There are certain faces and names that we automatically connect to the world of auto racing. Voices, too. Chris Economaki is one of them, perhaps the best of them. The guy was everywhere and he was everything to racing. From the Indy 500 to Daytona, LeMans and more the guy was absolutely on top of the racing world for many years. He did not do a ton of drag racing stuff but when he did, he crushed it. Take this video for example. You are going to watch the Wide World of Sports coverage of the 1980 NHRA Winternationals.
This was a bad ass race with loads of the best competitors of the era all stacked up for money and glory. The biggest story though was a final between Connie and Shirley. They had been a couple, they had broken up, Shirley had not won a race in two years, Connie was right there in the other lane. It is just awesome to see what and how Economaki tells the story and lets the moment breathe at the top end. It is one of those “what’s going to happen here” moments that the great ones seems to recognize from afar.
Enjoy this video. Cool cars, cool people, and a great race. We’re about a week away from the 2019 running of the same event on the same track. Pomona, baby!
