NHRA required Zyla to get signed releases from every driver involved. Only Don "The Snake" Prudhomme's lawyer sought a licensing fee; when Zyla revealed he was a mere "mom and pop" operator, Prudhomme wished him luck.[1]
When it reached the market in 1975, the game offered only Pro Stock drivers (31 in all), relying on their 1974 season's statistics.[1] There were also anonymous cards, for players who wanted to race, themselves.[1]
The game accounted for changing track conditions and oildowns, as well as the latest NHRA rules.[1]
By 1977, Zyla had added Top FuelFunny Car (including East Coast match racers like Tim Kushi) and Dragster drivers. Later editions added Pro Comp, for one year only; the statistics cards for Pro Comp are now hard to find.[1]
A 1976 piece by Woody Hatten in Super Stock & Drag Illustratedmagazine (based on the experience of a group who played the game on a regular basis, of which Hatten was a member) garnered national attention.[1] Some professional racers, including Bob Glidden, Al Hanna, and "Dandy Dick" Landy (who purchased six copies), also played.[1]
Priced at $8.95 when originally released, the price rose as high as $16.95 before it went out of production in 1980. Approximately 3000 copies were sold.[1]
Inventor Zyla continues to write two weekly syndicated columns for Gannett and GateHouse Media, one a test-drive column and one a collector car/motorsports column as of July 29, 2020. He did build his own race car from the proceeds of the game in 1979, and had two successful seasons driving his gas powered Vega Panel Wagon funny car. He was the Top Winner in 1980 at Numidia Dragway in Pennsylvania in 1980 scoring six wins and three runner ups in 18 races. See his homepage for examples of his current work, photos, interviews, etc. at zylamotorsports.com or at gregzyla.com.[citation needed]
Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most commonly 1⁄4 mi, with a shorter, 1,000 ft distance becoming increasingly popular, as it has become the standard for Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars, where some major bracket races and other sanctioning bodies have adopted it as the standard. The 1⁄8 mi is also popular in some circles. Electronic timing and speed sensing systems have been used to record race results since the 1960s.
The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a governing body which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsports sanctioning body in the world.
Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers' showroom models. They also have the engine placed in front of the driver, as opposed to dragsters, which place it behind the driver.
Shirley Muldowney, also known professionally as "Cha Cha" and the "First Lady of Drag Racing", is an American auto racer. She was the first woman to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to drive a Top Fuel dragster. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980, and 1982, becoming the first person to win two and three Top Fuel titles. She won a total of 18 NHRA national events.
Don Prudhomme, nicknamed "the Snake", is an American drag racer.
Nostalgia drag racing is a form of drag racing using cars from the 1950s, 1960s and lately the 1970s.
Frank Hawley is a two-time World champion drag racing driver.
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.
Maple Grove Raceway (MGR) is a quarter-mile dragstrip located near Mohnton, Pennsylvania, just outside Reading. It opened in 1962 as a 1/5-mile dragstrip. It was eventually lengthened to its current quarter-mile length in 1964. The track has been sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association for most of its existence. It has hosted an NHRA national event since 1985. Uni-Select Auto Plus came aboard as the Nationals sponsor in 2011. Other key events include the American Drag Racing League, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, the Geezers Reunion at The Grove, the Super Chevy Show, Mopar Action, Fun Ford Weekend and the NHRA Pennsylvania Dutch Classic.
Bruce Larson (1937) is an American retired drag racer from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. He became nationally known for his match races. He quit funny Car racing in 1972 after a bad fire and raced in the Pro Stock class for 2 years. He then returned to the Funny Car class and match racing until 1987 where he fought his way to the NHRA Funny Car Championship in 1989. He led the points chase from start to finish collecting 6 National Event wins, 5 runner ups and the Car Craft Funny Car Driver of the Year award. That championship car is now one of only 2 drag race cars in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, the other being Don Garlits' rear engine dragster. He was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2006. Larson is remembered for his red, white, and blue USA-1 Chevrolet Camaros.
Dale Armstrong was a Canadian drag racer and crew chief. After winning 12 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and 12 International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) events in the 1970s, including the Pro Comp title in 1975, he became Kenny Bernstein's crew chief. The combination produced four consecutive national championships in Funny Car and another in Top Fuel. Bernstein became the first driver to top the 300 miles per hour mark in an engine tuned by Armstrong. Armstrong has been inducted in numerous halls of fame. He died on November 28, 2014, at his home in Temecula, California, at the age of 73. He had sarcoidosis.
Tom McEwen was an American drag racer who was a winner of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) U.S. Nationals. His racing career spanned 45 years. He is ranked at number 16 on a list of the 50 most significant drivers of NHRA’s first 50 years.
The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series is a drag racing series organized by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). It is the top competition series of the NHRA, comprising competition in four classes, including Top Fuel Dragster, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Roland Leong is an American drag racer, whose "Hawaiian" brand cars achieved many victories. He later went on to act as crew chief in Funny Cars races.
Ron Capps is an American NHRA Funny Car racer who owns and drives the NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Supra.
Jerry Ruth is a former professional drag racer who raced in the "golden age of drag racing" in the 1960s and 1970s. He was known as drag racing's "King of the Northwest".
Shirley Shahan is a pioneering American woman drag racer.
Ed McCulloch, nicknamed "The Ace", is an American dragster and funny car driver.
Gaspar Ronda, better known as Gas Ronda, was an American drag racer. He was also a restaurateur. In 2016, Ronda was made a member of the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame.
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.
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