1988 NHRA Budweiser Springnationals

diamond b sports presents from the national hot rod association championship drag racing the 1988 budweiser spring nationals speeds in excess of 285 miles per hour covering the quarter mile distance in less than five seconds drag racing from the nhra sixteen times a year across the united states and canada professional drag racers gathered a battle in the million dollar winston championship series the first third of that season is completed with the fifth event the 13th annual cajun nationals at state capitol dragway played to a track jammed with enthusiastic race fans they were treated to some spectacular action as 26 year old daryl gwynne was trying for his second win in a row having previously taken the inaugural mid-south nationals title quinn was matched with joe amato himself making his fourth final round appearance in five races gwen dominated the race winning at 5.16 seconds elapsed time at over 273 miles an hour in the finals of pro stock bruce allen had to use the superior power of his chevy beretta to drive down the surprising morris johnson jr johnson had a big advantage at the starting line but alan was able to come from behind with a speed of over 187 miles an hour at 7.44 seconds victory is sweet whenever it comes and for 49 year old bruce larson it took over 20 years of trying before he won his first nhra funny car title larson raced the reigning and three-time winston champion kenny bernstein in the cajun nationals finals and pulled off a stunning upset in one of the closest races of the year larson used his quicker start off the line to overcome the better time turned by bernstein [Applause] the focus on the winston drag racing scene now shifts the national trail raceway just outside of columbus ohio hello everybody i'm dave mcclelland and welcome to the 24th annual running of the nhra spring nationals and for the 24th year in a row the springs are treating the fans to all the racing drama and action that they could hope for with more on that story here's my co-commentator and good friend steve evans david everywhere we go this year it's the same beautiful scene grandstands just packed with people fans who cheer louder than any i've ever heard at any motorsports event and the pits well they're just packed with people crowded around their favorite race cars and there's a lot of reasons i'm sure for the popularity of nha championship drag racing but this season one stands out and that's how even the competition is consider there have been five races and five different funny car winners four different pro stock drivers have found their way to the winner's circle and in top fuel three drivers have won there is just not a dominant team so far and of course drag racing's so famous for very tight finishes and we saw some earlier today when the pros ran their first round in funny car ed the ace mcculley in the far lane just barely nipped johnny west right at the finish line [Music] now gene snow made the big statement in round one of top fuel he asserted himself to an all-time national trail top fuel record 5.21 seconds when i talked to him he seemed a bit surprised by that excited as usual this this doggone car just keeps showing us good in better times all the time we're really pleased with the high gear car do you feel that did you know you ran quicker than anyone's ever gone got the tires loose off the line a little bit and i said well there goes a little bit of the e.t but it pulled real good in the middle and it brought it back and for those of you who might be asking does diamond p have that trick on board camera you bet we do it's on eddie hill's car and it already rode to victory in round number one david thank you steve and we really do love that in car camera shot as does the third member of our broadcast team he is a three-time top fuel world champion he's been looking at that view for 30 some years don garlits this is a tricky race track today don how are the racers going to compensate well this is definitely going to be a situation where the crews and the crew chiefs are going to have to make the right decisions because the drivers are just not going to be able to completely handle this from the cockpit these cars are going to have to be set properly before they ever get to the line dave don we sit here and talk about a tricky racetrack actually what are we referring to in this particular situation dave this track changes from run to run you can make a good run in a lane one time and come back and smoke the tires and that is driving these crews crazy well don what physically can they do to stop the car from smoking the tires it's up to the crews to make the adjustments i think basically to the gear ratios and to the clutch settings if they don't get that right they're going to smoke the tires here can they detune the motor take horsepower out of it it's hard to detune motors and your competitors are running 280 miles an hour in 520. on the racetrack now our competitors in the second round of competition we find daryl gwen out of miami florida the hottest driver on the circuit today racing against dennis forsell in his rookie season as a top fuel driver both gwen and forsell came up from the alcohol dragster rank a tremendous amount of experience for both drivers i think dave that coming up through the alcohol ranks is going to help these guys on this track and it's a good start for both cars no tire spoke and daryl glenn advances into the semi finals his elapsed time 5 35 270 miles an hour don that's off pace from his qualifying effort yes it is it indicates dave that he was perhaps pulling on that break at the start to keep those tires from breaking loose and daryl has had a lot of experience in that department here's gary ormsby ormsby racing against joe amato amato is currently leading the winston championship points chase and is one of the most feared drivers here today especially being that he has top speed of the meet at over 280 miles an hour which indicates the horsepower that that tim richards is generating for that team tim richards of course the crew chief on joe amato's race car amato has been in the finals four times thus far this season has yet to win a race gary ormsby was in the final round of last season's spring nationals losing to dick lehane who himself lost to any hill in the first round of racing today don with the horsepower generated by joe amato at speeds over 280 miles an hour could that not present problem it'll present a problem unless richards has got the clutch set properly both cars coming into the staging beams up in smoke gary ormsby advances to the semi-final round his elapsed time somewhat slower than the times we've been seeing today 5.43 seconds but the win counts for ormsby as he goes into the semi-final round of four don as we look again what happened to amato i think this situation is just what we were talking about he didn't change anything but the track did not hold the car this time a tough break for a motto let's go to the far end of the racetrack and steve evans well gary armsby had his own cheering section down here it was daryl gwen's crew and gary they loved it that you put joe amato out of this thing early well we love it too we like to beat everybody but we especially like to beat joe i think he's got a little thing about this green car well you know running in the 540s as you did you're going to give up lane choice in the next round two daryl well steve we had to we had to soften it up we were scared to get down the lane i think it'll run a little better and if elaine will hold up it'll take some more next time okay gary ornsley goes to the semifinals it's out of here in the background there's a helicopter steve there's lots of helicopters here today including ours giving us this great shot of the 1988 nhra spring nationals being brought to you by budweiser for all you do this bus for you and by ford have you driven aboard lately and by goodyear eagle tires goodyear because there really is a difference we're waiting along with eddie hill for the next race in top fuel eliminators coming up next at the nhra spring nationals [Music] we're back at the nhra budweiser spring nationals we're in round number two of top fuel eliminator and this is the car of eddie hill our in-car camera sitting right behind eddie's right shoulder as we take a ride on the burnout don eddy has been the talk of drag racing this season he certainly has with that 499 et in that 288 mile an hour speed he is the hottest thing on the circuit as far as performance goes racing against hill is the three-time winston champion shirley muldowney she has five event wins here at the spring nationals hill has won twice on the national event circuit this season and of course that 499 was recorded at the texas butterflex but he has had problems regaining that level of performance since that time we watch as hill brings his machine into the staging beams he is in the far lane of the racetrack shirley in the near lane and shirley baldali goes up in smoke percy hill watching as her husband crosses the finish line and advances to the semi-finals his time relatively slow 5.47 seconds at only 269 miles an hour that indicating problem done well it indicates that they're scared of this track they're afraid they're gonna smoke the tires and so they backpedal the car you know they don't give a full throttle and look bear shirley smoking them don as we saw shirley left the starting line first indicating she really hammered the throttle maybe too much so she smoked the tires in the near lane the race before we saw joe amato smoke the tires in the barley that loss of traction has got to be confusing to our next two drivers dan pastorini and gene snow you can bet that both of them are thinking about this thinking perhaps that their lane is not going to hold the power that they're getting ready to generate dan pastorini getting ready to do his burnout the burnout is designed to heat the tires up to optimum operating temperatures provide as much traction as possible and snow has problems on his burnout he barely smokes the tires he may be confronted with attraction problem that he cannot solve in the meantime let's go to steve well eddie hill arrives down here trailing engine smoke in 5.47 seconds not a number you wanted to hear no not really i laid on the brake real hard that's the first time i ever tried it time trial or whatever and i know it slowed the car down but we won the lap didn't we oh indeed that's the main thing we want to do i did want lane choice too but uh looks like we're in big trouble there huh don it looks like eddie hill is catching on to some of the driving techniques that have been around for quite some time yeah we've been holding on the break for a couple of years today to maintain traction dan pastorini in the second round of racing here his best appearance thus far this season that's right pastorini the former nfl quarterback gene snow driving a rather unique vehicle he does not have a transmission a direct drive only with a multi-stage clutch but don he's going to be concerned about that poor burnout he certainly has because his crew has given him the signal that he did not smoke the tires and on this particular track that is going to be very critical if you don't get those tires hot enough dave you're going to smoke them of course smoking means the ultimate in burning rubber the tires losing traction and that is a sure way of losing the race dan pastorini went up in smoke but snow is glued to the ground look at the elapsed time 5.26 seconds his speed 254 miles an hour that elapsed time will give gene snow the right to select the racing lane over eddie hill the lane choice determined by the quicker elapsed time set in the previous round daryl gwen races gary ormsby in the other half of the semis gwen having the lane choice and dave i can tell you that lane choice is going to be critical at columbus this year not only to the top fuel dragsters but to all of our race cars now we are into pro stock eliminator the semi-final round butch leel from blacklick ohio a suburb of columbus is in the far lane bruce allen in the near lane alan the driver of the chevy beretta out of arlington texas has won two events this season the recent cajun nationals and the gator nationals in the second round of racing here today he was matched against kenny delco from center reach new york as the two cars were several hundred feet away from the finish line kenny delco in the far lane actually held a slim lead but then the power of the chevrolet prevailed and bruce allen won the race by about a fender length that earned him the right to race against last year's runner-up butch leal who in the second round was pitted against tony christian the winner of the mid-south nationals earlier this season again picking up the race just a few hundred feet from the finish line leo in the far lane in a pontiac christian in the near lane in the chevy beretta and the pontiac prevailed again about a fender link separating the two so now leo is in the far lane of the racetrack and bruce allen in the near lane in the semi finals of pro stock eliminator [Music] and just like inches bruce allen wins the race neither crew knows who won but the electronic judge scored it bruce allen 7.5 three seconds as butch lille apparently had some problems a close race don oh that butch neal gets off the line daddy dave look at that he's out there in front of bruce allen and i'll bet you at this point bruce allen's saying am i ever going to catch this guy and they go down the racetrack and all of a sudden something goes wrong with leo's car and bruce allen just nipsy let's go to steve anyone who follows pro stock racing closely could have almost written that scenario zlail off the mark by a bed and the powerful rear and morrison car bruce allen from behind bruce nice pass yeah we were a little lucky there butch broke his engine or broke something he was definitely ahead of me i was pulling on him but i don't think i'd have caught him he's tough as always and i'm just glad we won well i'm sure the whole team is we'll see in the final thank you don that was a big break for bruce allen you bet it puts him in the finals bob clinton coming out of the burnout area he's driving a ford it is the ford versus chevy matchup that the fans love as joe lapone will be his competition glidden in the far lane of the racetrack has had problems earlier this season but at this event he seems to have regained the performance level that carried him to eight winston championship titles the entire glidden family based in whiteland indiana is involved in the operation of this race car which in the second round of competition was matched against nick nicolas from jackson heights new york nicolas drives a pontiac firebird and was watching bob clinton as he disappeared down the racetrack to an extensive margin of victory that earned him the right to come into the semi-finals to race against joe lapone who in the second round of competitions raced against jerry exmon of ventura california who was in the far lane of the racetrack watch closely as the two cars came into the staging beams jerry ekman had problems just as he lifts the staging light the engine let go you see the sparks and the smoke and that gave a single run to joe lapon to advance him into the semi-finals to race against the flying forward of bob glenn lots of rpms [Music] and once again bob glenn with a substantial margin of victory runs a great 7.46 seconds at 186 miles an hour that sets up the finals it will be bob glidden against bruce allen with glidden and his ford having the choice of lane back in the darrell gwynne bid area they're hard at work doc yes the gwen pitt uh crew takes the engine completely apart each time dave some of the crews don't do this but i think it's smarter to take the engine apart and make sure of what you've got it certainly paid off this season for daryl gwen let's go to steve with bob clinton okay what happens now in the pits the nitro cars they take them all apart what do you and edda do well we've had the clutch out everything apart every run here and we'll do it again before the final we've been going a little softer and a little softer and we're going to have to wait and see what the weather does if it cools off we might take a little bit of a chance we won't take much we're going to keep it on the safe side okay in the final round the winningest driver ever in nhra competition bob glidden will be racing bruce allen in the finals of pro stock that comes up a bit later at the nhra spring national back at the nhra budweiser spring nationals at national trail raceway near columbus ohio the crew of any hills top fuel register led by fuzzy carter the crew chief hard at work getting that racing car ready for the semi-finals right now on the starting line you can hear in the background the engine's coming to life for round number two of funny car competition this is the four-time winston champion don prudhomme racing against mike dunn a second generation drag racer following in the footsteps of his father jim dud mike dunn has the unique distinction of being the only funny car driver over 280 miles an hour he holds the record and top speed of this race don prudhomme has won 35 national event titles in his long career and in the first round of racing was matched against the chevrolet beretta driven by ron dudley from tulsa oklahoma as they left the starting line dudley in the right-hand lane of the racetrack as we view from the far end was in serious trouble a huge engine explosion and resulting fire he had a huge fire and the heat just got intense in the car look at he's steering it trying to bring the speed of the vehicle down by swerving it getting over closer to the guardrail finally actually hitting the guardrail to stop the car don that car was on fire from the inside out the fiberglass was burning on the inside all four tires were on fire dudley had difficulty seeing where he was going not only because of the fire but the absolute intense black smoke that billowed out you see in the background that red white and blue truck beginning to roll that is the nhra safety safari and they were on the scene four seconds after ron dudley came to a stop take a close look at this safety safari crew in action watch the man in the center of your screen in the fire suit that is jerry grice of shreveport louisiana he dove inside the car trying to reach dudley in the midst of all that flame and smoke and then tried to rip the body off with his hands and as a result of the safety cruise efforts dudley was extricated from the car airlifted to a columbus hospital where he is in serious but stable condition a lucky man worst possible scenario i've ever seen dave the safety safari's efforts were superb you bet they were don this is round number two now a funny car eliminator mike judd in the far lane and prudom smokes the tires and it's an easy win for mike dunn don you know that safety safari crew paid a price for getting to ron dudley jerry grice was hospitalized with severe smoke inhalation and a wrench shoulder randy robbins hospitalized with burns about the hands butch orr burned on the arms and ronnie davis nhra's emt was burned as he was resuscitating ron dudley they are the hidden heroes of our sport dave and every racer in the pits owes a debt of gratitude to those men that's the nhra safety safari on the starting line the continuation of round number two of funny car eliminator in the far lane of the racetrack it is kenny bernstein in the near lane of the track in the osmo bill is deo paldi bernstein is the reigning winston champion in fact he has won that title for three consecutive years in the first round bernstein defeated last year's spring nationals runner-up jim head from columbus dale paulde in the first round defeated the current winston points leader mark oswalt oswald driving the candies in hughes car based out of houma louisiana had his share of problems he was in the far lane of the racetrack dale foldy was in the near lane oswald could have easily defeated pauldie on this run but for one problem as he left the line he lost control crossed over the center line of the racetrack which disqualified him and made goldie the winner well i'm sure mark oswald's first question is did i or didn't i you did the ruling just came down you've crossed the center line and of course you know the rules automatically i knew it was close there just wouldn't need traction just just fighting for control yeah just trying to and trying to stay ahead of him you know you can't see the other car got to keep trying and that tightens up that winston points chase oswald was the leader the number two car is kenny bernstein and paulie smokes the tires bernstein has real problems holding that car in his lane of the track bernstein 5.7 three seconds don that was quite a driving job yes it was very seldom do you see cars smoke the tires that hard that far down the track bernstein definitely had his hands full this is john a martin the san dimas-based california racing team that this season is making more appearances on the national event tour than any time previously against him is the most recent winner on the nhra national event trail bruce larson who drove his osmobile to victory at the cajun nationals in baton rouge steve what you're seeing here is a very weary but highly accomplished race car driver when a funny car smokes the tires that far down the race course kenny you've got your hands full great job well thank you steve i appreciate it yeah it was a handful that's that's the worst i don't like that at all i don't think any driver does like that type of a feel but you just got to try to get there and it wasn't over in my head yet but it was dad come close you can see the concern etched on the face of kenny bernstein about how to keep that car under control as he advances into the semifinals here in the air lane of the track is john martin in his first round race he defeated jerry cameneto his competition is bruce larson who previously defeated chuck etchell don at this point these drivers have got to be totally confused about the racetrack they don't know whether it's slick on the starting line slick on the top end which lane is good which lane is bad it's just an absolute crap shoot both drivers concentrating intently on the start and a little bit of loss of traction for john martin and a clean run for bruce larsen look at the time 5.50 that surprised you down garland well i don't know not too much he's been very consistent today he could be in the hunt in gene snow's bed area the crew disassembling the engine replacing the parts needed and just checking everything to make sure it is ready for the semi-final round of top fuel eliminator that'll be coming up shortly at the nhra spring national at the nhra budweiser spring nationals along with steve evans and don garlits i'm dave mcclellan and over 93 000 fans have attended this 24th annual running of the spring nationals and they have been treated to some great excitement now it's the last race in round number two of funny card eliminator ed mcculloch will be in an airline of the racetrack while john force will occupy the far lane by virtue of a quicker e.t force had the choice of lanes don do you agree with this selection yes i do i think the racers are just going by who has made the most amount of good runs in what lane john force from yorba linda california has one national event titled to his credit while ed mcculloch has won 10 including this year's southern nationals championship and dave if there's anyone that can figure out this near lane it's ed mccullough and crew chief bernie fetterly they're tops in the business well don the head wrench on john force's car is no slouch that's austin goyle he's got a couple of championships under his belt and he knows what he's doing in fact he's got some devices on that car that will really help at this track don the dashboard of that car looks like the instrument panel of an airliner and it's paying off this round for john force as he defeated ed mcculloch a run of 5.61 seconds at a speed of over 262 miles an hour earned jon force the right to race against kenny bernstein in the semi finals and most importantly for force that 5.61 second elapsed time gave him the choice of lanes over bernstein the other pairing in the semi-final round finds bruce larson against mike dunn and that brilliant 5.50 gives larson the lane choice steve well john force you had to take the reins on this oldsmobile it wanted to have its own way with you spent all that money for a ride like that that makes it all worthwhile scary though you want some good news yeah lane choice with a 561 over bernstein you need that over bernstein i want to say something a lot of people are back in this race car and she loses a lot we know that she runs quick and she loses me and coyle we fight and wrestle weekly but i tell you something people don't know what it takes to be champion we may lose the next one we may not but right now what we've been trying for the last month is finally starting to work even starting to worry coil i have a feeling it's in the clutch department a whole bunch of places i think don i always like listening to that man but i never really know what he's saying they're on to something dave they must be because john force is in the semifinals here is jerry gwen he is a world champion in his own right in super comp eliminator years gone by most importantly he is the dad of daryl gwen and the crew chief on this race car this is the semi-final round of racing in top fuel eliminator gwen has selected the far lane of the track gary ormsby is in the near lane i guess the big question now is is the crew chief for orange beast car lee beard giving him enough power to get bike win and not smoke the tires don as we have seen so many times before the problem is not generating the horsepower the problem is putting it to the ground exactly and gary ormsby does not daryl gwen goes through with an elapsed time of 5.33 seconds and 273 miles an hour not as quick as he has run earlier today an indication that he's still leaning hard on that break dave as we've talked about earlier gwen riding the brakes to keep the tires from losing traction you're riding with eddie hill as he gets set to do his burnout holding it straight down track eddie hill smokes those huge 17-inch wide tires now it's gene snow's turn and he really does a hard burnout let's go to steve with daryl gwen what is the technique of holding the brake how hard do you hold it how do you know when to let it go well it all depends on what it does on the drive burnout how hard it smokes the tires how violent it was and they kind of give me all kinds of hand signals is how far to hold it how long to hold it how hard that run where did you let go i let off about three quarters of a second into the run the human clock you got it daryl quinn very confident in his ability to time the release of that break handle to allow the car to pull ahead and cross the finish line first it seems to be paying off he's in the finals and will race one of these two drivers will it be gene snow or eddie hill don who do you pick well you know gene's got the good lane but eddie hill's got the good car you're really putting me on the spot here i think i'm going to go with hill i'm going to say he's going to come through you're riding with eddie hill the car leaves hard he reaches for the break something goes wrong and look at snow disappears and look at the elapsed time for gene snow 5.21 seconds at 256 miles an hour don that's the new track record he certainly has got that clutch figured out with that high gear car and that's what it's going to take to figure out these two lanes these are the two con green lanes that have been causing such consternation for the drivers and that's our final round bearing in top fuel it will be daryl gwen against gene snow with snow having the lane choice in the bid area jim richards the crew chief on joe amato's car also helps on the tuning for bruce larsen they're talking about possible changes for larson as they get ready for the semifinals [Music] back at the nhra budweiser spring nationals there's lots of drama building let's go to steve there is a panic situation right now in the gene snow pit area the engine went through its normal maintenance gene was happy the crew was smiling chatting with each other they got the engine back together went to turn it over to adjust the valves and it wouldn't budge it was frozen up they took it apart a lot of help showed up talented help from other crews to try to find the problem they took the rod bearings off they took everything apart couldn't find anything responsible for binding the engine up they have finally found it it's at the very front of the engine it's a bearing in the cam shaft idler mechanism and that is a very delicate thing that may require removing the camshaft and uh some very uh sophisticated work maybe you have to done on this car there's lots of help here but it really uh everyone has to wonder if they can get this done in time to be in the lanes to face darryl gwen for all the money in the spring national title don they're under a considerable amount of time pressure can they make it i'll tell you it's going to be really close dave i personally don't think so just another facet of the excitement of this 24th annual spring nationals one of the biggest events of the year the total burst nearly 800 000 650 cars entered competition here three days ago in addition to our three professional categories of top fuel funny guard and pro stock sportsman competition was conducted earlier today in the finals of top alcohol funny car the world champion pat austin in the near lane tommy johnson jr in the far lane johnson used his driving ability to get to the finish line first and win his first ever nhra national event title the sportsman champions at this spring nationals included tommy johnson jr as the alcohol funny car kingpin top alcohol dragster was won by mike koski competition eliminator rick horn the super stock champion ron terrell west leopold senior won stock eliminator super gas champ was martin crone super comp richard willard the pro stock motorcycle champ david schultz and the super street winner at the spring nationals donald treble our congratulations to all the sportsman eliminator champion now it is time for the semi-finals of funny car eliminator these are the engines using the nitro methane fuel for power and capable of speeds up to 280 miles an hour austin coyle the crew chief for john force directing force in his osmo bill into the proper spot on the racetrack dale armstrong the crew chief for kenny bernstein doing the same in the near lane don what's your selection i'm gonna go with force because bernstein is in the near lane and that's been given trouble bernstein's got the advantage but he runs into handling problems and john force for the 15th time in his career goes into the final round with a 5.57 second elapsed time his speed over 265 miles an hour it's been a long time since you've seen bernstein go out like that not being able to go all the way to the end don that's just an example of the difficulties of mastering this racetrack our final pair in this semi-final round of racing finds mike dunn in the near lane as bruce larsen had the choice of lanes and selected the far lane of the racetrack in the previous round he had an elapsed time of 5.50 what's larson doing different than the other drivers i think he's running his car a little on the soft side just enough to get down the racetrack but not enough to spin the tires why doesn't everybody do that because you take a definite chance dave there's been good runs made in both lanes so if you detune your car you could get out run bruce larson selecting the far lane of the racetrack has the quick time of eliminations thus far let's go to steve well kenny bernstein gave that near lane a very intelligent shot kenny appeared to get off the throttle when the car just got unmanageable jon force a final round you're headed there with 5 57 57 it's about time we've we've uh as you know the bed car the raid cars beat us up so many times and it hurts it hurts have to erase to in all sincerity lay in bed sick and it hurts and this time don't care what happens in the final we don't have to to go to bed hurting or disbelieving in this team we've all done well now there's a guy on the starting line named bruce larson that could take lane choice away from you coyle made a statement he drove by larson today said the guy makes me just sick where did he come from out of nowhere and it's good to see a competitor come out and and richards and them guys are great and the help that they're giving them uh he's tough he scares me but let me tell you something pizzano really scares me because he goes for the throw the reason they're afraid of mike dunn in joe pizzano's car is because that car is capable of over 280 miles an hour and that means lots of horsepower dave and if he ever hooks it up he's out of there big time a green light start and dunn smokes the tires bruce larson into the final round for the second race in a row and the elapsed time shows he has the choice of lanes 5.54 seconds for larson his speed over 254 miles an hour as larson will race against john force in the funny car final larsen by 300th of a second getting the all-important choice of lanes in gene snow's fit area the work continues but there are long ways of getting that racing engine back together let's go down track to steve evans it's been a long time since we've had an imbalance in lanes like we're seeing today so bruce not only were you racing mike dunn you were racing the clock and you beat both of them you have blind choice 5 54 to john's 57 and i even shut off early is that how early i think i thought i shut off too early you know it was one of those brain fade things i was trying to save the car but i needed all those years of having to save the parts and pieces it's hard to get over that sort of thing yeah it almost used me up okay we'll see in the final thanks a lot the finalists in pro stock resting easily bob and eda glidden using the board for a pack stop while bruce allen does the same with his chevy beretta we'll be seeing that race in just a moment at the nhra spring nationals we're back at the 24th annual nhra spring nationals for his thoughts on one of our final round races let's go to don garliss as the shadows start to get long here at columbus for the nhra spring nationals we've had one exciting day in funny car racing and it's been a tricky deal that left lane has really been tough but as we go into this final i think we're going to see one of the best races of the day we've got john force and bruce larson now force has got that near lane which has been given trouble all day long but he has also got that computerized brake system on his car that austin cole developed and he will be able to get through that tricky condition on the starting line but it's going to take just a little bit of e.t off of john's car bruce larson is a little quicker going into this round and he has lane choice so just by the slimmest of margins i'm going to give the call to bruce larson we'll find out in a few moments whether don garlands is right but first it's the finals of pro stock eliminator bob clinton in the forward in the far lane bruce allen the chevy in the near lane a good start for clinton [Applause] and clinton extends his lead it was from start to finish the forward of bob clinton as the family celebrates bob clinton has won his 61st national event title his elapsed time the quickest of the meet 7.4 to seconds his speed 188 miles an hour bob glidden moves first off the starting line and just keeps extending the lead and finally drives to daylight and that daylight gives bob glidden his eighth spring nationals title low e.t 742 i i thought it was a really a good run steve we the car left the starting line perfectly the track was a little better because it's cooler and i'll tell you we've had a lot of great wins but believe me this is the best our congratulations to bob glidden for his second spring nationals title in a row this man john force has just been told his wife has gone to the hospital in california about to give birth to their third child can you imagine the stress and mental pressure this puts on john force in his final round race now let's go to don garland as we go into the top fuel final it looked like gene snow owned this columbus racetrack but just moments ago they tried to turn the engine over and it was locked up now even if they get the engine fixed it's my prediction that the crew will be so rattled and gene snow will be so upset over this terrible thing that's happened right in the last moments that daryl gwen will have a definite advantage with the expertise of jerry guin tuning this car to get it down that near lane that has given us trouble all day long today now it's time for the finals in funny car eliminator john force in the near lane the choice went to bruce larson he selected the far lane of the and track loses traction john 4 streaks across the finish line his second national event victory he was able to concentrate on driving this race car though you know his thoughts have got to be with his wife in the hospital in california look at that beautiful clutch dust coming out of that car no tire smoke i told john to rely on the judgment of his crew chief austin coyle he did and it paid off john force's first win came at last season's grand nationals it was not televised and that's prayed on his mind ever since well anyone who has seen john force before on our diamond p sports telecast knows that this won't be an interview this will be a one-man show congratulations john thank you oh perfect everybody expected you to smoke the tires that was the other way around diamond p wasn't there montreal they're finally here thank god somebody's here to see me that's right they uh it's really amazing driving these race cars is something and i did the dry and coyle looked in and said we're in trouble buddy and all that's left is the dashboard can you believe planning on a dashboard to win a race and i flipped a few buttons and that old heap worked i can't believe it and this oscar is going to be in california in a maternity ward but i'd say tomorrow afternoon i'm i'm i'm leaving right now i mean like someone they're trying to get me something yeah six o'clock my wife we're trying to induce labor right now she's overdue and i got to get home since i hugged his crew she wants the navy monster but i ain't doing it if i won now she oscar no no he or she whatever she said if you win we'll call it oscar or colombo when did that when did it finally set in on you somewhere down the racetrack that you'd won this thing huh don garten has come over had a long old talk with me about lanes and looking at them and everyone says they're bad but that don't mean they're bad go by what your crew chief says coyle walked back and said it's good and when i pulled up there he said after the drive she don't look so good but we went with the game plan it worked get to california will you my best dear family get to the the california and i couldn't have been here in columbus without all my sponsors castro jolly rancher the whole bunch of them thank you guys john force what an act and steve take a look at this gene snow has come up with something new it's a rolling pin area they have that engine back together it could be it will be a race for the top fuel championship and this is a man very lucky to be here gene snow's engine is running and don garlits it sounds fine yes it does and it's a real tribute to the crew and all the people that helped him i wouldn't have bet money on it i'll tell you racing against snow is daryl gwen he could have forced the issue but he told the nhra officials if it's just a few minutes let snow have it and let's give this huge crowd a race for the finals of top fuel eliminator win in the near lane snow in the far lane i wonder what must be going through snow's mine right now with all the work that they've done on that engine he's must be wondering is the thing going to really do it or not and he does it too well he smokes the tires at the starting line and daryl quinn wins the race he loses the tire the left rear tire is gone off of daryl gwen's car it is listing but he has got the car under control and brings it to a stop darryl glenn wins his third national event in a row as he gets out of the race car he is going to be confronted with a shocking sight a bear wheel resting against the pavement a tremendous driving job by daryl gwen let's look again daryl gets the starting line advantage not to be denied while the guys over on gene snow team obviously made too much power for the run daryl comes down the course by himself and just as he goes into the finish line a tremendous explosion the tire comes off the car and look at daryl holding on to that car to try to make it go straight it wants to drive over to one side i've made hundreds of runs in these cars and seen thousands i've never seen anything like this before what a driving job by quinn steve if at all possible let's try to put that behind you that's three in a row our congratulations on that and on your sportsmanship and not forcing the issue with jean snow you wanted to race that's right i wanted to beat him fair and square and uh i didn't necessarily want this to happen but we'll be back in two weeks guaranteed and with thirty thousand dollars on the line here and points that could ultimately be worth a hundred and fifty thousand that's more than sportsmanship that's a real desire to compete that's right we talked about it and uh there's enough money at stake and enough points and corporate people involved here that uh we wanted to just race but uh at the same time we wanted gene to be just beside us well i'll tell you what you gave us all a thrill and a fright down at the finish line again what great driving thank you very much daryl gwen subdued as you might imagine our congratulations to all the spring nationals champions for don garlits and steve evans i'm dave mcclellan saying so long from columbus the executive producer of diamond b sports is harvey m valish produced and directed by john b mullen the 1988 budweiser spring nationals have been brought to you by motorcraft get the peace of mind of doing it right with the right parts motorcraft quality parts and by goodyear eagle tires goodyear because there really is a difference and by castrol the motor oil engineered for today's smaller car coverage of the 1988 nhra spring nationals has been a presentation of diamond p sports

Channel: Calvin Walker

Views: 1,284

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Id: KRm06X1zaGE

Length: 46min 1sec (2761 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 16 2021