NHRA Winternationals History: 30 Years Ago This Weekend The Streamliner Of Gary Ormsby Blew Up On The Burnout (Video)


NHRA Winternationals History: 30 Years Ago This Weekend The Streamliner Of Gary Ormsby Blew Up On The Burnout (Video)

Top fuel streamlining has had two eras in drag racing. One was in the 1960s and the other came in the middle to later 1980s. 1986 was the season that the streamliner of Gary Ormsby debuted at the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona and being that the 31st anniversary of this occasion will be coming this weekend we figured it was worth remembering. It was memorable for the fact that the car was so different looking and it was also memorable because the weekend was a horrible failure for the team literally from the second Ormsby stepped on the throttle. But we’re jumping ahead.

The Castrol team maintained a shop in Indianapolis on Gasoline Alley where they was lots of IndyCar activity and through the team being in close proximity and seeing all these road race guys who did advanced aerodynamic work,  things started to happen. Conversations between the teams turned into ideas being shared and that turned into Ormsby getting Castrol to pay for the development work of a carbon fiber/kevlar streamliner body that was unlike anything that anyone had ever seen before.

The car got tremendous publicity and was the talk of the town as it rolled toward the water box. Would this thing change the sport forever? Had the work with the Indy guys resulted in a machine that would have the same effect that Garlits’ rear engine car had in 1971? The answer came immediately and violently after Ormsby rolled through the water. As soon as he touched the gas the motor torqued over, a magneto hit the body and the cap broke casein the car to misfire and creating an instant explosion that blew the top of the body and hunks of the top of the engine off. They had never had the body on the car for a run before and while they thought the possibility of the mag interfering was possible they never thought it would happen on moment one.

The weekend was marred by rain and crummy weather so the team only had one other chance to get into the field and they missed on that shot as well so the debut of the game changing car was not what the team or lots of fans had hoped. Despite the start, buzz and attention remained high on the car although performance wise it never lived up to what everyone hoped. Into the 1987 season crew chief Lee Beard and owner/driver Ormsby decided enough was enough and went back to a conventional top fueler.

Sometimes even when the paper says it should work, it just doesn’t. This was one of those times. In fact, streamlined top fuelers have never really consistently done what people thought they would…except for one and we’ll talk about it in a few weeks.

Watch the streamliner of Gary Ormsby make its auspicious debut at Pomona 1986


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2 thoughts on “NHRA Winternationals History: 30 Years Ago This Weekend The Streamliner Of Gary Ormsby Blew Up On The Burnout (Video)

  1. Newstalgia

    This body was for sale last month on eBay for $35k. It showed a lot of ware and tear and it was for sale out of the Sacramento area(which is where he was from). Neat piece of memorabilia just $35k outa my price range!!

  2. Donny Chops

    I think there might have been 2 cars and in the early 90’s one complete car was in the basement of the Indy Museum along with the rest of the Museum car collection that wasn’t on display. I was there , I saw it. It is an important piece of automotive history.

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