Austin Prock scored his first NHRA victory in August and stole a sliver of the spotlight that glared on boss John Force for capturing his milestone 150th in a Funny Car.
Bob Tasca’s back-to-back victories during the month of June and a later runner-up finish signaled that Ford is back in the NHRA Funny Car class in an aggressive manner.
Larry Dixon had just lost by one-thousandth of a second to Mike Dunn in the Top Fuel semifinals of the 2001 NHRA Winternationals at California’s Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, and he was perturbed.
With the rising cost of drag racing inspiring creative scheduling, the NHRA has used a rotating system to showcase a variety of popular part-time classes.
It’s unclear how the subject came up — again — but in early July, drag-racing media outlets had a handful of drivers and crew chiefs discussing whether the NHRA nitro-powered classes should return to racing on a quarter-mile track.
The old adage says it’s not how you start that matters but rather how you finish. In drag racing, though, a smart start does matter as it’s a key factor in how the pass ends.
It’s difficult to say how many drag-racing fans would have paid much attention to what goes on at the starting line had “Jungle Pam” Hardy not come along in the 1970s as the provocatively dressed but perceptive sidekick to Funny Car ace “Jungle Jim” Liberman.
