NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

This week’s announcement that the 2027 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season will start in Pomona was met with roars of approval from across the sport’s fandom, returning the Winternationals to the opening spot of the national event schedule that it had occupied since its 1961 debut.

The Winternationals traditionally kicked off the season for four decades before the pandemic knocked everyone and everything for a loop in 2020. We did get the Winternationals and the NHRA Arizona Nationals in to kick off that fateful 2020 campaign before the wheels came off and ended with a truncated 11-race schedule.

Southern California was still in a pretty heavy COVID-19 lockdown entering 2021, and, out of an abundance of caution and foresight, the Winternationals that year was scheduled for the end of July (Race 10), and we kicked off the 2021 season in Gainesville.

The Winternationals returned to the first spot in 2022 (with also the return of events in Phoenix, Seattle, and Richmond, the latter two of which had not run since 2019) before we began a four-year run with the NHRA Gatornationals in the leadoff spot.

I won’t bore you with the many reasons the decision was made, but last year’s 107-degree roaster in Phoenix in late March certainly was on everyone’s mind, and because Gainesville has always been a mid-March event, it couldn’t move. And, to be honest, this year’s 75th anniversary vibe reconnected a lot of heartstrings that made a Pomona start such a great idea.

Semantically, holding the Winternationals in March after the seasonal calendar had already switched to spring — 2023’s March 21-24 Winternationals was the earliest of the four and even it launched the day after the first day of spring — and let’s not even talk about the 2021 Winternationals in the heat of summer (even though we still called it the Winternationals, it was still hot as heck).

Editorially, the NHRA National Dragster staff is overjoyed, too, because we'll have race results in our second issue of the year instead of the third, allowing our traditional Season Preview to be followed by Winternationals results in the next issue. Two months of buildup has proven to be a long, slow burn to nitro.

Selfishly, us Southern Californians hated that the season did not start in our backyard. Back when National Dragster was still weekly, we’d devour the pages of ND to catch Leslie Lovett’s scoop photos from local paint shops run by guys like Don Kirby and Tom Stratton.

In 2008, back in this column's infancy, I wrote a column called The Winternationals Mystique, which went a long way to explaining my infatuation with the event:

"I love the Winternationals," I gushed. "Always have. This is my 30th, and the memories never die. Indy is bigger, Virginia quicker, Las Vegas more flashy, but the Winternationals are magic. The points are all at zero, and the hopes are all at 10 million. Everyone is tied for first place, and if you're any kind of serious player, you're still thinking it's going to be a championship season.

"As a fan, I couldn't wait for the opening day of the Winternationals. You'd cruise up and down every aisle of the pits, ogling all of the new stuff. New sponsors, new paint schemes, new Funny Car bodies. Click, click, click … I'd go through two or three rolls of film before the cars ever hit the track."

I still feel the same way and will again next February. The race is so special on so many levels that, like Indy, there are a million stories that could be told.

In honor of the 60th annual Winternationals in 2020, I selected 60 great moments from the event, and if you read the descriptions below, you'll get an idea of the sheer number of historic and wild things that have happened in Pomona over the years.

60 Memorable Winternationals Moments, Part 1: the 1960s and '70s

Jack Chrisman wins in Twins Bears dragster, Don Garlits wins first Top Fuel race, Carol Cox and Shirley Shahan make female history, Don Prudhomme and Connie Kalitta get first wins, the flyin' Hawaiian, Garlits' rear-engine win, Tommy Ivo's wild ride, rear-engine Funny Car goes over backwards, and more!

60 Memorable Winternationals Moments, Part 2: the 1980s and '90s

Shirley Muldowney beats Connie Kalitta to win Top Fuel, Funny Car's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," Pro Stock's 500-cid debut, Al Segrini's wild back-to-back Funny Car wins, America's Cup Funny Car final, Eddie Hill takes flight, Gary Scelzi, K.C. Spurlock win in nitro debuts, Jack Beckman wins in Super Comp, and more.

Memorable Winternationals Moments, Part 3: the 2000s and 2010s

Darrell Russell wins in Top Fuel debut, Pat Austin scores milestone 75th win, Robert Hight and team bounce back from second-round fire to win, Ashley Force and Courtney Force debut in Funny Car, Tony Pedregon's wild explosion, Antrown Brown's wild ride, Pro Stock goes EFI, and more!

And then there were these other Pomona-themed columns:

Reliving a previous wet and waylaid Winternationals

A look back at the much-delayed 1978 Winternationals, which was spread out over 12 non-consecutive days due to three straight weekends of rain. It's where the iconic snow on the starting line photo was taken that really made that Winternationals a Winter-Nationals.

The one-day wonder

The 1965 race was the antithesis to the above, as heavy fog and rain Friday and more rain Saturday led to probably the most action-packed single day of racing in history — all of qualifying and all of eliminations — going down Parker Avenue over the span of 10 hours.

Neither wind, nor snow …

A year before the one-day wonder, eventual Top Fuel winner (and world champ) Jack Williams won the 1964 Winternationals after a treacherous mid-race trek home to Bakersfield over a snowy and icy Grapevine to repair his engine.

The Hawaiian's Winters wonderland

Roland Leong dominated the Winternationals for almost a decade, winning Top Gas in 1964 with Danny Ongais, Top Fuel in 1965 and 1966 with (respectively) Don Prudhomme and Mike Snively, then won Funny Car back-to-back in 1970 and 1971 with Larry Reyes and Butch Maas, respectively.  Between the Top Fuel and Funny Car wins, Leong's Funny Car crashed wildly at the 1969 event, which is covered here.

Carol Cox: NHRA's first female class winner

Southern California homemaker Carol Cox made history when she became NHRA's first female class winner at the 1962 Winternationals.

The Drag-on Lady: Racer, pioneer, mom

Shirley Shahan's Top Stock victory at the 1966 Winternationals made her NHRA's first female national event winner.

Dueling Winternationals kicked off 1975 season

The kickoff to what would be a tremendous and history-making season took place at the NHRA and AHRA Winternationals and provided plenty of drama and unforgettable moments.

The 1969 Winternationals

Beebe & Mulligan won Top Fuel, "Jungle Clare" won for "Jungle Jim," the Hawaiian went flying, and Parker Avenue got its name.

That's all just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Pomona, and I'm sure I'm not the only one celebrating its return to the top of the schedule. Share your Winternationals love, stories, and anecdotes with me at the email address below.

 Phil Burgess can be reached at pburgess@nhra.com

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