What a Rush

Engines continued to run 100 percent nitro-and continued exploding-until television forced a change. In 1999, the National Hot Rod Association, drag racing's strongest sanctioning body, had just signed a major TV package when, in quick succession at the Pomona Winternationals, two nitro engines exploded on the line during live coverage. Massive delays needed for cleanup forced the NHRA to mandate a less volatile fuel formula-90 percent nitro and 10 percent alcohol. Engines still grenade, but less often and less exuberantly.


Drag racers may be the fastest competitive drivers in the world, but they're also among the oldest. Lots of Grecian Formula; very little weight training. Although there is a new generation of drivers, the veterans remember most of the nitro speed records of the past four decades-200 mph, 250, 300, 330-because they were there. Experience counts in this sport, and personality even more. More significantly, drag racing is really quite conservative. Rules and engine types haven't fundamentally changed since the golden age of the 1960s and 1970s. Speeds have almost doubled since then, but lately the rules have been used to throttle back car performance in the name of safety. For example, one rule allows a minimum final drive ratio of 3.20:1. Don Bender, assistant crew chief on Prudhomme's Top Fueler car, is clear on the effect: "With a 3.00:1, we could probably go 340."


Don "The Snake" Prudhomme, the legendary owner of Prudhomme Racing whose driving career began in the late 1950s with the Burbank (California) Road Kings and ended in 1994, smiles. "I loved the old days: working on my car, being all sweaty and pumped for a run. But it's changed. Today, you need the best crew chief and best sponsor. You need drivers with the right demographics for the sponsor. On the other hand, maybe some of the rules haven't changed enough. There's no computer-chip tuning, for instance. But I think that'll come."