They’re just numbers. They are just digits on a slip of paper or on a scoreboard. That’s what the world sees. That’s what people who have never measured themselves against time, against competition, or against their own will and want to succeed. To drag racers, those trivial little numbers are life. In 1988 the number to beat them all was 4.99. Top fuel dragsters were knocking on the door of the vaunted 4-second run for much of the 1988 season. Guys like Gene Snow had run 5.0. It was a foregone conclusion that it was going to happen but the main questions were centered around “when”, “where”, and “who”. Much to the NHRA’s consternation it did not happen at one of their races. Instead, the first four second run in the history of the sport was the near singular bright spot in a disastrous 1988 IHRA season, the year that Billy Meyer steered the organization. The year that every event, even this one was negatively effected by rain.
The 1988 IHRA Texas Nationals were beyond incredible for not only their era but for the history of organized drag racing. They were a financial bust like basically every other race that year but mother nature smiled down on the track after the race was delayed a week because of weather. Qualifying happened, there was nothing to do for days on end, and then whamo…the bottom fell out of performance marks in virtually every category you could imagine.
You are going to see Bret Kepner, Pat Patterson, and the voice of Jon Lundburg bring you the action here. Not that we are trying to give away the punchline but watching the first 15 minutes of this broadcast will have you hooked for the whole show. Drag racing has changed a lot in 30 years and there are pluses and minuses to that. We love this watch, we bet you will as well.
