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The First
U.S. Nationals
By Jeff Burk
DRO file photos
6/8/04
 he
first U.S. Nationals was actually a two part
race with the first half held at Great Bend,
Kansas which still has an active drag strip
to this day. After a serious Midwestern "gully
washer" dumped more than three inches of rain
on the track, the race was called and rescheduled
to be run on (we think) an abandoned airstrip
just outside the little town of Perryville,
Arizona on November 19-20, 1955.
Calvin
Rice was the winner or, as they named it then,
"Mr. Eliminator" in a 10-second, flathead Ford-powered
dragster. He had to defeat your old editor's
boyhood hero Amarillo, Texas racer Jack Moss
in the dragster finals to earn his way into
the finals where Rice beat Fred Voigt's Hemi-powered
rail for the title.
Here are a few never
before published photos from both Grand Bend
and Perryville. We believe that these photos
were taken by the great Hot Rod Magazine photojournalist
Eric Rickman, but we aren't sure.
Wally Parks wearing a really "zoot" shirt and
(we think) the mayor of Grand Bend cut the ribbon
for the first race. Chrisman brother's dragster
just peeks its nose into the photo.
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