Also in the field was the “Howard’s Twin Bears”, a twin-Chevy dragster driven by Jack Chrisman and maintained by Howard Johansen’s teenage son, Jerry. Chrisman was having a stellar season, and had won the overall NHRA World Points Championship for 1961. The ‘61 Nationals trophy would, however, elude him, thanks to “The Sneaky Pete and Billy Show”.

On his way to claiming the AA/Dragster class trophy, Pete met Eddie Hill’s twin blown Pontiac car, from Wichita Falls, Texas. Hill’s enormous power literally ripped chunks out of the Indy starting line via two pairs of M&H Racemaster tires mounted dually-style.

Seemingly outgunned by Hill’s big, bad Texas-sized Poncho’s, Pete’s little Chevy was first at the finish line, winning with a blazing 8.46 at 170 mph.

Pete then lined up against Jack Chrisman in the Howard’s Cams “Twin Bears”, another twin Chevy-powered car. Robinson clocked an 8.91-169.81 to chase the ‘Bears up a tree, setting up the AA/D class final of Pete Robinson against Tom McEwen. 

Adams & McEwen made the AA/D final by first powering past the Two-Thing and driver Dode Martin with an 8.92-169.49 mph run. Next, Tom McEwen edged past Joe Shubeck’s single-engine, 454 CID Chrysler Hemi powered car from Lakewood, Ohio. McEwen held off Shubeck in one of the closest races of the day with an 8.92-169.49.

Joe Shubeck’s Lakewood Chassis Company began by building dragster chassis. Shubeck parked his driving career by the late 60’s and focused on his business. His company became best known for its all-steel safety bellhousings and later the famous Lakewood/Jenkins J-bolt adjustable “bump bars” for street or strip traction control with leaf rear springs.

In the AA/D final Pete faced the 475 CID blown Oldsmobile powered car of Gene Adams, the well-known Hilborn Fuel Injection rep and engine builder. Adams’ car was driven by a young Tom McEwen, whose long career would earn him a Drag Racing Hall of Fame spot and the nickname “The Mongoose” for his many years running against Don “The Snake” Prudhomme.

There was drama aplenty in the AA/Dragster class final on Sunday afternoon. The unknown Robinson and Word team would face highly acclaimed engine master Gene Adams and his young lion driver, McEwen. At stake was the AA/D class trophy, and the coveted right to sit out Monday’s running to face the last man standing for the meet’s overall Top Eliminator honors. The AA/D class final was a heads-up, no-handicap contest. As the starter’s flashed green McEwen jumped out to a front-wheel length lead. Robinson’s little Chevy quickly overcame McEwen’s game advantage and began opening distance from the big Olds. At the quarter mile lights it was Pete Robinson enjoying the glory, stopping Tom McEwen with an 8.86-170.77 mph run for the AA/D victory.

Robinson & Word’s little single-engine dragster outran them all, even the big twin-engine, high-horsepower monsters. To hold off a pair of blown engines with more than 600 cubic inches or a single 475 inch blown Olds, such as Adams & McEwen, requires a perfectly tuned engine with an advantageous power-to-weight ratio. The Atlanta “South Wind” had both.

In Monday’s finals Robinson took on the A/Competition Coupe class winner, Bob Carroll’s Custom Auto Parts Fiat Bug, capably driven by Fred Zipp.The ‘Bug was powered by a potent 392 Chrysler Hemi with a gutted Fiat Topolino body hung onto the roll cage of its dragster chassis. By contrast, Robinson’s little AA/D sported barely more than a bare bones, aluminum skin, but he quickly exterminated The Bug, passing the Chrysler Hemi comfortably before the finish line.

Top Eliminator final pitted Pete Robinson against Jim Nelson in Dean Moon’s famed “Mooneyes” A/Dragster. Pete spotted the A/D one car-length, marked on the track surface. Petetook the TE winwith wheels-up, tires smoking 8.92-169.49. Robinson rarely pushed his cars hard and often shut off early, to save parts. Nelson and Dode Martin co-owned Dragmaster Chassis, Carlsbad, Calif., the builder of both chassis in TE final. Their “Two-Thing” twin Chevy car driven by Martin earlier set Top Speed at 177 mph.

In the final run for the Top Eliminator marbles the A/Dragster winner, Dean Moon’s sparkling yellow and chrome, “Mooneyes” would face Sneaky Pete Robinson. Moon’s car was driven by Jim Nelson, second half of the Dragmaster team, and a highly respected driver. Moon’s car also had a Dragmaster chassis similar to Robinson’s, although it differed in its double-hoop roll bar, smaller 301 Chevy and front-mount, Potvin-driven 6-71.
Nelson had been running plenty of 9.0’s as an A/Dragster, and was given a one-car-length handicap spot on the starting line. In those days lower classed cars were given a one car-length head start against higher-classed cars. The Chrondek Christmas Tree and electronic handicap timing equipment wouldn’t become available until 1962. This was maybe not the most equitable handicapping system, but it made for great finish line racing, especially when the slower car got there first.

Come time to race the higher classed, quicker car would line-up with its front wheels in the starting line beams. The lower classed car would move forward, in this case one car-length, an A/Dragster versus AA/Dragster match-up. Both drivers would launch at the tip of the starter’s green flag. Only the quicker car would receive an ET slip, but both cars would receive speeds and, of course, a “win” or “lose” souvenir as a participant at the ’61 Nationals.