[Navy Patriot]

I watched all the greats, Ted Gotelli, Romeo Palamides, Don Garlits, Don Prudhomme, Connie Kalitta, Shirley Muldowney, and John Force never impressed me, he couldn't engineer his way out of a paper bag, he just knows who's skill to buy.

Swamp Rat 1, aspirated, at Houston.

[Loud Mime]

Just a couple of months ago I got to talk to Connie Kalitta; he’s NOT a liberal.

The other guys you mention really take me back in time. I love the weed-burner pipes on the Swamp Rat; they burned out your eyes big-time!

One of the greatest runs that I saw was Tom McEwen in the Yeakle Plymouth Dragster. He left the line smoking the tires like crazy. Then the car got sideways. Tom throttled back and gradually applied power as the car straightened out; he smoked them all the way to 205mph. It must be noted that this happened just after Denny Milani in the Gotelli Speed Shop dragster broke 210 for the first time. Damn, the Mongoose’s run was beautiful and impressive!

“Throttled back and gradually applied power” is something today’s cats can’t do. Granted, they have the performance and the noise, but I really would like to see throttled cars again, with the better DRIVERS rising to the top.

From my conversations with a few other small name drivers, they would like that too.