36. “DANDY” DICK LANDY

Landy was the man most famous for popularizing the cigar with drag racing drivers. Driving his Automotive Research and “Landy’s Dodge” Super Stocks and A/FXers with a cigar firmly clenched in jaw, he became popular national wide. The Sherman Oaks, California ace raced at all the big ones … the first Super Stock Nationals where he runner-upped to Al Eckstrand in Unlimited Stock. He was the 1973 AHRA Pro Stock champion and won NHRA eliminator titles in categories ranging from Pro Stock to Street and Modified, the last two of which he won in consecutive NHRA Winternationals (1969-1970).

37. BOBBY LANGLEY

The Everman, Texas, pro was one of the pioneers in South Central racing with his “Scorpion” line of fuel dragsters. He didn’t confine his activity to Texas, racing as far west as Bakersfield, Calif., and Brooksville, Florida. In 1961, he ran 8.31 and 8.38 time track records at Green Valley, Texas, and Caddo Mills, Texas, and in 1964, won Top Fuel at the AHRA National Championship drag races at Green Valley in Smithfield, Texas, effectively making himself the AHRA Top Fuel champ for that year. Langley had one other ace up his sleeve. In 1965, he and Frank Pedregon, Sr. were the only two drivers this writer can recall that blazed (as in actually set aflame) the tires while smoking them on a run. In Aug. of 1963, he held NHRA Top Fuel E.T. record at 8.16.

38. “JUNGLE JIM” LIBERMAN

Maybe the most legendary of all Funny Car drivers. He only won one NHRA national event, the 1975 Summernationals, and a just a handful of AHRA events, most notably the 1968 AHRA Winternationals 64-car show at Lions. He was the ultimate stylist, doing FULL quarter-mile burnouts before anyone else and booking as many as 120 dates a year in his prime, which extended from 1967 through 1976. Interestingly enough, the last RECORDED race he engaged in at the end of the 1976 season, he lost to a young driver named John Force.

39. “COLONEL” ART MALONE

One of the truly all-around driving talents in drag racing history, wheeling not only Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars, but Indy 500 and NASCAR entries as well. The Florida driver got his start filling in for an injured Don Garlits and immediately stepped to the fore setting top speed records, including the first time slip over 190. He ran 195.63-mph in September of 1959. He was the Drag News Standard 1320 No. 1 driver in Feb. of 1963, the 1963 Bakersfield March Meet winner, the winner of the 1963 AHRA Nationals at Green Valley, Texas, and the 1965 AHRA Summer National Drags at Gary, Ind., these at the wheel of his own dragster. Malone raced with distinction through the 1967 season.

40. BILL “MAVERICK” GOLDEN

One type of car and one great career describes Bill Golden. He drove his own “Maverick” SS/A Dodges in the early 1960s and then made history with his Dodge “Little Red Wagon” -- the sport’s first wheelstander. As most know, Golden’s mercurial rise with this crowd-pleaser led to literally dozens of imitators. As far as we know, he never won a national event, but he did, in fact, change the sport.

41. ED “THE ACE” McCULLOCH

A winner of four NHRA Top Fuel titles and 18 NHRA Funny Car event titles, McCulloch is one of the great ones. His accomplishments can be traced back to June of 1965 when he beat Pete Robinson for the Drag News Top Fuel No. 1 spot to the U.S. Nationals where he was a six-time winner. He won five Indy Funny Car titles and then in 1992 garnered the U.S. Nationals Top Fuel bauble. And in match races, from Bakersfield to the Fresno Race of Champions, McCulloch has likely been in the winners circle. His most famous Funny Cars were the ones he campaigned with Art Whipple and his own Revell “Revell-ution” cars. And he took a $100,000 bonus from Billy Meyer for winning both races in one season at the Texas Motorplex when it was an IHRA facility.