Top Alcohol Dragster
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The 1978 NHRA Winternationals (commonly known as the Winternats) were a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing event, held at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California, on 5 February; rain halted eliminations after round one was complete. Racing resumed on 13 February, only to have an unusual snow storm interrupt again; the final was held on 14 February. [1]
The Top Fuel Dragster field was 16 cars.
Top qualifier, and 1973 and 1975 winner, Don Garlits (in Swamp Rat XXIV , lost to #9 qualifier Richard Tharp. #3 qualifier Pat Dakin was defeated by #11 qualifier Rob Bruins. Shirley Muldowney qualified #6, and eliminated #14 qualifier Larry Sutton. #8 qualifier Terry Capp lost to low qualifier Rick Ramsey. John Kimble, who qualified #12, was defeated by #4 qualifier John Abbott. Gary Beck qualified #7 and fell to Dick LaHaie, who qualified #15. !3 qualifier Marvin Graham lost to #5 qualifier Gordon Fabeck. #2 qualifier Kelly Brown defeated #10 qualifier Jeb Allen. [2]
Abbott lost to Ramsey, Tharp to Fabeck, Muldowney to Brown, and Bruins to LaHaie. [2]
Fabeck eliminated LaHaie and Brown defeated Ramsey. [2]
Brown defeated Fabeck, earning a US$12,000 prize. [2]
The Top Fuel Funny Car field was 16 cars; Billy Meyer and Jake Crimmins attended, but failed to qualify. [3]
Top qualifier Tripp Shumake, in the 1978 Plymouth Arrow, was defeated by Gary Burgin's 1978 Chevrolet Monza. Reigning 3-time winner Don "The Snake" Prudhomme's 1978 Arrow qualified #3 , and eliminated #11 qualifier Ed "The Ace" McCulloch's 1978 Arrow. "TV Tommy" Ivo qualified #2 in a 1978 Arrow, defeating Dave Hough's #10-qualifying 1978 Arrow. Ron Colson, qualified #12 in the 1978 Chevrolet Monza, was defeated by #4 qualifier Gordon Bonin's 1978 Pontiac Trans Am. #14 qualifier John Collins, in a 1977 Plymouth Duster, fell to the 1977 Chevrolet Camaro of Denny Savage. Dave Condit, who qualified #13 in a 1978 Arrow, lost to Tom "Mongoo$e" McEwen's #5-qualifying 1977 Chevrolet Corvette. Pat Foster qualified #7 in a 1978 Trans Am, and was eliminated by #15 qualifier Gene Snow's 1977 Arrow. Low qualifier Ezra Boggs (in the 1977 Chevrolet Corvette) lost to #8 qualifier, a 1978 Chevrolet Monza driven by Tom Prock (whose son Jimmy later became an NHRA mechanic and grandson Austin is a 2019 NHRA Top Fuel driver). [3]
Burgin, in the Monza, lost to McEwen. Bonin was defeated by Prock. Snow was eliminated by Prudhomme. Savge lost to Ivo. [3]
McEwen faced Prudhomme, who advanced. Ivo defeated Prock. [3]
Prudhomme took a fourth straight Funny Car win at Pomona. [3]
| | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2018) |
| | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2018) |
The Pro Stock field was 16 cars. Don Campanello qualified #7, but failed to make the start for round one; his place was taken by #17 qualifier Gary Hansen. [4]
Top qualifier Bob Glidden, in a 1978 Ford Pinto, eliminated #9 qualifier Lee Hunter's 1977 Ford Mustang. Jean Batteux qualified #13 in a 1977 Pinto, and was defeated by #5 qualifier Kevin Rotty's 1974 Camaro. #2 qualifier Warren Johnson's Camaro was eliminated by the AMC of #10 qualifier Wally Booth. #16 qualifier Brad Yuill's Monza lost to the Camaro of #8 qualifier Mark Yuill. Larry Lombardo, qualified #12 in a 1978 Monza, defeated Sonny Bryant, who qualified #4 in a 1977 Camaro. #3 qualifier Frank Iaconio's Monza defeated the 1976 Duster of #11 qualifier Randy Humphrey. John Hagen qualified #14 in a 1978 Arrow, and was eliminated by Gordie Rivera's Monza. Low qualifier Hansen's 1975 Chevrolet Vega was eliminated by the #15-qualified 1977 Camaro of Tom Chelbana. [4]
Rotty lost to Glidden, Booth to Rivera, Yuill to Lombardo, and Chelbana to Iaconio. [4]
Yuill was eliminated by Lombardo, Iaconio by Gildden. [4]
Glidden took the win over Iaconio. [4]
| | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2018) |
| | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2018) |
Pro Stock is a class of drag racing featuring "factory hot rods". The class is often described as "all motor", due to the cars not using any form of forced induction such as turbocharging or supercharging, or other enhancements, like nitrous oxide, along with regulations governing the modifications allowed to the engines and the types of bodies used.
Don Prudhomme, nicknamed "The Snake", is an American drag racer.
Bob Glidden was an American drag racer. He was retired from Pro Stock racing in 1997 and returned in 2010. Glidden retired as the driver with the most wins in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) history at that time — a feat recently topped by 16-time Funny Car champion John Force — and he was the third-most successful drag racer of the professional class drivers — sixth when counting sportsman national event winners — at the time of his death. Glidden won 85 NHRA National Events. In the Professional classes, he was behind Force (147) and Warren Johnson (97). Currently, Glidden ranks fourth behind Greg Anderson (90). Glidden's ten Pro Stock championships included five in a row beginning in 1985. Among his numerous accomplishments, Glidden won nine straight NHRA national races in 1979 and was the No. 1 qualifier 23 times in a row, including the entire 1987 season. At one point, he won 50 eliminations rounds in a row.
Don Nicholson was an American drag racer from Missouri. He raced in the 1960s and 1970s when there were few national events. The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) estimates he won 90 percent of his match races. As of 2002, he held the record for the most number of categories in which he reached a final round : Funny Car, Pro Stock, Super Stock, Competition Eliminator, Stock, and Street. He was nicknamed "Dyno Don" after he was one of the first drivers to use a chassis dynamometer on his cars in the late 1950s, a skill that he learned while working as a line mechanic at a Chevrolet car dealer.
Shirley Shahan is a pioneering American woman drag racer.
Ed McCulloch, nicknamed "The Ace", is an American dragster and funny car driver.
The 1971 NHRA Winternationals were a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing event, held at Pomona, California on 7 February.
The 1978 NHRA Summernationals were a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing event, held at Englishtown, New Jersey, on 16 July.
The 1962 NHRA Winternationals were a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing event, held at Auto Club Raceway, Pomona, California on 18 February.
The 1969 NHRA Winternationals were a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing event, held at Pomona, California on 2 February.
Carl Olson is an American Top Fuel Dragster driver.
The 1961 NHRA Winternationals were a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing event, held at Pomona Raceway at Los Angeles County Fairgrounds on 19 February.
Gordon Mineo, nicknamed "Flash Gordon", was a Top Fuel Funny Car driver.
Lew Russell Robinson, nicknamed "Sneaky Pete", was an American drag racer.
The 1980 NHRA Winternationals were a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing event, held at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California, on February 3.
The 1964 NHRA Winternationals were a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing event, held at Auto Club Raceway, Pomona, California on 16 February.
The 1968 NHRA Winternationals were a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing event, held at Auto Club Raceway, Pomona, California on 4 February.
Jim Warren is an American Top Fuel Dragster driver. He won two National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and two American Hot Rod Association (AHRA) national events.
The 1987 NHRA Winternationals were a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing event, held at Auto Club Raceway, Pomona, California on 1 February.
Dale Emery, nicknamed "The Snail", was an American drag racer. Emery raced Fuel Altereds and Funny Cars, and briefly in wheelstanders, as well as serving as crew chief for several top teams.