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And it wouldn’t be “bust” as in a cop holding
evidence and sarcastically spitting, “I believe you
dropped something stranger,” but “bust”
more like Hawaiian Tropics swimsuit candidates bowing at the
waist, acknowledging the wolf whistles.
On Friday, the tone was set when Gary Southern calmly whipped
out a 6.03 out of the independent Archibald-Cirino dragster,
a number that was so outrageous that NHRA officials took it
away. It became less outrageous, though, when the lightly
regarded Colorado dragster of John Foderaro was pushed to
the West Coast’s first official 6.0 by Ed Renck. Right
on his heels with U.S. Nationals winner and rookie Gary Beck
with a 6.10 in the Reliable Engine Service dragster of Beck-McLean-Lawrence
and suddenly, the clouds parted and all seemed possible.
Qualifying Saturday produced no improvement, but Sunday’s
eliminations were a different story. Three cars stepped to
the fore and sent drag racing history pell-melling forward.
Don Moody in the country’s winningest dragster at least
since Labor Day, the Walton-Cerny-Moody entry, Vic Brown in
Bob Creitz and Lloyd Dill’s former Walton-Cerny-Moody
entry, and Mike Snively wheeling the late “Diamond Jim”
Annin’s front wheel-panted machine were the class of
the field with the first two dragsters really showing five-second
potential.
Moody really drew the oohs and ahhhs in round two when he
powered to a 6.00 that absolutely buried Beck’s 6.13,
but then seemingly from out of nowhere, or at least, the mid
6.1s, Brown ripped a 6.04 and Pat Dakin in G.L. Rupp’s
black beauty in the same stanza.
The semis further whetted the appetite of the performance
hounds as he dished a 6.01 to advance to the final. I was
at this race and I really thought back then Moody was going
to crank the initial five. The Wes Cerny-tuned orange dragster
was a genuine beast, pound-for-pound, era-for-era one of the
hardest leaving cars I’ve ever seen, so hard that it
was not unheard of to see Moody’s head slammed back
against the roll cage in some horribly contorted position
until the car slowed.
So what transpired in the other half of the semi-final was
to me somewhat incredible. Snively, one of the greatly underrated
drivers in history (sort of a modern day Cory McClenathan),
had run as quick as a 6.15, but was getting better speed than
the other two. Car owner Annin had the best parts money could
buy and a real sense of aerodynamics, with the consequence
being that his MPHs were always in the mid 230s. So, it was
not all that surprising that he ran a 235.60 against Brown,
but it was when a 5.97 was announced. I swear to Lucifer that
the crowd went silent from anywhere from 3 to 5 seconds suspended
in disbelief, before exploding into cheers. Totally lost was
the fact that he had LOST to Brown’s 6.03 in what was
one of the tightest mixes I’ve ever seen. Man, would
I have loved to see the incrementals on that one.
Not only that, but for the only time in Top Fuel history,
the first plunge into a new time zone came while coming in
second.
Hell, at that point, I was expecting side-by-side fives in
the final, but Brown red-lighted, leaving poor old Moody to
motor to the money in 5.91 seconds.
Neat stuff. 
AUTHOR’S FOOTNOTE
We at DRO would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge
the recent passing of “Diamond” Jim Annin within
the past few months. Annin, whose father invented the AN fitting
used on aircraft, lived a comfortable life, but was about
as regular and good a guy as you could ask for. The La Crescenta,
CA, resident began his racing career on water during the 1960s,
racing fuel boats with longtime friend and for many years,
NHRA Safety top-kick Jim Van Dyke. In 1970, and undoubtedly
with an assist from Van Dyke and close friend then NHRA Competition
Director Steve Gibbs, Annin went to the asphalt and quarter-mile
racing.
His debut car was the “Diamond Jim” Dodge
Challenger Funny Car and the driver was many-time national
event winner San Bernardino, Calif. The car was a hit right
out of the box, taking runner-up honors to Hank Clark at that
year’s Bakersfield March Meet. Since I’m doing
this noteless, I’m guess-timating here, but Snively
probably won, at the bare minimum, a dozen major match-race
titles for Annin in Southern California, including the Orange
County Nitro Championships.
In 1972, Annin waded into deep water and went Top Fuel, and
it was major league all the way. The first of two cars, a
red entry, showed all the signs of being a world beater, clocking
mid 6.2s and 230-235-mp clockings , before being crashed that
summer. A new improved version followed in roughly late July,
early August and it was along with the Keeling-Clayton dragster
probably the best-looking full-on race car on the West Coast.
Snively did not really win all that much, but clocked some
excellent numbers in the blue and white, full-bodied, wheel-panted
and Winston Delta Tire-assisted digger. Running as fast a
238.72-mph speed, Snively went into the historic Ontario as
one of the favorites.
At the tail end of the 1972 season, Annin sold the car
to San Diego racer Dominic Cardoza and his racing career ended.
He did not get away from drag racing as he was a familiar
figure with the Safety Safari and the rest of the NHRA national
event team. – CM
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