and both of my Ninjas would have beat the Vette at the drags.
Great History lesson!! I totally love the roots of drag racing and always learning something new!! Thanks Brian for your passion of drag racing and sharing it!!🏁🤘
This was great! I remember going with my brother's B/MSP car to Continental Divide Raceway South of Castle Rock, Co. in '64 for the High-Altitude Nationals. At 10 years old, I was hooked.
I was at CDR, in '65 I believe, when a brand new 396 Sting Ray raced a 289/385 hp Cobra DragonSnake, I believe the Cobra won, it was close, but the most exciting single race I can remember from my high school years. One can still see traces of that race complex on google earth, great memories. I did my little bit of racing up at the Mountain View drag strip just east of the town of Erie, one can still see traces of part of it just south Hwy 52 and the Erie High School on google earth...cheers
Thanks Brian! Another great video on my favorite sport's history. Here is an interesting story regarding the christmas tree starting system. I raced at NY National Speedway in the '70s. I had heard that track manager, Ed Eaton was instrumental in the development of that system, he told me that he was. He also told me that he regretted designing it as a count down system. It wasn't universally liked (understatement) and he did not like the anticipation factor which created (in his opinion) too many red lights. That pretty much explained why NYNS used what was essentially a Pro Tree system with a single yellow before the green. Another story for another day is how that starting system led to deep staging and eventually delay boxes! Walter Frey
Thanks for the trip down memory lane and yes, you did bring up some things I didn't know (clearly) but was glad to learn. I did know quite a bit but you brought back some fond memories for sure. I began in the 60's and truly got more into it during 70's. I got to work at our local tracks here around Seattle (SIR). My best memories were meeting all the big-name drivers and still calling some friends. Again, thanks for all the work and again taking me back to all those fun times.
I love that you used so many pics from Sanair! This was my local track for a long while until it basically shut down. This was THE only National event I could attend because I had no driver’s license! Miss this event tremendously. I actually regularly wrench on some older NASCAR stuff at the adjacent Tri-Oval (also no longer raced at) for some « driving experience » school. Nice job on these video Brian!!
What an education. I am 76 and started racing in high school and cruising and racing on Van Nuys Blvd. when it was certainly jumping. It looks like I started just when the XMas tree came into being. I remember no more rails at San Fernando when they went more than 160 or they would crash. Street cars now regularly go way over 200 in the quarter now. In fact, 250 has been crossed in Drag and Drive. These are not single purpose trailered cars. They are now making in street cars on methanol 4-5,000 HP somewhat reliably. Just like in aerospace the progress is dramatic. I now drive a 1969 Chevy G 10 van with a built 350. It is so simple and easy to work on. However, it has over 1.5 million miles on it. Do not maintain and what happens? New cars are kool and faster with more mileage but they do not last and are extremely expensive to maintain with high insurance. As soon as it goes off of warranty you have to get rid of it.
Check out Wild Willie in the Winged Express driving with one hand on the wheel. Also, I saw Dave Koffel's Flintstone Flyer Packard. You should come out here to the North East Division and feature the Junior Stockers. The Land of NED had the most NHRA national record holders and national champions in the junior stock section and the tricks they used to get speed was mind boggling. Very scientific.
Learned a lot from this video. My favorite videos of yours are the one's featuring unusual or famous cars. Buddy Ingersol for example. Would be cool if you did one on. the Winged Express. Keep up the good work 👍
I have seen national events in person as well as the local bracket racing AKA handicapped racing. IMO bracket racing is much more exciting and fun to watch. The one exception for me is experiencing how violent the feel of the top fuel dragsters running are. When you are 1/4 a mile from the starting line and the ground pounds beneath you while the truck you are sitting on shakes and creaks. That can now be approximated (not replaced) by watching a Street Outlaws show. The best racing is still bracket racing, but the street outlaws are second for me now as the competition is extremely tight and the personalities harken back to the beginning of drag racing. Note I never said organized drag racing. Any racing you watch is always better in person than being at home watching on TV. My hope is that everyone can find the drag racing that you enjoy most while experiencing all that drag racing has to offer. If you want to participate, then I probably would start at bracket racing at your local track and work your way from there unless you have a parent named Force or the like lol. Always remember to be safe, use the right safety equipment and race smart.
What an oustanding piece of journalism. Thanks so much, Brian, for putting time into researching all the details for this piece. I always look forward to your videos, because I know they will be well-researched and well-informed, which makes them all the more fascinating to listen to. Thanks again, great work!
This channel has the crazy highest ratio of quality to subscribers for any automotive YT channel. How have more ppl not found these amazing videos that are like little else in the genre?
Thanks for all the work compiling this, Brian. Can't believe its gotten 78k views at this writing. Hope it means a rebirth for the sport, and 16 car plus fields show up for events.
Well, this year we have nearly 16 full time top fuel cars. Last year we had very few short fields. Funny car is also up at least one full timer, maybe 2. We’re making progress!
Thanks for the video explanations. I went as a young spectator back in the late 1960'-1970's and went to see the Funny Car events. They were very impressive, fast, and loud. I miss those years of Drag Racing. i still have some home super 8 films of a couple of events. Take care.
Well Brian you have certainly discovered a number of things and or processes that have changed in Drag Racing thru the years for me. Thanks for the true history and the time required to put this video together. I will have to say this will likely be used as a Drag Racing fact checker for years for to come. Thanks again. Mitch Stott
Great memories. I first saw a dragster in 1962. Sixteen year old Robert Stirling had built an injected Chrysler A Gas Dragster and brought it to the local Scout-O-Rama as an example of a Boy Scout's hobby. Robert would go on to build nostalgia front engine dragster chassis in the 1990s. In 1962 there were half mile drags at Half Moon Bay and other places. I think that dragster could reach 180 there.
I've always loved the history of our sport, and as a crewmember on a nostalgia top fueler, I've heard a few tall tales from back in the day. I knew about the class racing on Saturday and the Sunday Eliminator titles but I had no idea how crazy that system was. Thanks again Brian for your incredible research and these amazing videos that carry on the history of our sport.
I was at the '65 AHRA Nationals. It was great! Eliminations were on my 16th birthday. My birthday present from my dad to both of us. That means I'm going to be 75 at the end of this month. Drag racing was more accessible in those days.
Great history lesson Brian! Thanks. One note though. The 1962 Winternationals Street Eliminator was run heads up with a flagman and no staggered starts. My car won class on Saturday, the B/SP Corvette of Grassman Osterman Nicholson & Wade. On Sunday everyone one in Street Eliminator ran heads up with a flagman, with the final winner being Earl Wade in Mike Lenke's Corvette over KS Pittman. Earl said the only reason he beat KS in his faster car was that he was asleep. During Street Eliminator rounds my 283 cu in Corvette drew Hayden Proffitt in his 434 cu in A/FX Pontiac and they ran heads up. Check out the Petersen Digital Archive, the race is there with both cars even on the start line. Again, great video! Thanks!
Nicely done piece. A good follow-up would be recalling all the ingenuity and creativity that was developed from the Jr. Stock ranks that permeates the sport even today.
Maybe there were too many classes way back then, but I kinda miss them. I think there are too few classes today. 23:04 - Beeline Dragway!! Went to many races there in the 60's Great video! Thanks!
There were never too many classes. It was as much fun watching X Stock as Gassers if you really enjoy drag racing. When NHRA "smoothed out" it's "product" to make it "TV friendly" they killed 90% of the actual car-guy interest that they themselves created. Losing the Hot Rod/Gasser/Altered/Stock/Sports Car classes drained out the majority of the wildness, the inventiveness and the grassroots elements of drag racing. Now it's like NASCAR; sterile.
Not just drag racing, I was watching a documentary about the Indy 500 and it said the qualifying speeds there were also decided via charts and a mathematic formula. And they too started ending up with speeds "off the charts", in a *very* literal sense
Brian I thank you for sharing this ! I grew up around drag racing and this was more than I expected and I've known a lot more the the average person about this !!
Anytime I Hear your voice ..I Know Im Getting The Straight Scoop !! Thanks Mr Lohnes !! You Are NHRA !! Started watching racing in HMB in 65 My Son and I have not missed a race at Baylands Or Sonoma since 1987 !! See You at Pomona
Brian, please consider doing a video on all the tracks that are closing in recent times. Seems like 10 or 20 a year lately. Big ones and mom and pop owned as well. Thank you.
Well you are right but the better video is on the tracks that are RE-OPENING. Phoenix, Kansas International, Huntsville, Kawana Valley, and Sky View, NY. Also the new track being built in Kansas City, known as Flyin H Drag Strip
@@brianlohnes3079 wow! That is enlightening and encouraging! Sometimes we get enveloped in our own doom and gloom and don't realize it. I'm headed off to do some reading on this! Thank you.
My Father was a Founding Member (1953?) of a local Club Originally called the St Pete Timing Association which later was reorganized and became Sunshine Speedway Drag Stip He drove a 50 Ford coupe w/49 Lincoln flathead (3 Stombergs). Years later (1972) I drove a 57 Chevy Coupe Gasser
Having drag raced in the late 60s and early 70s I really appreciate how it is done today it may progress a bit slower but the competition is much better
EXCELLENT IS THE WORD FOR ( ALL ) YOUR HARD WORK . Looking FORWARD TO YOUR NEXT HISTORY LESSONS . THANKS AGAIN . PS THERE WAS A BEAUTIFUL ( TORNADO ) WITH 2 or 4 Engines And Of Course 4 Wheel Drive . COOL MAN COOL FROM OC CA
I stopped going to the local strips when the bracket disease set in. Racing is about fast, not slowing your car to avoid breaking out. I recall LMAO when the national VW meet drag was won by some guy in a diesel Rabbit with an automatic who was by far the slowest car in the field simply because he ran the most consistent times.
I hope you eventually do a history on some of the technologies to drag racing, specifically the tires. Drag slicks and drag radials have evolved a lot over the span of like 70 years
Man I love your story telling and the effort you put in. I’d love to hear you talk on Tractor Pulling some time, I know it’s not your area of expertise, but I also know it interests you.
@@brianlohnes3079 awesome. Definitely excited for it. You’ll be able to blow some peoples minds with the wild contraptions that were put together back in the day
As a kid i was lucky to have two drag strips within bicycle riding distance from our home. Us kids would ride to the strip and hid our bikes in the woods. No money for admission we would climb the fence across the spectator parking lot and blend into the crowd. I am sure that the staff seen us but did not care, they probably seeing us a future paying customers. Mid 60's the days of altered wheelbase funny cars. One Sunday there were 16 funny cars including my favorite driver, Tom Hoover and his original Showtime funny car. One of the best days of my life.
Fantastic work Brian. This should be on a loop at the don garlits museum. I had no idea that back in the day speed was recorded and the ET was a mathematical number.
Wow Brian I've watched several of your posts and had to subscribe they are fantastic. I grew up residing across the street from one of Fritz Voit's daughters (Vicky ) and my oldest brother went to high school and dated Melinda Voit . So Fritz Voit was a kind of hero for us kids who dug racing and cars. One thing stood out about Fritz's race cars They weren't pretty, have you heard the expression "if it don't go chrome it" well I'm sure the originator was looking at one of Fritz's cars when he said it. Keep em coming B.
I remember when you had to win "class" to be in the show on sunday,,,,and I have some wild stories of changing major components in the hotel parking lot,,,bathtubs turned into parts washing tanks and crazy stuff like that
Well done as always Brian. That picture of guy pouring Nitro into jug so Wild . I ran Nitro in RC Boat in Younger days cost 8 bucks a pint in Australia . I Read Smokeys book . Standard fuel for standard engines he said . Blew a few engines from Lawn mowers to VW,s Had lots of fun. Keep up the great work
Was always curious when the modern day burn out was conceived. Should have known it was Don Garlits. But the Ken Jennings of drag racing knowledge informed me in this video. Thanks Lohnes.
Now I remember why I don't race NHRA events. Small Tracks like Kingdon in Lodi Ca and street racing , are heads up and grudge racing, to the point, "run what you brung race who you want"
Thank you, that predates my 1970 involvement in drag racing. Some this stuff is new to me, but every sport and it's rules had to start sometime. I remember hearing something about the tree being fought against, but again, that was before my time. One of the reasons I wasn't a good driver is that I got beat by almost everyone on reaction time at the lights.
