INTERNATIONAL DRAG RACING HALL OF FAME
1991
The Inaugural International Drag Racing Hall of Fame Ceremony was held on Friday, March 15th in the Grand Ballroom of the Ocala Hilton, in Ocala Florida.
Sydney Allard
(1910 -1966)
Instrumental to the introduction of drag racing to the British Isles. Sydney owned, built, and drove his own blown fuel dragster in the 50’s. He won the Monte Carlo Rally in the famed Allard sports car of his manufacture. A Royal Auto Club Director, Sidney coordinated the corporate involvement for the First Annual International Dragster Challenge, known as the British Drag Festival, at which time United States Drag Team competed on British soil.
Art Arfons
(1926-2007)
Instrumental to the introduction of drag racing to the British Isles. Sydney owned, built, and drove his own blown fuel dragster in the 50’s. He won the Monte Carlo Rally in the famed Allard sports car of his manufacture. A Royal Auto Club Director, Sidney coordinated the corporate involvement for the First Annual International Dragster Challenge, known as the British Drag Festival, at which time United States Drag Team competed on British soil.
Art Chrisman
(1929-2016)
Any high school student who starts off with three cars can best be described in the yearbook as the guy most likely to succeed in racing. This was the case for Art Chrisman a member of the Saints car club in Compton, California, and co-operator of the fabled Chrisman and Son’s Garage. Art made the first pass ever at the National Hot Rod Association Nationals in 1955 in Great Bend, Kansas. In 1959, Art’s Hustler won the first Bakersfield race, considered by many to be the birth of professional drag racing.
Jack Chrisman
(1928 – 1989)
One of the greatest natural drivers in drag racing history, Jack experimented with single and double-engine gas dragsters, fuel dragsters, rear-engine sidewinder dragsters, and eventually sidewinder funny cars. The twin-engine, small block Chevrolets of the Howard’s Cams Twin Bear, brought national attention to the sport and Jack. His contributions to organizing drag racing are many and meaningful; however, Jack’s single most significant contribution was the successful operation of the world’s first fuel funny car. The stock-bodied 1964 Mercury Comet, which became known simply as Chrisman’s Comet, changed the face of drag racing forever.
Emery Cook
(1926 – 1983)
Emery began his racing career in San Diego, closely associated with the Bean Bandits. He drove the Hensley & Cook rear-engine roadster, the first twin disk, high gear-only drag vehicle. In 1956 Emery teamed up with Cliff Bedwell, purchasing the Yeakle Brothers car; installing a 354 ci Chrysler on 98% Nitro, and quickly blasting the car to 166.66 mph, becoming the first to break 160 mph and a quarter-mile. During his career, Emery held six world records and 46 individual track records.
Bud Coons
As a policeman in Pomona, California Bud started working with the local hot rodders clubs, implementing various programs that proved beneficial in reducing accidents and fatalities. He set up the first police-sponsored drag strip in Fontana, California in 1949, which resulted in a write-up in the FBI bulletin on how to work with hot rodders. The bulletin created a working relationship between rodders and police agencies nationwide. As NHRA Field Director in 1954, Bud led the NHRA Safety Safari tours that introduced sanctioned drag racing across the country and gave rise to regional and national championships, including the first “East meets West” drag race at Great Bend, Kansas in 1955.
Raymond Godman
(1928-2018)
Ray’s 75-mile-per-hour 1932 Ford Roadster was a far cry from the 1800 horsepower ”Bo Weevils” that he fielded during the 70’s. His cars, raced over a span of three decades, giving testimony to Ray’s love of drag racing. Ray is credited with bringing NHRA racing to the hills of Tennessee, by hosting the Safety Safari in 1955. Attending the First Nationals in Great Bend, Ray won his class with a speed of 92.68 mph and then raced at the next 24 Nationals with a roadster, then dragsters, and finally funny cars.
Charles E. “Jack” Hart
(1922-1977)
One of the pioneers at the old Santa Ana dragstrip, Jack was well-known for constructing and racing some of the more advanced cars of the 40’s. He drove everything from stock cars to supercharged dragsters, before joining the NHRA staff as Advertising Manager in 1960. A man of intelligent strong conviction and strength of character, Jack soon became NHRA Event Director, establishing safety guidelines, procedures, and specifications which have contributed to the success and safety of national events of today.
CJ Hart
(1911-2004)
Opening drag racing’s first commercial strip in 1950 at Santa Ana, he is credited with “inventing” the sport. Although it is not quite that simple; “Pappy” is the man who led the efforts to provide the facilities to race legally. Eventually becoming the manager of the Lions Association Drag Strip, he always kept an eye out for the “little guys”, the backbone of the sport. CJ spent most of his life trying to improve drag racing through improved facilities better prize money and a greater awareness of the sport to the general public.
“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.
Howard Johansen
(1910-1988)
Howard started his involvement in drag racing on the dry lakes of Muroc and El Mirage. His mechanical genius led to many of the parts we take for granted today, primarily the forged aluminum rod. Howard did whatever was necessary to get the job done, sometimes making “one-off” special parts for competitors. His most famous car, the “Howard’s Twin Bear” was quite successful and brought notoriety to the owner, driver, and the sport as a whole.
Ak Miller
(1920-2005)
Ak’s first accomplishment in hot rotting was in 1935, but at the age of 15, he recorded a speed of 92 mph at Muroc Dry Lake in Southern California. Twelve years later, as President of the Southern California Timing Association, Ak established the first hot rod show in Los Angeles and then followed with the Bonneville Speed Trials of 1948. One of the original founders of the National Hot Rod Association, he was also instrumental in the creation of the first legitimate dragstrip at the Santa Ana airbase.
Tony Nancy
(1929-2004)
A fervent hot rodder and a product of the dry lakes, at Muroc and El Mirage, Tony matured at the time of the drag racing explosion after World War II. Never comfortable with convention or customarily accepted methods, he designed, built, or supervised the construction of every car he ever ran. Most notable is the fact that each car Tony rolled to the starting line in was unique, impeccably finished, and stunning in performance. The traveling ambassador of drag racing, he traveled to England, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Australia representing this great American sport admirably.
Jim Nelson
(1927-2012)
The original National Hot Rod Association Technical Director, Jim was turning the Southern California Timing Association clocks at El Mirage before the birth of NHRA. In fact, his 135-mile-per-hour pass in 1946 was made in a 1934 Ford pickup with a flathead engine. Record holder of several top speed and ET records in the early 60s, Jim was co-creator of the Drag Master Company which produced countless championship drag racing cars for many notable racers. His concern for the growth of the sport and the safety of its participants is documented in his nearly four decades of involvement with the NHRA Safety Safari.
Don Nicholson
(1927-2006)
With the hottest Chevrolet in the 40s, “Nick” street raced his finderless 1934 Coupe from Santa Barbara to San Diego. When Santa Ana opened, Don was there. Soon his “dyno-tuned” cars were pummeling the competition, winning Super Stock at the first Pomona Winternationals and the Nationals at Indy in 1961. Next, Don and Mercury stood the funny car contingent on its ears with “Eliminator I” and ran the first “funny” into the sevens. In 1969 Don returned to his first love match racing stockers. The successful program led to what became known as Pro Stock, with Don ultimately winning the 1977 Pro Stock Championship.
Calvin Rice
(1928-1974)
Drag racing’s first National Champion, Calvin is one of the sport’s earliest pioneers. He was instrumental in the design and development of the first dragster and with the help of many friends and fellow racers, Calvin designed the radical “slingshot” that one Top Eliminator at Great Bend, Kansas topping 144 miles per hour. Noted for being able to get the most out of the cars he raced, what Calvin may have lacked in horsepower he made up with his uncanny ability to be virtually unbeatable off the line. A true pioneer, a great champion, and a man who helped launch this great sport.
Paul Schiefer
(1918-1970)
The son of a major figure in the furniture showcase dynasty of Schiefer and Sons, Paul was no stranger to manufacturing, although his interests were in the automotive field and not in furniture. Paul loved cars and making them go fast. As a brilliant engineer and engine builder, he invented the all-aluminum flywheel clutch assembly. He wisely patented this invention that included a special metal-sprayed bronze friction surface. During the ’60s, Paul guided his company to become the largest specialty drive-train component manufacturing company in the world, with customers in virtually every racing field.
Mickey Thompson
(1928-1988)
Southern Californian Thompson began his tremendous career in motorsports in dry lake speed trials with the Russetta Timing Association in 1947. He advanced to the earliest organized drag races and became manager of Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, California in 1956. Although his promotional expertise later led him into stadium racing, he was a champion in land speed record racing, boat racing, oval track racing, and off-road competition as well. His drag racing innovations include the incorporation of breaking parachutes in drag racing, the funny car chassis design still in use today, and streamlining science in both fuel and jet dragsters.
Jim Tice
(1925-1982)
A World War II bomber pilot and ex-drag racer, Jim formed the American Hot Rod Association in 1956. His marketing knowledge and understanding of drag racing were responsible for huge gains in the sport. Among the many innovations attributed to Tice were the use of the Christmas Tree starting system in both full and pro-styles, the addition of Funny Car Eliminator, the creation of Super Stock (later Pro Stock), the first points-based World Championship Series, and the pursuit of major sponsorship with larger more realistic purses for both racers and the AHRA series.
Ed Winfield
(1910-1982)
A pioneer in the pure sense of the word, Ed is considered by many to have been the most intelligent man in racing during the early years. With considerable knowledge and background in mathematics, Ed formulated and designed the most radical racing cams in history and was the creator of the Winfield carburetor. Much of his master cam work would be difficult, if not impossible to duplicate without the use of computers. Without these early cam designs, the phenomenal performance extracted from the little flathead engines would not have been possible.
1992
The Inaugural International Drag Racing Hall of Fame Ceremony was held on Friday, March 15th in the Grand Ballroom of the Ocala Hilton, in Ocala Florida.