Watch The 1983 NHRA Winternationals In All Of Their Glory Right Here – Fun Race, Strange Broadcast Crew


Watch The 1983 NHRA Winternationals In All Of Their Glory Right Here – Fun Race, Strange Broadcast Crew

Yup, that lead photo shows the Christmas Tree falling over! The 1983 NHRA Winternationals closed with jet cars and the wash from the jets sent the tall Christmas Tree smashing to the ground, ending the event on a thud or as commentator Sam Posey says, “Turn Out The Lights, The Party’s Over”. Yes, we did say the words “commentator Sam Posey”.

The 1983 Winternationals broadcast team was one of the weirder in NHRA history and it may have had something to do with mother nature. See, the original race date, a week before was rained out. That meant contesting the event the next week and if you are ABC your “on air” talent has assignments. Because of the rain out, NHRA fans got the call of the race from a young Jim Lampley and the always smart and cool Sam Posey. An unlikely pair but a good duo in the end, at least in our estimation.

The show was an hour long (with commercials) and it was centered around the nitro categories. We don’t see anything of pro stock really until the final where Frank Iaconio takes care of business and we don’t see a lot of other drivers outside of Shirley Muldowney who came into 1983 as the defending world champ. Frank Hawley is his normal awesome self and the Chi-Town Hustler team put together a fine weekend for themselves.

This is a fun watch. It does not look much like California with the overcast skies and all but Posey and Lampley are the picture of early 1980s ABC sports talent with their bright yellow blazer jackets.

Sam Posey is great on this broadcast. Articulate and smart he uses fun descriptions and a bit of an incredulous nature to explain what he is seeing. It is not patronizing to the sport but rather appreciative from a guy who knows stuff about cars, horsepower, and competition. We think you’ll dig this great little hunk of NHRA history.

Press play below to watch the 1983 NHRA Winternationals in four parts –


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One thought on “Watch The 1983 NHRA Winternationals In All Of Their Glory Right Here – Fun Race, Strange Broadcast Crew

  1. Hell za pop'n

    Posey is a humble, fascinating guy. He does a lot of things well, including announcing. I went to Hawley’s school in the early 90’s. Posey was taking the class as part of a documetary for Mopar. The late great Steve Collison was in the class too. Hawley, Posey and Collison. There was a lot of greatness in the room.

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