Credit Tom McEwen…

Reading the InnerView with long time quarter-miler Tom McEwen inspired me to write this column. Tom and I are the same age (classified), and I enjoyed his insight. He and Don Prudhomme put ‘Funny Car’ racing on the map with the Mattel-sponsored ‘Snake’ and ‘Mongoose’ programs.

While everyone in the sport knows that Don has been active as a car owner at all major NHRA events, few present day fans know that Tom is still very active in quarter-mile racing too, since his retirement as a driver.  QUARTER HORSE racing!  If you are in the Los Angeles area and tune in to Ed Burkhart on the Los Alamitos racing show, you will hear about all sorts of Drag Racing horses with some form of the Mongoose name. In fact the ‘Mongoose’ entries probably make more quarter mile passes than the ‘Snake’.

Where will we travel and what will be featured?

As manager of Tri State Dragway in Kahoka, Mo., from its inception in 1960, I will feature stories from racers who were stars of the Midwest in the roaring ’60s. Included will be articles from those days when WILS radio commercials started with Jon Lundberg’s thundering

“S A T U R D A Y N I G H T at beautiful U.S. 30 Dragway!”  

And we’ll visit most major cities in the Midwest and West Coast during the times of Elvis and the Beatles.

Our journey will continue back through Arizona in the mid 1960s and finally to California with a management position at Orange County International Raceway. Then we will go inside a well-known Chevrolet Performance enclave in Anaheim, California - BILL THOMAS RACE CARS.

The Pro Stock inaugural

In 1970 the factories and sanctioning bodies were concerned with all the muscle car rules and regulations. ‘Funny Cars’ had evolved from some of the so-called stock car configurations and the Big 3 automakers were really challenged by nearly every class of legal ‘Super Stock’. At the NHRA Winternationals in 1970 the first event of Pro Stock was presented. Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins won the title over Ronnie Sox and Pro Stock was born. We were there too, with a 1968 Camaro, the original “Chevy West”, constructed in just two week’s time. It was the start of a 10-year Pro Stock career, from which I will provide much coverage of the early days of cubic inches to weight Pro Stock racing.

Racing Today

My wife and I live in Las Vegas now. We spent 37 years in Southern California but the drier air here is good for our older joints, AND Las Vegas has a wonderful Bruton Smith racing complex. I’ve attended every NHRA event there since 2005, and this year I wanted to witness first hand the evolving points battle with John Force Racing in Funny Car. To steal a line from our publisher, I was “just wondering” at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis how did ESPN totally miss the fact that John Force had the slower car on every run? As soon as he changed lanes, Mike Dunn said, “The fix is in.” What fix? Sure John wanted Robert Hight to win the race, but since he could not beat him, where was the ‘fix’?  

From my perspective, I have never liked the so-called Countdown.  It does not reward a title to the team with the best performance during the entire season. A win in the early part of the season should be just as important as a win during the final six races. John Force Racing did exactly what they planned to do, starting prior to Indy with the car, driver, and crew changes in Minnesota. They made it work and finished the season 1 and 2. Bravo!

Finally, if I have stirred your thoughts, figure out how many other drivers would have won a title under the prior, time tested system.
 
Until next time, Be on Time!

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