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Buddy, when it comes to contemporary auto racing, it's NASCAR, the good
ole National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. Buddy Baker and Ned
Jarrett in the booth, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Jeremy
Mayfield, Jeff Gordon, and Jeff and Ward Burton out racing on the track.
Right now, they are the Beatles, the Tiger Woodses, and the Mark McGwires
of wheel sports. Nothing comes close, and as much as it pains me to
say so, that includes the world's quickest and fastest cars in the sport
of drag racing. We're the guy in the "Before" column of a Charles Atlas
muscle-up magazine ad when it comes to these guys. The hoary-headed
fact of the matter is that Homer n' Jethro have done their homework
a lot better than the boys in the tassled loafers from the West Coast
or any coast for that matter.
But didja know that NASCAR also tried its hand at drag racing? Seriously.
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| Part of the excitement noted in an ad for
NASCAR's Division 1 Championships to be held at Niagara International
Drag Strip. The ad appeared in the August 5, 1966 edition of Drag
News. |
You can go back to 1956 for their first mess-around with straight lining.
In that year, the Daytona Beach Speed Week was hosted and a five-mile
stretch of beach (as in oceanfront property) of 500-foot width was set
aside for drag racing from the dates of February 19th through the 25th.
Art Chrisman, the racer who won the first Bakersfield title way back
in 1959, was the winner at this clambake, taking three trophies and
running as fast as 118-mph.
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