Movie of the Week: 1961 NHRA Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park

How have I missed this 1? A wonderful film on the ’61 NHRA Nationals, shot in shade. Before that yr, officers at the National Very hot Rod Affiliation declared that the 7th once-a-year championship drags would be held at the freshly-created Indianapolis Raceway Park, just a handful of miles down the road from the Indy 500 Speedway circuit, and it was large news without a doubt. Drag Racers were being enthusiastic to contend at this best notch facility, and the central U.S. location meant that far more Midwestern and Southern entrants could take part in the Nationals than ever ahead of. In truth, an mysterious engineer from Georgia named Pete Robinson (aka ‘Sneaky Pete’) took the top E.T. prize of the weekend, laying down a blistering 8.92 at 169.5 mph in the Leading Eliminator class. Drag racing was really in its heyday at this point, with Very hot Rod magazine dedicating 16 web pages to the celebration, and an believed 12,000 spectators observing 900 cars race more than the major weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8frlyrPWB0&ab_channel=supertubr