Dec. 11-12 - Irwindale Raceway (Calif.) held its grand opening race and the top eliminator was rain. The feature was a two out of three between Don Prudhomme in Roland Leong's "Hawaiian" and "T.V. Tommy" Ivo. Qualifying was completed with the first round pairings set as follows: Low Qualifier Doug Robinson and the Horsepower Engineering dragster (7.67, 204.08) versus Ted Gotelli-Roy Thode; Crower-Blair-Mike Snively versus John Harbert's "Pegasus"; Beebe Bros.-Vinson-Sixt - Dave Beebe versus Jim Brissette-Paul Sutherland; Marshall-Vermilya - Nick Marshall vs. Dick Lechien-Lee Drake; Muse-Crafton-Oaks - Steve Carbone versus Howard Cam Spl. - Leland Kolb; Adams-Wayre-John Mulligan versus A&W Root Beer - Bob Downey; Sid Waterman-Ron Hampshire versus Bateman-Shingleton-Dave McKenzie; and Ed Pink-Connie Swingle versus "Groundshaker II" - Bill Demarest.

Dec. 12 - Dan Rightsell defeated a red-lighting Jimmy Nix in the Top Fuel final of an 8-car show at Abilene Dragway (Texas). Among the participants was Eddie Hill, driving a car he called "the Purple Dragon."

1966
Dec. - Shirl Greer's "Tension" Dodge won a four-car Funny Car show at Sportsman's Park in Farmington, North Carolina.

Dec. 17 - Don Gay's "Infinity II" GTO Funny Car trimmed "Dyno Don" Nicholson in two straight sets at Irwindale. Nicholson, who set low e.t. and top speed by a ton with a check-out 8.26/173.07, got sideways in oil and shutdown in round one and then blew a transmission on the line in the next stanza.

Dec. 18 - Gas Ronda's Mustang edged out "Jungle Jim" Liberman's Nova in a two out of three at Fremont Raceway (Calif.) and Rich Bruckman wheeled Jesse Perkins' Cow Palace Shell dragster past Chuck Flores' "Shark" car to win Top Fuel.

1967
Dec. 2 - Hayden Proffitt's Grant SST Rambler Rebel won a two-out-of-three match over Larry Arnold's "Penetration" Charger at 1,200-foot Tampa Dragway (Fla.). Speeds were "guess-timated" at 171-mph.

Dec. 2 - Orange County International Raceway, then just five months old, hosted a Top Gas and Fuel Altered show. Billy Scott ran the best speed ever for a gas dragster when he won the show with a 7.75/207.84 best in John Peters' "Freight Train." Leon Fitzgerald's "Pure Heaven" roadster won the Fuel Altered segment with an 8.03/185.56 topper.

1968
Dec. 17 - While a tad controversial, Bob Downey received a 236.84-mph time slip at Irwindale aboard Don Madden's Howard Cam Spl. The only two speeds better were controversial, also. Garlits ran a 240.00 at Alton, Ill., that year and "Butch" Maas hit 238.72-mph in the Berry Bros. fueler at Fremont four months earlier.

1969
Dec. 14 - The "best speed of 1969" was turned at Irwindale Raceway. James Warren carded a 238.15 in the fabled Warren-Coburn-Miller/"Ridge Route Terrors" fuel dragster. There's only one small problem with a 238.15. The Chrondek timers of that era produced only a 238.09 or 238.72 speed.

1970
Dec. 27 - Don Garlits debuted his revolutionary rear-engine Top Fuel dragster at St. Petersburg, Fla. After initial steering problems, he ran a 6.81/220.04 in the 1,250-pound, 215-inch long trendsetter.

Dec. 27 - The four-race Orange County All-Pro Series got underway with John Wiebe beating Larry Dixon in the Top Fuel final, and Jim Dunn defeating Gene Snow for the Funny Car title.

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