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Keeping NHRA Fans Up to Date

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More mind-blowing mid-motor madness

16 Dec 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Maybe I’m overstating the case, but if you’re the kind of person who revels in the minute details of our sport’s history – and, hey, if you’re here, you probably are – I’m fixing to make your head explode like the…
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The Mid-Winder

13 Dec 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
The chassis for Ed Lenarth's Mid-Winder Funny Car. A Gremlin body was going to be used, but the car crashed in testing minus the body. Lenarth's powertrain layout…
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Stalking the Night Stalker

09 Dec 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Throughout the course of this growing rear-engine Funny Car thread, I’ve received several requests for more information on the Night Stalker Mustang that was the unlikely first Funny Car for the man who would become the king of the class, John Force…
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Getting our rears in gear

06 Dec 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
When it comes to rear-engine Funny Cars, the engine may have been in the back, but the love from the Insider Nation is front and center, and the DI mailbag started overflowing. After…
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In Hindsight, maybe not such a great idea

02 Dec 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
If the high point in the all-too-short lifespan of the rear-engine Funny Car was Jim Dunn’s victory at the 1972 Supernationals, surely the low point was Dennis Geisler’s jaw-dropping backflip with Burt Berniker’s Hindsight Duster during qualifying…
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Rear-Engine Funny Cars

29 Nov 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
It’s funny the things we take for granted. Most of the readers of this column have their own vast mental encyclopedias of drag racing knowledge, so I try not so much to regurgitate the history they already know by heart but to fill in the details…
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More cars with scars

22 Nov 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
One of those I heard from was John Largent, who was a race car painter “back in the day,” who was more than familiar with those works in progress and not a big fan of the unfinished look … for his own reasons. “Most of…
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Topless Funny Cars

15 Nov 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
When Raymond Beadle famously lost the roof of his Blue Max at the 1981 Winternationals, it turned his Plymouth Horizon into a convertible. He had to tack the roof from Kenny Bernstein’s spare body onto his to make the final because the rules said (…
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Reyes brings on the ugly

08 Nov 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Last Friday, I promised a collection of Steve Reyes shots of primered race cars for today, but once he started sending me photos for our “ugly car” collection, it became clear that I had a big problem on my hands. Or, to be more precise, more than…
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This could get ugly

04 Nov 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Drag racing machines have long been known as rolling pieces of art, with intricately designed paint schemes, pinstriping, gleaming chrome, and detail beyond what the outside world’s most obsessed might find acceptable, but (to borrow from the…
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Cleaning out the Inbox

01 Nov 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Forgive today’s later posting as I’m still sorting through the facts and figures from the great race this past weekend in Las Vegas and putting the finishing touches on my National DRAGSTER assignments from the event. I’ve also been…
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Remembering Phil Castronovo

25 Oct 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Compared to those of other former world champs, Phil Castronovo’s Funny Car driving career was short-lived – spanning just a handful of seasons – but the recently departed 1971 NHRA class kingpin certainly left a legacy of…
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Crowning champions, then and now

21 Oct 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
 I had planned today to share – as promised Tuesday -- some stories behind the stories of former NHRA Funny Car world champ Phil Castronovo, who passed away Saturday, but, without boring you with details, one thing led to another, and I’m now…
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Back on the 'Dyno'

14 Oct 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Tuesday’s column about Don Nicholson bought out the love for the dyno man and a slew of those whose lives he touched. I’ll share some of those stories below as well as offer great additions to the Psycho Mustang tale I also wrote about earlier this…
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Brush with garage greatness

11 Oct 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
I got an email from reader Derek Staples that, based on years of correspondence with the readers of this column, may well ring true with many of you. For many race fans of – ahem – advanced seniority, introduction to the sport sometimes came from a…
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Of jackrabbit finishes and faked photo passes

07 Oct 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
The return of Fan Fotos brought interesting feedback and fun stories to light. There were a lot of nice submissions about the Burkholder brothers, including the photo at right from Dave LeRoy,…
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The return of Fan Fotos

04 Oct 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
There has been so much to talk about lately that I’d forgotten how long it has been since I reached into the vault for Fan Fotos. In this column’s earlier years, I ran these pretty regularly as a way to thank everyone for their support and interest…
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Another Memorable Motorplex Moment

30 Sep 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
  First Top Fuel five: Missed it   First Funny Car five: Ditto   First 300: Not present  …
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Fan Fotos: New England

29 Sep 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
" width="100%" Welcome to Fan Fotos, the sequel! Steve Heuer – and quite a few others -- took advantage of my offer two weeks ago to display their 10 best fan photos, and here they are. Again, the purpose of this is to show off…
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How the elephant crushed the guardrail

20 Sep 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Even when you truly enjoy the subject matter, the reader response, and the thrill of telling a new story, writing a biweekly column can be tough. (I can’t imagine what I was thinking when I began this column more than four years ago as a thrice-…
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Open houses, early chutes, and finals gone wrong

16 Sep 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
As I knew it would, Tuesday’s column about early shutoffs elicited a few more head-slapping incidents of drivers lifting too soon or woofing the chute prematurely. So let’s take a look at a few more prime examples, then we’…
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Don't lift until you've heard the referee's whistle

13 Sep 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
I coached youth hockey for my son’s teams for a number of years, and one of the things I always worked hard to remind the kids of was to keep playing until they heard the referee’s whistle; until then, the puck is live, and play is ongoing. You may…
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NHRA's first computers

11 Sep 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Everyone who has ever owned a computer has a "my first computer" story. Whether your earliest experiences with the "ones and zeros" was a Commodore 64 that loaded programs from a cassette player or you just finally got wired and broke your computer'…
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More Indy yearbook feedback ... and 'Jungle's' wedge

09 Sep 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Back safe and sound and mostly caught up after the Big Go (my 29th straight!), and I thought I’d wrap up a few loose ends before moving on to our next topic. The 1977 NHRA U.S. Nationals Yearbook continues to be a favorite topic (I’m…
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My favorite time of year(book)

30 Aug 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Whether you’re lost in the woods or tortuously filling and tying off scores of water balloons for your 4-year-old grandson’s “swim party,” it’s good to know you’re not alone, and when it comes to admiration for the 1977…
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The 1977 NHRA U.S. Nationals Yearbook

26 Aug 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Drag racing fans still love the printed word (thank goodness for me!), which explains why a lot of us still have library-worthy collections of old drag racing magazines – Super Stock, Drag Racing USA, …
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Chi-Town and 'Jungle': Farrrrrrrrrrr out!

19 Aug 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Lots of thumbs-up (and one thumbs-down, as you will read) for last Friday’s column about the Chi-Town Hustler and “Jungle Jim” Liberman, which I guess should well be expected seeing as how they’re two of a handful of surefire winning column topics…
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Clearing the table (again)

16 Aug 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
Like a busboy in an all-you-can-eat restaurant, seems like I can’t clear the plates fast enough to satisfy your rabid hunger, so I’m going to try to use today to wipe the table clean of some news and notes I’ve had scattered across my desk. (I wish…
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The day that 'Jungle' drove the Chi-Town Hustler

12 Aug 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
It’s a fact of life that just when you think you know everything about something, you get slapped upside the head, which happened to me (again) this week. Everyone knows the story of the great Chi-Town Hustler, how engineering ace John Farkonas,…
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Open for business, again

09 Aug 2011
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
DRAGSTER Insider
As any of you who have been around this cantina for any length of time full know, it’s as much your own memorable morsel as the main course that I serve up that makes this column the popular potluck it has become. Despite me hanging out the…
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