Back in 1961 not many hot rodders had ever seen a supercharged Cadillac V/8, let alone raced one. ‘Ohio’ George changed that with a chrome and polished engine that looked awesome if and when George lifted the stock hood.

With more than 800 cars in attendance, not everyone prospered, but the inaugural INDY did make Super Stars out of several drivers. ‘Dyno’ Don Nicholson, ‘Sneaky Pete’ Robinson, ‘Ohio’ George Montgomery, and Willie Ragsdale all owe their achieved star power to doing well at the original Indy event.

At INDY 2015, the hits just kept coming. While I have mentioned Erica’s incredible holeshot parade to the top, there was another race in Pro Stock which this writer has long wanted to witness. In the first round, Bo Butner slapped a .027 light on Jeg Coughlin Jr’s late .075 effort, which resulted in a win for the blue Camaro. For a long time Woodburn (Ore.) Dragstrip fan, seeing track owner Joey Severance pull out an Alcohol Dragster win was a treat. Joey is one of the best no matter where the race is held. And finally I enjoyed the stellar effort always put forth by Jimmy DeFrank and the team from California Car Cover. Jim won his class trophy (SS/BS) and drove his way to runner-up for stock Eliminator on Monday.

In the final analysis the message on NHRA’s long time motto sign is clear. Sadly, however, that sanctioning body has chosen to drift away from the message this motto brought to thousands of fans and racers over time.

To this writer, a case in point is the new Pro Stock rule for 2016 pertaining to the requirement of Electronic Fuel Injection. No matter how much INGENUITY the race team may possess, only the one type of Holley F.I. may be used!

Back in ’61, there were Hilborn and Enderle mechanical fuel injection systems. Looking for improvement, an aircraft engineer cut the top off of a Rochester F.I. unit and installed dual air meters. The result was a huge success, remember Curt Wasson’s Corvette? That same engineer provided the 409 Chevy horsepower for four straight NHRA wins, starting with Don Nicholson in 1961 at INDY. His name was Bill Thomas!

Until Next Time, Be On Time.