Photo by Luke Cortez Scotty's 2nd Chevy Fuel Dragster -- thought to be the 2nd over 200 MPH. (Who's first?)
From a 2021 thread about “The Race to 200.” Started by @J Ukrop Hello, Being from the Westcoast during the early drag racing history days, we always turned to our favorite racers that were setting the records left and right in all of the classes. It was not just one guy, but there were plenty of racers sponsored by a myriad of cam grinders and suppliers, wanting to boost their businesses by claiming a record or two in the weekly Drag News papers. Garlits was listed as the first to set the 200 mph record in 1964, but the magical 200 mph barrier had already been set 4 years earlier. The record of 181 mph in the quarter mile was a pretty awesome feat. Then in succession, 185, 191, etc. Then we all were waiting for another camp to even go higher, when all of a sudden, the 1960 Drag News Weekly paper boasts a record setting news story that was literally unheard of before in drag racing history. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-greek-today.1226039/page-2#post-14024264 “The fans in the stands who witnessed the Greek's performance at Alton, Illinois, on April 24, 1960, were delirious. On his second run of the day, Karamesines tripped the finish line timers in 8.87 seconds—an expected clocking. But the time it took for the Chizler to cover the speed trap at the end of the track was anything but ordinary. In fact, it was so out of the ordinary, so brief, that it was off the conversion charts the track used to determine the MPH figure. As the crowd waited in silent anticipation, a bit of math yielded the trap speed: 204.54 mph—the first 200-mph time recorded at any dragstrip anywhere, a number that blew the fans out of their seats, and a number that's still the subject of debate 55 years later.” Hotrod.com Drag News weekly Jnaki We were all astounded at reading the speed record for the classes that had all of the big names in drag racing. Then, the stuff hit the fan on all accounts about the validity of the timing, the dragstrip, etc. Anything a reporter could come up with to question a resounding speed record. It was the first official recording of a 200 mph run in the drag racing history. “a number that's still the subject of debate 55 years later.” Hotrod.com” But, facts are facts… so, within weeks of Garlits’ 200 mph 1964 era run, the Westcoast racers had a new 200 mph top speed set by none other than Frank Cannon. Frank Cannon WDIFL Frank Cannon hazes the tires in Hustler V AA/FD at Lions in 1964... New "zoomies" = 200 mph for real. WDIFL
Hello, In 1959, I was standing around near the timing tower at Lion’s Dragstrip talking to Mr. Childers, the ambulance driver and attendant, whose White Pontiac Ambulance was a fixture in that location. We became friends as I wandered over there plenty of times. One day, a small White Fiat Altered Coupe comes to the starting line and looked/sounded as if he meant business. So, I took a short film of the Altered race car. To my surprise and to others, it took off, then sputtered and shut down right in front of the spectator’s side folks. We got a good look from the other side of the dragstrip. It was a possible dangerous situation, but the starting line crew knew what to do. The driver jumped out of the Fiat Altered Coupe and then the white powder started in earnest. Jnaki In looking at the small flames underneath, it took one tall red can from the starting line emergency supplies to put out the fire. See what one tall red cannister of fire extinguisher stuff does in 1959? In the late summer of 1960, our 1940 671 supercharged SBC Willys Coupe took at least 8 large bottles and it still had to burn itself out later into the evening, after the dragstrip closed and everyone went home. Gas fires are not the most friendly of fires… YRMV
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