Drag Racing
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1001 Drag Racing Facts: The Golden Age of Top Fuel, Funny Cars, Door Slammers & More
Spanning the 1950s through the 1970s, 1001 Drag Racing Facts is packed with well-researched drag racing facts that even some of the most hard-core drag racing fans might be surprised to learn. Covered are all the popular classes of racing of the era, including Top Fuelers, Funny Cars, Pro Stocks, Eliminators such as Gassers and Altereds, Stocks, Super Stocks, and more. There is even a chapter on racetrack facts! Fans of these legendary cars will appreciate the technical and entertaining information shared on every page about all of the great cars, teams, drivers, and classes.
Author Doug Boyce is well known for his encyclopedia-like knowledge of drag racing facts. The detail in his previous books, such as
Grumpys Toys, Junior Stock and Drag Racing's Quarter Mile Warriors: Then and Now, proves he is up to the task of sharing everything you never knew about drag racing in the golden era.
Whether youre an avid fan of nostalgia drags, a trivia buff who wants to stump friends, or simply a fan of the big and powerful drag cars of the 1950s through the 1970s, this book is an informative and entertaining collection of facts from one of the industrys most respected sources
Bracket Racing
A basic guide to drag racing's most popular and fastest growing class. Includes information on: rules and regulations, driving techniques, engine setup, safety, and more.
Chevy-Powered Drag Racing
For more than half a century, Chevrolet has served noticed down the quarter-mile with dominating record-setting performances from nitro-fed Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars to heavy-metal door slammers. The list of Chevrolet's quarter-mile legends include the likes of Harold Ramsey in his Chevy-powered dragster that earned him the first NHRA Top Eliminator title at the 1959 U.S. Nationals, Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, Dick Harrell, "Dyno" Don Nicholson, Jim Bucher, Lee Shepherd, "Jungle" Jim Liberman, Warren Johnson, John Peter's "Freight Train," Clare Sanders, Dave Stickler, Wally Booth, Paul Bevins and legions of others!
Diggers, Funnies, Gassers & Altereds: Drag Racing’s Golden Age
In the 60s, drag racing evolved from a "run what ya brung" grass roots effort to a full-blown professional motorsport along the way, it created some of the most exciting racing and race cars ever built. And Bob McClurg was there with a camera. McClurg is an accomplished magazine writer and photographer, but hes best known for his drag racing images of the 60s and 70s his lens captured all the action of the Roadsters, Gassers, Altereds, Top Fuel, Funny Cars, Pro/Stocks, and even the modern age of nostalgia drag racing. Now for the first time, McClurg's best drag racing photos are brought together in one volume a book that every drag racing fan will have to see. With more than 350 color and black-and-white photos, this book is an exciting visual history of the sports most exciting years the Golden Age of drag racing. Foreword by John Force, 12-time NHRA Funny Car season points champion.
Diggers, Funnies, Gassers & Altereds: Drag Racing’s Golden Agem
In the '60s, drag racing evolved from a "run what ya brung" grass roots effort to a full-blown professional motorsport - along the way, it created some of the most exciting racing and race cars ever built. And Bob McClurg was there with a camera. McClurg is an accomplished magazine writer and photographer, but he's best known for his drag racing images of the '60s and '70s - his lens captured all the action of the Roadsters, Gassers, Altereds, Top Fuel, Funny Cars, Pro/Stocks, and even the modern age of nostalgia drag racing. Now for the first time, McClurg's best drag racing photos are brought together in one volume - a book that every drag racing fan will have to see. With more than 350 color and black-and-white photos, this book is an exciting visual history of the sport's most exciting years - the Golden Age of drag racing.
Drag Racing Funny Cars: Factory Flyers to Flip-Top Fuelers
Since the early 1960s, dealer-sponsored Super Stockers battled for supremacy on the quarter-mile and in the dealer showrooms. Evolving into the Factory Experimental class, these wild steel bodied, altered wheelbase monsters were stuffed with massive fuel injected and supercharged engines that attracted crowds to the dragstrip! Legendary pioneers Dy Don Nicholson, Jack Chrisman, Bill Shrewsberry, Butch Leal, Dick Landy, Arnie Beswick, Phil Bonner, Gas Ronda, Don Gay, Sox & Martin, Richard Petty, and many other A/FX stars were instrumental in the development of the funny car as it morphed from a heavy production car into seven-second 250mph aerodynamic fiberglass, tubular chassis missile. The popularity of funny cars led Jungle Jim Lieberman, Bill Lawton, Lew Arrington, Bill Flynn, Norm Kraus, and Big John Mazmanian to become household names. Tom Mongoose McEwen, Don Snake Prudhomme, Tom Hoover, Kenny Safford, Terry Capp, John Force, Kenny Bernstein, Jake Johnston, Larry Reyes, Richard Tharp, Roland Leong, Randy Walls, Jess Tyree, Rich Siroonian and others who achieved success racing funny cars are all featured in over 300 incredible colour and black and white photos.
Drag Racing Gassers Photo Archive
One of drag racing's most popular classes was the Gassers, from the flathead Ford Model As to the overhead-valve Willys, Studebakers, Austins andAnglias, these were the stoutest full-bodied cars on strips nationwide. Touring teams ran four to six times every week, often traveling several hundred miles day and night to make their next dates. This was old school racing! The battles in A/GS (later AA/GS) ranks created many heroes and villains who etched their marks into drag racing history. Enjoy this photo book that takes you back to that time.
Drag Racing: The World’s Fastest Sport
Drag racing is the simplest and purest form of auto racing: two competitors accelerate from a standing start to the finish line. Once considered the "bad boy" of motorsport, drag racing has evolved into one of the most technically sophisticated forms of automotive competition. There are almost 400 professional racetracks devoted to competitive drag racing in North America.
In Drag Racing Timothy Miller reviews the history of the sport and explains the differences between the specific car classes, such as top fuelers, funny cars, alcohol cars, pro modifieds and pro stock. Profiles of the sport's pioneers and today's best-known names are also included.
Consider these remarkable statistics from modern drag racing:
From a dead stop, a top fuel dragster is the fastest-accelerating vehicle in the world and, at full throttle, consumes the same amount of fuel as a fully loaded Boeing 747.
During the launch of a fuel car, the driver sustains close to five Gs of gravitational pull -- more than a space-shuttle astronaut.
Today's pro modifieds are capable of travelling a quarter mile in less than six seconds at speeds that exceed 240 miles per hour.
Burn rubber, eat smoke and feel the earth rumble in Drag Racing.
Drag Racing’s Exhibition Attractions: From Rockets to Ramp-Jumps
This book showcases photographically the wide variety of cars and drivers that fit into the exhibition theme: the jets, wheelstanders, rockets and other exhibition vehicles that have thrilled millions of spectators. Their entire basis was who had the fastest vehicle. But in 1959 complaints from other competitors and Detroit automakers got all aircraft-powered dragsters banned, so they became the sideshow attached to the legitimate circus that is drag racing. See The Green Monster, Walt Afrons' first jet-powered dragster, Tom Ivo's four-engine tire-smoking dragster, Bill "Maverick" Golden and the Little Red Wagon, "Wild Bill" Shrewsberry's Hurst Hemi Under Glass, LA Dart and Knott's Berry Wagon, Chuck Poole and his Chuckwagon, Doug Rose and The Green Mamba, plus many more. A must for any drag racing fan or gift for them.
Drag Racing’s Quarter-Mile Warriors: Then & Now
The true beginnings of racing is an argument never really settled. One could argue that as soon as the second car was manufactured, a contest of speed ensued against the first. While the roots of modern drag racing goes back to the dry lakes of California in the 30s, drag racing became a sanctioned affair in the early 50s with the forming of the National Hot Rod Association. In the 60 years that have followed the first NHRA sanctioned race in 1953, the changes in technology have been astounding, as well as the categories and classes in which racers have competed. And of all of the eras, the golden era of the late 50s through the early 70s is the clear fan favorite.
Dyno Don: The Cars and Career of Dyno Don Nicholson
Many fans of drag racing consider the most interesting era to be from the 1950s through the 1970s, the years when the sport really took off. During that period, so much changed from a speed and technology standpoint that people often refer to this time as the golden age of drag racing.
Drivers often became associated with a particular manufacturer, such as Chevy, Ford, or Chrysler through sponsorship, factory team rides, or sometimes simply their own preference. The more successful drivers became household names in the drag racing community. Chevy had Grumpy Jenkins, Pontiac had Arnie "the Farmer" Beswick, Mopar had Sox & Martin and Dandy Dick Landy, and Ford's most successful driver of the era was the legendary "Dyno Don" Nicholson.
Nicholson's first wins on a national level were actually in the early 1960s in Chevrolet products. He became extremely successful on the match-race circuit. Then, in 1964, he switched over to Mercury with the new Comet after General Motors enacted a factory ban on racing activities. He won 90 percent of his match races that year. He stuck with Ford and Mercury products and won throughout the 1960s and 1970s, even after Ford also pulled the plug on factory team sponsorship. He made it to the final rounds in nearly 50 national events during that period, in addition to winning championships, awards, and match races along the way. If you are a fan of a certain era of racing, a Ford fan, or certainly a "Dyno Don" fan, this book will be a welcome addition to your library.
How to Drag Race
America's love affair with drag racing has been going strong for over 50 years, and it has never been easier to get involved and go racing. You can bet that on any given weekend, there s a drag race happening somewhere near you. Whether you re bracket racing your daily driver, tuning the new suspension setup on your weekend bracket racer, or competing in one of many pro classes, drag racing is the participation motorsport of choice.
At each drag strip, you ll find a mix of hardened veterans, first timers, and everything in between. The trick to a rewarding experience each and every time out is to know what to do, how to do it, and how to go as fast as you possibly can. In How to Drag Race, author Kevin McKenna, editor at National DRAGSTER, NHRA's weekly news magazine, gives enthusiasts of all experience levels advice on how to take their drag racing to the next level.
McKenna uses more than 300 color photos to show you what to expect your first time out, how to set your street or racecar up for consistency and speed, and driving technique for enthusiasts at all levels. He discusses tires, safety equipment, driving aids like line-locks and delay boxes, choosing a class, and advanced racer math. Special sections detail how to maximize your current setup and strategy bracket racing success.
If you have ever thought it would be fun to give drag racing a try, this book is for you.
Hubert Platt: Fast Fords of the Georgia Shaker
Webster's Dictionary lists the term showman as "a notably spectacular, dramatic, or effective performer." In the art of drag racing, Hubert Platt checked all boxes. Known as the "Georgia Shaker," Platt cut his motoring teeth on the long straightaways and twisty back roads of South Carolina while bootlegging moonshine. After a run-in with the law in 1958, Platt transferred his driving skills from illegal activity to sanctioned drag racing and began one of the most dominant runs in drag racing history until his retirement in 1977.
After stints in 1957, 1938, and 1962 Chevrolets, Platt's next ride was a Z11 Impala, which carried his first "Georgia Shaker" moniker. Once Chevrolet pulled out of sanctioned racing, Platt found a new home with Ford for 1964 and remained there until he hung up his helmet. Some of the cars he campaigned became icons in their own right. His factory-backed and personal machines included a 1963 Z11 Impala, 1964 Thunderbolt, 1965 Falcon, 1966 Mustang Funny Car, 1967 Fairlane 427, 1968-1/2 Cobra Jet, 1969 CJ Mustang, 1970 427 SOHC Mustang, and 1970 Boss 429 Maverick.
A 1986 NHRA Hall of Fame member, Platt's lasting legacy on the sport can't be denied. Whether he was launching his Falcon with the door open, conducting a Ford Drag Team seminar, or posting low E.T. at the 1967 US Nationals in his Fairlane, Platt's imprint on drag racing was all-encompassing. His son and biggest fan, Allen Platt, shares his dad's iconic career in, Hubert Platt: Fast Fords of the "Georgia Shaker"!
Kings of the Quarter Mile: Rail-Jobs Slingshots & Mid-Engine Dragsters
When our young heroes began returning from World War II, they applied the knowledge gained from Uncle Sam towards the fledgling hot rod movement. While speeds increased, rodders learned the hard way just how dangerous it was to drag it out on the city streets. In the mid 50s, organized drag racing gave hot rodders a safe place to race. Cars evolved from pre-war coupes and sedans to crude rail jobs, which were stripped and narrowed frame rails with nothing more than an engine, driveline, seat, and steering gear. As hot rodders were the true Mothers of Invention, the cars later became hand-made, finely crafted Slingshot Dragsters. Dubbed the Kings of the Sport, these supercharged, fuel-injected Slingshots burned exotic fuels and captured the attention of every young enthusiast from coast to coast. The cars dazzled with gleaming chrome, Candy Apple, Pearlescent, and Metalflake® paint jobs, while the nitromethane fuel produced an unforgettable thunderous sound. This new volume contains all the stars that waged war on quarter-mile strips of asphalt from California to Maine. Its a vivid pictorial display that captures the true essence of extreme acceleration in all its glory.
Lost Drag Strips II: More Ghosts of Quarter-Miles Past
Fresh on the heels of the best-selling book Lost Drag Strips comes a new look at other long-lost and forgotten drag racing facilities from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
In the first volume, the author examined the birth of drag racing and its subsequent popularity that invaded every city and community across America. Unfortunately, after the initial explosion of popularity, it waned, and various drag strips closed for a myriad of reasons. Financial pressure for the real estate they occupied, suburban sprawl, and waning participation were all reasons for the change in fortunes for the small, and even not-so-small, racetracks. The first volume was great, but readers demanded more
Lost Drag Strips II picks up where the first volume left off, covering even more tracks with archival photos of racing in the tracks' heyday, the cars that ran there, and coverage of the tracks as they exist today. This volume also includes some of the tracks that survived, those that fought off the economic demons and the urban sprawl and continue to run today.
Tracks in this volume include: Fort Wainwright/Racing Lions Motorsports Park, Avenue G Drag Strip, Fremont/Baylands Drag Strip, San Fernando Drag Strip, Fontana Drag City, Inyokern Drag Strip, Kahuku Air Strip, Las Vegas Speedrome, Continental Divide Raceways, SRCA Drag Strip, Southwest Raceway, Willow Run Raceway, Minnesota Dragways, KCTA Drag Strip, Detroit Dragway, Niagara Airport Dragstrip, New York National Speedway, York US 30 Drag-O-Way, South Mountain Raceway, La Place Dragway, Yellow River Drag Strip, Thunderbolt Dragway, and more.
Lost Drag Strips: Ghosts of Quarter Miles Past
During the 1950s and 1960s, the sport of drag racing exploded in popularity. In its early days, drag racing had a class for everybody, from professional rails to 4 door sedans. As a participant sport, drag racing made itself very accessible, and as a result, drag racing facilities sprang up all over the country, some national in scale and others very small and local. This was great, for a while, but with the sprawl of suburbia and various economic conditions including the growing expense of racing, hundreds of drag racing facilities were lost across the country. Many of these were places of legend where the biggest names in the sport got their start or ran some of their most memorable passes. Others were relatively unknown, but served a local area's needs for a safe place for local speed addicts to run their cars. For whatever reason, they are no longer in business, but evidence of their former existence remains.
This book takes a look at many of the lost quarter-mile tracks across the country. Some of them are gone completely, paved over to make room for housing developments or strip malls. Others are ghostly remnants of what once was, offering a sad and even eerie subject for the photographer.
The images are teamed with vintage shots of drag racing's glory days, sharing what once was one of America's most popular pastimes with the modern reality facing these facilities today. For fans of drag racing's past, it's a sobering and interesting study. The stories are true and the photos are thought provoking, which makes this book hard to put down.
Lost Drag Stripsis a 2013 International Automotive Media Competition award winner and won "best-of" in the book category.
Tracks include:Lions Associated Drag Strip, Orange County International Raceway, Riverside International Raceway, Bee Line Dragway, Motion Raceway, Motor City Dragway, Oswego Dragway, U.S. 30 Drag Strip, Dover Drag Strip, Pittsburgh International Dragway, Connecticut Dragway, Pocono Drag Lodge, Lakeland International Raceway, Green Valley Raceway, Dallas International Motor Speedway, Hudson Drag Strip, Shuffletown Dragway, Brainerd Optimist Club Drag Strip, Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip, Paradise Drag Strip, Double H Drag Strip, Southeastern International Dragway, Smithville Drag Strip, Lloyd's Drag Strip, Harriman Drag Strip, Green Valley Raceway Drag Strip, Drag City, Loudon Raceway.
Pro Stock Drag Racing of the 1970s Photo Archive: From Stockers to DoorSlammers
Popular drivers like "Dandy Dick" Landy, Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, Ronnie Sox, Bob Glidden, Wally Booth, Wayne Gapp, Warren Johnson, "Dyno" Don Nicholson, Lee Hunter, Scott Shafiroff, Brad Yuill, Richie Zul, and many more are all showcased in drag race action in this door-slammer pictorial.
Quarter-Mile Chaos: Images of Drag Racing Mayhem (Hardcover)
Quarter-Mile Chaos looks at the treacherous side of drag racing's golden age. Almost 200 rare and stunning photographs from the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s capture terrifying fires, explosions, and crashes, all by-products of the quest to go faster. Quarter-Mile Chaos is full of up close and personal documentation of the perilous task of reaching the 1,320-foot mark first. Armed with just a couple cameras and some film, veteran drag racing photographer Steve Reyes shot some of the most dramatic and eye-catching pictures of these quarter-mile warriors. Reyes roamed the nation's hazardous strips in search of the perfect action photo. The result is some of the most breathtaking drag racing imagery ever recorded depicting out-of-control demolition and devastation during drag racing's most entertaining era.
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Top Fuel Dragsters of the 1970s Photo Archive
The early '70s were a pivotal time for rear engine dragsters. "Slingshots" were front engine fire-breathing diggers where the driver sat just three feet behind the motor. This set-up proved to be very dangerous, so in 1970 at Lions Drag Strip "Big Daddy" Don Garlits vowed, after a horrific transmission explosion in his slingshot Wynns Charger, that he would formulate a design that would put the fuel motor behind him. The emergence of the rear-engine dragster rekindled the interest in Top Fuel Eliminator class. Legendary championship drivers like TV Tommy Ivo, Tony Nancy, Gary Beck, Don Prudhomme, Jerry Ruth, Carl Olson, Tom McEwen, Shirley Muldowney, James Warren, Jeb Allen, Herm Peterson, Steve Carbone and many more, are all portrayed in sensational fire-and-smoke belching action at the race track.