“TV” Tommy Ivo
Winning only one solitary national event championship, Tommy Ivo is considered to be the father of drag racing showmanship and became one of the most popular match racers in the sport’s history. His self-promotion led to acting jobs in several television series and films, and that same promotion placed his dragsters, funny cars, and later jet dragsters to the forefront of drag racing’s media regardless of their on-track performance. In that regard “TV” Tommy’s greatest single performance achievement came with the recording of the first unofficial five-second top fuel run, of 5.97 on October 12, 1972.