The best single drag race that you have witnessed? (1 Viewer)

[mick]

someone already made a statement about prudhomme's ability to dominate
(talked about his 5.63). In Indy '89 he qualified i think 5.17 when the rest of
the field was around 5.30, i think ran a 5.19 in Big Bud, set the FC e.t. mark,
won the Big Bud and the event. wow. L. Dixon on crew and M. Kloeber c. chief.
Also at that event I think were the 2nd & 3rd runs in the 4's ever (in NHRA
competition) LaHaie & Gwynn.

 

[NHRAMike]

Some of the best single drag races I can think of are Tony Schumacher's historic 330 MPH run in Phoenix back in '99. Of course Paul already mentioned the Tony Pedregon/John Force matchup in round two at the 2005 Finals. But the Tony Pedregon vs John Force in the semis at the 2002 Finals was just as awesome. If Pedregon could've beat Force and then win the final, the championship was his. Pedregon outruns Force 4.93 to 4.95, but Force drills Tony on the starting line .447 to .471. You could feel the sense how important of a race this was as they came up to stage, the whole crowd was absoutely silent, everyone watching, waiting to see who would win. The call from DRC went like this:

And it is over.... Force and Tony both deep stage and John is right there with a better reaction time. They are back and forth down the track with Force mathematically behind at 660 feet and 1000 feet, but comes back to take a five foot win. Classic drag race!!!

However one of the best single runs I ever seen was in Comp Eliminator at the Federal Mogul Drag Race Series at Woodburn in 2000. Brian Hyerstay in a VW powered G/D against Dennis Radford in his nitrous powered Pro-Mod Viper. Hyerstay qualified #1, almost .eight tenths under his index. Radford spots Hyerstay 2.99 seconds, cuts a perfect light, and runs the little dragster down and takes the stripe by .05 seconds, and the crowd of 30 went wild!

1 Brian Hyerstay 9.262 -0.798 Q 12 Dennis Radford 6.601 -0.469
G/D Index: 10.06 . . . . . . . . . . . . . A/PM Index: 7.07
0.542 9.790 -0.270 E1 . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.465 8.829 1.759
0.560 9.593 -0.467 E2 ****WINNER**** 0.500 6.607 -0.463

Peace,
Mike Cornelius

 

[Paul]

One of the best races I have been to is the 1994 Mopar Nats where KJ broke the six second barrier. I have been to tracks many of times where the conditions led to national records and those races are obviously memorable.

 

[.]

I’ve seen a few good races in the past, a few that come to mind from recent history are………

1) Last year at BIR when Tony Schumacher went 337mph

2) Kenny Bernstein went 4.477 at the Chicago spring race for a new national E.T. record (I don’t remember the exact year, 2001 maybe?) I was standing at the cement wall along side the track on the same side as Kenny when he made that pass. When the number came up on the scoreboard I couldn't believe my eyes. I remember saying to the friend I was with “Wow, that’s a new national record” (or something close to that) within seconds of me saying that, Bob Fry (I think it was Bob) repeated the exact same thing I just said word for word over the PA system. My friend said to me “How did the guy on the PA system know what you just said”


Good Times!!

 

[Just Paul]

Yeah, that 337 pass, we all just saw the 4.44 and were celebrating like crazy. Then my buddy Nate goes "Holy %%%% he went 337!!!" And we just went nuts.


Others-
1997 Pomona, Winston Finals. Scelzi vs. Amato. The build up was pretty good. They opened the season with a pedal fest in the finals, Scelzi winning. So, here we are, same track, night time, 2 same cars they were in the same lanes, and the 2 best cars. Amato had run about a .61 best, Scelzi was about the same, maybe he had run .62-.63.
Tree goes green, Scelzi smoked the tires and Amato made a sweet pass, header flames WAY up and we all knew if it made it to the end, it was going to be good. The board lit up, 4.55 320 the quickest pass in top fuel history, and only the 3rd run over 320.

Tony/Force semi final Pomona 2005 as said before.

1990- Brainerd, Joe Amato, Gary Ormsby, semi finals. It was COLD that year!!! I knew that someone could run in the 4's. Amato and Frank Bradley had the 2 best cars that day, and they traded Low ET all day long. Bradley ran like a 5.01 in the first pair of the semis, so anything was possible with Joe and Gary, who by the way were in a HEATED points battle. Amato won with a 4.99 that was awesome.

Bradley broke a motor on his pass, and could not make it back for the Final.
Amato ran 4.97 on his single.

 

[Demon]

Herb McCandless,Don Nicholson,Malcom Durham,and Bill Jenkins all going down the track side by side at Budds Creek (Maryland Intl. Raceway) in 1973.

 

[Prestaged]

This is tough because there are so many. I have a couple that were very special -- one from eliminations and one from qualifying:

Eliminations: Columbus last year. After the semis it rained hard, but not for long. The Safety Safari went to work on the track. Weather conditions had changed considerably and I thought the finals in the nitro classes would be smoke fests because of a combination of track conditions and the weather. Schumacher and Doug Kalitta were matched up for the Top Fuel final and Tony won it with a 4.489/336.15 to Doug's 4.513/324.90. Tony set low et of the event with that pass, but better yet, that was the fastest run ever at that point. And at National Trail, of all places.

Qualifying: 1973 at Indy. Last day of qualifying was Sunday. During the last session, Gary Beck held the #1 spot with a 6.10. Jim Bucher had not made a pass all weekend in his Chevy-Powered (honest!) car. He finally made an appearance, did his burnout, staged her up and ran a 6.09 for #1. It was incredible.

 

[D]

Denver 96' (I think)
Track was awesome. No tire smokers on saturday at all! Not one! Blaine Johnson huge wheelstand with the new car, Force became the first man to 300 on the mountain. (Beat all of the dragsters to that number.) Decent looking new women in PSB, including one that was very pretty and sponsored by Victoria Secret. Lots of expired engines on the final qualifying pass in dragster. The experience of Denver, and everything wrapped up into one perfect weekend.
Not one particular race, but my favorite race ever.

I'd have to agree, that was a great weekend on Thunder Mountain.

 

[mick]

.....Bradley broke a motor on his pass, and could not make it back for the Final. Amato ran 4.97 on his single.

I remember that cold race vividly - never really had too many 'favorite' drivers
except 'the beard'. Frank stood rite on the starting line and watched Joe
take the victory. If I remember correctly, Joe may have even offered Frank
a motor but Frank declined.
weren't the tables turned a few years later at Sonoma (frank's neighborhood)
Joe couldn't make call for final again against Frank - Frank taking
single for victory?
Did get to see Frank in the winner's circle at BIR a few years later calling
the shots for the Gwynn's and M. Dunn? driving the LaVictoria TF.

 

[Rollout96]

I hate to be so ambiguous but I have this great memory of a race that I can't... Well, I can't quite remember. Maybe you folks with these killer memories can fill in the blanks. This is what I remember but so much could be wrong:

1982 or 83ish. I wanna say Pomona but I keep picturing OCIR too. Seems like Raymond Beadle and Kenny Bernstein were neck and neck for the championship. Beadle blew off his body and showed up in the lanes with the roof portion of one of Bernsteins body. So the main body was blue and the roof portion was red. They used tape do form his driving number (seems like it was number 1 then) over Bernsteins.

Sorry that is so iffy but I just remember the drama of him not being able to make the round (might have been the final) and then to see that body was just so damn cool.

I need a nap!!!

 

[Just Paul]

I remember that cold race vividly - never really had too many 'favorite' drivers
except 'the beard'. Frank stood rite on the starting line and watched Joe
take the victory. If I remember correctly, Joe may have even offered Frank
a motor but Frank declined.
weren't the tables turned a few years later at Sonoma (frank's neighborhood)
Joe couldn't make call for final again against Frank - Frank taking
single for victory?
Did get to see Frank in the winner's circle at BIR a few years later calling
the shots for the Gwynn's and M. Dunn? driving the LaVictoria TF.

It was the year before, 1989. Joe kicked the rods on the burnout. Frank got a Single.

 

[DrRocket]

Best race I ever went to

Best drag race ever? The first one that my uncle took me to. It was down in Kansas City, and although I had been following the sport before that, he took me to one of the first races held at the then new KCIR. It was everything I thought it would be, and more. For a car-smitten young lad of 14, I was in heaven. They had a gasser war that night, both gas dragsters and AA/GS, but they also had a couple of these new fangled things they called "Funny Cars."


Up to that time, I'd been reading his collection of pocket sized Honks, Car Crafts and Rod & Customs along with earlier issues of Hot Rod. (No, they're gone. My Aunt threw them away. Couldn't believe she did that. I didn't speak to her for at least an hour.)

 

[Darryl]

Jay, it was Pomona at the finals. Don't remember the year but most of your details seem correct.