Diggers, Funnies, Gassers & Altereds: Drag Racing’s Golden Age

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.

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.