KUHLMANN HEADS FOR FIVE-SECOND ZONE!

At the recent Super Chevy event conducted at NHRA's National Trails Raceway located just outside Columbus, Ohio, Nitro Coupe racer Bill Kuhlmann raised the performance bar by lowering the Nitro Coupe record to a stunning 6.001 elapsed time. On the 6.001 lap Kuhlmann also recorded a speed of 234.41mph. Kuhlmann established the record by backing up the 6.001 with a 6.065 lap, but only ran 210.31

In a phone interview with DRO Kuhlmann stated that a big factor in his car running the speeds and elapsed times was that the temperatures that day were in the sixty-degree range. "Cool air makes all the difference in the world to a supercharged engine when it comes to performance,." Kuhlmann stated.

According to Kuhlmann, the air was so cool that he had only 28% nitro in the tank instead of the allowed maximum of 30%. He was, however, running the maximum 20% overdrive. Kuhlmann told DRO that he tried to back up the 6.001 run and was actually trying to fun a five when he ran the 6.06 that backed up the 6.001.

"When I looked at the bearings after the first pass they were squeezed so bad that I didn't want to run that motor again because usually when the bearings look like that and I run the motor again it puts a rod out of the motor. So I put a brand new motor in and tried to run a five. It probably would have run the five based on the progressives, but the track was so slick the last three hundred feet that I scrubbed off about 25-mph just keeping the car straight."

Progressive times for Kuhlmann's passes

1st .980 60ft….2.618 330ft…..3.923/189.10 1/8 mile….5.046 1000ft…….6.001/234.41

2nd .998 60ft….2.619 330ft…...3.907/190.70 1/8 mile….5.031 1000ft…….6.065/210.31

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA RACING GREAT TED GOTELLI DIES

photo by Dave Wallace

Ted Gotelli, one of the most successful Northern California racers of all-time, recently passed away at age 84. Running out of his Gotelli's Speed Shop in south San Francisco, Gotelli fielded an impressive string of Top Fuel race cars, especially between the years 1960 and 1972. Gotelli's fame lay in his wrenching abilities, with his biggest claim coming on May 16, 1965 when his driver, the late Denny Milani, backed up the sport's first 210-mph pass at Sacramento Raceway. Milani ran a 211.26 and backed it up with a 209.78-mph charge.

Gotelli never won a big race, but was good for low e.t. and top speed at many big events. Locally at Fremont Raceway, Gotelli and Milani won over 20 Top Fuel event titles in 1964 and the competition then included talent like the Masters & Richter team and Johnny Batto in the Batto-Valente-Bing's Speed Shop dragster. As close as Gotelli got to a major win was in 1962 when driver Glenn Leasher took runner-up honors to Don Prudhomme at the Bakersfield March Meet.

Over the years, Gotelli resembled a northern version of Roland Leong considering the number of drivers he had employed. Jim McClennan (with Champion Speed Shop), Leasher, Milani, Sammy Hale, Kenny Safford, Norm Weekly, Norm Wilcox, Ronnie Hampshire, Jim Lynn, and Jim Davis were some of the drivers of his fuel dragsters.

The Gotelli name still lives on in drag racing because his grandson, Larry, currently is one of the big stars on the Nostalgia Top Fuel dragster circuit.

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