To start, we should explain something that many people don’t really know or understand. Before 1970 there was no such thing as a funny car championship in NHRA drag racing. Then, between 1970 and 1973 the way you won the championship was by winning the world finals, or the last race of the season. The winners there were the world champs. In 1974 the points gathering system started and that was the start of the traditional years of “he who has the most points at the end, wins” type NHRA racing. We needed to tell you this because you are going to watch Frank Hall in the Green Elephant funny car win the world championship at the NHRA finals in 1973. He was the last of the non-points guys to do it and he did it at Amarillo, Texas. Why Wally decided to have the finals there? We have no idea.
This video is cool because it shows off a few of the neatest funny cars of the time. There’s Al Bergler and his Motown Shaker, Bobby Rowe, and of course the Green Elephant owned by Jim and Betty Green out of the Pacific Northwest. Green and Jerry Verhuel tuned the car masterfully. It was the division six funny car champion that year and obviously had the guts to run with anyone in the country when it needed to.
Dave McClelland is on the call for the multiple rounds of funny car racing you will see. We have no idea where this “aired” at the time. Someone got the footage so it had to have shown up somewhere, we guess.
Another neat side note here is that years later Frank Hall would become the NHRA Division six director!
Funny Car Chaos coming to Amarillo Dragway May 31st & June 1st !!
The Grump checking out track conditions at the very end.
The car is so beautiful and personality. I am very impressed with this car.