30. CHRIS KARAMESINES
a. At the 1960 AHRA National Drag Race Championships in Kansas City, Karamesines received an unbelievable 219-mph time slip, making him very unofficially the first over 210-mph.

b. In the Diamond P "Kings of the Sport" video, Don Garlits said (to paraphrase) that Karamesines had won something like 23 straight rounds from him in 1960 match race competition.

c. Lyle Fisher won the 1960 Top Fuel Eliminator title at the Cordova (Ill.) World Series. He went 204.54-mph using Karamesines' engine from the Greek's "Chizler" dragster.

d. In 1961, Karamesines actually made a full pass in Fuel Altered great Gabby Bleeker's wild-ass '38 Austin. Karamesines ran right around 170-mph in the car at Alton, Ill., and reportedly told Bleeker that he was nuts to be driving something like that.

e. The famous "Greek" vs. the fabled Greer-Black-Prudhomme team match race at Lions where Karamesines won by going sideways in the lights was one of three 1963-64 matches between the two. In November, Prudhomme surprised "the Greek" at Fontana in two straight, but then lost the Lions match. A week after the 1964 Bakersfield race where "the Greek" beat a wheelstanding Prudhomme in round one, Karamesines won the rubber match at Lions, taking two out of three.

f. Karamesines ran the first 200-mph time at Bristol Raceway in Tenn. on Thursday of the 1965 NHRA Springnationals.

g. The best elapsed time of 1967 (and it had its detractors) was Karamesines' 6.75 at West Palm Beach, Fla. in February.

h. A side note on great older racers. NASCAR's Herschel McGriff and James Johnson were 66 when they stepped out of Winston Cup cars. Karamesines' was 73 when he qualified at the recent Thunder Valley Nationals at the new Bristol track. It is this writer's contention that in the history of all major auto sports, no one has been any (shall we say) more experienced, quicker, or more competitive in their chosen professional racing discipline than "the Greek."

31. DICK LAHAIE
At the 1989 U.S. Nationals, LaHaie ran Indianapolis Raceway Park's first four, a 4.983, alongside Joe Amato's 5.02. Also, for what it's worth, LaHaie was a record five-time UDRA Top Fuel circuit winner, taking the season championships in 1970, 1973, 1974, 1976, and 1977.

32. DARRELL GWYNN
In his 1989 NHRA U.S. Nationals Top Fuel win, Gwynn ran IRP's second four-second Top Fuel run with a low e.t 4.981 ... unfortunately, Dick LaHaie was in the pair just ahead of him. (See above.) Gwynn did get his revenge, though, in the final when LaHaie's blower let go right off the line affording the Miami, Fla., driver his first Indy Top Fuel win.

NO. 33. BRAD ANDERSON
Brad Anderson's racing career got rolling in his native Colorado, but he made his first eye-opening impressions in 1969 in Southern California (I think) dealing with one of the toughest aggregations of A/GS cars anywhere. Anderson's A/GS '68 Dodge Dart (a rare set-up for the class) was entered at the NHRA Winternationals where it went a few rounds in class eliminations.

My first really strong recall of Anderson, though, was in 1971 when he wheeled a potent candy apple red AA/GS Opel GT. Lions Dragstrip used to run a Combo Eliminator, which included all classes of gas: supercharged gas coupes and sedans, A/- through C/Dragsters, AA/Altereds and BB/Altereds. Anderson qualified with a strong 8.79/164.23 and ran a first-round 8.50/163.83 to cover Jim Moser's A/Dragster and an eased up 9.20 to beat Barry Lewis' B/Dragster. In the final, his 8.51/165.74 fell to Sherm Gunn in the Lawce Bros. & Gunn AA/A roadster, but the mile per hour was good for a new track record.

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