NHRA Drag Racing'87

[Music] they said 1986 was the year garlic's third world championship bernstein's bunny card domination [Music] glidden's amazing comeback all the records the crowds it was a season unequal until 1987. [Music] historians will come to call this season of nhra championship drag racing the year of wonder the year every wild dream about performance speed elapsed time was fulfilled the year of first time winners and new world champions they said nothing could top 1986 but that was before 1987. for 10 months they travel the country the racers competing in nhra's winston world championships visiting 14 tracks battling for their share of a million dollar jackpot the battle begins in pomona at the season opening nhra chief auto parts winter nationals this event always sees records broken and this year was no exception as kenny bernstein in qualifying established a new elapsed time record at 5.48 seconds [Music] there was lots of action and excitement in the first round of top fuel eliminator tim morgan was in the far lane and had trouble morgan's car slid down the racetrack then overturned the engine was still running when it finally came to a halt on all four wheels morgan climbed from the car uninjured pro stock eliminator found a race in round number two that was to set the stage for the season butch liel in his pontiac was in the near lane bob glidden in the ford thunderbird was in the far lane [Music] a great start for butch lille and a close win for the pontiac leo used that starting line advantage to take the victory leo ran 752 glidden much quicker at a 7 45. in the finals of pro stock eliminator leel in his pontiac was racing against warren johnson johnson in the o's mobile was in the far lane leo in the near lane the advantage at the start again to leo but the horsepower of the oathmobile of johnson was evident and warren johnson won his first ever winter nationals title the final of funny car pitted not two racers against each other but two countries against each other graham cowan the aussie raider was in the near lane racing against kenny bernstein the australian and american flags were flying from the bush vehicles as these two cars approached the starting line kenny bernstein was looking for his first ever winter nationals win graham cowan out of sydney australia was looking for his first ever nhra win on any racetrack a great start for bernstein problem set in for graham cowan when the engine let go and a ball of flame erupted out of that pontiac funny car bernstein streaked to the finish line at a 5.49 second elapsed time as graham cowan brought the car to a slowing stop at the end of the track in slow motion it is even more graphically evident the size of the explosion in graham cowan's car at the time the engine let go bernstein had already pulled away to a commanding lead and when cowan's engine exploded the race was over at that point bernstein was the winter nationals champion [Music] the top fuel final brought joe amato and his wife jerry to the starting line with their trw hearst special in the far lane of the race track was don garlits the reigning world champion he won the title a year ago becoming the first driver ever to win back to back winston top fuel title he's now tied with shirley muldowney with three world championships to his credit and here at the winter nationals started off the 1987 season much as he ended and dominated 1986 making it the final round to race against joe amato garlits with his car super streamlined in the front the canopy over the roll cage amato a more conventional style dragster it was a great start for garland and his super shop kendall dragster continued to extend the lead 5.29 seconds his speed 270 miles an hour as the world champion won the chief auto parts winter national so coming out of the all-important first race of the season big daddy don garlits and kenny bernstein picked up where they left off in 86 each leading their respective category pro stock driver warren johnson won his first winter nationals the first time he's had the early points lead [Music] gainesville raceway in gainesville florida is the home of the motorcraft gator nationals that was the next stop on the 1987 winston world championship trail and it saw record-shattering performances in qualifying daryl guinn had driven his budweiser special to a new elapsed time record a new low e t mark of 5.22 seconds to accept the official record you must run a backup within one percent of the new record in the second round against shirley muldowney that's what daryl gwen was aiming for it was a tremendous race and daryl guinn ran 5.26 seconds backing up his earlier record i can't believe it i'll tell you what the heat of the day 526 in front of my hometown fans this bud's for you like a little bit of heaven huh you bet this is heaven right here tell me about the ride itself did you see shirley it all down the course no i never did matter of fact i had to hold the brake in low gear because it spun the tires on the drive burn out but uh we got two more rounds to go so you were using the brake as an acceleration tool really it smoked the tires on the drive my dad told me when i backed up in the drive burnout just to tug on the brake just a tiny bit so that's what we did it worked great job thank you billy meyer and the chief auto parts special provided his own brand of excitement in funny car qualifying an engine explosion as billy hit the throttle when he was trying to make a qualifying attempt left a shambles of a 35 000 high-tech engine billy was uninjured in this incident but the crew faced a tremendous amount of work trying to get the car and body back together in the first round of competition it happened once again not quite as spectacular as in qualifying but the end result was the same also in the first round of competition don pradome returning to the sport after a year-long layoff faced a long-time rival tom mcewen redome won this race with a 5.70 second elapsed time and advanced through the second round into the semi-finals where he matched against the reigning world champion kenny bernstein rodon failed to qualify at the winter nationals but at the motorcraft gator nationals he was showing the form that carried him to four world championship titles but home had a smooth start but bernstein ran into problems and tagged the outside guardrail brew dome advanced into the finals of the gator nationals as you can see it was bernstein with his hands full when the car made a sudden move to the left and into that concrete retaining wall the finals of pro stock eliminator matched forward against pontiac butch lille against bob glidden continuing the rivalry that began a race earlier at the winter nationals and glidden left the starting line too soon handing the automatic victory to lille taking the nationwide pontiac across the finish line and the gator nationals championship title the funny car finals found dawn predome racing against johnny west west drives for roland leon don prudhomme used to drive for london leong many years ago and won a number of national event titles at the wheel of a rollingly on tuned car at the start johnny west ran into problems a flash of fire came out from underneath the car redome streaked on to take his first win in five years annie's first gator nationals championship since 1980. a disappointed johnny west was still looking for his first national event victory while the skull bandit crew was obviously happy [Applause] a brand new race team winning the second time out did you ever even believe that was possible well really well you know not exactly i figured we're gonna have to struggle a little bit more than we did to get in the winner's circle we had a couple of good breaks steve you know bernstein's car is obviously still the killer car and uh we're gonna take this car home back to california and run and test and work on it because i'd like to win the championship again the finals of top fuel eliminator found the new national elapsed time record holder daryl gwen in the near lane of the racetrack matched against joe amato joe was in his third consecutive final round appearance that streak dated back to the winston finals a year ago gwen had to be considered the favorite in this race by virtue of his establishing that new elapsed time mark at 5.22 seconds but a great hole shot by joe amato plus some outstanding performances put amano in the winner's circle for daryl gwen it was a record-shattering weekend but not a victory [Music] elation reigns supreme in the joe amato camp and on the basis of two final round appearances joe amato had taken over the top fuel points lead from garland kenny bernstein well he had everyone talking could he possibly be stopped pro stock butch lille two final round appearances he now had the lead in pro stock [Music] next on the agenda for the nhra winston championship season was dallas texas the texas motorblacks and the winston all-stars a brand new race in 1987 this event matched the 10 best drivers in each of the three professional categories prior to the actual racing a number of social events occurred as this was the gathering of the true all-stars of drag racing very similar to the all-star type format in major league baseball the texas motorflex provided a fitting challenge for the all-star drivers that participated in this race on the one hand this track provided the traction necessary for outstanding elapsed time and speed records but on the other hand if you got into problems it was a difficult racetrack to cope with that was evidenced in this qualifying match-up between bob glidden at the wheel of the motorcraft thunderbird and dempsey hardy in the osmobile glitten went through the quarter mile in a new elapsed time record of 7.31 seconds hardy had problems [Music] dempsey managed to keep the car upright and was uninjured in the accident in the first round of top fuel eliminator daryl gwen was riding a crest of a wave he had established a new elapsed time mark of 5.17 seconds and was racing against dick lahaye in the miller american special in round number one [Music] a giant wheel stand for daryl gwen put him out of competition dick lahaye advanced into round number two in funny car racing kenny bernstein qualified in the 540s was running five 30s throughout the race mike dunn driving joe fazano's car had run over 273 miles an hour in koala bike that was one of the fastest speeds ever but records were not available for setting at this event due to the invitation only all-star format this was a race of the quickest against the fastest mike dunn ran into problems his engine let go he got the parachutes out and brought the car to a safe stop as kenny bernstein advanced into the finals the engine explosion and resulting fire in mike dunn's car was quickly brought under control by the onboard fire extinguishing system required by nhra a scary moment that ended well for mike dunn while joe lapone waited on technical approval for his new chevy beretta pro stalker he borrowed back his old car from a year ago to race against warren johnson in the finals of pro stock johnson at the wheel of the mr goodranch mobile forensa had a lot of power at his disposal and he used every bit of it to eke out a win over joe lapone and take home the 15 000 first place award at the winston all-stars the use of a borrowed car carried over into funny car eliminator kenny bernstein at the wheel of the budweiser king raced against the kodiak blue max but it was not raymond beedle at the wheel it was tom mckeown referred to for this weekend at least as the blue goose mcewen had established some all-time personal best performances at the wheel of this car but it was no match for kenny bernstein as bernstein took home 30 thousand dollars in winston prize money with a 5.36 second elapsed time the finals in top fuel eliminators saw dan pastorini at the wheel of the coors light silver bullet against dick lahaye and the miller american special the weather which had been bad all weekend finally took a turn for the worst the rains came and the closest either driver would get to actual competition was a foot race whether on foot or behind the wheel of their race car the staging procedure is the same dick lahaye left the starting line too soon he left the red light glowing but needless to say dan pastorini did not collect the thirty thousand dollar first place award at this event that competition was moved to the next race on the nhra winston trail the nationwide auto parts stv southern nationals at atlanta georgia before the actual competition got underway one thing was left to be decided from dallas and that was who will take home the 30 000 top fuel award in the winston all-star race dick lahaye had to be considered the favorite pastorini had been having engine problems all weekend despite the performance advantage no one was counting pastorini out as this was the site of the former nfl quarterback's first ever national event win a year ago pastorini's engine problems continued to plague him lahaye streaked on for the first ever winston all-star victory and thirty thousand dollars in this first round race joe amato was against gary ormsby ormsby smoked the tires and amato smoked it through the quarter mile to set a new speed record at over 279 miles an hour in the second round of racing in top fuel daryl gwen had his eyes on a new national record he was the number one qualifier at a 5.23 seconds daryl was racing against his fellow floridian don garlits garlit since his winter nationals win had been having lots of problems don qualified well at the southern nationals in the number five spot but seem to lack the consistency that he is famous for garlits exploded an engine and gwen set a new national elapsed time record at 5.2046 garlic's problems continued on this run this was a rather rare occasion for don garlits very seldom do you see the swamp rat explode into a ball of flame but the problems internally in the engine caused the backfire through the supercharger which then blew it off the motor resulting in that ball of fire i cannot remember the last time big daddy exploded a supercharger no one is easier on parts and pieces in this veteran but don that was quite a kaboomer i haven't seen you do that in a long time something must have dropped a valve i guess there seems to be a rash of that going on particularly in the funny car came but they don't know what it is at least you have an idea here well it has to get firing a manifold from something and obviously something it was because it wasn't doing anything wrong it was just kind of moving along all of a sudden it backfired how did it feel to you before this happened it was decent just making a good move you know it wasn't nothing spectacular but in money car qualifying ed mcculloch lined up in the far lane of the track jim head in the nearly a tremendous driving job by ed mccullough kept the miller american car from overturning as the car left the starting line it immediately moved to the right ed corrected the car started out of control as it crossed over the center line it ran into the rear of jim head then rocked up on the left wheels and header pipes sliding down the racetrack mcculloch brought the car back to four wheels and drove it to a safe stop billy myers problems continued at the southern nationals in the second round against john force meyer was lined up in the far lane of the racetrack [Music] on what appeared to be a good run billy meyer had another engine explosion the body blew off the car meyer and the chassis bounced to a stop as he spun it out in the racetrack and climbed from the car in slow motion you can see the body just peeling away from the vehicle after the engine exploded the resulting flames went down very quickly and meyer in the four-wheel equivalent of a texas bucking bronc wrote it to a safe stop this has proven to be a very frustrating and expensive season thus far for billy meyer the finals of pro stock eliminator found a rematch of the recent gator nationals bob glidden a loser by a red light at the gator nationals raced against butch liel at the wheel of the pontiac coming into the finals despite 52 national event victories glidden had not won at this atlanta track but there is always a first and for bob glenn 1987 saw him the victor at the southern [Applause] nationals well i'm standing next to one proud bird and one very proud hoosier you've finally conquered atlanta bob glidden i'll tell you what i not only conquered atlanta after the episode that went on here last year but i finally be legal in a final this is the first race we've won all one all year you know i know the people at ford and people motorcraft are going to be glad to see the thunderbird come through finally in the funny car finals at the southern nationals the reigning world champion kenny bernstein was racing against john force this was the ninth final round appearance without a win for john force at the wheel of the castro gtx mobile bernstein got a good start and a four-car length victory over john force his elapsed time a 5.5 second run the top fuel finals saw the number one and two points leaders in the winston world series at this point joe amato and daryl gwen go into the final round this was another race of the quickest versus the fastest joe amato had set a new speed record while daryl gwynne had established a new elapsed time record whoever ended up the winner came out of this race with the lead in the winston championship points chase problem set in for joe amato as he neared the finish line and daryl gwen won his southern nationals title 5.29 seconds was his elapsed time what a season for top fuel three races three points leaders as darrell cohen used all of his bonus points to head the list funny carp while kenny bernstein putting further distance between he and his competitors pro stock butch lee three final rounds the points lead continues staying in the deep south the winston championship trail moved from atlanta to baton rouge louisiana for the citgo kmart cajun nationals the finals of pro stock eliminators saw the first championship round appearance of bruce allen at the wheel of the levi garrett camaro of rare and morrison from arlington texas allen had the dubious distinction of racing against butch liel making his fourth consecutive final round appearance thus far this year butch defeated bob clinton in the semi-finals a close start for both drivers but butch leal had the advantage by half track as problems set in for bruce allen and leo with a 7.53 second elapsed time extended his lead in the winston points chase the funny car points leader and defending world champion kenny bernstein was once again in the finals this time at the cajun nationals against johnny west johnny enjoyed his second final round appearance this season he finished in the runner-up spot to don bradom at the gator nationals once again west had problems this time he crossed over the center line gave the win at that point to kenny bernstein who notched his third victory out of four races thus far this season johnny west had problems from the very start as his car left the starting line it began a move to the right that did not come to an end until he had crossed the center line and had disqualified himself for the fourth time in four races thus far this short season joe amato was in the final round of an nhra championship drag race his competition was dick lahaye this was a race between the two top qualifiers at the cajun nationals amato had to be considered the favorite based on qualifying he finished in the number one spot while lahay found his performance potential and qualified number two a tremendous race evolved at the very start and it was just as close at the finish dick lahaye won the race by a matter of a few inches amato had a very slight advantage at the starting line but this was one of those classic drag races where neither driver knew who had won the race until they had an opportunity to talk with the crew at the end of the racetrack for dick lahaye a happy moment his first win of the year and an improvement in his point standing well no one had been able to keep joe amato out of a final round so far in the season he continued to lead the point but could hear dicklehey coming as lahay moved into the third spot just behind gwen kenny bernstein continued dominant and butch leo opened up his points laid over bob glidden [Music] columbus ohio was the site of the fifth race of this season as national trail raceway hosted the budweiser spring nationals in the second round of funny car eliminator kenny bernstein had his share of problems the smoke that came from the headers on this race car indicated severe engine damage and bernstein was forced to shut off the engine that automatically gave the wind to don brudeau this was only the second time this season that bernstein had lost a race and both times it had been lost to prado [Music] if the fans at columbus thought it was a rare occurrence to see kenny bernstein shut off on the starting line how about top fuel eliminator joe amato raced against gary ormsby in the semi-finals ormsby at the wheel of the castrol gtx special was in the far lane of the racetrack don't forget joe amato had been in four consecutive final rounds but it was not to be at columbus as first he smoked the tires and then exploded an engine it was instant tire smoke for amato as he left the starting line then some problems in the engine caused a huge ball of fire as the supercharger exploded for the yamato team it was not a normal weekend the finals of pro stock bob glidden against butch leo once again these two drivers have now raced each other in every national event thus far this season including the winston all-star race leo held the one loss advantage three to two over clinton [Music] [Applause] clinton evened the score at columbus winning his 54th national event title [Music] billy meyer moved into the finals of funny car eliminator to race against the hometown favorite jim head head a construction engineer is based in columbus ohio and the huge crowd was rooting on their favorite fire had apparently solved the engine problems that had plagued him in the early part of the season despite what appeared to be a red light billy meyer and jim ed both had a clean start head began to drift towards the center line and was forced to shut it off and billy meyer was the winner so a long hot day has come to an end for billy meyer but he's not thinking about that right now your 11th nhra national title been a long time since the 10th though yeah i think uh some of my guys will be uh even though we've been fighting around every year to be uh three years which is hard for us to believe next week so i'm glad it didn't go to three years i'm keeping the two-year range gary ormsby made his first final round appearance since the cajun nationals of 1986 in what appeared to be a brand new race car actually he used part of the old streamliner that he had campaigned for over a year and a half converting it to a more conventional style dragster and in doing so picked up some tremendous performance gains he raced against dick lahaye in the spring nationals finals the hay had the advantage off the starting line ormsby spoke to dyers and lahaye won the spring nationals this was the second event in a row for dick lahaye to visit the victory circle for gary ormsby the tire smoke the loss of traction put him out of contention for the spring nationals crowd even though joe amato failed to make the final round for the first time in 87 he continued to hold the top fuel points lead the dick lahay with two consecutive victories starting to make a motto and gwen in second place very nervous kenny bernstein dominated all the way and bob glidden got closer to butch leo's points lead with his victory the next stop on the national event trail was montreal quebec canada and the molson grand national in a real turnabout in performance both kenny bernstein and bob glidden were defeated in the first round of racing for butch lille he continued his amazing string of final round appearances this was his sixth this season racing against leo in the final was bruce allen the starting line advantage for butch leo was the margin of victory at the finish as leo won his third race this season in the grand nationale funny car finals ed mcculloch was considered the underdog the favorite not only with the fans but based upon his performance was the man who was making his 10th final round appearance john force force had yet to win a national event title but this was his day as mcculloch lost traction and john force won the grand national top fuel eliminator saw the two dominant cars in competition dick lahaye against joe amato joe had been in the final round of five nhra national events winning one for dick lahaye he was aiming for his third straight national event title this was a rematch of the finals at the cajun nationals in this case dick lahaye was the number one qualifier joe amato was number two another tremendous race and dick lahaye won his third consecutive title tying an nhra record and that third victory for lahaye vaulted him around daryl gwynne into the second position in top fuel points joe amato started to see his lead being eroded in funny car the big story john force his first win moved him from fifth to third and butch lille could breathe a little easier with a thousand point lead over glidden the state of new jersey was the next location for the national event trail as englishtown hosted the budweiser summer national in qualifying dick lahaye had established a new national record at 5.17 seconds that level of performance continued through the first two rounds of competition and brought lahay into a head-to-head confrontation with joe amato in the semi-finals lahay was looking for his fourth consecutive top fuel title which would have established a new record [Music] but dire smoke off the starting line took lahay out of contention and a motto moved on to the summer nationals finals records were also established by funny car driver mike dunn in qualifying he had run 270 miles an hour and with this run of over 268 mike dunn resets the official national record that win over tom mcewen moved on into the semi-finals where he raced kenny bernstein dunn smoked the tires and bernstein crossed the finish line first and advanced into the finals pro stock eliminator saw a first-time finalist jerry ekman from vendura california race against the veteran bruce allen this was the third final round appearance this season for allen his last win came at the 1985 grand national ekman pulled ahead at the start and maintained the lead through the finish line to take his first ever national event victory i was so thrilled to win it's just such a thrill it's like i said it's those once in a lifetime thrills that come your way and i was so happy for myself for bill orndorff and the crew ron swift that we were able to pull this off and our new sponsor john waldy we're just thrilled to death the finals of funny car eliminator found a continuation of the rivalry between kenny bernstein and mark oswald oswald driving the motorcraft thunderbird of candies and hughes was a three-time winner last season and oswald pulled the parachute early bernstein was the winner for the fourth time this year oswald in his first final round this season had a very slight advantage over bernstein at mid-court by the time they approached the finish line oswald had built a lead of a few feet [Music] then as they approached the speed traps oswald miscalculated pulled the parachute early and bernstein by inches won the race in an incredible display of season-long performance joe amato made his sixth final round appearance at the summer nationals he raced against gary ormsby and amato went into a giant wheel stand when the car came back to the racing surface severely damaged was the front end the engine also had problems and ormsby streaked on for the win amato's giant wheel stand started just a few hundred feet off the starting line and then it slammed back to the pavement and the engine let go an incredible set of circumstances for a motto six times he's been to the finals and yet only once has he won well joe's back didn't hurt quite as much when he saw that he was still leading the top fuel point he and lahay starting to pull away from the competition john forest he moved into the number two spot behind bernstein and butch leo going out in round number one to glidden while glidden serve noticed he was planning a mid-season charge from the near sea level conditions in new jersey the nhra national event trail next moved to the rarified atmosphere of denver colorado and the mile high national in one of the most important races of the day dick lahaye was matched against frank bradley bradley at the wheel of the newman farm special was considered the underdog but as lahaye smoked the tires bradley moved ahead by a few inches and that was the margin of victory that win in the semi finals brought the upset minded frank bradley into the final round against joe amato surprise surprise for the seventh time this season amado was in the final frank bradley's victory skein started in 1976 his last win came at the 1984 summer national [Music] amato built up a lead off the starting line that was not challenged by bradley and joe amato won his second top fuel title of 1987. the pro stock finals at the mile high nationals found bob clinton against bruce allen in the classic ford versus chevy battle glidden earlier had defeated butch lille in the semi-finals lyndon won the race and began a strong move towards another world championship title [Music] kenny bernstein against john force that was the finals in funny car eliminator while bernstein smoked the tire slightly he was able to recover and pulled ahead of john force to take home the mile high championship [Music] the winston point standings in top fuel and funny car remain pretty much status quo the big story in pro stock with glidden taking out lille and the semis he moved within 100 points of the lead you'll recall in 86 this was the race where glinton mounted his charge from denver colorado to the land of ten thousand lakes brainerd minnesota was host to the next national event this the quaker state north star nationals the long-awaited debut of don garland's brand new car took place at this event and swamp rat 31 went down to defeat at the hands of daryl gwen in the first round of competition also in round number one the man that was leading the winston points chase by nearly a thousand points joe amato received an upset loss at the hands of gene snow [Music] in pro stock eliminator the winner of this race would be in control of the winston points chase bob glidden defeated butch leal to take over the lead in pro stock eliminator in the final round bob glidden and his ford raced against the chevrolet beretta of bruce allen the rare and morrison car was making its second consecutive final round appearance having lost to glidden at the recent mile high nationals the improved aerodynamics of the beretta body over the previous chevrolet camaro have obviously paid dividends for the rare and morrison team allen had the advantage off the starting line and in a reversal of what occurred one year ago at the north star nationals allen defeated glidden what a victory for you what a leave off the starting line i can't i'm i can't tell how happy i am for chevrolet levi garrett buddy and dave all the guys at the shop we've been working hard i mean i this is great i can't i'm i'm the happiest guy you've ever seen just like pro stock eliminator the funny car finals at the north star nationals was a rematch of the mile high race kenny bernstein was in the far lane against john force kenny had built up a commanding lead in the winston championship series to this point and was making his third consecutive final round appearance in fact he had won the previous two events bernstein's dominance continued at brainerd minnesota as he put away john force with an elapsed time of 5.60 seconds [Applause] the finals in top fuel at the north star nationals matched daryl gwen against dan pastorini in his march to the finals the former nfl football star turned professional drag racer was matched against dick lahaye in the semi-final lahey was considered the favorite as he was now improving on his point standings in the winston championship series but pastorini proved to be the upset maker in this case a lot of tire smoke loss of traction for la and bastorini moved into the finals but mechanical problems put him out of competition and that gave the win to daryl gwen the victory for daryl provided a dramatic improvement in his standings in the winston series and that made a three-way race of it between daryl gwen joe amato and dick lahaye for dan pastorini his second national event win still eluded him joe amato's upset in round number one allowed dick lahaye to continue to gain ground on the top fuel leader in pro stock bob lynn not only defeated burt's liel in round number one but drove around him in the points column to boot the first time we'd had a new name at the top since the winter nationals next on the agenda was the biggest drag race of them all the us nationals at indianapolis indiana the three-time top fuel champion don garlits was not in competition at this race as the result of a horrendous crash suffered at spokane washington the car went into a 200 mile an hour wheel stand at the finish line and overturned the injuries sustained by don though not serious were enough to keep him out of competition for the remainder of the year [Music] the record book was shattered in pro stock qualifying bob glidden and his ford thunderbird ran a speed of over 191 miles an hour i think uh in our case the aero people the engineers at ford motor company have given us a lot of help on that in that area and our car is really stable at 190. mike dunn rewrote the record book once again in qualifying he ran over 278 miles an hour getting very close to that magic 280 mark in the first round of competition dunn ran 274 and set that as the record well this car's been running fast all year when kenny went 274 uh you know we felt we could run 275 276 if we get her hooked up off the starting line and uh p78 that's a little mind-boggling but you know hey we'll take it while dunn was close amato was there the first driver ever over 280 miles an hour i've gotten breathless even you know me i never run out of tim richards put a combination we made a good run this morning and he was felt confident that the car so he told me we would go from ludicrous speed that was the word we were talking about for the last hour overnight ludicrous speed just kidding no he's been serious he was serious he said it's either gonna work real good or real bad he said it was the most change he's ever made in the motor for one one step but he said no you got to try it everybody's been talking about all week here's 280 280 and then he seems to place the run 280 and they run 280 here at 525 and end up low e.t it doesn't get any better that steve in addition to the us nationals indianapolis raceway park also hosted the mr gasket pro stock challenge the defending champ bruce allen was driving the chevy beretta bob glidden in the ford thunderbird trying for his first ever pro stock challenge win by a couple of car lengths bob clinton was the pro stock challenge champion [Music] the eight best bunny cars in the world met in the big bud shootout in the finals mark oswald was against john force oswald lost traction forced [Applause] [Music] my sponsors my crew my wife [Music] austin coyle baddest person i know and all the people up there i love all of you they love you got no words here man i understand john force has been waiting so long for this an earlier national event when in montreal canada was not televised many of his fans were unable to see it and here is the crew for john force the biggest payday in this man's professional drag racing career the finals in pro stock eliminators saw bob glidden trying to win his third consecutive u.s nationals title and his eighth overall nationals win that string started way back in 1975 racing against him what's the chevrolet camaro driver out of the wayne county speed shop daryl alderman [Music] alderman made a race of it but glidden was not to be denied and bob glidden won the u.s nationals bob glidden that's eight u.s national titles that's right steve the thunderbird was thundering today for sure i'll tell you i know how i feel adam the kids have got to feel great right now daryl did give us a good race montauk neck to neck till half track uh damn i'm i'm telling you this was a little tougher race for you than it might have looked like from the grandstand well yes the prayer round we had wheel hop really bad got crossed up nearly hit butch uh we had no idea what was going to happen we kind of threw the dice we told daryl we were going to take the right lane and then well we decided we'd take the left lane so i guess the boys made the right decision again terrific job congratulations thank you steve thank you the dominant force in funny car racing kenny bernstein was matched against the fastest funny car in the world that of joe pizzano driven by the defending u.s nationals champion mike dunn coming into this final round bernstein had only won this race once before that back in 1983. there was concern within bernstein's crew because of an engine change that took place after the semifinals dunn smoked the tires and bernstein streaked on for the win [Applause] [Music] [Applause] can you believe you're even here no it's hard and you said it the crew dale armstrong mike wood jim male charlie nielsen and they all daryl gwen's crew and all our friends that john mcewen was in there my goose the cruz goose come in there and held everybody we couldn't do it without them i'll tell you and budweiser quaker state and buick and a 553 i mean they just came right back with a bare short block motor well they did dale does it that way that's the way he hasn't prepared because he changes the combination so much but you never worry if you don't run out of time but they put on the kangaroo shoes and ran hard on that one steve indeed kenny bernstein u.s national champion again it's a great one i'll tell you there's nothing better than the us nationals nothing the leaders in the world championship points chase met in the final round of top fuel eliminator dick lahaye raced joe amado amato attempting to back up his 280 mile an hour run an added dimension to the story was that neither driver had ever won this race before what would it mean to joe amato to win his first ever u.s nationals in top fuel well steve to win the nationals the big one of all time and hopefully set the speed record and back it up in the final that'll be a storybook ending and a dream come true i don't know if i could take it it's probably the most important race in my whole career it uh you know this is a grandfather of all drag racing it's the biggest drag race of the year and uh doing this would just be astounding i mean i i would probably be lost for words to be dressed with and we'll have to wait and see what happens at the other end there was a tremendous amount of importance riding on this single race at the u.s nationals first there was the bonus points by virtue of the size and prestige of the nationals bonus points in the winston championship chase are awarded to the winner there was the possibility that joe amato could pick up the bonus points that are paid by virtue of establishing a new national record for dick lahaye a win would move him even closer to the points leader armado amato got the lead off the starting line it was a close race at the finish but joe amato won his first ever u.s nationals title oh steve told me it was going to do that to you okay that's okay i'm not excited nothing god the u.s nationals tim told me it was going to be real tight he said but you're going to have to weld them to the tree you know we've been driving real good all day and i've been just concentrating a real lot on the tree and i've been getting real good lights and you know i've gotten my eyes picked out the last race so i came here with the idea that i know i was going to have to do real good and thank god they gave me enough power to do it amado's performance in the final round was not enough to back up the 283 mile per hour record for bonus points but has won over la haye moved him further into the top fuel points lead kenny bernstein bob lydden both also padded their margins reading pennsylvania was the next stop after indianapolis and the castrol gtx keystone nationals rain forced a one-week delay in eliminations and as a result created a tune and test day for the racers kenny bernstein took advantage of it and that proved disastrous [Music] [Music] bernstein's car out of control on fire ran off the racetrack and ended up upside down in a swampy area at the end of maple grove raceway [Music] bernstein's car suffered mechanical problems part way through the run that in turn led to the engine explosion which engulfed the entire car and the cockpit in flames the engine continued to pump fuel through the broken fuel lines that fed the flames and bernstein sat at the core of a 200 mile an hour fireball [Music] bernstein extricated from the wreckage by the nhra safety safari crew was uninjured in the accident the car did not fare quite so well but after an all-night session the crew was able to rebuild the chassis put on a spare body and kenny bernstein returned to competition where kenny's luck took a change for the better in the first round bernstein received a buy run that allowed him to check out the rebuilt race car in the semi-finals it was bernstein against mark oswald the defending champion [Music] oswald had been the performance leader and that proved to be true in the semi-finals when he put away kenny bernstein with a 5.52 second elapsed time in the first round of top fuel eliminator the crowd favorite joe amato from old forge pennsylvania set both ends of the national record he had an elapsed time of 5.11 at a speed of 280.37 in the second round amano not only backed up the 280 but actually improved on it to 280.98 miles an hour to take the national record in the semi-finals against gary ormsby amado was looking to back up the elapsed time record of 5 11. at this point in the season amato is looking for points from any source as he is locked in a struggle with dick lahaye and daryl gwen and a motto left too soon no national e.t record on this run first time finalist tony christian brought the volante and earl pontiac firebird to the starting line to race against bob glidden in the pro stock final clinton was seeking his 57th national event title at this race while christian had a good start he did not have the power necessary to compete against clinton and bob moved even closer to a world championship title [Applause] john force took a unique means of wishing a happy anniversary to his wife lori as he lined up in the finals against mark oswalt this a rematch of the recent big bud shootout at indianapolis oswald was still looking for his first national event win of the 1987 season he had been the dominant car at this event oswald had defeated not only kenny bernstein but don brudome and billy meyer to reach the finals to race against john force and force instantly smoked the tires that put him out of competition and mark oswald with a 5.49 second elapsed time took home his first win of the year i mean we've struggled this year steve every little thing that could go wrong did him i'm just happy for motorcraft and ford and paul and leonard and everybody on the crew worked so hard you know i feel sorry for john they have to have another runner-up but i didn't want to give it to the him of top fuel eliminator at the keystone nationals found gary ormsby against dick lahaye ormsby received a tremendous break in the semi-finals when the record-shattering joe amato went down to defeat by his own hand he left the starting line too soon and the red light put him out of competition and moved ormsby into the finals after more than two decades in the sport of championship drag racing dick lahaye has enjoyed thus far his best season ever that was highlighted by his second round win over daryl gwen lahay recorded a brilliant 5.12 the last time also close to a new national record his speed on that run was over 279 miles an hour that also very close to the new speed record established by joe amato for lahay in this final round he had a number of thoughts on his mind most important was winning the race but second in order to keep face with the bonus points by virtue of the speed record going to a motto lahaye wanted to back up that e.t record and back it up he did a 5 14 the record and the win you've won it for the second year in a row you got the e.t record of the 5 14. oh i'll tell you what steve i can't thank the lord enough i mean there's been so many prayers going on over there in that camp today that it's unreal because we've been kind of lost coming in these races because we kept smoking the tires and so forth and we finally got it figured out i guess and i'm just thrilled to know and i bet kim is just ecstatic right now well with lahay and amato each setting a national record the bonus points were neutralized but with the win lahay gained some ground mark oswald's first one of the year put him in the third spot behind john force and of course kenny bernstein bob glidden well he continued to run away with it the quest for the world championship moved back to dallas texas and the texas motorplex for the chief nationals a capacity crowd was jammed into the motor flex to watch some of the most exciting action that took place all season joe amato in qualifying ran a best ever 5.09 seconds at over 287 miles an hour also in qualifying gene snow brought out his brand new car and on its second best ever stunned the crowd with the quickest et in history i can't really believe it i mean it's the only second run on this brand new car my crew gene gaddy that built the car i can't believe it it's wonderful yay great while gene snow was celebrating eddie hill crept up and broke the national speed record hill in qualifying sets the record at over 283 miles an hour [Applause] on the funny car front john force established a new et record at 5.39 seconds but then watched as ed mcconnell came out took over the number one qualifying spot with a 5.36 second charge meanwhile mike dunn became the first driver ever to run over 280 miles an hour at the wheel of a funny car not to be outdone bob glidden took his four thunderbirds to a new pro stocky d record that is 7.35 seconds [Applause] all of the excitement of the chief nationals was not in the record-setting department tim gross provided a few thrills of his own the billowing black smoke indicated a serious fire for gross but the nhra safety requirements proved their worth once again as gross came through this massive explosion in fire without injury just about the time the capacity crowd thought they had seen everything the weird stuff began jean snow lost to michael brotherton and dick lahaye lost to glenn mikers [Music] lahaye thought his shot at the world championship was over but wait it's only started joe amato shook the parachute out and lost to jack ostrander a golden opportunity gone forever for joe amato daryl gwen did his best to confuse the world championship points chase he took the e.t record away with a 5.12 elapsed time with that run gwen improved his shot at the world title the gremlins struck in funny car as jon force went up in smoke and jim head took the win [Music] and the capper to the first round saw mike dunn lose to dom hoover [Music] but wait there's more as the top fuel semi-final unfolded daryl glenn raced against gary ormsby [Music] gwen with every victory advancing further up the ladder in the winston points chase it was an incredible run for gwen and another national record 5.09 second elapsed time gwen had over 281 miles an hour as eddie hill watched the action by daryl gwynne he said to himself i can improve on that and he bashed the speed record once again in a semi-final run against glenn mikers hill took the national speed record to a mark of over 285 miles an hour pro stock eliminator final round found butch leo against bob glidden once again but this was the second half of the season and leo had fallen on harder times after a slow start bob glidden had come on strong in the latter half of the year and after winning the u.s nationals had a commanding lead in the points chase at the chief nationals glidden was outburst and out powered leo and took the win at a 7 37 over 187 miles an hour ed mccullough came into the final round of funny car eliminator seeking the backup to his national record for elapsed time mcculloch was racing against the dallas texas favorite raymond beatles after winning two races last year mcculloch had yet to taste victory on the national event trail for 1987. the picture of consistency mcculloch backed up his elapsed time record and won the chief nationals to pick this one off on the world's best track and set the record you backed it up at 5 41. you are the quickest of them all all right stevo you wouldn't even give me a clue no no not to get that element off let me tell you this is great i mean we went through the guys today this is what drag racing's all a little little kiss from raymond battle amen i don't know if that's a reward or not [Music] you two have been best buddies for a long time years and years we go back a long ways you're thrilled i'm thrilled to death as we have seen so often this season the quickest and fastest off times race each other it happened again in the finals of top fuel eliminator at the chief national the new national record holders the e.t holder darrell gwynne raced against the new speed record holder eddie hill kill the texan from wichita falls darrell glenn at the age of 26 from miami florida and once again daryl quinn proved to be dominant with another new record 5.084 that went into the record book [Applause] daryl gwen you have won the chief auto parts nationals a new national record 508. it's about time i won this race i've only been here twice and felt like i've been here for 10 years this place has abused me you know you've always run well but that bad luck that's right we've run well we've set a bunch of records here and this really feels good i'll tell you what well the winsted world championship battles appeared to be over in funny car and pro stock but not among the kings of the sport with his record rampage and his victory daryl go in for the first time since the cajuns moved into position to challenge for the title two races remained on the national event circuit as the tour pulled in to phoenix arizona and the castrol gtx fall nationals at firebird raceway gene snow debuted a brand new car just one race ago and in doing so set the low e.t mark in qualifying at the chief national at the fall nationals he came in the number two qualifier on this run but he also had some engine problems and an ensuing fire snow brought the car to a safe stop he came back in eliminations and made it to the second round where he lost to eddie hill kenny bernstein clinched his funny car title at phoenix as he lost to ed mcculloch just qualifying and making the first round won the title for bernstein the drama still centered on top fuel and what had to be done to win the world championship well you know steve coming into this race here we're 456 points behind uh if we need to set low e.t or top speed or both uh which will accumulate it's a couple or 100 points on that standpoint if we could touch a national record it'd be nice but i don't think it's going to happen at this racetrack with the high altitude and the temperature and the low humidity it's hard to make these cars run as fast as they will replace we also need to go a couple rounds ahead of or finish a couple rounds ahead of gel so that we can accumulate a few points that way uh there's 200 points around and then that way going into the world finals you know we'll be a little bit closer and then we can just race head-to-head for it amato also knew what he had to do joe what do you have to do to fend off dick lahaye for the overall world championship what's your plan well basically we're just going to go out and race you know it's hard to try and look ahead and second guess yourself there's eight rounds of racing left and we've got to do whatever he does within two rounds of that you've been thinking about this oh yeah yeah you run it over in your mind there's no doubt about it you know you want to you know not make any mistakes but you know to try and second guess and qualify funny or do anything like that you know you don't want to do any of them things you want to just go out and and race hard and try and win the two races then that just eliminates him having a chance you know that's our goal by virtue of their qualifying position lahey and amato raced in the semifinals in the first round ed moore fell to joe amano then it was jacko strender in the second dick lahaye defeated shirley muldowney in his first round race and beat connie coletta in the second round that earned him the right to face the points leader in the semi [Music] a tremendous start by but the horsepower of dick lahaye proved to be too much and lahaye put away a motto with a 5.28 second elapsed time [Music] amano used his starting line advantage to the fullest but it did not withstand the charge of lahay by mid-course lahay had pulled even and at the finish line took the win i can almost cry right now we've been trying to win this thing all year and uh let me catch my breath here just for a second i feel like i've run it i'm taking his breath completely here's joe amato the drag race thank you very much hey season right well paul you know it this has been a tough year for us we have been just up and down and up and down the waves down coming into this race i bet kim and jeff are just out of control right now dick lahaye rode the crest of that victory wave into the finals where the surprising eddie hill was his competition not only did both drivers have to contend with the problems of driving a 280 mile an hour race car the shadows were lengthening over firebird raceway and the lights had been turned on eddie hill's first final round appearance at an nhra national event came a year ago at the mile high nationals in denver colorado hill had laid out of the sport for some 15 or more years becoming one of the best known and record-setting boat drag racers in history now back on the asphalt he is the holder of the national speed record and is matched against dick lahaye in the fall nationals finals lahaye left the starting line first he continued to maintain that lead and won the fall nationals earning him even more points in his quest for the world championship title [Music] the header flames were an instant indicator of who stood on the throttle first it was dick lahaye and that advantage at the starting line coupled with his continuing strong performance gave lahay the victory [Music] while the top fuel title was still up for grabs funny car eliminator had been decided much earlier in the day when kenny bernstein locked up the world championship but the fall nationals title was yet to be decided raymond beadle in the final round against mark oswald oswald on a late season performance charge thundered down the quarter mile and took a decisive victory over raymond beetle [Applause] oswald's time of 5.53 seconds at over 263 miles an hour this was an important moment in the winston pro stock world championship butch leo continued to have a mathematical chance of catching bob glidden but he needed this victory to keep those world championship hopes alive the odds were certainly in glidden's favor he had won the last three events starting with the u.s nationals then the keystone nationals and the chief nationals he was the number one qualifier here at the fall national and glidden reversed the tables on leo and pulled a tremendous hole shot or starting line advantage and out powered leo to take home the [Music] [Applause] title [Music] by defeating joe amato in the semis and ultimately eddie hill in the final round dick lahaye pulled within one when light of joe amado for the world championship with one race to go in funny car and pro stock it's official bernstein and gluten will again wear the number one in 88. the last race of the season returned to where it all started nine months ago the l.a county fairgrounds in pomona california pomona was a celebration of bob glidden's eighth winston world championship title bob glidden's domination of pro stock racing is so complete it seems every time he pilots the motorcraft thunderbird down the quarter mile he sets a new record of some kind the two most impressive records the ones totally without precedent are his eight world championships and 59 national event wins the key to glidden's success both this year and in years past has been his team headed by wife edda and man by sons billy and rusty their intensity and dedication have made them drag racing's ultimate team and made bob the winningest driver in nhrd championship drag racing pomona in 1987 also saw kenny bernstein win the winston funny car crowd the driving ability of kenny bernstein coupled with the incredible performance of the budweiser king funny car has produced a dynasty that in 1987 claimed its third straight world championship innovative inventive creative the results of this team speak for themselves 17 wins over three years national records galore and a consistent performance edge while much of the credit for the car's performance lies with crew chief extraordinaire dale armstrong it is the combination of armstrong and bernstein that makes this team unstoppable [Music] for world champion kenny bernstein the winston finals was not highlight film material and he qualified well in the number five spot but on sunday morning before the start of eliminations the crew discovered engine problems in the first round bernstein was matched against jim dunn [Applause] both cars left hard but then something went away on kenny bernstein's car he lost traction and done streaked on for the upset win [Music] in the finals of funny car eliminator ed mcculloch was making his third final round appearance of the season the elapsed time record holder was matched against billy meyer after struggling most of the year meyer came into the winston finals with renewed performance [Applause] mcculloch had problems right off the line losing traction in meyer motor dawn for his second event win of the year his 12th career nhra win for mccomic 1987 ended with him third in the point standings and the e.t record for world champion bob glidden every national event is highlight film material the winston finals no exception qualified number one for the 22nd consecutive time glidden easily moved into the finals and he faced off against joe lapone who tried to compensate for a performance disadvantage by leaving on glidden and unfortunately he left the red light glowing glidden took home event win number 60. [Music] but the story that held the capacity crowd at the la county fairgrounds spellbound for two days was the battle for the top fuel world championship between joe amato and dick lahaye on saturday the fans got a taste of what was to come with the finals of the krager weld wheel top fuel classic the kreger classic features the eight quickest dragsters competing in a special elimination race for a 50 000 first prize when the smoke had cleared after the first two rounds it was a motto against lahay for the title for amato this marked his third straight appearance in the classic finals he won the inaugural race was runner-up to garlits last year for lahaye his first trip to the final in a classic side-by-side race joe amato inched out dick lahaye at the finish line to take home the 50 000 award lahay left the line one one thousandth of a second before a motto gaining a very slight advantage but at the far end it was a charging amato who squeaked by for the victory amato ran 511 283 miles an hour to la hayes 512 281 the krager weld wheel top fuel classic did not have a direct effect on the world championship but it certainly gave amato a psychological edge going into sunday's elimination he would need that edge because in the semi-finals lahay and amato met to decide the world championship the tightness of the points battle meant this was a winner-take-all race the pressure on the two crew chiefs was evident the engine essentially backed together in the joe motto car crew chief tim richards you've given joey a very consistent car for two rounds your thoughts as your race for the world championship well i i feel as though that this is this is definitely the biggest run of our career joe and mine and everybody else here and it's real important to stay consistent on this track the track seems to be going away a little bit but we've got to go for it i have to figure that lahey has a maybe a 17 or 16 in his car and we just have to go for it i don't feel as over in a real good position here because we've we've been making a little too much heat in this car and lahay isn't so it's a lot easier for him to step up than it is us we're trying to back up the same time we're trying to go fast it's not a good situation just a lot well we'll see what happens well the situation here is that dick lahaye's daughter kim is going to try to give her father a dragster that won't smoke the tires and will get a hold of the racetrack kim your feelings the world championship on the line well we're just going to try to run the best that we can and hopefully it won't smoke the tires and whatever the outcome is we're real happy with the year the hayes path to the semifinal confrontation was through shirley muldowney in the first round and team owner larry miner in the second round for a motto he made it to the semifinals by besting dan fitzgerald in round number one and frank bradley in the second round they left the line together then just past the 100-foot mark amato's engine let go and lahay took the win light in his first ever top fuel world championship for the first time in his 30-year racing career a world championship the winston world championship in 100 000 belongs to this man dick lahaye 519. thank you steve thank you very much i'm almost lost for words you know dan hendler the team manager for winston is busy taping your name on this check it's a monstrous check for a monstrous amount of money my friend well thank you a 20-year veteran of championship drag racing dick lahaye became a major contender in 1987 with the help of larry miner and the miller american race team he delivered immediate results the top fuel world championship lahaye has a reputation as a smart crafty racer a man who is easy on parts and hard on competitors his own knowledge of nitro racing coupled with the growing abilities of daughter kim as crew chief put lahay into the winner's circle five times in 87 doubling his number of national event victories always a crowd favorite mahe continues to give his fans something to cheer about the newly crowned world champion came into the final round looking to tie big daddy don garlits record of six top fuel wins in a single season between him and the record was daryl guin who in the first round of racing electrified the crowd with a track record lahaye left on gwen but the awesome power of the gwen dragster pushed him by dick for his fourth event win of the season and third in the championship point standings [Music] in a year of wonder a year of wild dreams come true the most heartfelt was the accomplishment of dick lahaye winning his first ever top fuel world championship for kenny bernstein and bob glidden they continued to set the standard for yet another year in their respective categories for steve evans and paul page i'm dave mcclellan saying so long for drag racing 87. [Music] so [Music] [Music] so you

Channel: Pulling Reference Rewind

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Length: 88min 1sec (5281 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 18 2021