Happy anniversary Eddie,that was such a big accomplishment !!! I was not present for that run but was on hand in Houston later that year to see your 4.93 pass which was truly amazing. I think some of these milestones seem to get lost with the switch to the 1000 foot by folks that are new to the sport. I will always remember seeing my first 4 second pass and thank you for your huge contribution to our sport.
Mike
Thanks Mike, for the kind words. Both Ercie and I were impressed that you remembered the 4.93 we turned while winning the final over Joe Amato.
We actually "outran ourselves" for the national record of 4.93, because of the 1% backup rule. If we had run 4.94 in the final, that would have stood as the new record. So our official new NHRA record was the 4.990 that we ran against Gene Snow, in the semi final. We had won over Darrell Gwynn in the second round.
We had three consecutive blower explosions, right on the starting line, on our first three qualifying attempts. This due to a broken wire in an ignition coil that parted under the gee of launch, killed the ignition, and then the resulting LACK of gee let the parted wire make contact again and reestablish ignition. Unfortunately that brief interruption of ignition allowed enough nitro to go unburned, to blow the blower off the top of the engine, when it re-lit. With new ignition coils and a blower borrowed from Earl whiting, we qualified on our fourth and final attempt, running a 5.036 to qualify 3rd. And bump out Earl Whiting. Earl was not mad. He was very gracious, and said simply HE should have run better.
After we had won the race, he sold me the blower that he had loaned me. As I was borrowing it earlier, he said his crew chief had told him that that particular blower "was not good enough to run on his car". I don't know what his crew chief told him later about the blower that was not good enough for him, but it won the race, and now holds the NHRA record. :lol
The 5.03 backed up the 4.990 for the new NHRA record, the same exact ET we had set exactly six months earlier at the Texas Motorplex at Ennis, for the IHRA record. And both times, Gene Snow was in the other lane, and had shut off early both times, and rolled through slow enough to read my times on the scoreboard. He had smoked the tires at Ennis, and shutoff from a big wheelie at Houston.
And that is "the rest of the story".
Thank you again,
Eddie
