1980's
Page 2
07.23.22
Sometime in the first half of
1989. Simpler times—Dart heads with no down nozzles, no
diaper, funny car style headers, no cage around the top pulley.
It was direct drive by then but the clutch and fuel management
was rudimentary as it was controlled by Digibox timers and a
bunch of nitrous solenoids.
Jeb Allen hiking the front end
at Pomona during the 1982 NHRA Winternationals at Pomona. You
can see Jeb is sporting the #1 loud and proud on the side of
the car after his 1981 World Championship year. This is the 1st
Top Fuel run on Thursday of the Winter’s. Jeb had laid down
an 1/8-mile burnout prior to this launch. He had been in Australia,
and they were doing burnout contests, so he brought the smoke
over to the U.S. for one run
Jeb Allen on the engine, Dad
Guy in the seat. Ugly cage, 1982. These are Jeb’s final
days in drag racing. He was World Champ in 1981, then showed
up at Pomona in February with a new needle nose car that did
not perform well. Later in the year switched to a Casarez chassis
and a Crower hat. Was runner-up at the Summernationals, but little
results after that. Did not qualify for the 1982 World Finals
at OCIR and called it quits.
Phil Hobbs had an ugly debut
in the Barber & Engler car at Indy in 1984. This car used
a ground effects tunnel instead of a traditional rear wing. This
works wonderfully if the tunnel stays in contact with the track,
but as many drag racers learned, as the rear tires grow the tunnel
move away from the track and all downforce is lost. In this case
it smoked the tires, the throttle stuck, turned right, climbed
over the guardrail, then pointed towards the posts on the backside
of the guardrail, all while the throttle was wide open. Phill
suffered only a broken ankle
Frank Bradley wheels up at Pomona
in 1980. Qualified #3 at 5.864-237.46 and beat Jr. Kaiser in
the 1st round 5.922-227.27 to 6.100-226.70. Got beat by Richard
Tharp in the 2nd 6.050-243.90 to 6.125-220.58
Bob Neal in the Birky Bunch car during the 1983 NHRA Winternationals.
Jim Barnard heating the tires
in 1982. This is the Lee Beard tuned car that won the 1982 NHRA
World Finals at OCIR.
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