NHRA 2020/2021 TOP FUEL ELIMINATIONS

Anyone remember Dave Strickler? Local hometown boy that was connected to Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins up in Easton, PA. Strickler died around the 70's or 80's, but his cars are still around, but not for racing. This picture was taken at a reunion show of the old cars that ran on the track at
"York US 30 Dragway" in York, PA, which is my hometown. I also had a drag car, but no big name sponsor, so I never was able to compete with the big money boys. I have several pictures of the older funny cars, so if there is enough interest, I will surely post them.

The car in this picture is a '62 Chevy, which was the same as my car named "Northwind." My car was black with a blue belly-band.

Old Reliable.JPG
 

Here is a picture of one of Bruce Larson's cars. Bruce is still in racing, but now he is more of a designer and engineer. I spoke with him a few years ago at the Carlisle Corvette Show and he was telling me about his 4000+ hp funny car he was building. Bruce lives in nearby Camp Hill, PA, which is just outside of Harrisburg. He and "Big Daddy" Don Garlits are the only NHRA racers to have a car in the Smithsonian Institute. Of course everyone in drag racing knows Garlits is a Mopar guy.

Larson.JPG
 
Anyone remember Dave Strickler? Local hometown boy that was connected to Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins up in Easton, PA. Strickler died around the 70's or 80's, but his cars are still around, but not for racing. This picture was taken at a reunion show of the old cars that ran on the track at
"York US 30 Dragway" in York, PA, which is my hometown. I also had a drag car, but no big name sponsor, so I never was able to compete with the big money boys. I have several pictures of the older funny cars, so if there is enough interest, I will surely post them.

The car in this picture is a '62 Chevy, which was the same as my car named "Northwind." My car was black with a blue belly-band.

View attachment 178197
Cool. This was my no sponsor drag effort.


33 chevy 4.jpg
 
Here is a picture of one of Bruce Larson's cars. Bruce is still in racing, but now he is more of a designer and engineer. I spoke with him a few years ago at the Carlisle Corvette Show and he was telling me about his 4000+ hp funny car he was building. Bruce lives in nearby Camp Hill, PA, which is just outside of Harrisburg. He and "Big Daddy" Don Garlits are the only NHRA racers to have a car in the Smithsonian Institute. Of course everyone in drag racing knows Garlits is a Mopar guy.

View attachment 178203
I was lucky enough to see his first funny car, (altered wheelbase) back in 1966. (y)

USA-10001.jpg
 
Most of us young walking hormones remember Jungle Pam more that Jim. :):) Wonder why? :ROFLMAO:


View attachment 178219
I was kissed by Miss Hurst (Pat Flannery or Connery or whatever) after I posted a W in Richmond running in Class AA/F. All nitro in the tank that night. Flames flying out the headers at night looked so cool! But damn, it gets hot inside and the temp outside at night was 84°. A lot of heat that night.
 
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Anyone remember Dave Strickler? Local hometown boy that was connected to Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins up in Easton, PA. Strickler died around the 70's or 80's, but his cars are still around, but not for racing. This picture was taken at a reunion show of the old cars that ran on the track at
"York US 30 Dragway" in York, PA, which is my hometown. I also had a drag car, but no big name sponsor, so I never was able to compete with the big money boys. I have several pictures of the older funny cars, so if there is enough interest, I will surely post them.

The car in this picture is a '62 Chevy, which was the same as my car named "Northwind." My car was black with a blue belly-band.

View attachment 178197
Try to find this bubble top now. My buddy had one with a 409 back in 1964 til ? He did all his own work and it was damn near unbeatable. Describe for us how you feel about selling it? I had a 62 Catalina and I still have the pic and regret selling it but I was boke and so was the tranny.
 
Try to find this bubble top now. My buddy had one with a 409 back in 1964 til ? He did all his own work and it was damn near unbeatable. Describe for us how you feel about selling it? I had a 62 Catalina and I still have the pic and regret selling it but I was boke and so was the tranny.
I sold the car, trailer, parts, everything. Even the one spare engine that I had as a backup. If I could have secured a sponsor with deep pockets, who knows how much better I could have done. I was a member of the AHRA, so I only ran on AHRA sanctioned tracks. While racing in Ohio, I blew a head gasket while coming off the line during the trophy run. I had already ran two elimination races, so my engine was loose. On this race, I was deep in the pocket at the staging tree, so I was able to pull a hole shot, which gave me a nice advantage. About halfway down the track, I felt a sudden loss of power and saw nothing but a big white cloud over me. I knew then that my night was over. I had my own mechanic who also happened to be my uncle.

When it came time to sell everything and leave the sport, it kind of saddened me. Back then, if you wanted to be a big name driver, you really needed a sponsor. Today, a lot of people have money to spend, until they can prove themselves and retain a sponsor. I had some big name sponsors, but they would only give me parts. I had Stahl-Moroso, AC/Delco, Felpro, STP, Hurst, and Iskenderun Cams as my sponsors, but no money, just parts. If it wasn’t for my dad, I doubt if I would have ventured into drag racing.

I could go on and on about drag racing, but I don’t think there is much interest in it here.
 
I sold the car, trailer, parts, everything. Even the one spare engine that I had as a backup. If I could have secured a sponsor with deep pockets, who knows how much better I could have done. I was a member of the AHRA, so I only ran on AHRA sanctioned tracks. While racing in Ohio, I blew a head gasket while coming off the line during the trophy run. I had already ran two elimination races, so my engine was loose. On this race, I was deep in the pocket at the staging tree, so I was able to pull a hole shot, which gave me a nice advantage. About halfway down the track, I felt a sudden loss of power and saw nothing but a big white cloud over me. I knew then that my night was over. I had my own mechanic who also happened to be my uncle.

When it came time to sell everything and leave the sport, it kind of saddened me. Back then, if you wanted to be a big name driver, you really needed a sponsor. Today, a lot of people have money to spend, until they can prove themselves and retain a sponsor. I had some big name sponsors, but they would only give me parts. I had Stahl-Moroso, AC/Delco, Felpro, STP, Hurst, and Iskenderun Cams as my sponsors, but no money, just parts. If it wasn’t for my dad, I doubt if I would have ventured into drag racing.

I could go on and on about drag racing, but I don’t think there is much interest in it here.

Not true. I always loved NHRA events at Englishtown. Like to get to Gainesville to see some holeshots.
 
I sold the car, trailer, parts, everything. Even the one spare engine that I had as a backup. If I could have secured a sponsor with deep pockets, who knows how much better I could have done. I was a member of the AHRA, so I only ran on AHRA sanctioned tracks. While racing in Ohio, I blew a head gasket while coming off the line during the trophy run. I had already ran two elimination races, so my engine was loose. On this race, I was deep in the pocket at the staging tree, so I was able to pull a hole shot, which gave me a nice advantage. About halfway down the track, I felt a sudden loss of power and saw nothing but a big white cloud over me. I knew then that my night was over. I had my own mechanic who also happened to be my uncle.

When it came time to sell everything and leave the sport, it kind of saddened me. Back then, if you wanted to be a big name driver, you really needed a sponsor. Today, a lot of people have money to spend, until they can prove themselves and retain a sponsor. I had some big name sponsors, but they would only give me parts. I had Stahl-Moroso, AC/Delco, Felpro, STP, Hurst, and Iskenderun Cams as my sponsors, but no money, just parts. If it wasn’t for my dad, I doubt if I would have ventured into drag racing.

I could go on and on about drag racing, but I don’t think there is much interest in it here.


 
The strip we went to was US 30 in Indiana. The pic is the indoor drags in Chicago at the Chicago International Amphitheater. Lasted only a couple years the track was a 1/16 of a mile.

chicago-indoor-drag-strip-in-the-60s.jpg
 


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