A Day At the Drags
A DAY AT THE DRAGS
IRWINDALE'S NATIONAL FALLS TO JOE SMITH
DRAG RACING has its own form and flow. Blurring speed, toe touching starts, a faceful of burn-out smoke, straddling legs, wary eyes upon the Christmas Tree, a feminine hand in the pits—these were all elements of the U.S. Fuel & Gas Nationals at Irwindale Raceway in California. Joe Smith and his thundering Harley-Davidson dragster won the top fuel crown that day in a blistering five-round elimination. His winning time over the quarter-mile was 9.68 sec. e.t. at 155.45 mph. Early in the rounds, he put two 160-mph-plus runs together with times of 9.40 and 9.37. The best runner-up Sonny Raslawski (H-D) could muster was a 9.81-149.50. Others who fell by the way were Boris Murray (double Triumph) who broke a chain in Round 1, Jeff Gough, Leo Payne (H-D) and Clem Johnson (Vincent), who got bounced for "redlighting." Top Gas winner was Mary Jorgenson (H-D) with a last round time of 11.51 sec. at 121.78 mph, backed up by high 10-sec. elapsed times in the earlier rounds, including a 10.59-130.05 in Round 2. As for how it looked and how it felt to be out there in front of the packed grandstands, the photographs tell the rest.
