1989 NHRA US Nationals

the american sports cavalcade [Music] a panorama of speed color drama and excitement the american sports cavalcade indianapolis raceway park home of the nhra us nationals since its inception in 1955 always the largest and richest drag race of the year this the 35th edition 1 000 cars 1 million hello everyone i'm steve evans and here at irp performance legends are created on a regular basis at the u.s nationals and this weekend has been no exception yesterday in funny car qualifying don for dome rocked the drag racing world with an elapsed time of 5.17 seconds yep you heard me right 5 17. it even got the men's attention holy cow well i'm really proud of that i'm really proud of the car and the crew and everything they've done here you know it's just been a struggle but uh it's hard to stun you i think i just did yeah i didn't realize it wow that's that's awesome it was four second elapsed times the top fielder extra fans wanted and that's exactly what they got first from dick lahaye the perfect painkiller for his now famous broken rib dick lahaye just heard the pa announcer declare a 498. he has become the first man to ever run beneath five seconds uh steve i've been hurt that back oh and believe me that bat couldn't get hurt now i mean we worked for that all weekend and we went out there earlier this morning and smoked the tires and kim said look we got to calm it down and i said we can't slow it down though and lo and behold she made the right call thank you lord the lahay team hadn't got the quirk out of the champagne bottle when right behind them came daryl gwen with a quicker 498 to take the number one spot [Music] congratulations again thank you very much steve last minute you know we're here with the u.s nationals and this is the biggest race of the year this is it i mean is this was this a goal it was for like hey to get into the forest not just qualify well you know every time we i'm gonna get off the subject every time we back this car down it runs quicker it's telling us something so uh we got a good combination to race tomorrow with and we weren't really planning on coming up here and running a four but uh you'll take it worked out you bet well the grandstands are full and the pits are overflowing with shining faces all anticipating what might possibly be the greatest us nationals ever now we've shown you the drivers behind all those great performances here's paul page to tell us how those times came about well steve this is the motor that turned that remarkable run for daryl gwen and this is the team that gets it done his dad of course jerry gwen the team manager that helps coordinate this organization but the crew chief of course is ken vinnie kent to run a magnificent run like that and in fact to do better what are you going to have to do to do better i believe we can do better but we need to do about the same thing we've been doing we're going to we're going to try and maintain just what we're doing now but that's what it's going to take to win and of course the real key is the fact that it's a team effort it's a team effort for sure no one person did this the guys all working together here on daryl gwen's top fuel dragster that's the story on the technical side in top fuel for the story in funny car let's go over to three-time world champion don garlits [Music] well the performance of this car has been phenomenal and you have just witnessed the starting of the most powerful funny car engine in drag racing history mike how did it sound um sounds about like it did yesterday sounds good no problems well you know you got half of a national record and um obviously you're going to want to try to back that up because that's extra championship points is there anything left in this engine and still stay safe um probably uh just a small amount uh we're just going to try and stand on what we ran yesterday and just try to go out and run good and we have a small performance advantage over the field and we're just going to try to utilize that advantage today and just try to stay safe and win the race that's a real cool move because obviously it wouldn't serve any purpose to try to increase that performance and then risk blowing up the engine yeah we stand to lose a lot more than we stand to gain if we uh try to go any quicker than our 17 or the 19 so we're just going to try and play it safe and win the race good move thank you well both daryl gwen and don perdum survived first round of elimination until earlier today now it is time for round two of top fuel this man in the famous yellow car eddie hill versus gordy bonnin again eddie hill carrying our diamond p sports camera of course you realize steve this is last year's car maybe even a couple of years ago this is the old car that eddie hill has gotten he has gone away from the 300-inch modern fueler but he's up against a car that is as modern as any of them in fact it was completed mid-season and is driven by transplanted canadian gordy bonnet that's the machine in the far lane owned by ron hudson now bonnen was a very famous bunny car driver when as far as a runner-up spot here at the u.s national some years ago and he brought out of retirement his crew chief in that period gordon jenner what a big pleasant surprise he has been this guy just blind qualified at 5 10. eddie hill unofficially the quickest top wheel driver of them all at 4.93 seconds from wichita falls texas fuzzy carter you've met him before one of the very best and look at that qualifying the last time a 504. of course that's eddie's wife percy hill that helps place the car in line she said she and eddie talked about going back to the old car it was something that they really felt would be successful gordy bonan who has been working as an nhra official the past several years in fact at this race one year ago worked with us down on the starting line we do wish him well eddie hill's right hand holding on to that break trying to restrain 4 000 horsepower until the flash of the yellow light throw away bonnet got the better start but smokes the tires eddie hill 5.06 and we all just traveled 275 miles per hour paul page is at the starting line with buzzy carter i think carter good little run with a 506 but it looks like it's going to take more to win this event yeah it still looks a little soft on bottom we've got the clutch kind of straightened back out we've been having trouble with it and he's hitting a second stage itself and we brought our old car back and it's working real good and we're pretty tickled all right fuzzy carter on his way now to join eddie hill in the meantime behind us on the starting line frank bradley rolls up in his match-up with joe amato now let's go to the far end and steve evans since the first round this morning the heat is up a bit the humidity is definitely up quite a bit which makes eddie hills 506 even more impressive oh boy it feels good it sure feels good to have this thing repeated not break boy i love this little car well you brought it out of the barn yeah there's some used steel for antiques maybe even including me huh you think it's on the edge well i don't know uh it's hard to tell driving the car it felt pretty good in the car the computer should tell us you know whether it's trying to turn a tire or not we'll find out i'm sure you will well consistency has been the problem for eddie hill but now back with the old car maybe he can get some of it back as joe amato moves back in the lanes ready for his confrontation with frank bradley well joe amato has been on a tear recently trying to catch the winston points leader gary ormsby and he's been doing a good job of it in fact he won the last race in brainerd minnesota and the one before that in seattle washington this car has been undefeated crew chief tim richards who experimented with a shorter car like eddie hill has now fallen in love with the latest in dragster engineering frank bradley will all season long he's had one of the modern 300 inch cars and won probably the biggest race of his career with some help from junior kennedy that was the california nationals in his own backyard what a day that was but amato comes into this round with a definite disadvantage frank bradley has lane choice and the quicker car this may be the end of the line for that new car temperature humidity coming up which means lane choice is critical a model with a terrific hole shot on bradley now bradley trying to catch him down to the end but it's a motto all the way tim richards the crew very very happy with a 5 16 287 miles an hour well it's been a long time since i've seen a man give up so much distance at the starting line frank bradley must have just figured he had a motto covered completely because he sat there almost a full tenth of a second and watched the motto drive away from it now motto didn't have a real good run he smoked his tires just a little bit but look at the difference at the end just from that starting line advantage amato had the whole shot and he definitely needed it to keep ahead of the charging frank bradley look at the comparisons there but amato won the race because he got there first now he's at the far end with steve well joe engine performance is always important but this time it was driver performance euro 16 defeated frank's five eleven well steve i had to pedal a little bit there because the car started shaking and sm you know was ready to smoke the tires but you know this is a tough race you know it's very critical for the points you saw go to bond and smoke the tires right in front of you had to be concerned and you had to be alert yeah when i i did the burner i looked because he he actually went a little bit to the right and i wanted to just make sure i was stayed straight and i went down through the center of the lane and tried to do my job good thinking thank you so joe amato moves ahead at the u.s nationals will it be a third straight victory for him back in the funny car pits the car the points leader bruce larson they work on that machine as they're ready to face ed mccullough and bunny car round number two we'll be back with more top fuel right after this brought to you by dodge cars and trucks on the street or off the road it's the new spirit of dodge by stroll old milwaukee and old milwaukee light it doesn't get any better than this and by goodyear eagle tires goodyear because there really is a [Music] difference [Music] [Applause] [Music] the tough dodge ram pickup built like the proverbial brick we got it apartment house [Music] cape hatteras and old milwaukee both mean something great to these guys hatteras means surf casting for blue fish and man do they love to fight and old milwaukee means a great beer cold crisp old milwaukee beer and smooth golden old milwaukee life [Music] old milwaukee an old milwaukee light hey guys this doesn't get any better than this all of these championship winning drivers have one thing in common goodyear racing eagles the race-winning technology that's found in the goodyear racing eagles can also be found in the goodyear eagle line of high-performance street radios the best-selling performance tires in the world goodyear eagles for the spirit of a champion that's in all of us [Music] country's favorite balladeer in an exclusive concert special [Music] don williams live from tucson tuesday 10 30 p.m eastern only on tnn welcome back to indianapolis raceway park and our coverage of the 35th running of the nhra u.s nationals in most forms of motorsports if a vehicle is torn apart like this it means the crew has big trouble not in funny car drag racing this is just normal maintenance to make sure everything is right on the tom hoover car who will face chuck etchels in round number two we are continuing right now with round two of top fuel racing paul page out on the line it's kim lahaye that directs her father dick lahaye back into position lahaye has lane choice in this confrontation against lori johns lori johns is having her best performance in her entire career qualified for this race with a 503. actually low etf event for a whole session of qualifying an amazing young woman and only her second year of professional racing very popular with the fans the most pleasing personality and she's always got a smile on her face because of this man larry meyer who gives her the kind of performance she needs to be competitive dick lahaye while he was the first ever into the forest here at the u.s nationals in qualifying the lansing michigan-based crew headed up by his daughter kim lahaye have got a good shot at winning this race and they need the points desperately lahaye has lane choice they've chosen the near lane traditionally that is the faster lane here at irp staged and ready glory john's away first lahay even whoa what a drag race laurie john's brilliant start made it a squeaker lahaye wins it 506 to her 5 13. 506 kim that's going to help out give you lane choice does it oh yeah i guess it does yeah um yeah we were just trying to run a 505 a 506 503 try to repeat what we did the first round let's hope you can continue to do that through the day good luck thank you kim lahaye back to find her father they will meet joe amato in the semifinals lori johns makes a beautiful start she knew she had to get every advantage at the starting line possible because lahay had run a 498 in qualifying and had run a 5-0 in the first round and she got the starting line advantage but the power of the lahaye engine began to come on as they motored down tracking ever so slightly as they reached the end lahay put a wheel out in front just watching dick lahay get out of the car it's obvious that he's feeling better apparently not in a lot of pain as he has been and this will make you feel a little better too a 506. well that's fine you know we just want to kind of stay consistent not do anything crazy we got to race joe next round and you know what happens when the model and la hey tangle and lane choice here could be critical very much so yes it does we figured it was going to slow down to her 300s and it did exactly what it was supposed to so now it's time to go race you have that lane choice thank you very much steve we need it the dick and joe show is always something to look forward to lane choice so critical here at the u.s nationals as everywhere of course is determined by who had the quicker e.t in the previous round you can see the confidence on daryl's face he's waving to the crowd that team has definitely found something in this car that has brought the performance up to the level that they like and gwen is uh having a real good time out there he he's probably figuring on running another four second run and here is the man that dominated in the early going in fact gary ormsby won four of the first nhra national championship event had a tremendous points lead until he started crashing cars first at sears point when the wing came off then it brainerd when a wheel span in suit so leigh beard and his crew have had a tough 30 days now on their third car carol gwen remembering three final round appearances and three defeats here at the u.s nationals two of them to big daddy don garlick ken benny one of the most talented men in all of drag racing that 498 proves his worth now this was back in round number one as daryl gwen was about to make drag racing history in the near lane he'd already turned a 498 in qualifying he needed to run within one percent to come up with a national record and he did it with a 499. the fours and the heat of the day is a dream come true for me at the u.s nationals yesterday and all your excitement you said the more we back down on this the quicker it runs that's exactly right uh it's teaching us all a little lesson every time i guess it's got to beat it into us and finally here in september this late in the year it's finally got our attention so here we are back at round number two again lane choice so very critical here gary ormsby on the far side it is daryl gwen on the near side orsby is really under the gun ball he has seen joe amato already survived round one and round two he's trying to keep pace on the point it's another good one oh but it goes to daryl gwen thank goodness for electronic finish line judges up 504 at 280 miles per hour puts away gary armsby in the replay we see gary orrsby giving it his best shot but quinn wasn't asleep either very good start for both cars but ormsby's old outdated car was no match for the modern gwen car as gwen easily drives around him in the middle of the racetrack look at that yellow car go one super drag race and with the completion of that round we're now set for the semifinals in top fuel where daryl gwen will face eddie hill gwen will have his choice of lanes and joe amato and dick lahaye will pair up and that critical lane choice will go over to dick lahaye let's go to the far end steve evans gary arnsby just a terrific drag race but unfortunately you were on the wrong end of it yeah steve uh we're a little disappointed but uh you know this whole car did us pretty good this weekend but those footsteps of joe amato just keep getting louder and louder there's no question about it and we've got to go to another race for this car so hopefully we can just hang in there and have our new car in topeka and get back in this hunt thanks for a great job all weekend thank you well the second round of top fuel is now complete the pairings are set the funny cars are in the staging lanes and rolling forward don ford home's crew is ready for their matchup and so is bruce larson it's the funny cars coming up next at the u.s nationals [Music] blackrock nevada and old milwaukee folks mean something great to these guys blackrock means land sailing riding the wind across dry desert lakes an old milwaukee means a great beer cold crisp old milwaukee beer and smooth golden old milwaukee light there's nothing like the flavor of a special place an old milwaukee beer old milwaukee an old milwaukee night you know guys it doesn't get any better than this [Music] [Applause] this is how a ferrari tester rasa looks on the road and this is how a ferrari testarossa looks to the road where it ultimately responds through the contact patch of its goodyear eagle tires the exclusive tires chosen by ferrari for every testarossa sold in america goodyear eagles because there really is a difference if you want a little muscle in your car forget your old routine you gotta pump [Music] up pump up the super clean premium performance power from phillips 66. it's the same thing every saturday he puts on those old blue jeans and goes out with that old dog and he's gone all day he says he's gonna bring back dinner but all he ever brings back is that old dog here's to old dogs saturday mornings and comfortable blue jeans wrangler super group exile reminds us what great country music is all about [Music] it's a full house performance of exile's greatest hits one more chance maybe we can make a little mess no reason exile in concert friday at eight eastern 4 pm pacific only on tnn [Music] as always at the u.s nationals an overflow crowd full of enthusiasm for what's to come and right now back in the pit area paul page has this report this is the rocker arm after eddie hill's second round victory and when that breaks get some real expensive parts especially the push rod itself now the push rod is supposed to be straight well here's what it looks like now as a result of this fuzzy carter and the crew are over working on the engine they have to repair the rocker arm assembly on the left back of the engine and get it put back together before they fire up for the semi-final challenge and a challenge they are up against none other than daryl gwen right now it's bunny card time round number two bruce larson the big story this year he leads the winston points against ed mccullough who has got his combination together maynard yanks the crew chief on the larsen car a man who oddly enough came out of modified in sprint car racing in the northeast and has fallen in love with what they call sport racing drag racing and he will face the defending u.s nationals funny car champion from hemet california ed mccullough who has two victories so far this season of course the crew chief there is bernie fetterly they come up against the current points leader that's bruce larsen out of dalpin pennsylvania with four victories so far this year and you've already been introduced to his crew chief maynard yanks who keeps track of that car on the line and burns the wrenches along with the crew anyone who thought that bruce larson was a fluke including myself at the beginning of the year can certainly take notice that he is definitely in this hunt and keeps getting stronger with every round well he better be strong ed mccullough with a brilliant start but cola nail larson on the light but larson powers right by 5 32 wins it to a 5 46 on the starting line again paul this track is really holding up for some super races today what do you think there uh yeah we were concerned that it might be going away uh it seems a little better than i thought it was gonna be we had a little bit soft for that run mccullough hopped off the line ahead of you yeah he got out on us but uh we've been running pretty steady and pretty consistent all week here still gonna have to climb a bit if you want to get in that final round don't you think we're taking it around at a time all right good luck well maynard better keep the power up on that engine because if larson continues to go to sleep on the line like that's going to take a lot of power to get by these guys boy i bet with that whole shot that mccullough put on larsen there every driver in this points hunt was smiling in the pits but they weren't smiling long watch the power of that the angst motor come on as he puts that car right out in front of ed mccullough adding another 200 to his points lead what a performance [Music] bruce larson what makes this machine so perfect a 5 32 a terrific run straight it does the same thing every time i guess it's the man working on the clutch i think it means an awful lot that guy's terrific that's mainer jinxed the man behind the wheel isn't bad either well i get the job done bruce lyson goes to the semis what an automobile what a race team and i wonder if he's going to be smiling that much when he takes a look at the time slip and sees his reaction time some improvement definitely needed there back up at the starting line the lane choice taking the near lane once again is mike dunn as he is ready to face tony mccallum and to no one's surprise mike dunn has top speed of the u.s nationals for the funny car breed at 278 miles per hour a car with a huge top-end charge for trying to find some elapsed time now he's up against tony mccallum a young driver with a very young crew chief who qualified in the 15th spot of real credit to wayne dupree who cruised his car out of baton rouge louisiana qualified at 5 53 up against round number one that young team ran into john force a veteran from yorba linda california with one of the big names in the toolbox department austin goyle working for him and this was that first round confrontation tony mccollum in the near lane john ford's in the four lane and we rode with jon force you know steve everybody's always asking me what does it feel like this is the closest thing i can tell you that it feels like to ride one of these cars well john forest knew he had lost traction and he watched tony mccullough's streak bye so with that victory in round number one it set up this bike with ontario california's mike dunn two victories to his credit this year in no small part due to the work of his crew chief gary slucker certainly two of the most beautiful funny cars you will ever see mike the airline tony mccallum in the far lane both drivers out of southern california beautiful start my column has problems mike gunn 5 35 that puts him right in the program with the best of them 278 miles per hour another tremendous top speed so while action continues on the line in funny car back in the top fuel pits wayne cannon massages some of the pistons on joe amato's car as they search for e.t they're coming up in a semi-final round confrontation against dick lahaye the la hey crew kim lahaye in charge is working for their semi-final round as well we'll be back with more funny car at the u.s nationals after this well it's about time you never kept me waiting when you were kids here's an animal in the kitchen hey sugar bear wearing bowls in the super golden crisp cereal oh this stuff reminds me of the best years of my life excuse me got my sports page new york beat l.a but nothing beats me honey sweetly you remember that song you used to sing i can't get enough super golden crisp don't quit your day job breakfast is still better with the bear how do you do that it's here [Music] holding on hanging tight in the great outdoors face to face you just know you can win there's no place like sunday's on the internet it's all here on [Music] pass the tv pass the word it's where americans meet their match 10 in sports past the world [Music] team hey there folks i want to tell you about the great deal ralph and i got the opeland usa passport for just 54.70 plus tax we see it all and save 20 percent we get a one-of-a-kind date cruise aboard the general jackson showboat howdy admission to a grand ole opry matinee a tour with the people who really know nashville grand ole opry sightseeing tours we get to see music music music grendely oh bumpity bumpity bumpity i think she likes me and we get three days at the great opryland show part oh and it includes a live taping of nashville now which is where we're going if i can just get ralphie off of this ride ralph it's time to go ralph that's for kids only get off that ride ralph the opryland usa passport is just 5470 plus tax so call 615-889-6266-11 for yours today ralphie they're waiting for us they can't start without you [Music] we're back at the 35th nhra u.s nationals and while john force is out of the running he never lets down still spending time for a few photographs and autographs with the race fans now not long ago the diamond p cameras spent some time at home with this most versatile driver the baby dipped on me hooked the nose and what a ride 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 this crew and i i knew i cut a light and and the uh brain quit bring quit wait a minute it's a far cry from the sounds and fury of the track to the serene and peaceful yorba linda california setting where john forest has made a home for himself his wife laurie and their daughters ashley brittany and courtney surprisingly his home also serves as a repository for a burgeoning collection of antiques purchased by virtue of a typical john forest philosophy i know they're expensive and they got king louie on them and they got to be old and that's the way i buy but it's not those antiques that make a house a home it's the family the home becomes a sanctuary it's a it is a chance to get home and change your lifestyle for a few weeks and and be with the kids uh myself i grew up in a trailer house uh three brothers and a sister there was five of us total and mom and dad and and my dad the first time he saw my house he said geez we could put our trailer in the living room i really don't get to enjoy it much but i know that i know that the family has it and that's what's important first thing i do when i get home is i clean up what's been left anything that the dog's done that the kids didn't get through or cleaning out the garage or pulling weeds i get right into that real quick read my mail at midnight to four in the morning to go through that and early in the morning i'm back into the business of getting organized for the week because i only got a few days a lot of times i've told him i've talked to you more on the phone when you were back east than i have the whole week you've been here because he's still putting deals together and organizing like a three-ring circus almost and so he's trying to walk a fine line between his racing career and being at home with the family but he's still is a good dad when he comes home and then it's pizza time for the kids we got our little places we go he keeps the kids up till midnight we try to catch a movie if we can the naps are all disrupted we don't go to the park because we have a park dinner hour is any hour if there's a new tape we'll sit down and get a pizza and we'll watch it late into the night and so it's anything goes well we like roll over on the bed and he my sister brittany plays with us too and i'm like if she get caught in dad's arms because you pretend that dad's the monster and then if she gets in and dad's arms and gets caught i jump on him and he falls off and then i say where could you cause brittany the buddies are on the team for a man who's at ease rocketing down the track at 280 miles per hour it must be nice to escape to the serenity of a normal home life whoa max that baby dipped on me hooked the nose and what a ride john forest like most of the nhra professionals a study in contrast john also proves it's not whether you win or lose it's how you treat those fans of what really counts absolutely john force is a one off okay here we go round two of bunny car eliminations continuing and there is the man who has made the headline so far here at the u.s nationals don predom his pontiac bodied automobile the all-time quickest run ever seen in the breed at 5.17 seconds and steve here on the line it's buster couch who has run the christmas tree the official starter for all of the us nationals all the way back to 1963 in fact he goes back to when they used to use the flags to get him off of the line and don't let that smile fool you buster couch takes no prisoners on the starting line you play by his rules scott coletta knows that very well out of ypsilanti michigan second generation drag racer and his crew chief who else but the first generation connie coletta they qualified at 5 47. and talk about your tough draws in round number two it will be coletta against the four-time winston champ don for dumb and his crew chief mike clover now yesterday afternoon in a race within a race it was happier times for john force he faced off with don tradome in the final of the big bud shootout the eight best funny cars in the land have been narrowed down to these two cars forest had a good start but perdom better performance as you see through the fourth left-hand side window don for don't clock up 5.19 seconds and took up 50 000 he got out of his car and immediately walked to wally parks the founder and chairman of the board of the national heartland association it was a nice moment so boyd by that victory in the big bud shootout here is don perdome the number one qualifier in funny car round number two against scott coletta for dome like most of the competitors has chosen that near lane and for good reason too look at coletta smoke the tires immediately and look at rudolph 5 26. 272 miles per hour continuing his incredible performance let's go to the starting line paul page mike a 526 not nearly that 517 what do you think oh the 26 is a real good run for here today uh the racetrack's not quite as good as it was yesterday the air is not quite as good and this race is a little bit longer than the bud shootout and you got to be a little more careful we're just trying to be conservative get the car in the final round so we have a shot at winning the race what do you think the the factor of lane choice is going to play in the final round well right now the lanes are pretty even it'll depend on the cars behind us what they do to the racetrack when somebody breaks a motor some of the other categories and how nice they are to the racetrack the clouds are out the track should get better later today that's what we're hoping for let's hope that happens mike good luck i imagine he does hope that because a car that can turn 517 has got enough power to spin the tires at any time and on the line the match-up that will determine who will face bruce larson in the semi-final round will it be chuck etchell's or tom hoover hoover snuck into this round at the last minute there's a 16th qualifier echels is number 12. now let's go to the far end like all of the funny car drivers and crews i am at a loss for words to describe don perdom's performance i hope you've got something to say a 526. well it's great yeah you know we just need to keep it running consistent steve you know if it's you know things have been pretty good so far pretty good you know we like to set that national record but we're not uh we're not stepping on a two harvard is trying to play it cool did you back it down after yesterday 17 and 19. yes we really have to it's uh it's just really uh really hard on the drive train and everything so we're just trying to nurse along until we really need it let's get into something thank you so don perdome walks carefully toward what may be another us nationals victory in the meantime up at the starting line tom hoover brings the machine back in the lanes he qualified number 16 and he made it to this round as a result of a fascinating confrontation in round number one indeed paul it was tom hoover maple grove minnesota the engines under the hood of his money car built by his 80 year old father george hoover what a story that is and what a story this was hoover was up against kenny bernstein the fourth time and reigning winston champ from dallas texas he and his crew chief dale armstrong hoped to be the first team to win five funny card titles eclipsing don fordham who likewise has four but earlier today with bernstein in the near lane hoover in the far lane that was not to be kenny had the advantage suddenly smoked the tires i doubt that they thought hoover was capable of a 5 42 he indeed was kenny bernstein going out round number one here and larson progressing through the field well that could be catastrophic to his chances chuck echels however on the brighter side is enjoying his finest drag racing weekend ever the driver from connecticut with longtime veteran paul smith is the crew chief qualified number 12 at 5 47 and now we'll match wheels with tom hoover tom hoover on the near side that lane that has held up so well throughout the competition it's a good start hoover smokes the tires and then goes into a power wheel stand chuck etchels powers his way to a 5 55 266 mile per hour victory he'll go to the semifinals the furthest he has ever been in nhra national event competition and in fact that does set up the semifinals bruce larson will have lane choice over chuck edgels and the other half of the semis will find don prudhomme who has lane choice over the entire field he'll be up against the man with top feed mike dunn in the meantime back in the top fuel pits daryl gwen's crew works on his car as they are ready for their fight against eddie hill in the top fuel semi final round we'll be back with more from the 35th nhra u.s nationals [Music] john madden on defense hey there's nothing like a new car [Music] with the fight wearing today's advanced engines the best offense is the super defense super flow motor oil for protection here boom multi-valve engines boom overhead cams and double boom to protect your investment superflow motor oil a super defense for today's advanced engines [Music] i feel good time to go boys you've been in there long enough hey we're not even tired though i've checked the mileage and hey we're the otter lights we're guaranteed guaranteed yeah two years no matter how far we go but no spark plug guarantees that we do yeah we're the auto lights so go pull the plug on somebody else the suzuki new year's celebration right now you can buy a suzuki quad runner with no money down and make no payments till 1990. the sooner you buy the more fun you'll have before your first payment start the new year right with the suzuki quant runner new year celebration more play before you pay it's the suzuki new year's celebration no money down and no payment till after new year's day peerless do-it-yourself faucets come with the total faucet and finish warranty no other faucet warranty can beat it in other words the peerless warranty really holds water now through october 14th get five dollars back country volunteer don williams in his first television special with featured guests stock watson and bailey and the boys don williams live from tucson tuesday 10 30 p.m eastern 7 30 pacific on tnn [Music] we're back in indianapolis indiana at the u.s nationals meet steve yingst young son of maynard yanks he's not at all concerned with the competition of the day but his dad doing what he does best working on the clutch in bruce larson's machine as they prepare for their semi-final round confrontation and down the way and done for domes pits steve evans is with another heavyweight for motorsports we'll talk about your special guests look who i found four-time indie champ aj foyt the last time i saw you around the dragons i think was 20 years ago that's probably right 20 years ago right here it's the day after we come back from decoying my how it's changed it really has i mean it's amazing and the technology when these cars and beautiful cars and actually as fast as they run still is safe i think today they're a lot safer than they were 20 years ago well i'd have to agree with that you know there seems to be a thread now through all of motorsports a sprint car driver was a sprint car driver we're fans of each other's occupations well that's true i mean a lot of it you know it's just been so much different through the years that it's really hard to put it together and just like i was out here art chrisman and you know tommy cueing and you know like perdona i've been friends for years and when he's around the indy cars uh may and that he comes sees me so we'll go see each other whenever we can but like i say it's great to be out here and look at some of the new cars how beautiful they are it's great to have you thank you aj's right it's not uncommon at the indianapolis 500 to secret dome standing over there in the pits well we're ready for pro stock round number two but 25 years ago around the time of aj foyt's last visit here the top fuel dragsters were running about the same performance as the pro stocks do now don beverly from chester virginia in his oldsmobile will meet up in this round with butch leo long renowned for his starting line expertise out of blacklight ohio leo with the pontiac now these are gasoline-burning automobiles there's no fuel injection they're big four-barrel carburetors they weigh 2 350 pounds the engine limitation is 500 cubic inches and the real research development and hard work for these teams happens in their race shots they dial these engines bolt them in and come here and kind of run with they brown beautiful start by leo hasn't lost any of that starting line touch but watch the horsepower on beverly motor right fight it is don beverly what a thrill for him to beat butch leo with a 7 43 to leo 749. they had uh equal horsepower on the top end both ran 185 miles per hour pro stock competition some of the closest racing that you'll find in nhra drag racing up on the line larry morgan who is having a great race weekend at the u.s nationals as he's ready to take on gary brown and what a forest oldsmobile has become in nhra pro stock drag racing in fact last year they won the coveted manufacturer's cup and we have another pair of them here gary brown from beaufort georgia also the owner of atlanta dragway the scene of one of nhs national events and larry morgan of newark ohio boy i'll tell you he should be wearing an even a broader smile than that because yesterday in the final round of the mr gasket first pro stock challenge it was larry morgan against warren johnson morgan was in the near lane on the line fifty thousand dollars to the winner and it was larry morgan there was total jubilation on the starting line car owner bob panel and drew from california celebrating certainly larry morgan's biggest victory in their old mobile pro stock and celebrating as well was larry's two-week-old baby nicholas james of course as they say that was all yesterday larry morgan is back with all that a race now it is brown that he faces morgan to the near lane brown to the far side oh and brown gamble in the far lane left way too soon there's a red light on the christmas tree automatic disqualification the second car across the strike has won here in the second round and heads for the semis larry morgan still undefeated at the u.s nationals larry morgan really has become a factor in his pro stock racing wouldn't you agree steve absolutely he heads up their engine development as well as driving the car well here's a man who's won four races bruce allen in the rare and morrison beretta and up against bruce will be one of the real crowd favorites because of the uniqueness of the automobile the only dodge daytona and all of pro stock racing daryl alderman and you'll remember that they won the gator nationals back in march of this year the first dodge to do so in about a decade but paul if you look at the elapsed times recorded so far you'd have to give the nod to this man bruce allen well alan does come into this event as the number one qualifier it's the chevrolet match-up against daryl alderman's daytona and there is a large chevrolet contingent here as well pulling for bruce allen and daryl alderman so many times his whole shot at his way to victory second only maybe the butch leo it is all in the way first alderman making a race out of this he might win it no by a spoiler on the front bumper it is bruce allen 737 to alderman 744 but an advantage of four hunters off the starting line made it almost a dead heat and steve here at the starting line while we may just be seen history in the making on board with bob clinton if he scores the win today it will be his 75th unprecedented here though he still has to get past warren johnson well anytime you race warren johnson these days you've got to know you've got a serious competitor in the other line running better than he has in a couple of seasons anytime you race bob glidden of the us nationals well he's been in the finals 12 years in a row that tells you something shouldn't surprise me he just lives down the road he can drive home at night live at home work in his shop it's a perfect place for him and i'll tell you he really loves this race as we all do warren johnson in the near lane he has been tough as of late and he loves to pick on bob clinton these two do not get along on or off the racetrack you're in the board probe automobile blood keeping it perfectly straight rusty gluten cheering him on along with his brother billy and it is bob glidden going to the semi finals at 7 40 at 186 miles per hour and a beautiful starting line leave so bob glidden marches ahead will we see some history made here today well at the u.s nationals the pairing for the semi-final round and pro stock will put glitten against don beverly glen will have his choice of lanes and larry morgan will take on bruce allen allen will have that all-important lane choice of the u.s nationals in the meantime dick lahaye watches as they push his top fuel dragster through a giant crowd here back in the pits at the u.s national everybody's welcome and they enjoy their time with the racers but coming up very shortly it will be the semi-final round in top fuel as lahaye is ready to face joe amato we'll be back [Music] we've been studying all the ways that you pull and stretch your face in search of a better shave now big presents our solution introducing the new big metal shaver the patented big metal stretches and smooths your skin thanks to its unique metal guard bar so the shaver glides closely and comfortably now instead of stretching start reaching for a new big metal shaver it stretches your skin for a better shave and that's no stretch take good care of your car but forget your brakes might as well do this keep it running like a top with neglect your brakes might as well get it over with now bendix breaks past temper tests and any law required so think about bendix but ignore your brakes okay [Music] bendix brakes the sooner the better how do you get the good times rolling you get your friends together and go bowling it's great fun anytime call ahead to be sure open lanes are available for you and your friends so make your plans now catch the action watch bowling world on espn check your local program listings for times in your area you're watching tnn you might have forgotten that cause you ain't heard no country music today here's a little something to tide you over one step forward and two steps back a long shot of love is better than no shot cause sass gonna do it again that ought to hold you for a while now would you do us a favor password password password my friend good things happen on tnn crude banners in the grandstands have become a fixture in most sporting events nothing crude about the joey motto cheering section's artwork and it is time for what they call the dick and joe show joe amato against dick lahaye here is jerry amato guiding joe back what's going through his mind right now doc well i think the main thing in his mind he's racing the biggest race in the world and his car is not performed on race day like it should he is wondering has tim richards got that engine to come around and dickle hay he has accomplished four second performance here this weekend uh the biggest problem is you can't get greedy because the conditions aren't the same now that's right and on a four-second car the least mistake and you're up in smoke all right the delicate staging process begins nudging those very small front wheel clienteered by don garlits incidentally into the electronic beams blast the stage the way he likes it is lahay it's a model away first a motto loses traction diploma hey oh my one of the most impressive runs of the day five zero one elapsed time 280 miles per hour a motto too much power done that's right a motto had to give it his best shot he knew that lahay was going to make a good run give me a motto smokes the tires you're a 501. that looks awful good yeah yeah we're real happy with that uh he's expecting it to run right around that we uh hop the motor up a little bit and put some clutch in and the tracks right there so hopefully we'll do good in the final you've had a clean day so far you think that's quick enough to give you lane choice i don't know daryl's been running for us i hope so we'll see here in a few minutes all right good luck thank you you can tell by the look on kim's face and her voices they're very concerned about smoking the tires they came here to win this race generally they're very conservative but they are tired of being bridesmaids coletti hill rolls out as he is set at the starting line to take on this man daryl gwen who is really charging his way up through the ranks the on-board camera doug parr and mike cheryl doing a magnificent job producing these pictures this weekend let's go to the far end of the strip now here's steve evans what a shot 501 oh lord thank you i'll tell you what you know this has been a heck of a weekend did we run our first four and i figured joe and i was really going to have us race and we tuned her up a little bit to racing joe tuned it up a little bit too maybe a little too much hunt good race i'll tell you you know it's this guy right here it's the dick and joe show a lot of times and just one time that time that's okay man you know maybe the next time hey good luck great sports dick lahaye and joe amato and what a relief for gary ormsby in the points fight to see a motto out at the starting line there's jerry gwen as he looks down to his son daryl gwen strapped into his top fuel dragster ready to take on eddie hill you have raced daryl gwen in what two u.s national top fuel championship battles you beat him both times what's the difference in him now and then don garlick well i think he's a lot more experienced he's a lot calmer he doesn't get rattled so much he's a much better top fuel racer today than he was in those days and there's eddie hill with the car he calls an antique there's no nothing antique about the elapsed times that he has accomplished with this machine let's go for a ride [Music] oh and what a race it was eddie hill off the park first almost pulled it out but it's daryl going at 504 to hills 5.09 elapsed time typical u.s nationals competition nice going and 0-4 though that's a little bit slower it's not going to get plain choice right that is wrong we didn't mean to do that we just meant to try and maintain which was probably the wrong thing to do but we didn't expect lahay to step up quite that quick still you're going to the final round we do have a little left all right good luck thank you ken vinnie being very conservative with the gwen carr not wanting to smoke the tires wanting to get to that finals we watch the replay we see eddie hill put 200 right into the bank with a starting line advantage but it didn't last long the vending engine came on with lots of power and he begins to take a definite advantage as we get to mid-track the old car performed well for hill though and as a result of that competition the stage is set for the final round at the u.s national daryl gwen will face dick lahaye and lahaye will have lane choice boy daryl gwen has just gotten no respect as the new national record holder everybody you race just fires a shot at you well it's a u.s national steve like i said before and uh i understand we ran 504 we don't have lane choice in the final but uh we're going to give it our best shot right lane or left lane as the afternoon cools off lane choice is not going to be as important traditionally exactly right and uh traditionally when the sun goes down this car becomes awesome you've been beaten in the final before you're not gonna let that happen again yeah i've been running up here three times i'm about sick and tired of that okay we'll see you then daryl gwen will he break that streak here today as he goes over to shake hands with eddie hill in the meantime back in the staging lanes it's the funny cars that begin to inch forward mike dunn is ready and we have funny car semifinals next there's some psycho woman out there killing guys i don't know how we catch her your guy put an ad in the singles magazine right we put in our own hand he went undercover to catch a killer i believe in animal attraction i believe in this now he's either found the love of his life she's a suspect or the end of it [Music] now playing at a theater near you there are a number of ways to get a safer ride like always fasten your feet belt feet belt and never ride on worn shocks and struts they can allow your tires to lose contact with the road resulting in a loss of control and braking get a new set of monroegasmatic shocks and struts they help your vehicle hold the road hey i feel safer already how do i for a smoother safer ride america rides monroe got it got it you got it do you got it [Music] you got it [Music] the tough dodge ram pickup built like the proverbial brick we got it apartment house roaches for everyone you see there can be 200 more hiding and multiplying behind your walls fact there's only one way to handle a problem like that orkan with over 85 years of proven experience and the only nationwide money-back guarantee in the pest control business that's why more people in more places call orkan more than anybody else in the world call orton today for any pest problem you have we could be all the protection you'll ever need you know every time i put my 60 minute space on and really you know go after a drag racing story really dig down deep when i get there there always seems to be somebody in one of these shirts national dragster nhra's weekly newspaper this is the editor phil burgess this isn't fair there's only one of me how many of you are there well covering this u.s national steve we got five reporters and eight photographers so we get a good chance to get around and it seems like you finish the race get home and national director is already in your mailbox if you're an nhra remember how do you do it it's a fact we take the first plane out of here two days later we're done with the coverage just at the printer and on the way to the readers well i'm sure i'll see you again before the day's over i'll be there first steve i don't know about that you know you really should be a member of nhra if you want to be inside drag racing the prime benefit is national dragster 48 weeks a year and you can join at a very special price and if you do it right now they'll even throw in a copy of the multi award winning home video decade of thrill so call this number and become part of the world's largest motorsport sanctioning body they even put out some special editions of national dragster here at the u.s nationals on almost daily basis on the line the semifinals in funny car the near lane as bruce larsen the far side is chuck etchell's as buster couch moves both cars into position chuck angels has absolutely nothing going for him in this contest on garland except maybe luck on his side and sometimes luck is better than speed well i've heard that said they leave right together angels just doesn't have the power to run with bruce larson few do thanks to that man maynard yanks it is larson heading for the finals at 5 33 273. he is having a tremendous day and paul is with his crew chief enter 5 33 puts you into the final round what do you have to do well i'm glad we're in the final uh i don't know uh the snake's been running pretty good all day if he gets by done like he's got by everybody else uh we're gonna really have to lean on this thing for the final all right that's what the us nationals is though drama in the final gotta go for the throat you got it maynard is certainly right about that because per dome is taking no prisoners today well don mike cobra and the crew have the engine fired in don pradome's car the top goes down and he is ready to face the fastest man thus far in the competition mike dunn but speed makes no difference now it's e.t that counts and perdome is definitely in control of that situation but don perdome rolls up for his burnout a man who is here announced that he will end his funny car career this year and move over to the top fuel racks that announcement was also made here by kenny bernstein so two of the biggest names in the sport for dome and bernstein moving up to top fuel for the 1990 nhra season let's go down to the far end here again is steve evans there may be some concern on the part of bruce larsen before the body is lowered down you can see there is oil all over the inside of this car the first time we have seen that in a long long time bruce what's the deal i don't know i haven't figured it out uh it didn't feel bad 533 it didn't run bad yeah so uh we'll be ready for the next round even if we have to put an engine in it you heard it here they've got plenty of bullets well if in fact they do have to change that engine that's going to mean a lot of work for maynard jenks and the crew and the other half of the semis two drivers who have tasted victory here at the u.s nationals in the past mike dunn and don perdal they are pre-staged everybody knows that for dope likes the stage last and they usually let him do it so they don't build too much heat mike dunn is not moving down garland well he evidently came into this round plenty cool so he decided he's going to stage last the snake continues to sit there finally john breaks the snake he moves in doug doesn't hesitate and we've got to start bernoullm with his concentration broken a little bit is laid off the mark oh but he's got the power to make up for it a breathless crew back in the starting line as don runs a 5 27 271 mile per hour charge to mike dunn's game and smart 5 39. dunn had absolutely nothing to lose with perdom's advantage in the elapsed time department so he just waited till the last well it paid off to a full 600 starting line advantage and sometimes that will win a race for you dunn had hoped that perdon would make some kind of mistake and he did he was late but he still had the power to win at the top it'll be a terrific final in funny car bruce larson faces don perdome for dome has the lane choice he's with steve donna i can't help but ask boy you would sit pre-stage that long when you really had everything to lose and what to gain from it well they're screwing with me is what they're doing because our car is running good they just don't want to race heads up you know they want to make me go in there and wait and cook my engine or whatever they can do to beat you you know no big deal still smoked him off indeed you did a 527. yes thank you very much where in the rule book does it say pradom is supposed to stage second he's got his own copy don bob glidden back in the staging lanes with his grandson brandon all the family is here from nearby whiteland we'll be back [Music] super group exile reminds us what great country music is all about am i still dreaming it's a full house performance of exile's greatest hits one more chance maybe we could make a little mess no reason why you and me can't get her back together exile in concert friday at eight eastern 4 p.m pacific only on tnn monster truck fans this is the video you've been waiting for this is bigfoot king of the monster truck 60 minutes of non-stop monster truck action that will blow you away it's all new brand new you'll see it all from car crashing heroics the dangerous monster truck roll over heart pounding wheel stand monster truck drag racing hill clock music videos and bigfoot deep in the mud witness the first car crush ever and ride in the cab with bigfoot as he pours on the power plus much much more nothing stops his giant muscle machine as he flies through the air jumping cars and smashing everything in his way this is the video that everyone's talking about this is the ultimate in monster truck excitement this is bigfoot the king of the monster trucks this offer not available in stores so order yours today today to have your charge card ready and call now 1-800-238-9300 to get your copy of bigfoot king of the monster trucks for 24.95 plus shipping and handling call now and get a big foot cap free offer not available in stores so call now 1-800-238-9300 it's incredible well this entire u.s nationals has gone absolutely perfect for bruce larsen until now this is the engine he won within the semifinals we saw no smoke we saw no fire but apparently just as he shut the engine off it broke a connecting rod internally the worst thing that can happen to one of these engines so the clutch is coming off that engine they'll they already have taken the blower injector off and there is the new bullet as they like to call them that will go in the frame rails of this race car but it needs an awful lot of attention oftentimes the spare motors have cylinder heads already on them and a lot of other components they're really building a short block here we're building from a short lot and it appears that they'll have time to get that accomplished if the crew is really on their game even some of amato's crew over to help swap that motor now of course an engine swap is in the contingency but it is certainly something that they do not want to do if they don't have to up on the starting line bob glidden ready to face don beverly on board with clinton can clinton here in the semi finals make his 13th consecutive final round of the u.s nationals don beverly hopes to have something to say about that in the oldsmobile oldsmobile against the sleek ford probe there is no pro stocker more aerodynamic than the machine we're riding with clinton pulls high gear but steve here on the starting line it's a big red light in beverly's lane clinton has the win and he has it at 7.39 seconds 187 miles per hour to beverly's foul starting 752. i wonder if bob thought maybe he was beaten there he probably did until he looked down the strip and saw a scoreboard came on for the win but he would still make a hard run for lane choice in the final so bob glidden moves into the final round and who will he face will it be this man larry morgan who has the lane choice over his opposition bruce allen and hopes to get a shot at this man bob glidden who when he came around the turn was already celebrating paul so he did indeed know that he had won that matchup with the beverly and he could be on his way to history a 75th nationals victory but who will he face bruce allen or larry morgan that's alan on the far side morgan inches up on the near side pro stock the semi-final round the engines will come up to a bad 6 000 rpm and we're up to about 8 000 rpm down the racetrack morgan is in they leave identically the same reaction time for both drivers what a pro stock contest by a whisker it's oldsmobile in the near lane larry morgan continues his domination of the u.s nationals at 7 40 to a 7 43. larry morgan has been taking a starting line advantage on almost every round that he has run at the u.s nationals and add that to the fact that the car has had excellent eps makes him one of the top contenders here this year and alan is one of the tough ones that he had to take out to get into that final round and you couldn't ask for a nicer drag race look at that margin of victory but morgan goes into the final round where he will face bob glitten but bob clinton has that all-important lane choice here's steve you know and uh the not too distant future you have an incredible task you have to face a man named bob glidden who's been in this mine around the last 12 years well i'll tell you what i hope this is his last one i mean i know he's been the final i hope it's the last one he wins i hope i can change that well you gave him lane choice now you're 40 his 39. that's okay i rolled the lights pretty bad i felt i feel i can get down either lane i think both lanes are equal right now i'm just real happy to be in the final racing glidden doesn't affect you psychologically at all knowing that it's him it doesn't bother me at all in fact i'd like to race you know when he raced me and home he beat me he's in trouble now there's a man out to stop bob glenn from winning that 75th that's the kind of confidence that it takes to win a drag race in the meantime back in the funny car pits they continue the engine change on bruce larson's car maynard gangsta is there also their teammate tim richards from amato's team over making sure that everything goes smoothly we'll be back [Music] buckmasters presents woods and water with country singer johnny lee hi everybody i'm johnny lee and if you like to hunt or fish or if you just plain love the outdoors get your pencils ready because this album is just for you looks like another good season with daisy and buck in the back of my truck it's gonna be a beautiful day [Music] when i hear that susie calling back to me remember when your dad gave you your first gun daddy gave this gun to me and i'm giving it to you and i tell you what he told me son about [Music] ever had buck fever it [Music] if you like fishing you're gonna like this one [Music] this album is dedicated to you the outdoorsman i'm headed for the country right now i got my tape call now and get yours what a wonderful world enjoy these other outdoor favorites by country great johnny lee you'll cherish them for a lifetime order your woods and water album or cassette for only 9.99 plus 2 shipping and handling call now 1-800-722-7000 visa and mastercard accepted don't miss this special offer call 1-800-722-7000 with a beautiful hoosier sunset as a backdrop it is time for the final throw rounds here at the u.s nationals pro stock is already on the pad larry morgan versus bob clinton we heard larry morgan mention being beaten at his home track that was columbus ohio the spring nationals don garlits he is still smarting from that yes he is and you know the word in the pits isn't clinton owns indianapolis and so you can bet that morgan would surely like to put him away here and get revenge for that loss at columbus and i don't think the crowd feelings play a part in this because you'll find as many people from laurie morgan's home state of ohio as you will bob glidden's home state right here in indiana they travel here in nass well the announcer just pulled the crowd just a few moments ago and they were even for both cars just before clinton fired the board pro paul tuck with him bob could be history here what do you think i'll tell you paul every time we go down the racetrack it seems like it's history but this is a very important race for us you know you people talk about the 75th win that's not the most important thing for us this is a very important uh challenge for us in the west and points chase and it would be very beneficial for us to win this round well there are a couple of thousand fans sitting out there and all of them cheering for you best of luck number 75 may be coming thanks paul but if anyone ever had a real good shot of beating bob glidden in the finals maybe even taking the favorites role it's got to be larry morgan done well there's only 100th of a second separating these two cars a 739 to a 740. that could easily be made on the starting line and remember morgan has been brilliant today absolutely and with the sun setting there is no difference in these lanes especially not for pro stocks they've got maybe 1200 horsepower the nitro cars 4 000 they're easier to control and maybe a bit of an off race track everyone is on their feet it is glint with a slight advantage morgan starts to assert himself the clinton boys cheer on their father but not enough larry morgan has won the u.s nationals incredible it was one close race but it wasn't the beast still you looked like you enjoyed it yes anytime you get to the finals of the nationals it's got to be enjoyable and larry morgan has had a great weekend he's a good driver he's a good competitor and we wish him well and number 75 is just around the corner and it's still around the corner but there's lots of races left all right out of glen one terrific lady don garlits let's analyze this again and replay well bob glidden takes a definite starting line advantage over the brilliant starting techniques that morgan had been using all day long very surprising but the oldsmobile engine in morgan's car begins to show the true power in the middle of the racecourse and drives around the board and bob clinton even though he ran 187 miles an hour could not make up the difference larry morgan has picked the granddaddy of them all as his first national event victory what a drive i'll tell you i told you before i was gonna wear glidden out here cause he made me look bad at home and i'll tell you the only way i could get back at him was here 7 36 to close it out that's good i'll tell you what all the guys to shop jimmy oliver dale likey andy magnuson gary pearman especially my crew chief tom roberts dick edelsberger my wife pinella castro olsonville i couldn't be any happier for them without them i wouldn't be here and i am so happy to be here and we are very happy for you even though glenn's the hometown boy you should have heard the crowd roar i'm happy i am really happy oh boy what a victory what a sweet one he's worked so hard for it gonna be a lot of celebrating for larry morgan the crew and his fans at indianapolis raceway park don going into the finals here at the 35th u.s nationals the weather has turned around and given us a real break it's real cool no wind these nitro motors will just fly in this kind of weather plus it means the track is cool that means the et's can be better funny car for dome needs to back up that national record of 517. if he does that i don't think larson can run with him now the top fuelers that's another question 504 for gwen a 501 for lahay either car could run four seconds we may have a side by side four second run but i think that tiny little margin of performance goes to lahaye and i'm going to give him the nod so those are don's picks the final rounds and funny car and top fuel hold so much promise they work in the lahay pit final touches on his car the funny car final coming up logan pass montana and old milwaukee both mean something great to these guys logan pass means trailblazing exploring the wilderness of glacier national park an old milwaukee means of great beer cold crisp old milwaukee beer and smooth golden old milwaukee light there's nothing like the flavor of a special place old milwaukee and old milwaukee light guys it just doesn't get any better than this all of these championship winning drivers have one thing in common goodyear racing eagles the race-winning technology that's found in the goodyear racing eagles can also be found in the goodyear eagle line of high-performance street radios the best-selling performance tires in the world goodyear eagles for the spirit of a champion that's in all of it us it you got it do you got it [Music] you got it the tough dodge ram pickup built like the proverbial brick we got it apartment house [Music] peerless do-it-yourself faucets come with the total faucet and finish warranty no other faucet warranty can beat it in other words the peerless warranty really holds water now through october 14th get five dollars back this week on stage stars the bellamy brothers jenny fricke ronnie mcdowell paul overstreet and carl perkins on stage tnn's top concert series weeknights on tnn pass the word [Music] it's time for the final run at funny car eliminator the most violent race cars in all of motor sports here at the biggest drag race of the year the 35th annual u.s nationals and indianapolis raceway park i'm steve evans along with paul page big daddy john garland and there with the engine change completed is the bruce larson car done and i'll bet this is the first time that her dome will ever be being cheered for by bernstein in the pits oh absolutely bernstein desperately needs for dome to beat larsen to prevent him from running any more points mike clover gets predome back into place it's been 12 years since pradome has seen a victory here at indianapolis raceway park for larsen will he scored his first nationals victory in a career that spans over three decades just last year at the cajun nationals so he certainly has a lot on the line here against the great don verdon after what we saw with mike dunn and don tradome i don't think you're going to see the snake very uh selective about who stages first yeah snake is not going to be uh trying to run larson's race he's going to stage when his car is ready to go and they are both in it's a beautiful start the nigel flames looking at the fiberglass bodies it is dawn fredo a dream weekend for the snake 527 defeats larson's 5 37. like a 5 27 he's done it again at the u.s national uh it would have been nice to set the record but uh we'll take the sweep we're all happy i can't say enough it's been a long week i'd like to thank the crew we've got a great crew and dana kimmel larry dixon jr troy tronson all the guys curtis dipple all the guys that helped this week people from the rear end company u.s gear they made a set of rearing gears for us to let us run these kind of elapsed times this week historic time maybe it's the last win in a funny car for him oh well there's some races left we can do some more winning this year and we're going to go to texas a race so uh maybe we'll see some more teens down there in texas we look forward to it congratulations well that's what you want done girl it's a crew chief who is never satisfied who always wants more that's right as we watch this replay of this start we can see that larson was getting his act together they make a beautiful start they come out side by side where you know generally all day long larson had been late driving around he's got but he knew he wasn't going to drive around the snake it was in fact the snake driving around larson at mid-track and he went on to take this win in grand style it's been a long time maybe never have we seen oh a funny car performance like this man put on this weekend you won in your own style a throat ripping back breaking performance well thank you steve i tell you i owe it all to skull pontiac and my my crew mike clover dana larry all the guys uh troy did a tremendous job you know we've been struggling in the first part of the year and to come here to indy it's been a it's been a special race for me since 1965 the first time i wanted there was no messing around on the starting line this time larson went right up in stage in fact he overstayed yes he did i but i knew he was going to overstage and push the light and i just uh did the best i could do and uh try and get off as good as i could with him because he's off a good driver can you look back now and believe how flawless this weekend has been it's just been wonderful and i don't even know what the at was can you tell me 27 doesn't matter that's great yeah it's just really running consistent i wish we could have set the national record while we were here we were hoping on the last run we'd do it but there's going to be more races and to win the u.s nationals and what might be your last appearance in a funny car special yeah that's what makes it uh really really special because i am going to top fuel and and this is where i started out indy here you know in 65 with a top fuel car and and to end my career in a funny car at this race is uh great and once again i just got to thank my sponsor school our best thank you very much steve look out top fuel snake's on his way you can certainly tell the importance of the u.s nationals by the emotion that the snake is displaying here for us a lot of emotion about to take place on the starting line the final combatant the kings of the sport top fuel dragsters and two teams who come to the starting line with total confidence we've seen it all day long with dick lahaye and with daryl gwynne and i have to agree with something don garland said a bit earlier there is the potential here for the first side-by-side four second run earlier in the day paul page found a very interesting story that relates to daryl quinn well steve as well you know in the pits you get approached a lot of times by people who will hand you their business card because they have some concern about drag racing that they'd like to talk about well it's happened to me this is the business card by the chief executive officer and the president of the daryl gwen fan club well let's meet that top executive now romney franks this is uh this is your organization how come you're so interested well i just was watching a race the winter nationals 87 winter nationals and i saw daryl wren and i just picked him why was he special for you he's a neat guy i know i don't know i can't remember it just kind of turned on for you yep how many members of this organization now around 100 do you have a newsletter do you get together um we're working on that now and what about you and your future career are you going to run fan clubs all your life or maybe you're going to run a top fuel dragster probably a top field you're extra all right this may be one of the stars of the future robbie franks steve and robbie comes all the way from lake elsinore california to root for the man from florida daryl gwen in the far lane big daddy your thoughts well i'm looking at the two cars they're so evenly matched we have the potential for a four second run as steve said earlier look at jerry gwen how important this race is you can see it in his face he wants to win but i think that lahay still has that slight advantage on the starting line and to the end of the race he's he just runs so good today and lahey is off the mark first but has problems daryl gwen eight rocket ships down that far lane has won the us nationals at 504 280 miles per hour the crew is delirious a firework show for daryl gwen as he circles at the end of the racetrack just goes to show you can never make decisions in drag racing anybody can win ken that's a dancing crew but you've done it the u.s nationals title is yours with a 504. we're i mean we couldn't we couldn't be any happier everything was perfect we just ran it hard enough to try and get down that lane i mean we were afraid of the lane and we just we not tried to be stellar we just wanted to go down the drag strip well it got the job done congratulations you got it harold gwen takes the u.s and paul we're told that dick lahaye had a supercharger drive failure he definitely left first don yes in the advantage that lahay took at the starting line it would have only taken a 507 for him to win the race but that only counts in horseshoes gwen won it with three 504s in a row three times darryl glenn has been disappointed in the final round at the u.s nationals not this afternoon you got it this is it i've been here three or four times in the final there ain't nothing like winning the granddaddy of them all i just like to say thank you to these people right here they do so much for me and make me feel so at home it makes me drive better that's how much better they make me feel were you confident in that lane you ran a 504 well we did what we thought that lane could handle and take a risk that lahay might mess up and that's exactly what we did he broke apparently right off the starting line a fantastic job all weekend this has salvaged your year more than that even you got that right i counted gainesville as winning two races because it's such a good one for my hometown but this is like winning five or six like we did last year thank you well obviously a very important victory as daryl gwen takes his first u.s nationals title a special salute to all the winners at the u.s nationals you've already seen the pros top alcohol dragster tom conway pat austin and hop alcohol funny car joe fica in comps super stock jim boudreau stock rj sledge super gas gary sheenan and john myers in pro stock motorcycle this is paul page for don garlits and steve evans so long from the 35th u.s nationals the executive producer for american sports cavalcade is harvey m palash produced and directed by john b mullen promotional consideration provided for and 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 and by this special offer from diamond p 1989 is one drag racing season you won't want to forget 19 national nature events championships too close to call and some spectacular incidents that's why you should order diamond p videos drag racing 89 and we've added 30 minutes this year that means 120 minutes of drag racing for just 39.95 for avoiding the christmas rush diamond p sports is giving away a free hat with every drag racing 89 ordered before september 30th i sold five of them just standing there i even bought one so call 1-800-453-8800 now drag racing 89 will be shipped to you in early november that's 1-800-453-8800 for drag racing 89 39.95 plus 350 shipping and handling visa and mastercard accepted no cods offered void after september 30th 1989. the american sports cavalcade is a presentation

Channel: Calvin Walker

Views: 560

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: yjFTHy23DGc

Length: 87min 56sec (5276 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 31 2020