AHRA:
BIRTHPLACE OF PRO
DRAG RACING

Gene Snow at Ozark Dragway (Springfield, MO) in 1978.
Photo by Jeff Leonard.

Part 2 - The Grand American Series of Professional Drag Racing

by Chris Martin

At the end of the 1969 season, AHRA was a major fixture in the world of drag racing. The Kansas City-based organization had a 10-race national event schedule and hundreds of classes filled by thousands of drag racers. Because of its liberal policy regarding classes, almost anyone who wanted to race could race at one of the outfit’s national events.

At roughly this time, AHRA could claim over 80 sanctioned dragstrips, over 25,000 members, and sanctioning of over 2,400 events (national and regional races). Counting its 10 national events and the countless weekly races under AHRA sanction, the outfit could boast that about 5,000,000 spectators had seen their races.

NHRA’s numbers were better, but not overwhelmingly so. The NHRA banner flew over 160 dragstrips, and they sanctioned activity at roughly 3,000 events. They, too, claimed a figure of 5,000,000 spectators at races they sanctioned.

Wayne Gapp and Jack Roush's Pinto square off with Don Grotheer's Plymouth at Tulsa in 1973.

In addition to good numbers, AHRA could claim a number of firsts at the close of the decade. Leaving aside being the first organization to find a place for Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock, it also provided the backdrop for a number of outstanding drag strip occurrences.

The first six-second Top Fuel hot rod association time occurred in April of 1967 AHRA Springnationals in Odessa, Texas. Dave Beebe pushed his and brother Tim’s Garden Grove, Calif.-based Top Fueler to an altitude-factored 6.94 in qualifying to become only the second car behind Adams-Wayre-John Mulligan to run in the six-second zone. Mulligan, a year earlier, had run the first generally accepted 7.1-second time with a 7.16 at the AHRA Nationals at Lions in Wilmington, Calif., in August, and two months later ripped the first six in a match-race at Carlsbad, Calif., with a 6.95.

Funny Cars were not left out of the action. At the Rockingham, N.C. 1969 AHRA U.S. Open, Gene Snow ran the first generally accepted 210-mph run with a 213-mph charge. “Jungle Jim” Liberman won the first hot rod association 32-car show when he nailed down the AHRA Winternationals crown at Lions in January of 1968. In 1967, AHRA could lay claim to the first (and that time only) rear-engine Funny Car winner when Eddie Pauling drove the “Whinemaker” Dodge Dart to an Unlimited Factory Experimental win over Al Van Der Woude at the aforementioned Odessa race.

Pro Stock was the scene of the first-year end season point champ in that class. While AHRA referred to it as Heads Up Super Stock then, Gary Kimball nonetheless drove the Bill Allen Chevrolet-backed Camaro to the 1969 season title. It wasn’t until a few years later, after NHRA came up with the title, that AHRA switched to Pro Stock nomenclature.

page 1 of 6

Copyright 1999-2001, Drag Racing Online and Racing Net Source