All of the pictures on this page were taken by Geof Hauser,
I am very grateful to him for the opportunity of reproducing them here. 

Click on any image to get the bigger picture

This page has a real transatlantic feel to it.  We are starting at Cedars Dragway in Canada, if you have been following these pages you will recall it was probably unique in having a strip of grass separating the lanes.
The relaxed pose of the driver (?) of this nice injected Model T altered emphasises the laid back atmosphere of the place.

A nice shot of a Fordson panel van lifting its wheels off the line.

Still on the same side of the pond but a rather less laid back Ontario Motor Speedway in 1972.
Larry Huff's Soapy Sales funny car (driven by Dave Uyehara) prepares to make a bye run.  Uyehara qualified 9th and caused quite a stir when he shut down no. 1 qualifier Jim Murphy in the first round.

Most street bikes nowadays look more radical than these two Harley fuel bikes but they were state-of-the-art for their time. 
The rider in the near lane is Bob Abels from Albuquerque.
In the far lane is 'father of the fuel carburettor' Leo Payne who was the first man to go over 200mph at Bonneville on an unstreamlined bike.  Payne has been posthumously honoured at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Ohio for his achievements.

Ed Renck at speed driving John Foderado's top fueller.  Renck, a school teacher from Pueblo, Colorado, was low qualifier with an unheard of 6.09 clocking.  This soon became yesterday's news when Mike Snively ran the first ever 5 second run in the eliminations.
This was in the very early days of rear engined cars so there was some variety in the wings on the cars unlike the pretty standardised designs of today.

The rear engined dragster in this picture was owned, driven and built by veteran drag racer Lelond Kolb (amazingly this car cost only $9,000).  Kolb was quite an innovator, note the very unusual rear wings positioned just above and behind the slicks.
The slingshot has defied all efforts at identification, one thing is for sure it did not make the cut.  The 1972 Supernationals was a watershed in drag racing history because it was an all rear-engined field.

This is not the best way to impress the boss!  Preston Davis lost control of Ray Godman's brand new Tennessee Bo-Weevil when the body collapsed after a wheelie and as you can see collided with the safety wall.  A fire marshall can be seen on the extreme left of shot hurrying across the track with a fire extinguisher.

The safety crew are on the scene and the body has been lifted off and is being put on a pick-up truck.  Owner Ray Godman (in the wheelchair) surveys the damage which was confined to the front end of the car.

Off now to Orange County International Raceway and a series of top end shots taken by Geof.
This nice altered betrays its age with that very rounded roll cage.

Dick Bourgeois slows down in the Chevy-powered Doug's Headers Vega funny car.
Unfortunately some of Geof's slides have deteriorated over the years which accounts for the dark vertical discolouration in front of the car.

The iconic Jungle Jim Liberman driving another Vega-bodied flopper.  Pity Geof wasn't on the start line to get a picture of Jungle Pam as well!

Billy Meyer driving his Mustang-bodied Motivation funny car.  Billy's dad was one of the richest men in Texas and this car was given to him as an 18th birthday present!  Billy went on to build the Texas Motorplex in 1986 and later bought the IHRA before unsuccessfully trying to purchase the NHRA.

The absolutely beautiful California Charger Top Fuel Dragster of John Keeling and Jerry Clayton from Playa Del Rey, California driven by Rick Ramsey.

I don't think this is supposed to happen!  The Braskett & Burgin entry takes to the dirt.
Running solo and under the name of The Orange Baron, Gary Burgin later spoiled Don Prudhomme's clean sweep of all of the NHRA funny car finals during the 1976 season.

Geof took this shot of the legendary Boris Murray's double Triumph-engined bike for an article he wrote for National Drag Racer magazine in 1972.  The bike featured Amal carbs passing 92% of the good stuff to two 750cc versions of Meriden's best through a high gear only to a 4" M&H slick.  Boris was one of the first riders ever invited to race at an NHRA event.  Why was Boris legendary?  He specialised in tyre smoking front wheel up passes over the entire quarter mile that's why!

Back to good old Blighty and an NDRC meeting at Blackbushe in 1972.  These pictures were all scanned from a contact sheet so you will have to excuse the quality.
Bishop and Messent's immortal Minivan-bodied Stripteaser altered gets a little heat into the tyres.

Keith Harvie launches his beautiful Fire-Brewed Camaro off the line.  Keith went on to import the Lawce & Gunn fuel altered and later emigrated to the USA where he set up the Performance Auto Warehouse.  PAW were the primary sponsors of Shirley 'Cha Cha' Muldowney's Top Fuel Dragster in the 1980s.

Mick and Bob Gleadow and Steve Warner's 5.3 litre Oldsmobile-powered Motor Psycho, I always thought that was a really great name for a drag car.  It used to run in competition altered before being purchased by Alan O'Connor and campaigned very successfully as Al's Gasser in modified.

Anyone who is a regular visitor to this site knows that I am absolutely mad about Fuel Altereds.
This was one of the first - Freddie Whittle's Shutdown - absolute magic.

Once again I am indebted to Andy Barrack
who has supplied reams of detailed information
about the pictures on this page.

All material on this site is copyright
and should not be reproduced without permission

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Geof Hauser was inducted into the
British Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2010
click here to read his citation