What started as wild and crazy activity by some gangsters and hoodlums in hopped-up automobiles became one of the most popular motorsports today. Indeed, drag racing has gone a long way. After the Second World War, dragsters and other muscle car enthusiasts gathered on military runways and speed runs. It all started in sunny Southern California. Yes, SoCal. The responsible racers who created the first hot rods and raced on the dry lake beds prior to W.W.II could no longer direct the young crowds, those who were driving and racing on the streets. At places like Muroc and El Mirage, cars raced one another a dozen at a time. When Muroc became Edwards Air Force base the racers were forced to move. The first "dragsters" were little more than street cars with lightly warmed-over engines and bodies chopped down to reduce weight.
Wally Parks, a military tank test driver for General Motors who served in the military in the South Pacific of World War II, helped organize the Southern California Timing Association in 1947.
Many recognize Goleta Air Base north of Santa Barbara, California as the site of the first organized drag race in 1949. The first drag strips were temporary facilities with no safety barriers or grandstands. It’s all just a mesh of people, fast rides and the pavement of course. The Santa Ana Drags is just one of those early strips and it began operating on a airfield in SoCal in 1950. A great number of spectators turned out to watch these pioneers run 10-second elapsed times on the measured quarter mile – which is around the length of a city block. Open Trailers were the name of the game as most cars were driven into these pavements. At that time, sponsorships and all the other good stuff weren’t even imaginable.
Parks was basically the godfather who started organized drag racing. When he became the editor of Hot Rod magazine, he had the forum and the power to form the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) in 1951 to basically create some order from in the whole thing. Parks instituted safety rules and performance standards that helped legitimize the sport. If it wasn’t for Big Daddy Wally, there wouldn’t be any NHRA and drag racing would still be in its dark ages.
NHRA held its first official race in April 1953, on a slice of the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds parking lot in Pomona, Calif. Four decades later, that track has undergone a $6-million expansion and renovation and hosts the NHRA season-opening Winternationals and the season finale, the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals. The aggressive upgrading of facilities to 'stadium' quality, with fan amenities, VIP towers, and tall grandstands, was the passion of NHRA President Dallas Gardner, who took the reins in 1984 when Parks became Board Chairman. In 2000, Tom Compton became just the third president in NHRA history as Gardner ascended to the role of broad chairman and Parks became chairman of the NHRA Motorsports Museum. In 1955, NHRA staged its first national event, called simply "the Nationals" in Great Bend, Kan. Six years later, as the Nationals hop-scotched around the country to showcase the growing sport before settling in Indianapolis in 1961, the Winternationals became NHRA's second event.
Many recognize Goleta Air Base north of Santa Barbara, California as the site of the first organized drag race in 1949. The first drag strips were temporary facilities with no safety barriers or grandstands. It’s all just a mesh of people, fast rides and the pavement of course. The Santa Ana Drags is just one of those early strips and it began operating on a airfield in SoCal in 1950. A great number of spectators turned out to watch these pioneers run 10-second elapsed times on the measured quarter mile – which is around the length of a city block. Open Trailers were the name of the game as most cars were driven into these pavements. At that time, sponsorships and all the other good stuff weren’t even imaginable.
Parks was basically the godfather who started organized drag racing. When he became the editor of Hot Rod magazine, he had the forum and the power to form the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) in 1951 to basically create some order from in the whole thing. Parks instituted safety rules and performance standards that helped legitimize the sport. If it wasn’t for Big Daddy Wally, there wouldn’t be any NHRA and drag racing would still be in its dark ages.
NHRA held its first official race in April 1953, on a slice of the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds parking lot in Pomona, Calif. Four decades later, that track has undergone a $6-million expansion and renovation and hosts the NHRA season-opening Winternationals and the season finale, the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals. The aggressive upgrading of facilities to 'stadium' quality, with fan amenities, VIP towers, and tall grandstands, was the passion of NHRA President Dallas Gardner, who took the reins in 1984 when Parks became Board Chairman. In 2000, Tom Compton became just the third president in NHRA history as Gardner ascended to the role of broad chairman and Parks became chairman of the NHRA Motorsports Museum. In 1955, NHRA staged its first national event, called simply "the Nationals" in Great Bend, Kan. Six years later, as the Nationals hop-scotched around the country to showcase the growing sport before settling in Indianapolis in 1961, the Winternationals became NHRA's second event.
Racers then began to beef up bigger and newer engines and dropping them into Model Ts and other older bodied cars. Some were using pre-war V8s in striped down street cars, porting and polishing the manifolds, changing heads, cams and carburetors. Some were using newer cars, stripping off body panels for weight savings right down to the frame rails, giving the word "rail" a new meaning.
Safety and innovation paved the way to rear-engined Top Fuel cars in the early 1970s, and once drag racing legend Don Garlits - himself a victim of the front-engined configuration when his transmission, which was nestled between his feet, exploded in 1970, severing half of his right foot - perfected the design, the sport never looked back. Today's Top Fuel dragsters are computer-designed wonders with sleek profiles and wind-tunnel-tested rear airfoils that exert 5,000 pounds of downforce on the rear tires with minimal aerodynamic drag.
As racers became smarter, the speed barriers fell: 260 mph toppled in 1984; 270 in 1986; 280 in 1987; 290 in 1989: and the magic 300 mph barrier fell before the wheels of former Funny Car champion Kenny Bernstein on March 20, 1992. Just seven years later, Tony Schumacher became the first to top 330 mph in February 1999, in Phoenix, Ariz.
Drag Racing has truly become of the most popular motorsports across the world. It’s so popular that there are even underground drag racing circuits to cater to its horde of enthusiasts. It’s something we will always appreciate for the excitement and the rush it gives.
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