The Quarter Mile Foundation has been doing lots of important work over the last couple of years to gather and preserve the history of drag racing. Some of that work has centered around video interviews with people deeply involved with the sport. We happened upon this killer video of Dave Mac, Bob Frey, and Jon Lundberg talking about their history in the sport, some of their experiences, and just telling some stories about the sport of straight line acceleration. These are three guys that have seen more drag racing than most of us ever will. These are three guys who have had the opportunity to announce stuff like the first four second top fuel pass, the first 300mph run in drag racing history, and the single most legendary pass in the history of the NHRA when Tony Schumacher won a championship on the last possible run of the season in 2006. These are also three guys that Chad and I have been fortunate enough to spend some time with this summer during our travels to various exotic locales around the country.

Like their announcing styles, the guys tell stories that fit them. Mac regales us with some tales of early parachute use and the trials/learning curve that racers experienced. He does it in his laconic style with that great vocal instrument leaving the watcher hanging on every word. Frey comes with some great history regarding the “good old days” of drag racing and how the sport regionally developed. Finally, Lundberg takes his history and applies it to the present time as an indicator of where factory involvement in the stock and super stock ranks could take those categories.

One neat thing about these three men is that they represent the left coast in Mac, the right coast in Frey, and the middle of the country with Lundberg. Before the years of a national event circuit that traversed the country like it does now, regional heroes were the order of the day in drag racing. Bobby Langley in Texas, Garlits on the east coast, any number of guys out on the Pacific coast, etc. As Frey points out, the sport and its various iterations were fairly regionalized as well. Fuel cars dominated out west. The gassers were huge in the middle, and stock/super stock style racing had a hold on the eastern portion of the country. All of them grew and eventually melded together into the sport of drag racing we see today. Interesting to see that perspective from three guys who were around to see those tectonic plates move together and fuse!

We could go on for hours about these guys and the work that the Quarter Mile Foundation is doing, but we won’t. Click here to learn more about the Quarter Mile Foundation and press play below to see the video!

NHRA ANNOUNCERS from Fred Duffer on Vimeo.