Historic times for nostalgia cars

Words by Jeff Burk - Photos by James Drew - 02/08/08

Part of this year’s Winternationals was exhibition passes by four  Nostalgia Funny Cars, four Top Fuel cars and the Winged Express AA/FA.

With great atmospheric conditions and an immaculately prepared Pomona surface, it should come as no surprise that best ever ET’s for the classes were delivered by the Nostalgia nitro cars.

Perhaps the most historic number that the Winternationals fans saw was the incredible 5.632/259.74 rung up by the front-motored Top Fueler driven by Brad Thompson. Simply amazing numbers on 12-inch wide, hard compound slicks, a small engine and a 6.71 supercharger.

That 5.63 number is an historic one in drag racing. Back in 1975 at Ontario, CA, Don Garlits shocked the drag racing world with a 5.637/250.69 lap. That ET stood as the best ever for almost seven years until Mark Oswald ran a 5.61 at 251.39 mph.

The next significant 5.63 was recorded by Don Prudhomme in his Funny Car at Indy in 1982. That record stood until Kenny Bernstein ran a 5.569 at the 1985 U.S. Nationals.

A big congratulations to Brad Thompson and his crew for a great accomplishment. Here are the incrementals: 60ft-1.003 sec., 330ft-2.573, 660ft-3.761/209.88mph, 1,000ft-4.770.
 
Several best-ever ET’s and a record were delivered by the Nostalgia Funny cars including a personal best from DRO Nostalgia Editor Jeff Utterback, who ran a career best of 6.01 in Danny Pisano’s car.

But the pass of the weekend was Bucky Austin’s 5.79/236 lap which was the first time in the 5.70’s by a Nostalgia Nitro funny. Way back at the ’82 U.S. Nationals Tom Anderson was the first “modern” fuel coupe in the 5.70s when he recorded a 5.799. Here are the incrementals for Austin’s 5.793/236.22 pass: 60ft-0.998 sec., 330ft-2.565, 660ft-3.795/200.53mph, 1,000ft-4.861