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37. EDMOND RICHARDSON
We're going to give Edmond the same treatment we did his brother Scotty
a few pegs back. As hard as it is to conceive, and I tried my best going
through the IHRA Summit Drag Racing Media Guide, Edmond has never won
an IHRA national event. Scotty won just one. Now on the other hand,
IHRA's version of an Edmond Richardson, one Anthony Bertozzi, has won
something like 36 IHRA titles ... aw, we're gettin' off the subject.
Next case.
38. JAMES WARREN
On April 16, 1967, Warren guided the Warren-Coburn-Miller to a 230.17-mph
blast and backed it up with a 226.70-mph hit. That's generally regarded
as the first such 230 ... Warren ran San Fernando Raceway's first seven-second
Top Fuel run with a 7.91 on Aug. 1, 1963 ... The Bakersfield, California
great also logged a somewhat controversial 7.41 and a later legit 7.44
in his Roger Coburn and Chuck Halloway's 364-cid Chevy Top Fueler in
1965 at Lions, the quickest for such a combination. ... Warren-Coburn-Halloway
also held down the No. 2 spot in the national Drag News Top 10 Top Fuel
standings in mid-1964 ... One of Warren's more spectacular efforts was
a 6.41/229.00 to 6.43/229.00 final-round win over Don Garlits at the
1973 Orange County PDA meet ... Warren was one of the few racers who
did pretty well against the fabled Garlits. He beat "Big Daddy" at the
1968 and 1972 NHRA Winternationals, the above PDA race, and the 1976
and 1977 Bakersfield March Meets. ... Certainly in Western annals, an
argument can be made that Warren was one of the best nitro leavers and
backpedalers in Top Fuel history.
39. DANNY ONGAIS
Danny "On the Gas"' rise to the top in Top Fuel was amazingly
quick. In his first full year as a Top Fuel pilot, 1965, he became the
first NHRA Division 7 Top Fuel champ and also set the association elapsed
time record for midyear at 7.59. In April of '65, he also ran the sport's
then best speed on NHRA clocks, a 207.36 at Carlsbad, Calif. ... He
runner-upped with the Honda of Wilmington fueler at the 1966 NHRA Indy
Nationals to Mike Snively in "the Hawaiian" after winning the Monday
Top Fuel show for the right to race the sitting out Snively ... Ongais
did go to Funny Car and in the first part of 1969, racked up an incredible
55-2 won-loss mark with the Mickey Thompson Mach-1 Mustang ... From
February to July 19, Ongais lost to just Candies & Hughes and Dave Beebe
in the "Big John" Mazmanian Barracuda. In that skein, Ongais won the
Bakersfield March Meet, the Las Vegas Stardust National Open, the Detroit
AHRA Grand American Nationals, the AHRA Springnationals at Bristol,
Tenn., the NHRA Springnationals at Dallas, the Lions AHRA Grand American
Nationals, and the Orange County Nitro Championships. …While greatly
disputed, Ongais received the first six-second Funny Car time slip on
September 14, 1969 when he ran a 6.96 in Thompson's Mustang at Kansas
City International Raceway.
40. FRANK MANZO
Manzo’s first of six NHRA Winston Alcohol Funny Car championships featured
one of the closest points battles in class history. Manzo went into
the last event of the 1981 season, the NHRA Winston Finals at Orange
County, with a very narrow points lead over No. 2 man, Gary Southern
in Bill Dunlap’s "Capt. Crazy" Dodge Omni. As eliminations progressed,
Southern set low e.t of the meet at a 6.51 and then defeated Manzo in
the semifinals. All Southern had to do was beat Brad Anderson in the
final and the Winston championship was his. He took a slight lead off
the line in that, but the Dodge got loose a few hundred feet off the
line and Anderson was able to pass him and preserve Manzo’s title. Manzo
would probably be the first to tell you that world title number one
was the toughest of his career.
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