1987 NHRA Citgo K-Mart Cajun Nationals

diamond b sports presents the american [Music] a panorama of speed color drama and excitement the american sports cavalcade [Music] there's nothing particularly humorous about the modern funny car the dangerous mouse to run a quarter mile on a razor's edge between mind-boggling performance and terrifying disaster it was here at state capitol raceway outside baton rouge louisiana in 1984 that ed mccullough crossed the line the resulting collision with john collins gave graphic proof of the evil that funny cars can do [Music] however there was a time in the 1960s when the term funny was the most appropriate way to describe the hybrid race machines that grew out of the major car manufacturers involvement with drag racing altered wheelbases fuel injector pipes sticking through the hoods bouncing and bopping down the quarter mile it was hard to take these cars seriously some may mourn the passing of funny cars showman days when drivers like jungle jim lieberman and cars like the chaitan hustler electrified fans with their attics now a little more than 20 years after funny cars started invading america's dragster so you become the darling of race bands and the stands are jammed when these fabulous floppers fire up hi i'm brock gates for 13 years now the fans have been coming here to the state capital dragway outside baton rouge louisiana for the national hot rod association cajun nationals they've come to expect some wild action and some even wilder competition not only from the funny cars but from the top fuel dragsters and the pro stalkers as well for more on that let's go to my pal steve evans brock i'm sure you'll recall that one year ago all the talk here at the cajun nationals was about the revolutionary new streamlined dragsters well this year streamliners still that's the talk but now it's about their demise remember gary ormsby's beautiful streamliner it was runner-up here a year ago well it is gone it has been parked in favor of a conventional car that unfortunately for gary was beaten here today in round number one joel amato's beautiful streamliner we showed you from minnesota last year it is sold to a guy in california has nothing to do with it nor does he want to have anything to do with it dear old windscar remembers the winter nationals all the aerodynamic tricks they have all been stripped off of the car now why is all this happening well it's weight it's hard enough as it is to get these cars down to the nhra minimum of 1800 pounds and what little effect the aerodynamics may have is not worth carrying that kind of weight plus these cars need a certain amount of resistance to beg the engines to burn more nitro more nitro more horsepower more than makes up for whatever slipperiness they may enjoy a big daddy don garlits he started the revolution he is going to stay with this nose piece and his small front wheels that any further streamlining is on a back and very cold burner what does all this mean well i think it means better and closer racing but the driver is in a pretty similar chassis it's horsepower tuning and driving that's going to make the difference as steve as you know because of breakage and other factors don garlits will have a buy run in round two but he'll want to make a good pass nevertheless to ensure lane choice in the semis and will come just a little bit later right now it's time for the lady in the paint car three-time nhra top fuel world champion shirley muldowney here heating up the tires the procedure called the burnout should be in the far length and up against her the texas eddie hill well steve you noticed that both shirley and eddie are running those in closed cockpits that is the one concession that they everybody about is made to streamlining and i think that's going to stay eddie hill also using the small front wheels much like don garlits eddie hill from wichita falls texas a one-time king of the liquid quarter mile in the drag bus and of course everyone knows the story of this lady shirley muldowney she has missed the last few races due to some abdominal surgery but she says she's feeling fit and ready to go oh shirley definitely wants to put a win in the column here pretty quickly steve since her comeback she's had some problems the car has not behaved the way she wanted it to and right now though her opportunity to take down eddie hill is a good one let's see how it works eddie hill with some control problems shirley pulls ahead smokes the tire it is eddie hill coming back around sterling muldowney hill wins it at 5.61 seconds oh and this will not make shirley happy she ran quicker that did eddie hill at 5.58 you're right steve but it was purely a question of reaction time eddie hill off the line substantially quicker than shirley and uh as you say he overcame some control problems about half track here you can see eddie hill take command of the drag race shirley muldowney runs a slightly lower e.t but does not pull it out losing the texan eddie hill right here by roughly half a car so eddie hills crew will be very proud of his driving job that has taken them into the semifinals hill wasting no time getting that helmet off it is very hot and very humid today in baton rouge it sure is steve and now let's get ready for more round two top fuel action that car what a familiar sight that is the drag racing fan that is young daryl gwynne in his beautiful red and white dragster and another red car boy has this guy been running hard over the season well brock this is a race you wouldn't expect to see this early in elimination carol gwen didn't qualify as quickly as he usually does so he's paired with joe amato who was the number one qualifier early here in the second round what you're looking at is the world's fastest top fuel director driver joe amato is 279 miles per hour the 84 world champion from old porch pennsylvania is young daryl gwen who you may have noticed is carrying some unusual markings on his rear tires earlier steve had a look at them [Music] i've discovered two interesting things here in daryl gwen's camp first of all we are not the only one shooting video here i always did want to shoot back also he's got a terminal case of ring around the tire actually this home video camera belonging to daryl's mom and the ring around the tire worked together when she videotapes in the starting line it's much more easy to see what the footprint of the tire is like rather than trying to look at black rubber against black asphalt also still photos on the lights with this ring will show them how the tire plants at high speed now this other mark here will give them some idea of how the tire is spinning it's awful hard to tell without any kind of an identification mark visually they'll also videotape that as well as still pictures and his father jerry his eye is so keen that with the naked eye he can tell just how hard the tire is spinning without this mark that's pretty hard to do well you're training with that video camera i'm sure that you've got a great future in television steve i don't think i'll cook my day job just yet so in the near lane the world's quickest daryl goyin holds the record 520 up against joe amato the world's fastest both have won an event so far this year the only other driver to do so is don garlits coming up later this is just a great matchup early in the going round two top fuel eliminator it is a red light by daryl guin and look at gwen streak away some motor problems just before he got to the finish line but daryl gwen has redlined it on a double disaster for daryl gwen not only does he red light which all top fuel drivers hate to do but he hurts the motor pretty seriously so there you see the red light in the near lane darrell gwynne going down to a defeat almost before the race starts and giving joe amato a free pass into the semi-finals let's go to state often times the driver is so focused on his side of the tree he doesn't see his opponent red light did you joe armada yeah i saw the red light steve i just ran it through to try and get lane choice for the next round just to see where the motor was at and make sure everything was okay you know it was i knew it was going to be a real close race and we both ran five thirties before that so it's it's a driver's race there you know it could have made the difference between win and losing you know luckily the light came on gary could have got lucky and got the light and then i would have made me look real bad but then thank god the red light came on and the trw dragster is in the next round and still in the 5 30s as you go to the semifinals at 5 39 well thank you that's that tim richardson and the boys are doing an outstanding job in this heat you know i'm just have to do my job and drive good joe motto he's on his way well of course tim richards the crew chief uh on joe's car brilliant mechanic and uh a major factor in amato's successes over the recent years steve and here's another talented team kenny bernstein's crew on his funny car putting finishing touches on that motor stay with us we'll be back with more top fuel action and funny cars too [Music] you kind of expect dibby and lee and clark gable to come walking down those steps that is the beautiful rose down plantation right down the road on what they call the great river road where these beautiful plantations are fairly common and fairly common back here in state capital dragway is the kind of work that goes into one of these funny cars before they come to the starting line to race again that is jim head's crew he'll be up in round number two against john force and they have a few minutes remaining to get that engine back together as we are still in round two of top fuel dragster elimination glenn mikris just blazing the tires here trying to clean off that racetrack heat up the tires and put some heat in the pavement as well nicola hay will be his opponent and dick running this season with some strong new sponsorship and now let's go down to steve with daryl gwen darrell it appeared to me anyway that nothing really went right on the starting line on the dry burner that smoked the tires your dad was telling to hold the brakes just everything going on well obviously we knew we had to race joe for this next round and we hopped it up a little bit and you know we i've got some good brakes on this car and if it does smoke the tires on the dry burn out i usually hold the brakes on the run and that usually cures it well in this case it cured it again but i red light and then i proceeded to drive the car on through because i wanted to see what it did we made a major tune-up change and it blew the blower up for some reason that's first time i've ever blown the blower off so i'm anxious to see what the problem is there'll be some serious postmortems in daryl's pit right now though dick lahaye out of lansing michigan remember him with his daughter kim as the crew chief and now her brother jeff working on the crew as well that's right and glenn mikris that's a new face to our nh3 national event coverage uh a fairly recent addition to the pro ranks the car out of southern california and he beat gary ornfey steve in the first round to move in against dick lahaye a formidable opponent believe me dick running stronger all the time you just saw the gloved hand of lahay pumping that handbrake carefully moving those front wheels into the staging beam it's got to be done just right they are off dick lahaye with an immediate lead declare hey with a car length victory well i'll tell you nickname was in it all the way gave lahay everything he could handle but hey winston at 5 45 262 miles per hour to a close by 51. why work for that one here comes big daddy down garlits he'll make a buy run but he wants low e team for lane choice and now let's go to steve with dick lahaye well down here dick lahaye exhausted like all of us really from this heat and humidity but uh the good thing in the engine is clean not a drop of oil out of it and a strong run well i think it run pretty good but you know it's hard to tell out there and all that heat and so forth that he ran good first round and it should have duplicated itself again you were telling me earlier this is a strange track because the groove is kind of an arc it's not a straight line that's true we have to line the car up crooked to go down the lane straight is what the mouse doing it looks strange when you're sitting up there in the start line and you're pointed at the guard rail to make it go down the lane straight that definitely gets your attention as we watch big daddy don garliss get ready for that bye run we talked about earlier now there's some pressure on garlic steve because he seems to have lost the combination well he had a great start winning the winter nationals in california ran the 520s then he changed the cylinder heads the blower the fuel bump trying to run now the combination that joe amato and gerald wayne run and just has not yet hit on it and garlic boy he's got plenty of power this time in fact too much for this whole racetrack john garlits it's doubtful that he will have lane choice for the semifinals oh absolutely steve at 6 31 180 miles an hour big daddy's got to be displeased with that as we take a look at the old state capitol building here just down the road in baton rouge these are the pairings in the sitko k-mart cajun nationals top fuel semi-finals garland's versus dickle hey that'll be a good one and joe amato versus eddie hill joe amato has lane choice and now let's go to steve who's with big daddy [Music] so don garl it's blazing the tires like days of old but i really wondered done did you go up there you know you had a victory and an easy path into somebody's just to find out what the track would take well we had we had a clutch problem on the first round and we worked on it i guess it uh we went too far and now you know you've got to what takes some uh tension pressure out of the clutch got to take a little weight off of it yeah you know if anyone i would think have an advantage in this kind of heat and humidity with all your experience uh that might be one for you who knows they're running pretty good yeah they are indeed big daddy goes to the semis after he does some clutch work well you can see that his mind is simply uh focused on that clutch and on that engine because he is not a happy man and the car is not running anywhere near up to his expectations all right it is time now for round number two of bunny cars and here is a brand new car and driver to our event coverage this is henry phillips from oklahoma this is his first nha national event do you think he might be a little uptight brock well he's going up against one of the greats in the sport uh raymond beatle in the blue max you know he just graduated from frank holly's school down to gainesville florida steve so he is a novice that's right and here is raymond strapped into the car the body's still up as you can tell by the vibrating fiberglass of the machine is running and now dale emery the crew chief latches down the body for raymond beatle well raymond of course uh dropped out for a couple of years to run his expanding race team and stock car sprint cars and funny cars but now he's decided to get back behind the wheel of the famed blue max and brock in my personal opinion no one has ever driven a funny car with any more skill and bravery than raymond beetle out of dallas texas and you can't be more of a rookie than starting your very first race ever as is henry phillips and these cars even though they go on a straight line brock as you well know they are very difficult to drive there's so many things the driver has to do before he ever gets to this staging process even well steve you can see uh nhra starter buster couch uh trying to move the proceedings along here a little bit phillips very very slow in staging a long time and uh beatles waited and waited they left right together brock but phillips having problems and look at raymond beetle drive that automobile through the tire smoke beetle will go into the semis at 6.10 seconds 250 miles per hour as we get a look at uh the crew of joe amato making final preparations for his semi-final run against texan eddie hill the sitko k-mart cajun nationals baton rouge louisiana i'm brock gates along with steve evans as we watch the big daddy don garlits crew try to correct their problems in the meantime let's go to steve with raymond beetle well it's that kind of driving that has carried raymond beetle to three funny car world championships and it's a good thing there's a steering wheel in the end of that shaft that time because you did a heck of a job well the car got awful loose our car got hot we had trouble with this guy the other day he's going to stage he's been new i guess our car once it gets over about 180 what wants to smoke the tires it did again but i never did see him like i said the car hooked up good enough that we'd expect the other end so it's really critical that uh your opponent not hold you up so you don't build too much heat in the motor yeah i think so and i mean most of the guys you know we're used to running with them like bernstein and and snake and mccoon and everyone and we've run with them for 15 or 20 years so we know what everyone's going to do but we get someone new and the other day we had trouble with this guy and then we told him then so he's green he's green but i mean he's all right he's a good kid thanks sir is anybody more laid back in big time automobile racing than raymond beadle take a look at this car one of the most beautiful funny cars i think i've ever seen steve that's right this is jim head who won the cajun nationals back in 1985. that is about assuming i guess as you can possibly get not to mention the beautiful paint and look at the big whale tail the wing on the back of that card rock just incredible there's more square footage there than some california condos i'd say wow looking machine and speaking of wild look at the burnout that his opponent john force in the left lane pulled off steve an incredible burnout brock you know jim head's car of course that clean and pretty it is just fitted with every kind of electronic device you can imagine because that man jim had columbus ohio is an electrical contractor john forest well the last occupation he had besides drag racing was truck driving and that was about 12 or 13 years ago and john's first taste of success came here in 1979 he was runner-up to kenny bernstein at the cage of nationals he's been runner up another seven or eight times since and still has not won a big nhra race what a hard driver and what a heart competitor oh there seems to be trouble with the yes steve he's stalled out there that's right it sounded like a fuel starvation problem brock the motor kind of came up all of a sudden like it was running out of fuel leaning out in other words and he is dead in the water here comes the crew but without the truck or starter motor they're not gonna be able to do a thing for john to get him off the racetrack how much time will he have before busper couch to start it will wave him off well the burnouts have been completed so uh that there's not enough time to do anything here the crew knows that it's gonna be a single for jim head oh that's a terribly tough break for uh this man john force as we said one of the toughest most intense competitors there you see a burst of fire from underneath the car that was enough to put him away there goes a very dejected young man from california john quartz this man from columbus ohio on a single pass jim head ooh carelessly close to the yellow line in the center jim head runs up 589 225 miles an hour we'll see whether that is enough to give him lane choice as jon force heads for the pits well you're right jim head did come very close to that center line but the decision is he didn't touch it the time will stay in berlin joint here is don the stake for dull back on the trail after taking a year off in 1986 and has already won one race the motorcraft gator nationals down in gainesville florida the second race of the season this is the fourth and steve this is a rematch of that gator nationals final when johnny west and the hawaiian fell to the snake in a very good race as we watch the snake go into the staging area i wonder does he say will history repeat itself i don't know the snake looked very confident brought to me this morning in the staging light you know and interesting i went over to visit the rolling leon camp uh that runs that particular car right there and you know what there was no road leon i asked johnny west where his road and he said somewhere on the beach in the bahamas and i couldn't believe it the only time i know that roland's never gone to the races with his car not mistake for dom well he's got to go he drives the thing absolutely and nobody drives them better than the snake one of the all-time greats many people rank him right beside big daddy down garlits as the giant of the sport the snake strikes first he's off the mark but look at the power for johnny west of the farley johnny west drives away from don the snake product some sweet revenge there after his loss to the fight at the gator nationals so johnny west that's the quickest elapsed time for any funny car at 5.63 seconds taking low elapsed time in the event away from that man kenny bernstein stay with us what could be a more tranquil and uh genteel scene than the beautiful formal gardens here at the rose down plantation just a few miles down the road from where the sound and the fury continues at the sitko k-mart cajun nationals and steve evans is funny car time it is brock and here is eddie ace mccullough there's one turn in the country that has a shot of running with record-setting kenny bernstein gets ace mccullough that far left that was burnt he saw just burns through the picture oh and mccullough getting sideways over the center line almost makes contact with bernstein mccullough has got big problems he crossed that center line that's going to put him out of the race that is grounds for disqualification and i don't think it's getting much matter that car is stranded out there mid-course well something definitely broke you see uh ed's uh hatch opening up he'll be climbing out of that race car finished for the day and uh we'll be interested to find out exactly what broke whether it was something in the rear end or perhaps something in the engine that poured oil on the racetrack but ed mccullough obviously disappointed out of the race car and finished for the day now let's take another look at what happened as you can see this is the burnout those spectacular smokey burnouts that the fans love so much for the funny cars everything looks pretty normal right here there you can see bernstein in the left lane here is mccullough starting to fishtail obviously something is broken in the race car there he crosses the center line almost ticks bernstein and the left front fender and now just kind of slides to a hall with an obviously broken race car and now steve's with that anytime something goes wrong with the funny car on the burnout that puts out the volume of oil under the rear tires that ed mccullough just experienced you've really got your hands full well see when i come out of the water box you know i mean spinning the tires the tire's always wet anyway you know and i got after pretty good when i left it you know lifted from the burnout i mean it just started skating and that's what happened is it blew that oil filter o-ring out and it was just oiling the race track and the tires and it was like you run ice the last thing you wanted to do was give kenny bernstein a gift like that i mean you know we got to put pressure on kenny and i mean they get the brakes and i mean one of these days is going to turn around and we're going to get the brakes and we're going to beat them thanks it too bad thank you ed mccullough obviously referring to the almost unbeatable uh chain that kenny bernstein has going for the last couple of seasons steve well kenny is gunning for a third consecutive world title brock and is off to a very good start he has won two of the three races held so far this year only don perdom has reached the winner's circle other than the man in this red buick with sabre dale armstrong over the off-season designed a new rear tail for this body has been very controversial but obviously worked bernstein has a buy run we've stressed before even though you're all by yourself you want to make a full pass to try to get lane choice kenny bernstein stops the timers oh my 5.59 that's of the events for the funny car breed at 261 miles per hour so as we look at the statue downtown of huey p long the famous governor of the state of louisiana many years ago here's our pairings for the semifinals bernstein against beadle you know who has lane choice there and it will be johnny west in the hawaiian car up against jim head who has won on this track for board he knows how to get down the state capitol dragway quarter mile but the big battle will be between raymond beadle and kenny bernstein raymond beadle three-time world funny car champion against the ringing champion kenny bernstein after his third title what a match-up that is going to be as we watch beatles crew go to work on his car now let's go to state well that clocking by kenny bernstein has probably tempered the smile you saw a few moments ago on johnny westby's track record 5 59. oh super well i didn't know that was going to happen none of us did this tough situation out there needless to say steve you know it is and it's you got to tickle it we backed it way up the first round dale and the guys did and then we said holy cow everybody's outrun us we better do some so we took a shot then to see if the track could hold it and you had to wonder for a minute that mccullough didn't want your lane too well he was out there trying to come over with me he had some problems with an engine of course expiring and putting oil on the tires and sliding over into my lane but i thought well ed don't be doing that on the run now is there ever ever any temptation when you've got a freebie like that to take it easy it costs a lot of money to run these cars not at all you have to go over that winston championship and the only way you can do it is run every single run the entire year full out that's how you learn that's how you make it happen for you i had a feeling that's what you'd say you'll see in this life thanks all right okay kenny bernstein always stands on the gas now it's pro stock time that yellow and white car the rare morrison camaro being driven by bruce allen one of the very best you'll go against kenny delco now these guys are the hall shout artists the skill on the starting line critical in this kind of racing more so than any other earlier steve had a look at the tactics of racing a pro stock a term you hear a lot in drag racing is hole shot one driver with better reactions getting off the starting line first leaving the other still sitting at the line or in the hole using starter buster couch's magic box here let me take you through that sequence now as the cars move forward and you well know they use their front wheels to break these beams i'm going to use my big foot first thing that happens they get into an infrared beam that can controls the pre-stage that's on top of the tree it just helps you find the starting line they move further forward and the stage light comes on when both have accomplished that now it's time for buster couch to take this box and hit the switch the first thing the driver sees is a flash of yellow that's when you react you do not wait for the green you'll be late there's only four tenths of a second between yellow and green if you gamble on the lights and that four tenths hasn't elapsed then it's going to bypass green go right to red and you're out of here so the drivers who get the better hole shots are the ones whose eyes are better connected to their feet i guess you could say now remember also the lanes are independently timed the clocks don't start until the front wheels leave these beams and that accounts for why a driver with a hole shot can often win with a slower elapsed time and you're inclined to see more red lights than pro stock than any other form of competition because these guys squeeze the light harder than anybody well bruce allen usually doesn't have to he's got so much horsepower that ruin morris and camaro from arlington texas this is kenny delco he's from center reach long island new york and he's also driving a camaro many of the chevrolet competitors have on the drawing board or in construction chevy beretta's but so far the camaro is the workhorse and chevrolet did not win a single pro stock title in all of 86 and hopes for better results at 87. that is out of the bar lane kenny delco in the near lane there you see that flash of green they're away right together delco having some problems delco falls back he's out of this one bruce allen will win it whoa and alex skates across the finish line that accounts for the slow times of 790 147 miles per hour that can be scary stuff as we watch the crew of johnny west and the hawaiian car getting ready to go up against jim head in their semi-final funny car round [Music] i'm brock along with steve evans back in the state capitol driveway baton rouge louisiana for more citgo k-mart cajun nationals action and now let's go to steve well bruce allen that didn't look like it was a lot of fun that ride that wasn't a lot of fun that was a little scary there got got pretty loose down there in third gear just pulled it over high and tires started spinning it was off the throttle and back on trying to keep it straight it's just one of them things just i don't know just probably a little rice all over there on that side to get sprayed around let's hope the next one's a little straighter yeah me too well bruce allen referring to rice hull ash which is used to uh pick up uh oil that's dropped on the track here uh and does continue to make the racetrack slippery this is gonna be a difficult uh racetrack to deal with as the afternoon continues to even the heat builds and you have to wonder if maybe bruce allen doesn't have some mechanical problems as well that are contributing to the handling difficulties well that is butch leo pontiac trans am in the far lane there have been three pro stock races this year and three winners much like top fuel leo won the middle race the gator nationals down in gainesville florida and butch is the master of the whole shot as we discussed earlier nobody executes it better than that guy and here is larry morgan first here at pro stock racing it looks very promising that is the holes forensic from newark ohio larry morgan was a good sportsman racer brock he brought a lot of experience to the cockpit of a pro stock car but he'd be the first to tell you that these cars are so much different they leave so hard up the starting line the first time you drive when it almost knocks you out it is sports wheel with a fantastic light porchly only two hundredths of a second away from the perfect line leo is skating around just like bruce allen did but hangs on to it wow footsville at 7 59 181 miles an hour and you can see the problems he was having bro you sure can and here is a pair boy bob blitten the reigning world champion going up against arch rival warren johnson warren johnson in a brand new oldsmobile has had some problems this season but before that race let's go to steve with butch leo [Laughter] i knew that butch lill and larry morgan just in agreeing on one thing that is a spooky racetrack for a pro stock car well steve evidently what happens is when that one lane left lane got real bad oil down by mccullough they blew the stuff over even to the right lane and i chose the right lane because i didn't want to run through the oil and i put it in third gear and this thing started making a move and i said please don't shake you know and uh came back back and forth back and forth and finally i just shut it off i couldn't make it but i thought i you know had enough to win the race you got to be half which little and half richard petty i'm telling you this with oil and what happens that dust gets over there steve these things like to keep traction and uh without that you know it doesn't happen the bunny car has enough spoiler on the back to put a lot of down force on the back and these pro stock cars don't have they have negative they don't have much downforce so that's the part down track they start spinning in third and fourth gear see a little later on thank you so this racetrack as we said earlier will probably become more and more of a factor as attraction becomes more critical all right let's go to a pair of the greats and pro stock competition seven time world champion bob clinton in his thunderbird against warren johnson and his oldsmobile won the winter nationals and since then has been on a little bit of a slump steve evans that's right it really hurt him the world championship chase earning no points at all at the second race the gator nationals when he failed to qualify him now this is a different car though this is a brand new machine warren seems to have a lot of faith in this he qualified very high warren johnson number two in the world last year bob clinton number one they're off together warren johnson in the near lane and now clinton joined real muscle at half track and goes on to a convincing victory puts away warren johnson with a 7 52 185 miles an hour in a lane that's been very very treacherous there you can see listen ever so slightly out of control but gathers it up in a convincing fashion it goes on to victory steve is with him it's been a long time since all of the pro stock drivers in one round have all gotten out of their car going whoa that was a little scary uh i saw the first two cars bruce and butch they had a lot of trouble in the right lane the left lane had just gotten oiled so we still took the right lane instead of going to the left we should have gone a little loose but i think we made a a better pass than the rest of the cars i think you did too you fell off a little bit uh from your previous best but a 750 one two not bad i'm happy with that what about clinton's happy with a run you better watch out because he is the man to be let's go back to the starting line for another pair nick nicholas versus reed wishnet tell me a little bit about reed wishnet steve well reed in the beautiful black camaro brock he was the last to abandon the hemi chrysler corporation product in pro stock he stuck with it until just a couple of years ago uh reed wisdom he's a plumbing contractor in the atlanta area a very successful one has a lot of fun postdoc racing nick nicholas from new york you may remember back in 85 he was the big upset winner of the category at the gator nationals in florida and he beat gary brown to get here and steve i'll tell you what he wins first prize for big hood scoop of the day nick nicholas scary in the largest hood scoop i think i've ever seen on a pro stalker that'll ram a little air down those twin four barrel carburetors and there is a beautiful black and gold leaf camaro breed wisdom wizard poison ready as is nick nicholas the rpms come up well over 8 000 before they drop the clutch on these four-speed equipped automobiles necklace still waiting to move in both drivers are pre-staged only now they lunge into that final beam and off the mark they go nick nicholas a big hole shot for necklace that was a brilliant start by the car in the near life but said he has problems reid wasn't in the camaro comes from behind a relief to that crew he was up just a little bit late twisted 8 20 puts him in the semifinals so as we take a look at the beautiful louisiana state capitol building here in baton rouge we'll also take a look at the pairings for the semi-finals of the pro stock that's reed wishnet gonna go against bruce allen remember both of them had a little problem in that lane bob glidden and butch leo what a race that's gonna be and now let's go to steve with reid wishnet the reid wizard obviously will not be uh delighted with the eight-second elapsed time on his time so but what really matters it'll say w for win right now i saw guitars real bad and then and i thought bigger nick had me i got out here real real quick and i've seen something happen to him and i went back in and got by him so have you ever thought of putting a rear view mirror in one of these guys well we could probably use it yeah at least have some idea where the guy is right yeah okay reid was that goes on the semis good job thank you yeah good job by reid on a hot afternoon as dale armstrong the crew chief on kenny bernstein's car they're buttoned up and ready to go dale taking a little easy rest on one of those big soft slicks as uh the final preparations are completed and kenny bernstein's funny car in the meantime though we've got top fuel semifinals that's eddie hill he'll face joe amato right after this [Music] of the many antebellum mansions we've been able to visit our many trips to cover the races here in baton rouge rose down is still my favorites and here's one of the reasons why it's so quiet reflective the spanish moss and the trees it's just like stepping back into time but certainly there's nothing more high-tech than what's going on right now at state capitol driveway in baton rouge it is semi-final time and top fuel eliminator and that is eddie hill the texan and brock eddie has had tremendous horsepower in the last few races in fact the recent winston all-stars race unattended he had top speed over everybody well steve you just got a little peek there one of our guys dave aland uh one of our cameramen who just hangs in down there at the starting line and gets all those tremendous close shots and i'll tell you what dave's here is ranked for about a week after he gets through with one of these deals because these boys make some noise and some smoke it's tough work down there and he deserves a lot of credit for it all the guys that work in the starting lineup you just saw the pretty blonde head there of course he hill and i think i've said this before because if any helicopter said i don't want to drive this anymore she uh she wouldn't allow it she has more but she demands that he drag race yeah she just loves it and as you can see there she is uh guiding her man back into the staging lanes and that's a critical part of the drag racing because as we've seen here earlier lane choice and the position on the racetrack is absolutely critical as the traction starts to diminish well jerry motto in front of her husband joe she had a uh anxious moment out there the car did not want to go into reverse the crew ran out there and kind of locked it back and forth and it finally disengaged and got into the back up here so we're going to have a good two car match race here you can bet on it this is going to be an interesting race eddie hill i would imagine you'd say is the underdog here but uh nonetheless has put up some very very good performances over the uh recent seasons that's right of what he may lack a little bit of performance he's been making up with his driving teddy hill has been just as quick as a cat on that starting light you'll recall earlier in fact in round two he whole shot of his way around shirley mulvaney as few have ever done that and it is again eddie hill away first eddie hill almost losing control of that automobile you saw his handling problems in the near lane and jerry amano says okay she likes the number she sees on the scoreboard they're staying in that very competitive 5 30 range of 533 at 270 miles per hour big speed for joe amano as we go to big daddy don garland now notice that he has gotten rid of the plexiglass canopy that he's been carrying on that race car for the last few races big daddy is concerned about airflow into the injectors over the top of that roll cage and has gotten rid of the canopy hoping to improve uh that air flow now you notice he put a wide windscreen around the front of the car which indicates how critical airflow and aerodynamics are on these race cars uh it may be that you go back to the canopy but right now big daddy running the open cockpit version of his race car there goes big daddy on his burnout dick lahaye left lane has completed his so these two guys just about ready to square out now let's go to steve with joe amato well this is the fourth race of the season and for the fourth time joe armada you go into the finals continuing that 5 30 pace steve it was exciting up on the start line i heard the reverser problem no no the when i did the burnout and the car came was stopped the motor revved up real high like it was island fast so i had to you know keep my cool and i wouldn't reverse and backed it up real quick something happened with the linkage here i still don't know what happened but it was island real fast and i thought the car was going to stall we got it back and you know they did something to it and it stayed but i try to just keep my cool and not get rattled because something like that will throw you a curve on the starting line you know i said you've been in a three previous finals but you only won one now what can you do to make sure it's two this time well we had a mechanical problem the last time we broke our lift and we're watching that real real close and i think tim richards has a handle on it this weekend but you know it's up to me to do a good job because lahayer garlits are both two tough competitors one of them's gonna be in the final here but we're glad we you know we beat daryl we're ahead in the points championship right now and you know we're on a roll kind of so let's find out exactly who that's gonna be okay well we're gonna find out almost instantaneously as we watch dick lahaye that beautiful red and white director get ready to go against the old man big daddy don garlands and here you saw a little moisture coming out of that back fight nothing to worry about they plumb the water into the header flight so the engine heats up and uh expands it pushes some water out and then that's to be expected that's normal no problem there whatsoever for garlic but hey in the far lane for that engine no motor injectors that grows cleaner or more efficiently than those built by dick lahaye well he has last the stage and he is off the mark right with don garlicks and two of them are side by side and a little fire out of garland's engine that may have costed the race diplohe will go into the finals against joe amato at 5 33 264 miles per hour to john garland's losing 5 48. well let's have another look at a pair of real season veterans leaving the line almost together a little smug from big daddy's big rear slick as it looks as if he's got a little bit of an advantage but right here at half track dick lahaye takes command of the race as you see fire from big daddy's engine so nick lahaye moves into the finals big daddy goes on to the trailer because of this you see the blower belt missing he's had a minor explosion in the blower it popped the belt off and uh whatever happened internally he and crew chief heard parks trying to diagnose it but that finishes him for the afternoon a tough break for big daddy don garlits well dick lahaye saw an awful lot of that black car from florida before he was finally able to just pull ahead what a good one yeah it was pretty close i got in high gear and i started driving away from him then but he was right there all the while you know down to about half half track or maybe a little farther and i guess we just outrun him in high gear you did indeed but i have some bad news you lost elaine choice by two hundredths of a second to joe two hundreds well at least we got the car back where it was it slowed down that last run a little bit and we had a little problem with the clutch and we put a new clutch in and stepped right back up so we're looking forward to a good final we like to race joe and you know him and i really are good friends so it's in fact i bought this block from him that's in the car right here and another one to boot joe may be regretting that before this day is over i think we're gonna have a real dog fight in the top fuel finals so close they are they sure are close actually it's two thousandths of a second not two hundred steve as we take a look at the beautiful governor's mansion here in baton rouge and those two guys joel motto dick lahaye go for it in the top fuel final the sitko k-mart cajun national and the only thing hotter than the action so far is the weather johnny west awaiting his funny car bout with jim head wishing there was such a thing as an air-conditioned helmet [Music] i'm brock gates along with steve evans back at baton rouge louisiana for more action from the citgo k-mart cajun nationals now right now the racetrack is quiet but believe me things are going on in the pit area that is joe amato's crew the man of the blue shirt crew chief tim richards getting ready to plant that giant supercharger on top of that 500 cubic inch aluminum v8 that will propel uh joe amato about 270 miles an hour and a quarter mile hard to believe steve almost 3 000 horsepower in these monster motors well no one's really sure it might even be more than that the beautiful body is latched down over the chassis containing jim head of columbus ohio who won this race back in 85 a former u.s national champion preparing to do that all-important burnout he too has the stripe in the tire we explained earlier with daryl boinskar what that's all about a lot of teams are using uh handheld home video cameras because the angles we bring you at home for race covers are far different than what they want i don't think people don't want to see brock there's a shot of a black tire spinning in their screen so the guys are doing it themselves and i'll tell you over in the far lane johnny west who has strengthened the respect that he already enjoys from his fellow racers without rolling me on here the man who has owned and tuned this car for so many years johnny west has done a sensational job he's the second put this car in the ground every time you go over there he's under the car he's on top of the car never takes 10 minutes for himself the man is i'll tell you he's going to be working for roland for a long time if he keeps this up johnny west a real pro of course his race shop in chandler arizona kind of a stop for a lot of guys heading east and west a well-known race mechanic and uh terrific race driver johnny west one of the real hardcore pros in this business that's right and enjoys it so much i wonder sometimes how they can enjoy working as hard as they do but but they do that's just part of it it's a thrash they call them they're proud to be called a thrasher that's the ultimate compliment to a guy like johnny west on the other hand uh jim head from columbus ohio a professional engineer a really uh kind of semi-pro as it were but certainly not semi-pro in his accomplishments is once a major meets and always a formidable opponent and consistency head usually has that this is a very tricky race oh and hit just blows the tires right off of the term they used meaning smoked them so badly he had to get off of the throttle so jim head uh he just had to throw in the towel on that one uh either that across the center line or hit the guardrail johnny west with another terrific elapsed time 5.69 seconds 253 miles an hour let's take one more look at it in a very very rare instance jim head loses the bite and normally his consistency you just won't see this happen jim had always run straight and true but this time not so i hope car owner leon is getting a good 10 in the bahamas because he's making that missing a heck of a racing afternoon for the second race this year johnny west goes into the finals 569 well it's consistent we're trying to soften it up i'm really scared of it on the starting line it's trying to spin the tires i got dave up there adjusting the barrel valve a little bit you know we're just kind of going along the barrel valve does what well we're trying to make it a little bit softer sweet it's way too radical right now violent yeah yeah but you know if we can just kind of calm it down i'm sure we'll be all right if roland was here right now what would he tell you to do well i'm kind of going off of what we discussed before he left you know we kind of went through this whole round by round what would happen what should we do and i'm just going along what if he told me car's a piece of cake to drive when it runs like that indeed doing a terrific job as johnny west he sure is steve as johnny west will get ready to go against one of two men in the funny car finals here that engine being fired up perhaps the strongest of them all in funny car wrecks that's kenny bernstein's engine inside that beautiful streamlined automobile of his and there are so many secrets on that car i guarantee brock is not a funny car racer who wouldn't like to have about 30 minutes alone with that machine and nobody else in the room because no one is really sure what dale armstrong kenny and the crew are doing to arrive at the record-setting winning performances that they're enjoying it is it's just hard to fathom that one card can just go down any racetrack in this country like it does and i'll tell you who's catching up quickly is dale emery the crew chief of raymond beatle the blue max racing team they have run some phenomenal numbers lately but they usually need a very good racetrack this is an okay racetrack but it's not a texas motor glass or an indianapolis raceway park where you can use all of your power right as the blue max gets ready to go with raymond beetle on board remember raymond retired for a while john lombardo got in the seat and did a very very good job but uh now raymond said well i'm going to take a crack at it again uh his racing team's uh always successful and uh probably will be more so now that the boss is driving he loves the competition but and he'll tell you i like beating my friends and everybody's ready to be those brands he sure is one of the great guys in this sport but uh right now all he's thinking about is that red car over there on the left side of your screen a car that is almost unbeatable if there has been a particular race car over the last two or three seasons that have been almost impossible to beat than this one kenny bernstein now on board a car they uh that carries the buick label even though it's a little bit hard to recognize in this beautiful streamlined form that he has created for it well that's a pontiac firebird body draped over raven beetle start you may see a pump of black smoke on the back of beetles guard don't be alarmed that's just what does they're running like a little exhaust pipe out and they leave pretty much together actually bernstein had a bit of an advantage be to losing traction just like jim head did and to the surprise of almost no one kenny bernstein reaches another final round at 5.57 seconds well as you can see uh raymond beetle costa was stopped doesn't even deploy the shoot as you said earlier there comes a little puff of black smoke out of the back of the blue max but uh that's clutch smoke but there's more trouble right there if that's tire smoke and that marks the end of the day for raymond beetle well as they have all day long both car and driver performing to perfection kenny bernstein again low e.t of the media to 5.57 oh super well we didn't change anything we thought we'd run for it one more time and see if that track would hold it dale and the crew just did another outstanding job of making the right decisions and it worked johnny west was down he says i hope he runs in the 570s so i'll get lane choice i said wouldn't you rather see him get beat he said no no i'd like to race him well johnny in the hawaiian punch card they've been a good one all year we enjoy racing him it's a lot of fun he's a good driver and rolling you know he's off having some good time in the sun this weekend so johnny's trying real hard it'll be a good battle i agree with that kenny bernstein goes to the finals so we're heading for the finals and funny car as we have a look at a beautiful building that is the old state capitol built in 1819. right now though johnny west and kenny bernstein in the funny car final kenny bernstein with the lane choice and you think big-time race drivers just signed autographs between rounds not dick lahaye he's under his car getting ready for his top fuel final run against joe amato [Music] if you come to the beautiful gardens of rose down plantation tomorrow you'll probably find a lot of the drag racing crews and fans enjoying a side trip to this wonderful location one of the classic antebellum mansions on the mississippi river right now the drag racers are very busy particularly bob glidden because pro stock action coming up now and i'll tell you what this is going to be a wild one this is bob clinton versus butch leo and we could see out of this outcome the winner here at the uh cajun nationals these two cars are powerful powerful runners and leo we saw win earlier at the gator nationals and he's really running on a hot streak steve he's got that uh trans am working just perfectly but the one thing he hasn't got is lane choice that goes to bob glidden and even though a lot of cars have been skating around at the finish line in that white light more cars have had trouble in the left and that's exactly where glidden won butch lille where there's big trouble now as far as smoking the tires like the funny cars did jim had in raymond middle you won't see that happen the pro stock cars don't have that kind of power maybe 900 horsepower instead of 3 000 but again it's the top end of this racetrack that has been spooky for the pro stock cars glitter uh seeming uh able to master that right he uh on his last pass remember he had a wobble just a little bit in that very same lane you can be sure that bob will be ready for that this time but uh whether or not he's ready for that reaction time of this man butch leel we can only wait and see this is going to be a super drag race it will the rpms go it is glitten away first it is bob clinton he's been waiting for a long time for a whole shot of reverse leo but look at the power of the trans hand oh does bush wheels crew love this one the pontiac trans him and leo by what a bumper over bobblin 752 to a 758 while we tell you all the time about the classic examples of uh drag racing that keep unreeling here in pro stock competition you're seeing one right here two of the finest drivers in the business two of the very best cars two perfectly run drag races and the winner by just a few inches butch leo 752 184 miles an hour on our shows before you've heard bob glenn say how this man butch lil beats him up on the starting line well he did the beating up on the starting line he left on you and you came around him incredible well that right lane again he was in the right lane and uh i seen him shake the tires obviously and i caught a guy came right around and i knew he left on me steve but you know we were hanging right there and all the way through there and that's way racing is and uh he beat up on me a little bit that time so he's got another one coming so you think lane choice right now is a big factor well i would say it's a big factor it's it's in the right lane uh he he had lane choice and he chose the right i mean i didn't couldn't figure it out and i wasn't happy to get in the left but uh sometimes that happens a one car will work fine in a certain way it's true uh to run before around before i was telling you that i had a lot of trouble bob came right behind us and went decent so he didn't you know he didn't suspect it would be bad good see you then thank you well the lane choice continues to be critical here at baton rouge as a heat escalade well it's evenly matched that last pair was this one may be a bit lopsided bruce allen who has been running tremendous elapsed time 750 760s against reid wiznit who's been having problems shaking the tires a term you hear a lot on this racetrack on his camaro but who's to say well you're right steve as they say there's no such thing as a sure thing in pro stock competition it's that close says wish that at all and get ready to go let's go up to the other end with bob glitten bobby i know you've just been waiting uh to some of the ambush butch leela on the starting line you had a great leave you had the hole shut but apparently something went wrong we took the wrong lane steve uh you know we had to guess one way or the other the left lane had been oiled the right lane hadn't we got down the right lane the last round not as well as we'd like but we went to 52 i don't know what we went that run but uh butch uh caught up to 58. yeah butch must have he must have run a middle 50 or took the wrong lane made the wrong decision that's all thanks bud thank you steve okay reed wishnet definitely the underdog here against bruce allen in the rare morrison camaro uh as we see a pair of camaros going uh one of these guys gonna get into the final and that could be good news for chevy fans around the country steve they have been on kind of a cold streak here over the last few races you bet you can hear the rpms up and it is disqualification for reed wizard as he left too soon just gambled on the lights he came up snake eyes it'll be that man and that pretty camaro bruce allen against butch leo now ellen will be a tenth of a second slower based on the times from the semis okay let's have one more look at that there is wishnet taking the red light right there that eliminates him instantly as we take a look at some wildfires on the banks of the mississippi that will set off a pro stock final with bruce allen and butch lee on both these guys one in the same lane and leo will probably choose that it's been so long since bruce allen and the chevrolet car been in the final i don't think he much cares what he ran but you won that's what counts at this point that's real important being in the final and especially when you got a week to think about you know a week off and you keep thinking well we got it we're on the right side the ladder for a change we qualified second we need to do the best we can to get in the final and finally so happy about that leel's got lane choice you know he's going to put you where you really don't want to be any changes you can make to the car shocks anything well not really because you never know till you actually get right up there ready to pull out and if something happens in front of you then sometimes you have a little time to you're pretty sure you're going to be in the pad lane obviously so it gives you a little bit of time even a few degrees of temperature in the air can make a difference oh absolutely a place like this the air comes and goes and it gets a little breeze and cools down and it it makes a lot of difference it'll be chevrolet versus pontiac in the final pro stock and it's going to be an interesting one as we go back to the pit area that's johnny west's crew working hard to get ready for their funny car final against kenny bernstein back at state capitol dragway where some of the most interesting automobiles run in the competition eliminator category earlier steve had a look at one of the most unique machines one of nhra's motto since the very beginning has been ingenuity in action and nowhere will you find more of that ingenuity than in the competition eliminator pits this is buddy ingersoll's double b aldered buick one of the most talked about cars in the sport it's identical to a pro stock automobile until take a look at this he does not use a 500 cubic inch carbureted motor like a pro stock car this is a very small little buick v6 268 cubic inches ah but two turbochargers blowing through these mammoth intercoolers through the induction system create so much horsepower that this small motor pushes this car to speeds faster and quicker than any pro stock car has ever run but the pro stock guys you won't see them hanging around here much because turbo charging is illegal in that class so for now on and for the foreseeable future this kind of ingenuity will only be found in the sportsman categories well steve as luck would have it ingersoll's beautiful little buick broke in one of the early rounds and kept him out of the competition eliminator final which posed ron neff versus richie rosen that's right richie rosen in the near lane from louisiana been racing down here for years won a couple of titles a long time ago ron knapp well he flew in from the state of colorado and they're both the economy dragsters usually in competition lemonade you'll see a handicap on the christmas tree that's how it works to equalize the competition but in the comp final both of the drivers were in the same class car so there was no handicap it was a goods heads-up race both cars powered by small block chevrolets with automatic transmissions we've talked a lot today about the whole shot but watch the car in the near lane that is rhonda from colorado he was in the far lane watch the machine at the near lane he got the perfect light there richie rosa the blue car absolutely perfect had even earlier he would have redlined it was rosen in the near lane before he needed that perfect light didn't he griffy rose and one at 7 55 for ron depp's runner-up 757 richie rosa the competition eliminator champion top alcohol dragster title goes to tom conway top alcohol funny car vern moats the veteran super stock dick baker the stock winner danny dougherty and super gas jimmy lewis is the winner super competition steve cohen and the pro stock motorcycle title goes to rick stetson well some 500 cars started here at the cajun nationals at state capitol regularly we're down now to only six machines in our pro categories and here is the pro stock final can chevrolet get into the winner's circle again after a drought of some what 15 months well butch leo for pontiac may have something to say about that well he's already said something about it steve because he stuck bruce allen over in that lane that has given everybody trouble all afternoon so the lower e.t on the part of butch leo begins to pay off at least gives him a slight advantage at the beginning but of course the rare morrison team isn't given an inch and earlier steve evans toured their pit just prior to buttoning up their car for this race and file this report so often when we stop by the pits of the pro stock finalists there's really not a lot going on even if one car is maybe a couple of tents off they say well all our work is done back at the shop well look at this here is bruce allen coming out of the rear morrison camaro he is in there has removed the transmission actually now is reinstalling it because they have changed the clutch the last round the karshiki had to short shift third and fourth gear they're trying to soften up that collection up to where he doesn't have to do that he can use his usual shift points they've also gone to another set of tires they very badly want to put chevrolet back on the winning track so a major gamble uh being taken here by bruce allen and his teammates very rare steve that they will make any real serious changes between rounds especially this late in the day that's right you've got to admire them here they're they're not desperate they're just not going to give up and they feel that butch leo has the performance to beat him and i'll tell you one thing bruce allen has had his best day in the cockpit a long time he used to have a luxury of horsepower now he's going to have to contribute something off the starting line and it is it is bruce allen away first by about four one hundredths of a second it is bruce oh the whole shot but apparently it still shook the tires the clutch change did not work leo for the second time this year goes into the imagery winners circle well we'll get a chance to talk about butch hopefully in just a minute as we watch those giant headers on the engine of kenny bernstein's funny car begin to spit smoke and fire he's gonna get ready to go against johnny west in the funny car final so the action just escalates here at baton rouge steve well in the final round for the second time this year is johnny west you recall in gainesville he had some problems the fact had to leap out of that car about halfway down the racetrack because it was on fire and don perdon got the nod now notice that johnny west is in the lane that butch leo just won the pro stock championship in kenny bernstein with low e.t and lane choice has taken the lane that cost alan the victory so it'll give you an indication of the differences the tactics between these two classes for the second time this season butch leo puts his pontiac trans ham in the winner's circle congratulations thank you very much steve uh i wanted everybody to take a look at this car and shoot at me one time this is a brand new car at gainesville and it's won two races for us and willie rails has built the car for us and i'm very proud of willie and very proud of this car and the nationwide auto parts vavaline trans am is very fast you know you had great confidence in your equipment this weekend you weren't leaning on the tree like you sometimes do well uh i found like the second run i run larry morgan you know and he was going to show me right originally teaching me as he was saying and i had a 420 and i didn't think it was that good of light and it scared me a little so i backed off a little and tried to stay in the 450s i don't know what kind of light that was but you know it was around a 450 i'm sure congratulations again this will put you in the points lead for the world championship well i was in a lead coming and bob got low at entire speed again and i was really concerned and i'd like to say something my wife couldn't make it this week and i'd like to say hello to her and we got him honey indeed he did thank you one of the real veterans and plays a mean round of golf as well steve evans indeed he does in fact his favorite uh victim there too is bruce allen they play every chance they get and here with the hatch up he'll let a little fresh air in if he can find any is kenny bernstein as he does that dry hop forward that's what they call it the dry burn out or dry hop that's the further heat of the clutch it also gives the crew standing behind the car an idea if the car is going to hook right up the line if it smokes them on the drive they'll back up and do another one if it still smokes them you'll see a hand signal usually the driver is saying take it easy but there'll be no taking it easy here this is it this is for all the money all the points at the citgo kmart cajun nationals kenny bernstein over in the far lane in the airline the guy that's done such a great job johnny west we're only moments away there's a crewman approaching bernstein's starter buster couch wings him away wanted to do something there at the last second i don't know if it was accomplished or not what i do know is they're both free state bernstein first to move that followed by west and they leave right together oh and west right on the center line johnny west had to get off the power to try to steer it back into his own lane that was all bernstein needed kenny wins it at 5 76 258 miles per hour well let's take one more look at it they leave together but johnny almost instantly angles toward the center very much in danger crossing that center line in fact he may have and that disqualifies him instantaneously as kenny bernstein goes on to victory good race indeed it was a good race kenny bernstein you won all the money all the points all the track records and all of our admiration just a terrific job well thank you steve i appreciate it you know it takes a whole effort and i've always said it and when you get jim male and jeff scarp and charlie nielsen mike baker and dale armstrong putting this budweiser quaker state buick here it makes it easy for me but but i'll tell you it's a tough run today uh johnny and the hawaiian punch did a heck of a job do you know there was a little smoke in the dry burn out i don't know if you could feel that or not but you could see uh that dale might have been concerned absolutely i could feel it and he backed me up and i had to hit the throttle a couple of times to jump the car as you know to soften that clutch up a little bit to make it where it won't be so violent and i was holding my breath when i left and holding everything else i could at the time because i didn't know if it was going to make it without shaking and you know the success you're enjoying today all started at this very track back in 1979 well it's been a long time since we've done good at the cajun 79's a long time ago a lot of things have changed since then i'm glad that we finally put it back together it's a tough racetrack to run on it's tough for us it's beat us up pretty good the last six or seven years you mastered it today again congratulations thank you appreciate it our congratulations to as we get ready for one last race here that is dick lahaye already on board his top fuel dragster he's going to go against joe amato now available in a new desert spice sand salutes butch leal winner in the pro stock class which beat bob glidden in the semi-finals and bruce allen in the finals to become pro stock eliminator which leo the sure winner of the week cinco kmart cajun nationals only two top fuel directors remaining only two cards of this entire event for that matter i'm steve english along with brock gates and that is dick lahaye he's in the near lane and the far lane is joe amato for all intents and purposes they come in here absolutely tied in performance they sure do steve uh although the low e.t goes to joe amato and he has chosen the exact same lane that carried kenny bernstein to victory so it'll be interesting to see is this racetrack continues to be very tricky whether or not that's the right choice earlier steve had a look at the very intense preparations that dick lehane and his crew went through to get ready for this race you know many times we have commented in our reports from dick lahaye's pits that the crew never took the heads off the engine it rained so reliably although those days are over and it's not because they're breaking parts it's because they're running a different type of cylinder head it's billet aluminum and has absolutely no water coolant to run through it there are no water jackets so now the only way they can get the engine cool enough between rounds is to take it completely apart and let the breeze blow through it also another way they take out all eight rods and pistons there's not a thing wrong with these parts they're just very very hot still they put in cool rods and pistons these will see duty again at another race so the penalty the la hayes are paying for their newfound performance and all the new parts is they're having to work a lot harder between rounds not as hard though right now steve as dick lahaye is going to have to work as he goes up against joe amato this is going to be a classic confrontation two very strong cars and i would say very very difficult to choose a favorite here well they both ran 5.33 elapsed time for the quarter mile in the previous round only by two one thousand did a motto earned lane choice so this is a toss-up i'll tell you i wouldn't better assume either work out the outcome of this top fuel final the motto's ready lahay is ready the tree comes down they leave right together no advantage off the mark lahay in the near line the farley the motto the wind line and the expression there on the crew tells you where it was did lahaye has won this race by 100th of a second 5 31 to a 5 32 fabulous drag race in this top fuel final both cars lean together no clear advantage there they look as if almost a mirror image of each other as we watch them at half track there they are nose the nose into the lights impossible to call a winner almost visually as we watch dick lahaye's crew the truck being driven by daughter kim coming down the racetrack boy are they happy dick lahaye came out of this car saying the same thing that we're all saying what a race well i hope to tell you we was right together all the way down the track and you know i knew joe and i was going to have a good race in the final here because we both are in 33s and you know we're both very consistent that was a 31 to a 32 well that's a little bit better yet it wasn't i guess we did the right move on it and all i can say with all this heat and everything with the track that it's definitely miller time and four races this season four different winners what what a top fuel year it's going to be it already is oh yeah i know it you know it's got to a point where that it's uh got the cars are so bunched together with daryl and joe and garlits and myself and now i've moved ahead of garlits in the number three spot and you know it's just it's gonna be a heck of a season this is we're not even halfway through it yet and you can celebrate this victory in a big way next saturday right yes in fact we're going to be married next saturday 11 o'clock in the morning and uh i'd like to invite everybody but there just isn't enough room dick in the lovely claudia she'll be down here in just a moment along with the rest of the lahay family what a race that was what a final round our congratulations to dick and all the other great champions here at baton rouge for steve evans i'm brock yates thanks for joining us the executive producer for american sports cavalcade is harvey m palace produced and directed by john b mullen promotional consideration provided foreign a fee paid by the style auto world championship team the nation's premier source of fast lane fashions style auto the champion's choice for the style of your life [Music] the american sports cavalcade is a presentation of diamond p sports

Channel: Calvin Walker

Views: 975

Rating: 4.7894735 out of 5

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Id: 7ggNZpulIcI

Length: 69min 4sec (4144 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 31 2020