NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

It’s time for my annual deep dive into the drag racing season 50 years ago, a semi-tradition I started a few years ago that gives us all a chance to either remember what it was like or, for our younger fans, to get a glimpse of the roads we traveled to get to today.

For me, whose love of the sport began in the very early 1970s, it’s like a flashback to all of those great magazine articles and reports that I devoured as a teen.

There’s no doubt that 1975 was another seminal season for the NHRA, with a lot of history stamped into the annals of the sport’s growing legacy.

THE SCHEDULE

After three straight seasons in which the schedule remained unchanged — Winternationals, Gatornationals, Springnationals, Summernationals, Le Grandnational, U.S. Nationals, and the World Finals — NHRA added a ninth event for 1975, the Fallnationals in Seattle, which fell between the U.S. Nationals and World Finals. The event lasted only for six iterations — ending in 1980 — and it was eight long years before the NHRA returned to the Great Northwest with the Seafair Nationals in 1988.

The 1975 season also included the second running of the Sportsman-only SPORTSnationals at Beech Bend Int'l Raceway in Kentucky, which fell into the huge chasm between the Gatornationals (March 14-16) and Springnationals (June 5-8). For the Pro racers, many were hitting the match race schedule or running divisional events (a minimum of two, a maximum of five counting toward their totals).

PERFORMANCE

The records in the three Pro categories at the start of the year were held by Don Garlits in Top Fuel (5.78 and 247.25 mph), Dale Pulde in Funny Car (6.16 and 233.76 mph), and Bob Glidden in Pro Stock (8.81 and 154.90 mph), and all six would fall, some incrementally and some by leaps and bounds.

The national records at the end of the season were held by Garlits in Top Fuel (5.63 and 250.69 mph), Raymond Beadle (6.14) and Don Prudhomme (241.53 mph) in Funny Car, and Bob Glidden in Pro Stock (8.72 and 156.25 mph).

Garlits’ jaw-dropping numbers, of course, came at traction-rich Ontario Motor Speedway during the World Finals, and the 5.63 stood as the national record for nearly seven years.

Garlits' 250 opened the NHRA 250-mph Club, which, again incredibly, took nearly seven years to fill 16 spots (Jody Smart being the last in Brainerd in August 1982).

The Finals is also where Prudhomme ran the first 240-mph Funny Car pass (241.53 in qualifying, backed up a 240.64 in the final) and also where “the Snake” famously ran the sport’s first five-second Funny Car pass (5.98) in the semifinals, but his next-best pass was a 6.140, not quick enough to back up the five for the national record. 

How epic was Prudhomme's first five? Consider that no other driver ran in the fives for nearly three years until Beadle did it in Indy in 1978, and it took more than five years to fill the eight spots in the Cragar Five-Second Club for Funny Cars (Tripp Shumake, April 1981, in Atlanta).

Beadle ended up with the 1975 record of 6.14, which he ran in qualifying No. 1 at the U.S. Nationals and backed up in his 6.16 to 6.26 final-round defeat of Prudhomme. Glidden set both of his marks at the new Fallnationals.

NEW NEWS AND RULES

Winston's partnership with NHRA in promoting the sport of drag racing was officially announced in May with a press conference at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Los Angeles. Winston's official involvement with NHRA national events began at the Springnationals.

Pro Stock went a bit retro to start the season when NHRA created a new favorable 100-pound weight break for longer-wheelbase cars (105 or more inches) after complaints about the dominance of the subcompacts (Pintos and Vegas) that were throttling the Camaros. Bob Glidden and Don Nicholson unveiled '70 Mustangs in Pomona, while the Gapp & Roush team continued to campaign the four-door Maverick they introduced at the end of 1974.

For the first time, defending event champions would not be prequalified for an event. 

Because NHRA had gone to a sprayed traction compound, bleach was disallowed in the burnout box starting in 1975, with water the only approved liquid.

The 1975 season was also the last that a push start would not be allowed in Top Fuel, although most were no longer using it anyway.

Comp eliminator was running under a whole new format, with handicapping provided by the new index system so familiar to us today that supplanted the age-old process of running off the existing national records. 

Trophies were introduced for class wins at national and divisional events as well as Best Appearing Car, Best Engineered, Best Appearing Crew, and Long Distance awards, all of which were smaller versions of the familiar driver-and-wheel national event trophy.

Rocket-powered dragsters were OK'd for exhibition runs, and 1975 also marked the NHRA return of jet cars after a 12-year absence; Romeo Palamides’ Untouchable (pictured) was the first of the new breed of what were billed as lighter and safer cars to be approved.

AND THE WINNERS ARE …

Drag racing’s famous Dons — Garlits and Prudhomme — kicked off the 1975 season with respective Top Fuel and Funny Car wins at the Winternationals. Ohio journeyman Paul Longenecker was the surprise qualifying leader in Top Fuel with a 5.93, but Garlits survived a potentially disastrous first-round race when opponent Don Ewald crossed the centerline after Garlits blazed the tires. Garlits then beat Dick LaHaie with his best run of the meet (6.00), then took out Rick Ramsey, who broke in the pretty Keeling & Clayton California Charger, to set up a final-round rematch from the 1974 World Finals against championship runner-up Dave Settles. Garlits easily won his fourth Winternationals title when Settles’ Candies & Hughes machine went up in smoke. Garlits has said that if he had lost the first-round race, he likely would not have pursued the championship he ultimately won.

Prudhomme kicked off his six-win season with his new Army Monza, rebounding from a terrible showing in its debut at the AHRA Winternationals. Bill Leavitt was the No. 1 qualifier at 6.21 with “Snake” second at 6.25, but Prudhomme was lights out in eliminations with low 6.30s and high 6.20s to beat Billy Meyer, Neil Leffler, Charlie Therwanger, and, in the final, Mike Miller in Jim Green’s Green Elephant Vega.

Like Prudhomme, eventual winner Bob Glidden qualified No. 2 in Pro Stock (a hundredth behind Wayne Gapp) in his long-wheelbase ’70 Mustang, then took out Pete Kost, Don Nicholson, Dave Kanners, and then Gapp’s four-door Maverick in the final.

Two big Top Fuel crashes marred the Gatornationals as Dick LaHaie's left hand was nearly severed at the wrist in a top-end crash and Chris Karamesines rolled his new 24-karat-gold-plated Top Fueler (pictured), and further tragedy was compounded when Russell Mendez was killed when the Free Spirit rocket dragster crashed at the end of a 4.80, 265-mph exhibition run. Dale Funk won his second and final Top Fuel Wally by defeating unheralded Tom Toler in Dick Stahl’s entry in the final, while Prudhomme went wire to wire in Funny Car, capping his second straight win with a solo pass after Tom Prock was unable to make the final-round call after breaking the rear end on his dry hop after Prudhomme had been shut off with an oil leak. Both were given time to repair for a second try, but Prock was unable to make it. Glidden also added his second win in Pro Stock on Wayne Gapp’s final-round foul.

Shirley Muldowney's bid to become the first woman to win in a Pro category came up short when she lost to Marvin Graham in the Springnationals Top Fuel final. Prudhomme defeated a wheelstanding and body-tossing Raymond Beadle in Funny Car for his third win of the year, and in Pro Stock, Bill Jenkins' 13th career win ended the five-race Ford winning streak of Glidden and Gapp.

Rain delayed the start of the Summernationals until 6:30 p.m. Monday and was not completed until 2 a.m. Tuesday. Jim Bucher won Top Fuel with a big-block Chevy engine, "Jungle Jim" Liberman avenged his wild wheelstanding final-round loss the year before for his first and only NHRA national event crown (Prudhomme’s 12-round winning streak ended in a round-one loss to Tom McEwen), and Wayne Gapp finally won Pro Stock with his four-door Maverick. 

The biplane that opened eliminations at Le Grandnational-Molson landed on the dragstrip, headed toward the starting line, and didn't stop until it ran straight into the Tree and A-board, making for an ignominious Sunday start. Don Prudhomme made it to the winner’s circle through the eight-car field, topping poor Tom Prock again while, in a harbinger of things to come that season, Garlits defeated championship rival Gary Beck in the Top Fuel final, while Wayne Gapp scored his second straight in Pro Stock, this time topping the AMC of Dave Kanners.

At the U.S. Nationals, Don Garlits defeated Shirley Muldowney in the final of Top Fuel, her second final round of the year and her last runner-up before her breakthrough win the following season. Raymond Beadle and the Blue Max upset a dominant Don Prudhomme, who was trying for a third straight Indy Funny Car win; and Wayne Gapp won his third straight national event of the year with a final-round defeat of Richie Zul's big-block Camaro. Although Prudhomme lost the Indy final (as he would again in 1976 and ’78), he clinched his first of four straight Winston Funny Car titles at the Portland points race.

The first NHRA national event in the Northwest, the Fallnationals in Seattle, ended with Pro wins by Gary Beck, Don Prudhomme, and Bob Glidden. Beck’s win created quite a furor as Garlits was not in attendance as both were reportedly under contract to attend every IHRA national event. The NHRA Fallnationals in Seattle happened to be on the same weekend as the IHRA World Finals, and Beck opted to run the Seattle event to boost his NHRA bid. Lawsuits were threatened but never came to fruition, and the duo entered the NHRA World Finals with Beck holding a 400-point lead. Prudhomme’s final-round win came in a wild, tire-smoking finale over Tom McEwen in the first of five NHRA final rounds they would contest over their careers (McEwen’s only win famously coming in the 1978 Indy final), while Glidden finally turned the tables on Gapp in the Pro Stock final.

Don Garlits’ historic 5.63 was run during Saturday qualifying, Oct. 11, at the World Finals, and although it wasn’t the sport’s first 5.6-second run (that honor went to Gary Beck, who set the record Friday with a 5.69 to provisionally gain 200 points in his bid to become the first back-to-back champ), it did set the stage. Garlits backed up the 5.63 with a 5.65 Sunday to make it official and steal the 200 points from Beck, who then lost a must-win semifinal race with Herm Petersen when he lost the blower belt to crown Garlits the champ. For good measure, Garlits went on to beat Petersen in the final.

Prudhomme made it six for eight with a dominating performance, qualifying No. 1 at 6.15 and running the first 240-mph pass, then went 5.98 in the semifinals to make more history and 6.15 to defeat Denny Savage’s tire-smoking effort in the Chi-Town Hustler in that iconic team’s first national event final-round appearance.

Bob Glidden finished 1975 just the way he finished 1974, by winning the World Finals and the championship with a crazy come-from-behind effort. Glidden’s chances for a repeat title appeared to have ended in round one when he red-lighted against Paul Blevins, but Blevins' Vega came up light at the scales, and Glidden was reinstated. Points leader Wayne Gapp broke a rod in round two, opening the door for Glidden, who raced through it and to the title by reaching the semifinals. Glidden capped his season with a close 8.85 to 8.85 final-round victory over Bill Jenkins.

IN OTHER RACING NEWS ...

Local uber favorites James Warren and Roger Coburn finally won Top Fuel at the 17th Bakersfield March Meet and did it in style with six straight five-second runs, defeating Jeb Allen in the final. Dale Pulde defeated Don Prudhomme in the Funny Car final, one of Prudhomme’s rare losses that year.

With just a nine-race national event schedule, match racing was still a big thing and promoters were open to all sorts of carny-barker formats to draw fans. In April, Bill Jenkins and his Pro Stock Vega won a match race at Maple Grove Raceway against Barry Setzer's Tommy Grove-driven Funny Car. Jenkins' car received a 2.2-second head start and defeated Grove's 6.60 with an 8.73. In August, four Top Fuel dragsters match raced four Funny Cars at Seattle Int'l Raceway, with the Funny Cars getting a three-tenths head start. The final pitted the two low e.t. cars in which Jerry Ruth's Mustang defeated Hank Johnson's Top Fueler. Ruth had low e.t. at 6.38, and Johnson was quickest for the fuelers with a 6.08.

Earlier that spring, Ed McCulloch and his Revellution Funny Car were tearing up the West Coast, winning eight-car match races in Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Phoenix; and Fremont, Calif. 

Also in August, Warren Johnson won his first NHRA race, the Division 5 points race at Bison Dragway in Winnipeg, Man., when John Hagen fouled. W.J.'s best times were 9.21 at 148.51 mph.

McCulloch closed out 1975 by winning the ninth annual Manufacturers Funny Car race at California's Orange County Int'l Raceway, defeating Jake Johnston. Brad Anderson defeated Ken Veney in the BB/FC portion of the show.

So, there you have it, a look back 50 years at the magical 1975 season which, incredibly, somehow was topped by an even more historic 1976. But you’ll have to wait until this time next year to read all about it. Hey, you can’t break traditions …

Phil Burgess can be reached at pburgess@nhra.com

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