TAKE A TRIP BACK IN TIME: TOP FUEL RACING IN THE 1970S VIDEO

 

The 1970s was the decade of transition for the Top Fuel dragsters. Of course, there's the obvious where the engines went to the rear from the front. But there are little tidbits we picked up on along the way, such as a crewmember adding nitro to a dragster's tank while running after the burnout.

There are the cameos by Buster Couch showing he was more than the starter, but a champion for the racer as he pushed Don Garlits back from the burnout in his triumphant return victory. A few years later, Couch sticks his head in the cockpit to inform Pat Dakin he has a single, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Then, after Garlits wins Pomona, there's the random person who runs on the track in celebration. How about a shirtless Top Fuel racer or two once they remove the fire jacket?

There's the advent of the female Top Fuel driver with Shirley Muldowney and the men who hated to lose to her. None hated it more than Don Garlits, with Richard Tharp, the 1976 NHRA champion coming in a close second.

There are all kinds of gems in this compilation that will leave you scratching your head and wondering, "How didn't we kill a driver, media or race fan."