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MUSEUM PIECES, NASCAR AND IHRA
The Drag Racing Hall of Fame at the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing
in Ocala, Fla., will again install new members during the weekend of
NHRA’s annual Gatornationals in nearby Gainesville.
This year the Hall of Fame selection committee will admit ten new members
and it’s a decent lot overall. Don Prudhomme, Ed McCulloch, Gene Adams,
Eddie Hill, Dick Maxwell, Al Eckstrand, Frank Huszar, Dick Moroso, Bernie
Partridge, and John "the Zookeeper" Mulligan will be the inductees.
Most who know me will tell you correctly that I couldn’t tell a hoodlatch
from an exhaust pipe, but that I’m a better-than-average spectator.
Consequently, when I think Hall of Fame, I think greatness, whether
in drag racing or baseball I feel all members should easily fall under
that heading, and it should include more than one-shot brilliance. Any
Hall of Famer should, to my alternate reality, be one of a kind, head
and shoulders above, a race-winning, trend-setting, innovating, fan-creating
son (or daughter) of a gun. And not excelling in one of these areas,
but at two or more and then some.
Now, if you disagree with that definition, then saunter no further.
You won’t like what’s coming.
With the exception of Prudhomme, McCulloch, Adams, Hill, and maybe
Mulligan, I’d question the others. I know about Maxwell’s work with
Chrysler and the Ramchargers and all that. In the Hall, maybe, but Al
Eckstrand? His biggest accomplishment, I thought, was when he won the
top-rated 2,000-pound fuel A/FX title at the first Super Stock Nationals
in 1965 or the ’63 NHRA Winternationals Stock win. But Hall of Fame?
True, greatness? I don’t know. I mean Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in
one season and he isn’t in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
To be honest, Eckstrand only had a couple of good seasons with his
"Lawman" and Golden Commandos Mopars and then he was gone.
I just can’t convince myself that merits place in a space reserved for
the all-time greats in drag racing.
Let me go a little closer to home: Bernie Partridge, a great guy and
friend, whom I worked with at NHRA for 20-plus years. He and his wife
P.J. are wonderful, hardworking people whose loyalty and service to
NHRA was unquestionable. I’m sure that both of them belong in the NHRA
Hall of Fame, but the overall, overwhelming one in Florida? I’m not
so sure.
Bernie, the first Division 7 Director and the organization’s first
and probably most famous voice, was a good announcer, but a great one?
Hmmmm. Actually, Bernie was as well known for his malaprops and true
unintentional classics like "beating your head on a dead horse"
and "Here’s Roland Leong, one of our most famous Chinese racers."
"Check that," was as much a part of his vocabulary as "Hi,
how ’ya doin.’"
And if Bernie and Dale Ham are in the Hall, what about Darrell Zimmerman,
the first NHRA member ever and the Division 5 boss for 30-plus years.
I love all those guys, but Hall of Fame greatness? Changing the sport
forever? AccompIishing feats of Joe Louis proportions? Personally, I
think even they scratched their heads when they were notified.
And then there were a few others that made me do exactly that when
I got the list of inductees.
Frank Huszar was a fine chassis builder from California, but more important
than an Al Swindahl? I dunno. Moroso and Mulligan are more borderline
with me, but racers like Jerry Ruth and Bennie Osborn aren’t: They should
be in. (In case, you don’t know, Ruth won eight Division 6 Top Fuel
championships, the 1973 NHRA World Championship, and was the first racer
to win Top Fuel and Funny Car at the same race; Osborn was the first
back-to-back Top Fuel World Championships, taking NHRA laurels in 1967
and 1968.)
With the current inductees, the Hall now has 116 people on the roster.
Of that, I would disagree with at least 16, and maybe have another ten
to 20 listed as borderline. I knew Hall of Famer Herb Parks and liked
him, and he was one of the hardest working crew members anywhere, but
a lot of guys fill that description. Dan Ferguson, John "Tarzan"
Austin, Ronnie Capps, "Fats" McKay, current day players like
Mike Guger, Randy Green, the Oberhoffers, Chris McNicol, Kevin McCarthy,
the Butterfields, there’s lots of them. Will they get Hall of Fame consideration?
As time goes by (and if you go along with my prejudices) we really
shouldn’t see ten new members per annum too much longer. There aren’t
that many great retired racers out there outside of this group,
but there are some, I feel who have been overlooked and frankly deserve
being in the Hall before some of the other inductees, to understate
the case.
So, let me cut to the point. Let the selection committee be just that;
very selective. Overall, the quality is still very good and, as a result,
the Garlits Hall of Fame is still one of the sport’s classiest institutions.
I’d like to see it tighten the reins just a wee bit and continue to
be seen that way.
OKAY WISE GUY, WHO
WOULD YOU PUT IN?
Jeb Allen
Only one of two to win World titles in NHRA (1981), AHRA (1977), IHRA
(1980). Youngest driver to ever win a Top Fuel title at a big race (1972
NHRA Summernationals). He was 18 at the time.
Steve Carbone
1969 NHRA World Champ, ‘71 Indy Champ, 1968 and 1970 PDA Top Fuel king,
’69 NHRA World Finals and ’69 AHRA Finals TF champ, ’69 PHR Top Fuel
champ — first one, won the 1968 Hot Rod magazine C’Shps Top Fuel
title.
Leroy Goldstein
1969 AHRA Top Fuel World Champ and 1972 AHRA Funny Car champ - 1st
to do this. First Funny Car driver in the sixes —1970, 1967 and 1969
AHRA Springnationals TF champ.
Blaine Johnson
Won four straight NHRA Alcohol Dragster World Championships and holds
the career NHRA TAD total record of 26 and four NHRA Top Fuel titles.
He had the 1996 NHRA Winston Top Fuel title pretty well covered when
he lost his life in a qualifying wreck at the U.S. Nationals. At the
time of his death and until the end of the year, his 4.592 held as the
NHRA TF national record.
Butch Leal
A genuine Funny Car and Pro Stock great. His ’67 Barracuda Funny Car
was one of the first in the 8.0s and 7.9s. In 1972, he won 16 match-race
eliminator shows. His versatility showed in wins like the 1973 LeGrandnational
Molson Pro Stock crown, the 1974 U.S. Nationals Super Stock title, the
1976 Popular Hot Rodding Modified title, and the 1985 NHRA Southern
Nationals Pro Stock crown.
Johnny Loper
The king of the A/G class from roughly 1963 to 1968 with ’Lil Hoss
Anglia, was class record holder in both AHRA and NHRA and won the class
titles at both Assn. Nationals events. He won the 1965 AHRA Nationals
Modified (?) crown. In 1976, Loper switched to Funny Car
as an owner. Driver Tripp Shumake won NHRA, AHRA, and IHRA national
events in the car and earned the eighth slot in the Cragar Five Second
Funny Car club with a 5.98.
Billy Meyer
Ten-time NHRA FC national event winner, 1980 IHRA Funny Car world champ.
He stunned the drag racing world in 1972 when at age 18, he won the
OCIR MFGS. FC title. He introduced the first modern tractor/trailer
rig in 1977 and built the first modern drag race stadium with his Texas
Motorplex in 1986.
Bennie Osborn (See above)
Jerry Ruth (See above)
Terry Vance
Ruled the Pro Stock Bike world, was the class’ Don Garlits. Drove a
V-8-powered fuel bike to e.t.s as low as a 6.96. Overall, Vance had
24 NHRA Fuel Bike and Pro Stock Bike wins. To state his case bluntly,
ever hear of Vance & Hines?
This March marks the first time I’ve viewed the NASCAR races in their
entirety to this point in the season. As some know, I have only fractional
interest in other forms of auto racing. Obviously the drags, and only
secondarily NASCAR and the sprinties, will interrupt bar conversation
for me. I will look up occasionally from the polished wood pit now and
then, to see if Jarrett, Wallace, or Martin is in the lead, but I don’t
glue my eyes to the set: I have this season.
The Daytona 500, NASCAR’s big daddy, wasn’t so hot. In fact, had I
not taken part in a $10 pool at the Bases Loaded bar (not to mention
the clientele) that morning, I would’ve passed out before noon. Usually
when I have money on a sporting event, the waitresses treat me and my
pals like a tableful of lepers; not so here. I had Earnhardt Sr., on
the draw and at times, I got jacked up as he approached the lead, but
as he sank back in the pack to 21st place, my trips to the Men’s room
increased.
Overall, a yawn, yawn, snore, snore, deal.
Jeff Burton’s win at Las Vegas was better but only for the last couple
of laps. Mark Martin had the lead from laps 142 to 196, and he appeared
to have the field covered like an elephant on a chorus girl. Then some
guy spins in front of him with two laps to go, Martin backpedals, and
like a subway pickpocket, Burton grabs the purse and runs off. Okay,
I guess, but geez, the first couple of hours were brutal. Only a twist
of the knob above contract Bridge.
Now, the Cracker Barrel/Country Store/Bob Jones University 500 or whatever
they call the damn thing in Atlanta was a big improvement. Earnhardt
Sr. and Bobby Labonte in the last ten laps was a corker and when Earnhardt
held off Labonte’s charging rhino by inches, well, it got a max-greased
roar of approval from me...but about the previous 490 miles. If Tony
Stewart hadn’t have had that wreck, its doubtful many would have been
awake to see "the Intimidator" shut down the Interstate.
I’ll be back, anything’s better than a talk show or some guy in a garage
explaining how a lawnmower works. And I can understand some of the reasons
for NASCAR’s popularity. For one thing, the cars are always moving,
even if some guy is pounding the hell out of the field. And with cars
anything can and occasionally does happen. But watching lap after lap
of these cars going around in circles leads, for me, at least, to video
vertigo.
The drags can’t give it to you non-stop, but they certainly produce
tons more power, noise (even with the restrictions), and variety, and
if the two HRAs ever figure out how to bottle it for TV (I would suggest
that they listen to recent interview subject Dean Papadeas), drag racing
could enjoy the popularity that the roundy-round guys do now.
Elsewhere you will read of the adventures of the Burkster at Darlington,
S.C. and the IHRA Summit/ProLong Winternationals. As with the NHRA clambakes
in Pomona and Phoenix, the Top Fuel oildowns were dramatically if not
totally eliminated. That, of course, was due to their altering blower
speeds on the cars by 25-percent to slow them down.
There was just one problem for Top Fuel fans, though. When was the
last time that you could remember a national event in the last three
or four years where only one 300-mph run was registered. (I think there
were none at last year’s IHRA Cordova meet.) Paul Romine’s 303-mph dash
in his winning final with Bruce Litton was it. Yuk!
Hopefully, the big step up by Summit will lead to more cars and eventual
improvements in performance for the IHRA fuel cars. But for now? Slow
’em down? Speed ’em up. Make hydrazine mandatory.
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