In the Amarillo Globe News, Ham's wife Glynanna was quoted as saying that more than 80-percent of the 400 entries were teenagers, many members of about 15 car clubs in the area.

"The whole program behind drag racing is to give youngsters a place to race under supervision and not on (Amarillo's main drag) Polk Street," Mrs. Ham said. Pointing to the assistance of Amarillo police, the new players preferred racing at the track rather than on Polk or edge-of-town Tascosa Road.

And keeping with the theme of organized drag racing, pre-race inspection maintained safety while still laying the groundwork for future drag racers. On Friday night before the Saturday-Sunday-Monday event, track owner Walker stated that all race cars had to pass rigid safety inspections at the Custom Car Supply shop in Amarillo before they were allowed to compete.

"So little as a cracked windshield can disqualify a contestant (in this area)," he remarked.

The inaugural event was smothered in high hopes. Walker's Texas/California extravaganza was only his facility's third race, having been opened May 15, 1960. And while expectations were high that the track, located then seven miles south of downtown Amarillo on Washington Street and two miles east on Claude Road, might have as many as 30,000 total fans, about 2,500 showed Memorial Day for the big wing-ding.

Probably 5-6,000 showed overall and racers from states as far flung as Tennessee, New Mexico, Colorado, and Louisiana joined the big four on the billboards.

Amarillo Dragway has an altitude of 3,700 feet, but despite that handicap, 15 NHRA national records were set. It would have been 16 as Wichita Falls, Texas' Eddie Hill broke the then NHRA top rated A/Dragster mark with an 8.84, but blew up his single engine Pontiac on a back-up for the run.

Another potential record breaker, Glen Ward of Santa Ana, Calif., in the 178-mph twin blown Chevy Howard Cam Spl., instead earned page one newspaper status (page one, news section!) when he crashed, flipping the cumbersome twin on a time trial run.

As it was, though, the first Texas vs. California race was a strong event. The winner of Top Eliminator (where the Top Gas winner and the three quickest e.t.s run-off) was taken by Dode Martin in his and Jim Nelson's Dragmaster Chassis Spl., out of Oceanside, Calif. Martin got a 10.19 single in the final when Amarillo hero Jack Moss developed suspension trouble in his twin engine Chevy gas burner and couldn't come to the line.

THE SERIES EXPANDS
The only thing odd about the race was that so many non-Texas/California racers showed that the event was renamed as the Texas vs. Oklahoma vs. California/Ohio National Records Run Challenge Meet. Other than that, the inaugural was "mission accomplished" all the way. The Texas/Oklahoma team had run off the invaders to take the first race in the series, and tech inspection hosts, Custom Car Supply put their A/Roadster (driven by Don Morgan) in the Middle Eliminator winner's circle.

Eddie Hill, the 1993 Winston Top Fuel Champion and one of the sport's greatest racers, recalled the first event.

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