Watch The 1974 NHRA US Nationals Wide World Of Sports Broadcast Here


Watch The 1974 NHRA US Nationals Wide World Of Sports Broadcast Here

So am I currently in prep mode for the 2015 US Nationals. I like to have lots of notes and stuff with me when going to do a race, especially stuff of a historical nature and no race is more important to be well armed with such things than the US Nationals. Gathering old race results, elapsed times, and all that kind of thing is fun but also gathering some of the more weird information is important too. Old videos like the one you will watch here are invaluable for this because they allow a much deeper look than you can get through old drag paper clippings and people’s memories.

For instance, you are going to see a strapping, young, Don Schumacher racing his funny car in this video. He’s wrenching on it, driving it, and talking a little smack along the way. In today’s world of drag racing, if someone says that they’ll take their opponent, “Any day of the week,” that seems to make headlines because no one has said anything like it for so long but back then it was the vernacular of the sport. He gave Billy Meyer some respect but then he also said that he wanted to take him down. That’s what it is about.

Lots of great names, great machines, and great racing in this video (which is two parts but the second part automatically follows the first). There’s some heartbreak as well. New England funny car hero Kosty Ivanhof was all squared up to race Mike Miller in the famed Green Elephant car and the engine locked up tight when they were trying to start it. The camera sticks with Kosty as he climbs out of the car, disgusted and angry. It is a great human interest moment and you can tell of the crushing disappointment. The announcer briefly mentions an interesting part of Kosty’s life. As the story goes, the Ivanhof family wanted to escape communist Bulgaria so Kosty’s dad took a car and welded all kinds of steel and boiler plate into it, making it essentially a little tank. The family got in, sat low, and literally pummeled its way across the closed border crossing to freedom. Amazing stuff. Kosty has since left us, but what an interesting tale!

This is spectacular video with lots of neat stuff happening every second. You’ll dig it, we promise.

PRESS PLAY BELOW AND WATCH THE 1974 US NATIONALS –


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