a legend in comic book illustration, Alex Toth, (his TV work included Super Friends, Space Ghost, The Herculoids ) was Hot Wheels choice for their comic books, and here's a cool excerpt of top fuelers drag racing

https://hotwheelsracetracks.wordpress.com/2016/05/30/hot-wheels-art-by-alex-toth/

quite a cool top fuel pedal trike for cruising the race track pits! It's got a wing, a wheelie bar, a shifter, and a slick!

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=810182707676419&set=gm.2163093747376201

Racing legend (NASCAR, INDYCAR, USAC champion)Tony Stewart picked up his first career NHRA Top Fuel win on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

 

https://www.nhra.com/news/2025/stewart-scores-first-top-fuel-win-prock-glenn-also-hit-jackpot-las-vegas
https://www.racingjunk.com/news/behind-the-curtains-at-vegas-4-wide-nhra-nationals

Clay Millican describes step by step how to drive a top fueler (Thanks George!)

built by Don Long

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2022/10/what-family.html

Bristol Dragway in June of 1965

 

Look at the rims... that's unusual!

John Holman and Honest Charlie

http://blog.virginiaclassicmustang.com/2020/05/bristol-spring-nationals-june-1965-drag.html

when is a round object not round? When it's racing to catch up with itself

 http://www.backroads.ie/forum/car-related/r-roads/81-random-picture-thread/page2861

looks like one tire is about 4000 rpm faster than the other

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by.428585/page-6313

Look at the rim

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by.428585/page-6423

Don Garlits’ Swamp Rat XXX cackling (prior to its induction) outside of the Smithsonian Institution

https://www.nhra.com/news/2018/remembering-raymond-godman

damn shame this isn't high res photography

https://cncenginedynamics.tumblr.com/

the first person to win two top fuel championships? The first to win 3?

Shirley Muldowney

www.muldowney.com/milestones.html

Coffee and donuts video for Saturday: NHRA mayhem, 2018. They are pushing the envelope of possible racing to the ragged limit, and often, blowing the engines up

first reactions to top fuel nitro runs. Might be the funniest thing you see all day

The track record at Denver was 205 mph by Don Garlits until the first run of Paul Gommi's twin supercharged dragster ran 220 mph. The NHRA immediately banned twin superchargers

Gommi made his top fueler in pieces for 2 reasons, it could fit in his garage, and it allowed him to quickly swap out a back section if it blew up

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/look-inside-amazing-hot-rod-collection-racer-turned-rodder-paul-gommi/#021-gommi-collection-racing-sidebar-gommi-in-unfinished-car-jpg

I'm happy to say I've met Don Garlits and shaken his hand. Events like this are often forgotten, but WOW... when you realize you're talking WITH that guy who did this and other incredible things? Englishtown 1986

https://www.facebook.com/groups/stiffspeed/permalink/1382140688599210/

How important is an intake pushrod tip? If it breaks, it can cost you the entire engine

an intake pushrod tip broke off just before the 800-foot mark, leading to a costly engine explosion.

“That was about a $30,000 pushrod,” said Miller. “When the engine is running along at that speed and you break a pushrod, suddenly you have a seven-cylinder engine.

The blower is still putting out enough air for eight so the other remaining players get 10 pounds more boost. Because each of the cylinders have a fixed fuel volume and suddenly are getting 15 percent more air, they go dead lean and start to detonate and it blows the rods out of it.”

https://www.nhra.com/circle-k-nhra-winternationals-sunday-notebook

Win the race, walk away... even if the top fueler is destroyed!

probably the only top fueler to ever be photographed with giraffes

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212039141405258&set=gm.1183096801836934&type=3&permPage=1

'I told him, 'All I want to do is a burnout' and he built a fucking Rolex watch' : Don Prudhomme on the Ed Pink rebuild of the Shelby Super Snake dragster 427

This time when he chose a race car to restore from the many he’s owned and driven, Prudhomme picked the front-engine Shelby Super Snake that he drove in 1968 and ’69 (he also drove it in 1967 before the Shelby sponsorship as the Baney-Prudhomme dragster).

Shelby brought sponsorship to what had been called the Baney-Prudhomme dragster in 1967 and Prudhomme drove what then became the Shelby Super Snake during the 1968-69 seasons. With it he won races across the country. The team was the winningest team in the nation at that time. The car also won “Best Engineered” at both Bakersfield and at the Winternationals.

“Man, you should’ve seen the flames comin’ up outta this thing,” he said when we visited his shop recently, his hand reaching way up over his head as he stood next to the car. “Imagine sittin’ in there, way down there, and these towering columns of fire are blastin’ out of each pipe on both sides. Man.”

So Prudhomme set about getting it re-restored. But that took a longer time than he was used to. Don Long, the original builder, did the chassis. “Wild” Bill Carter painted the body.

“He’s in a walker, a f****** walker, and he insists on doing the painting himself,” said Prudhomme of Carter. “He does a few swipes, moves the walker, does a few more swipes…”

Ed Pink did the engine.

“Ed worked on it for at least a year and a half,” Prudhomme said. “My patience is not that great. I’m used to four f****** seconds.”

The process was very thorough.  “(Ed Pink Racing general manager) Frank (Honsowetz) said, ‘Well, we had to do special rollers, special this and special that.’ I said, ‘Frank, all I want to do is a burnout.”

But the result is a beautiful engine, one which could probably do a whole season of racing just as it sits in the restored car.

“This thing is a f****** Rolex watch,” Prudhomme said of the engine. “I told him, ‘All I want to do is a burnout’ and he built a f****** Rolex watch.”

http://autoweek.com/article/car-life/don-snake-prudhomme-brings-back-shelby-super-snake