At the time it was the only National race,and sombody stuck that tag on it.
Then the WinterNationals was added and it was refered to as the BIG GO WEST.........
It comes from back in the early days when there were literally hundreds of teams on the west coast and a lot of big races were mainly out here. Going to Indy for a lot of teams was a LONG haul from the SO-Cal area. But, that was the one time each year a bunch of them all went, and being the long trip (a lot of times all caravanned together with many teams) it became known as the "Big Go".
In 1964 NHRA also presented a hot rod and custom car show, at the Murat Shrine building in downtown Indy. I believe it was titled the big show and I cant remember the whole story The Nationals(as it was titled then) was advertised as the big go, something to the old saying all show and no go?
The first time I ever saw it in print was probably on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine, perhaps in the 60s. (No PJ, NOT the 1860s!) Back then that was about the only place to get coverage, other than Drag News and National Dragster. Magazine editors are always looking for something catchy. The Big Go was certainly that.
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