The History of Drag Racing

The History of Drag Racing
By John R Gibbons

The Birth of Drag Racing

Drag Racing started on the dry lake beds of Southern California in the 1930's and later moved to old abandoned air fields. There wasn't much organization or rules then, but in the late 1940's Wally Parks helped form the Southern California Timing Assn. and the racers started competing against the clock, in other words they were now able to see who was the quickest not just the fastest.

American Hot Rod Assn.

In the infant stages of Drag Racing there were two main bodies, The A.H.R.A ( American Hot Rod Association) and the N.H.R.A ( National Hot Rod Association). The A.H.R.A was founded in 1955 and lasted until 1984 they drew the bigger names of the sport at first because they paid out a lot more money to the Winners plus they had more races on their schedule held at various tracks across the country. Many of the racers that you know today got their start in the A.H.R.A, Don "the Snake" Purdhomme, John Force, Don "Big Daddy" Garlits and Gene Snow to name a few. John Force actually won his first Funny car Championship with the A.H.R.A in their last year of existence in 1984.

National Hot Rod Assn.

The National Hot Rod Assn. was formed in 1951 by Wally Parks, along with this came the safety rules and regulations that the sport was desperately in need of. Their first organized race was not until 1953 in Pomona, California at the L.A. County Fair Grounds. They did not have their first National Event until 1955 in Great Bend, Kansas and their second National Event did not come along until 1961 it was held in Indianapolis and called the Winter Nationals. It was common place for the Racers to run both A.H.R.A and N.H.R.A events in those early years of competition.

The early years were so exciting, there was no dialing-in or breaking-out, you simply ran as Quick and Fast as your car would run. There were the great Gas Cars, Modified Cars, Factory Experimental, Super Stock, Dragsters and Funny Cars. Then there were the A/G Supercharged cars of Stone, Woods & Cook, K.S.Pittman, Big John Mazmanian, Jr. Thompson and many others. Major sponsorship was non-existent except for the Factory cars known as Factory Experimental (FX), you simply operated out of your hip pocket, it was a pay as you go World.

I hope you have enjoyed my thoughts on the History of Drag Racing, it is such a wonderful sport that has so much to offer. Some of my other articles are; Drag Racing Then And Now [http://nhrastyleracing.com], Drag racing Then And Now Part 2. A Day At The races-N.H.R.A Style and The Great American Muscle Car.

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