Drag Strip Time Travel: Check Out The 1988 NHRA Seafair Nationals From Seattle – McGee Quad Cam Featured!


Drag Strip Time Travel: Check Out The 1988 NHRA Seafair Nationals From Seattle – McGee Quad Cam Featured!

This weekend when racing begins at the 2019 Magic Dry NHRA Northwest Nationals in Kent, Washington we’ll be at Pacific Raceways. I have been making my notes and preparation for the race and part of that is watching killer old videos that are available from previous races. It just so happens that this coverage from the 1988 NHRA Seafair Nationals is too damned good not to share. Why? It is one of the most entertaining races the NHRA ever broadcast and that is not an overstatement. Plus it is the 31st anniversary of this particular event and it was a hum dinger of a drag race!

For starters, the late 1980s were a transitional time for the top fuel class. Some cars like Gene Snow’s and Joe Amato’s were “high gear only” machines but many cars were still using a two speed transmission and there’s some video of Eddie Hill running that may be really enlightening to some of our readers out there. Going down the track Hill has to shift the car with one hand and with the other hand on the wheel he has to whack the high speed lean out “go fast” button at the top end. The high speed lean out was used when the car needed more speed at the top end and it often had the results that Hill’s car exhibits by blowing the supercharger off of it. Hey, he won the round anyway.

There’s a great interview with Frank “The Beard” Bradley after he picks up a round win. Bradley was one of the top fuel class’s most intense competitors and you can hear it in his voice during the interview.

Something else you may notice is that many of the cars still carried the name “special”. From the Sentry Tach and Gauges Special of Bruce Larson to the Kalitta Flying Service Special of Scott Kalitta, it has a neat and old school feeling. There are also a couple of cars with legit names on them going rounds as well.

There’s a legendary John Force interview that piggy backs a Kenny Bernstein video. When asked why he never refers to Kenny by name he has a response that has gone down in the annals of drag racing history. He’s still a mile a minute interview but back then when he was young the guy had the swagger of someone his age. Just hilarious.

The best part? How about a feature on the McGee Quad Cam engine that Gary Beck was working in the back of the car he was driving. Steve Evans does the feature and in it they mention how many of the engines have been sold and who they have sold them to. We all know how this project went but this was early in the thing’s life and it is pretty freaking awesome to see it out there and competing.

Oh…this race also marked the second time in NHRA history that all three professional category records were broken. Darrell Gywnn laid down a 5.05 in top fuel, Prudhomme ran 5.30 in funny car, and Bob Glidden went 7.31 in pro stock. Cool temps and great air help ’em out!

Press play below for this awesome look back at the 1988 NHRA Sefair Nationals –


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