NITRONIC RESEARCH - GOODGUYS 14th Hot Rod Nationals Race Recap

Since the early days of drag racing, strips around Tucson, Arizona have seen more crossed-up, crow hopping, cone crunching, nail-biting and down right entertaining passes by a long and infamous list of the nasty boys of nitro than just about anywhere else on the planet.

No one can explain why the desolate and cactus covered sands of the high Southwest desert attracts this particular brand of adrenaline junkie the way Area 51 draws UFO's. I'm referring to the Tazmanian Devils of two-lane titillation, the nitro fuel altereds. These short, evil handling machines are the creations of mad scientists thinly disguised as drag racers who take perfectly good antique and vintage cars,(T s, Bantams and Topolinos mostly), throw away everything but the shell, slap that down over a too-short chassis cradling a multi-thousand horsepower motor and then feed it glutinous amounts of nitromethane to bring it to full fire breathing life. Add some big fat slicks (all the better to bounce on after copping major air) and between them insert a driver with little apparent concern for his personal safety and you have the makings of great drag racing theater.

Like any good story though, this one may just have a happy ending for the hardcore and future fans of the "short is better" school of nitro racing embraced by nitro fuel altereds. After a lapse of more than twenty years, the Altereds Nationals is once again drawing a growing number of altereds to Tucson. Thanks to the efforts of a few die-hard racers who kept their cars running or built new versions of famous cars of the golden days and some promoters who have always known the value of this great class, the fuel altereds are experiencing an astounding rebirth.

Ron Fassl

Skokie, Illinois' Ken Kleiner showed everyone in A/GAS (7.60 index) that they had to pick up three 10th's if they wanted to defeat his blown alcohol '63 Corvette. Kleiner grabbed the #1 qualifying position with a near perfect 7.618, then put the beautiful split window 'Vette on cruise control for Sunday's race. In all three elimination rounds, Kleiner logged Low ET, before defeating David Morris' '29 Ford in the final 7.885 to the loser's 8.112.

As a side note, Kokomo, Indiana's Tex Cooper got the "Best Burnout" award in A/GAS by doing not one, but two 700-foot smoky burnouts behind the wheel of his blown 327 small block powered '55 Chevy.

Dave Hough's son-in-law, James Generalao, waits for the fire-up (who said insanity wasn't hereditary?).

June 22, at Southwestern International Raceway in Tucson saw a total of seventeen nitro fuel altereds in two classes gathered for the second annual revival of a great event. The car count doubled for this year s Nationals and the buzz through the pits was that by next year there would be many more. Some of the names have changed and some of the cars have evolved out of the NHRA Funny Car Class. These hemi-powered 5000hp brutes are AWESOME. Steve Neese of Phoenix, AZ on his final pass of the race Against Gary Read laid down the fastest pass ever by a fuel altered. His blast of 5.42 at over 281mph left those of us who witnessed it stunned.

Stephen Neese, and Gary Read in the Haight and Sullivan T, out about 500 feet in the finals...note the small explosion in front of Read, in the near lane.

To the credit of Dave Danish and SIR who has resurrected a classic event, they put up great purse money that saw the winner and low ET holder, Neese, take away $10,000 for his night's work.
	Former CIFCA standout Steve Tyron sticks his toes into the nitro pond...

In the Nostalgia nitro class the news was also good. 8 cars showed up to race and that is a huge jump from 3 in February at the Las Vegas Pro Nitro race. These boys are running mid 6 s at around 215 mph.
Eventual "Classic Fuel Altered" winner, Mike Savage.

The "Gorilla" of Mac McCord annahilates the tires...

For the fans who attended they saw fuel altereds in all their glory as they blasted off, crossed the centerline, jumped in the air, ran off the end of the track and just did what we have all come to expect of them.