>>> Karl wrote: "If it wasn't "N", it never happened... by the way, did you ever read '1984' or 'Fahrenheit 451'"?"
"Never happened"???
Not so, says the DRAGLIST I gleaned from GOOGLE:
ergo...
"1960 1 7.600 204.08 Chris Karamesines The Chizler 392 Chry 59 Fenn 323 AAFD Chicago IL Chris Karamesines"
There's also a listing on there (
http://www.draglist.com/lists/tf.txt) for 1960 for Garlits having gone 204.23 at some Florida strip in 1960:
1960 8 8.230 204.23 Don Garlits Swamp Rat 1 454 Chry 57 Garlits 204 AAFD Tampa FL Don Garlits
I never heard of that run anywhere else; for some reason, it didn't garner the acclaim that the Alton "barrier breaking run" did. Of course, since Alton wasn't an NHRA track, Hot Rod magazine didn't mention it, since Wally and Pete Petersen were still acting as a team, pretty much, at that time.
RE the Vonnegut books you mentioned:
Yes, I read both of those books, a long, long time ago. But, Kurt Vonnegut wrote much better than that, in my opinion.
He was one of my favorite authors, and taught creative writing at Iowa State University in the late '70s when I lived in Des Moines. I thought seriously about taking his course, but never got around to it. Wish I had...
I thought his "Sirens of Titan" and "Cat's Cradle" were much better books than "Farenheit 451" and "1984," although I must be a cult of one; the ones you mentioned got all the press...
And no, I don't walk around in a trance, reciting a comprehensive list of 1950's drag strip names... LOL!!!
BTW, the Karamesines run has had its share of nay-sayers over the years, claiming "Happy Clocks" because it was a long time before he could duplicate
that run.... years, I think. Who knows? Probably Chris....
Bill (whose '54 Olds 88 once won a trophy at Alton!)