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35 YEARS AGO…
At Shug Campbell's Yellow River Dragway near Covington, Ga.,
Arnie Beswick's blown '63 Tempest beat "Dyno Don" Nicholson's '66 Comet
in a best of three with a scandalous (as in popcorn time) 8.35 sport's
best ... Last issue, we revealed Mr. Norm's Grand Spaulding Dodge, the
Midwest High-Performance king offered his blown '65 Coronet for $5,500.
In April of 1966 you could buy a brand complete new 1966 Dodge Coronet
2-door street hemi, 4-speed, blue streak tires for $3,150. Throw in
an extra $6.95 if you wanted Norm to dyno tune it ... Ed Kohler drove
the Kohler Bros. A/GS '48 Anglia to a world record 9.23 and backed it
up with a 9.29 at Irwindale Raceway on April 23. ... And on April 24
at an AHRA Regional Grand American at Northern California's Fremont
Raceway, Don "Mad Dog" Cook ran a backed-up 223.32-mph charge to earn
the status of 'first over 220.' ... Ford A/Factory Experimental pioneer
Les Ritchey crashed his '66 Mustang while testing at Fontana Raceway
in late April and was killed.
25 YEARS AGO…
Green Valley Race City in Smithfield, Texas on April 4 hosted a huge
16-car Funny Car show and the "popcorn blizzard" that followed smothered
the fans. "Jungle Jim" Liberman ran times of 5.96 and 5.99 en route
to beating Tom Hoover's "Showtime" Vega in the final. Hoover also ran
a 5.99. Prior to these, Liberman's elapsed time bests were in the high
6.1s as were Hoover's. ... "Dyno Don" Nicholson's Mustang II ran an
8.15 to beat Calvin Nabors at Blaney Dragstrip at Elgin, South Carolina
and in so doing ran the best match-race Pro Stock e.t. ... On April
25 at Sacramento Raceway, Don Prudhomme's all-conquering U.S. Army-backed
Monza ran off the top end of the dragstrip, sustaining some front edge
damage. It was the only incident of his record-setting (seven wins in
eight NHRA national events) 1976 championship season ... At the AHRA
Grand American in Kansas City, Missouri, Gene Snow ran two 6.26s to
win Funny Car. John Wiebe captured Top Fuel with a best of 5.98.
15 YEARS AGO…
Dan Pastorini, the former Houston Oiler NFL Quarterback, made
everyone step back and take notice when he won Top Fuel at the NHRA
Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. He beat Gene Snow in a 5.56 to
5.64 finale ... Compare the prices from yesterday to today ... In 1986
an Alston Pro Gas chassis offered on the back of a Super Stock magazine
"... from $499." ... or ... Performance Automotive Warehouse offered
a small-block Chevrolet small block with all the high tech innards for
$1,095 and the long block went for $1,495 ... Sports Marketing Enterprises
of R.J. Reynolds announced that in 1987 a Winston All-Stars Race, consisting
of just the top pros, would be hosted at the lightning quick Texas Motorplex
in Ennis, Texas.
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