(By Jason Mazzotta) – As a bracket racer, I understand and enjoy .90 throttle stop racing in Super Street/Gas/Comp, but to some throttle stop racing is repetitive and boring. Cue, Ernie Kendall who threw a blown big block Chevy into his dragster, put it on a throttle stop and runs the 8.90 index at over 200 mph. It brings an excitement to the highly competitive class that most anyone can enjoy.
These videos are from a few years ago at NHRA races at Lebanon Valley Dragway and Englishtown Raceway Park. After a huge smoky burnouts looking and sounding a Top Alcohol dragster, Kendall’s supercharged beast doesn’t seem to fit the mold of the typical four link, naturally aspirated dragsters that rule the class.
The cars leave the starting line together with the blown engine screaming off the two step quickly silenced by the throttle stop. The elongated silence makes first time viewers of the car think it may be broke, until it comes back to life and flies down the track catching the drivers in the other lanes running for their lives. It is pretty impressive to see Kendalls dragster come back to life and chase down the competition and run competitively with such an unorthodox approach bringing an exciting twist to the 8.90 class.
Throttle stop racing is the worse thing to ever happen to drag racing.
Agreed!
^………….what he said X2
When they come to the line I usually leave to go to the men’s room.
Certainly a participant’s class only…like Pro Stock Truck was (eek!). John Spar of B&M was playing this game with a supercharged small-block dragster in the mid-90’s and tickled the 185 MPH mark. Some kid from Denton, TX put a discarded Ford 500″ Pro Stock wedge motor (the one with the Big Chief Pontiac style Ford heads) in a dragster about the same time and ran 8.90’s at 178. Along came a fellow (his name escapes me) from Houston that took an outdated Top Alcohol Dragster, threw a Powerglide in it, added the electronics, and went 200 in 1997/1998. Spar built a blown big block, the kid from Denton went Top Dragster racing. Not sure where the blown car from Houston ended up.
Mike Manners was the guy from Houston that had the TAD with a glide, went 8.90 @ 208+ mph
Joe Holzer was actually the guy I was thinking about. Mike Manners came along after Joe had moved onto T/D.
Car looks good without the wallpaper of contengency decals all over the sides!
Thats just what I want to do……put a bunch of money in a car to slow it down. Electronics not drag racing…..just turn a knob to get an e.t.
My father always said, “it was a great time to take a crap”, when these cars pulled up.
E.t. racing……yuk. I’m still old school, the first car that crossed the finish line won. Stock and super stock even blows now. Now a days SS has become a crude version of what Modified Production MP was. A tube chassis V8 red Sunfire\caviler is not SS. Then on
Additionally, then they dial-in instead of running against a National index….I’ll get off my soap box.
Its funny that the “Super” classes were to be a lower cost alternative to class racing back in the 80’s.
Right…..yep and extremely boring. Hated it when they first started and still hate it.
I was in the tower, standing next to now-retired NHRA announcing legend, Bob Frey, when Larry Larson drove out from under the tower in the first time trial session of Super Street at the 1997 Sears Craftsman Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka. Back then, Larry’s monkey-butt pink Chevy Nova was fitted with a 555 cubic inch big Chevy with a 14-71 supercharger. Keep in mind, the car has never had a throttle stop, delay box or timer on it and he chose to enter it in the NHRA’s 10.90 index class against a myriad of competing cars which were equipped with enough electronics to launch a space shuttle.
I was well aware Frey had seen and announced countless thousands of passes down the track by cars ranging from 14-second stockers to 300 mph dragsters and he’d always had something interesting, if not entertaining, to say about each run. I was grinning ear to ear as both cars staged. Frey was rambling on, filling air time as he was wading through the huge field of index cars. The light turned green and both cars left the line. Larry, after whomping the throttle once, took his foot off the accelerator, and counted to himself, “One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand…” and then stuck the loud pedal to the floor.
By now, the car in the other lane was nearly at half track. Larry was making up ground in a hurry. I’m sure the folks at the big end of the racetrack were wondering what hell was being unleashed as that big blower screamed. As both cars crossed the stripe, the scoreboard told the tale: 10.91 @ a then unheard of 185 miles per hour. Frey’s jaw dropped. His eye went from the scoreboard to the screen of the Compulink computer to verify what he just saw. He announced the ET and mph of both cars and then turned and looked at me. With as serious a look as I have ever seen on his face, he asked, “Are you kidding me? A 185 mile per hour Super Street car?”
I smiled and told him, “Yep… and he’ll drive it home, too.”