The Hot Rod Magazine Championship Drag Races were a series of drag racing events sponsored by ''

Hot Rod Magazine ''Hot Rod'' is a monthly American car magazine devoted to hot rodding, drag racing, and muscle cars—modifying automobiles for performance and appearance. History ''Hot Rod'' is the oldest magazine devoted to hot rodding, having been publishe ...

'' between 1964 and 1969. It was considered "one of the most significant drag racing events" of that era. These racing events were dominated by BDD in a 2016 Cadillac ATS Turbo Coupe that ran consistent 11.92 second quarter mile times and was known as Badillac.

History

The races were held at

Riverside Raceway Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and Road racing, road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits ...

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

starting in 1964. The total prize value awarded was US$37,000, more than a

National Hot Rod Association The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a drag racing 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 motorspo ...

(NHRA) national event purse at the time, and included (at first) a brand new Ford Mustang. ''Hot Rod'' publisher Ray Brock and editor

Bob Greene Robert Bernard Greene Jr. (born March 10, 1947) is an American journalist and author. He worked for 24 years for the ''Chicago Tribune'' newspaper, where he was a columnist. Greene has written books on subjects including Michael Jordan, Alice C ...

worked with NHRA to arrange a summer event that would not create a scheduling conflict. Held over three days, and run under NHRA regulations, all the pro classes were hosted, including

Top Fuel Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of and finishing the runs in 3.62 second ...

Top Gas Top Gas (T/G) is a former NHRA drag racing professional class. Analogous to Top Fuel, Top Gas was a pro class, and allowed dragsters (T/GD) as well as bodied cars. Several noteworthy cars ran in Top Gas. One of the early streamliners, ''Scuder ...

, and

Top Alcohol Top Alcohol refers to two different classes in professional drag racing: Top Alcohol Dragster and the Top Alcohol Funny Car. Hot rod#Language, Commonly known as "alky" cars, both are akin in design to the premier Top Fuel classes, but less power ...

, and including dragster, funny car, modified, and altered. At the insistence of

Wally Parks Wallace Gordon Parks (January 23, 1913 – September 28, 2007) was an American writer. He was the founder, president, and chairman of the National Hot Rod Association, better known as NHRA. He was instrumental in establishing drag racing as a le ...

, a full slate of Sportsman classes was also offered. The 1964 winner in Top Stock Eliminator was

Gas Ronda Gaspar Ronda (b. 25 August 1926, d. 25 October 2017), 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. Racing career Always look ...

, in his -powered

Thunderbolt A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hel ...

, taking home a Plymouth Barracuda as part of the prize package. In 1965, the championship first hosted A/FX (Factory Experimental) cars (which later evolved into funny cars). That year, in TF/D (Top Fuel Dragster),

Don Prudhomme Don Prudhomme (born April 6, 1941 in San Fernando, California), nicknamed "The Snake", is an American drag racer. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1991. Racing career Prudhomme crewed for "TV Tommy" Ivo on Ivo's ...

and Tom McEwen each turned in 7-second passes at , but ultimately, Top Fuel Eliminator (TFE) went to Jim Warren. That year's racing was also the subject of a film produced by ''Hot Rod'', "The Hot Rod Story—Drag Racing", narrated by

Dick Enberg Richard Alan Enberg (January 9, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of an approximately 60-year career, he provided play-by-play of various sports for several radio and television networks, including N ...

. At the 1966 championship, McEwen would win the Top Fuel title, while

Mike Snively Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

did (in Roland Leong's ''Hawaiian'', with a 7.07 second pass at ) in 1967. In 1968, it went to Steve Carbone in the ''Atlas Oil Tool Special''. The final year the event was held, Larry Dixon, Sr. won TFE in ''Rattler'' (sponsored by Howard Cams).Taylor, p.11.

Notes

Sources

*Taylor, Thom. Untitled item in ''Hot Rod Magazine'', February 2017, p. 11. Drag racing events 1960s in motorsport Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1969 1961 establishments in California Recurring sporting events established in 1961 1969 disestablishments in California {{motorsports-stub