The 1980 NHRA season was one for the books and the World Finals that year, held at the cavernous Ontario Motor Speedway was a real hum dinger of a drag race. Coming into the event the top fuel race was a four horse contest with Shirley Muldowney, Gary Beck, Jeb Allen, and Marvin Graham all in contention. The place was jammed to see how it would all play out. You will also see nitro funny car and pro stock in this video and what’s interesting is how they ran the shows. Instead of one broadcast it appears that they busted this thing up into a couple of shows with top fuel being is own and nitro funny car sharing time with pro stock.
Call us crazy but we think that this is one of the best looking eras of drag racing cars. The top fuel dragsters were still spindly and crazy looking with their drivers packed into tight cages. Nitro funny cars were all painted crazy, carried names, and really put on a show reminiscent of pro modified today. Last there are the pro stockers that have great paint, beautiful launches, and Lenco transmissions.
I was about 10 months old when this race was run. I am thankful to be able to live it though video!
