Former NHRA Top Fuel national event winner Bob Gibson has been named the Grand Marshal of the Southwest Heritage Racing Association Championship Finals that will take place Saturday, November 8th, at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, TX.

Gibson had a short but rewarding career in the early Top Fuel wars of drag racing. A lifelong Dallas area resident, he began at age 18 driving an A/Fuel dragster for John Dodson in 1967 and spent the next five years wheeling a variety of dragsters with success. His biggest win had to be the 1970 NHRA Springnationals at Dallas Intl Motor Speedway where he took the Top Fuel title driving the Carroll Brothers ‘Texas Whips’ digger. A

Former NHRA Top Fuel national event winner Bob Gibson has been named the Grand Marshal of the Southwest Heritage Racing Association Championship Finals that will take place Saturday, November 8th, at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, TX.

Gibson had a short but rewarding career in the early Top Fuel wars of drag racing. A lifelong Dallas area resident, he began at age 18 driving an A/Fuel dragster for John Dodson in 1967 and spent the next five years wheeling a variety of dragsters with success. His biggest win had to be the 1970 NHRA Springnationals at Dallas Intl Motor Speedway where he took the Top Fuel title driving the Carroll Brothers ‘Texas Whips’ digger.

At this race, Gibson took out Jimmy Dupstadt (who had run Low ET at a 6.59), Don ‘The Beachcomber’ Johnson’s fueler, Bennie Osborn, Don Moody and in the final defeated ‘Superman’ Jim Nicoll for the title. He also wheeled in his brief career Ray Godman’s ‘Tennessee Boweevil’, Glenn O’Neals fueler at West Coast events at OCIR, Lions and Irwindale, a short stint in the Jenkins, T-Bar and Cortines fueler (that he owns today and recently restored!) and he ended his career behind the wheel of the Peebles & Williams slingshot at the 1971 NHRA World Finals in Amarillo.

After that, Bob’s career changed from driving to a career at TRW where he worked NHRA events from 1972 to 1982. Today Bob enjoys taking his restored Jenkins, T-Bar and Cortines front-engine digger to cacklefests all across the country.

The Southwest Heritage Racing Association Championship Finals is the final race of the yearlong series for the SHRA and will decide 2014 MalloryPrint.com series champions in all three nostalgia eliminator classes along with the two nostalgia bracket classes.

Taking place Saturday, November 8th, at the legendary Texas Motorplex south of Dallas, the SHRA Shootouts will also take place. In addition to the SHRA Finals, this ‘race within a race’ will take place during qualifying for the Finals with two rounds of SHRA Shootout action.

Racers in the Nostalgia Eliminator 1 will compete in the Good Vibrations Motorsports Shootout, Nostalgia Eliminator 2 racers will battle in the Meyer Enterprises Shootout and Nostalgia Eliminator 3 competitors will have it out in the Alkydiggers.com Shootout. In each Shootout there will be $1500 up for grabs for the racers who place in the finals of those special races that will occur during the qualifying sessions at the Motorplex.

Over $10,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded at this event, making this the largest single payday in SHRA history. For additional information about the SHRA, go to SHRAracing.com.