NHRA Top Drag Racing Faces

A competition wherein two cars or two motorcycles compete with each other in a race to see which one gets to the finish line first. The exhilaration of the race is centered on two machines and two skillful drivers.  Drag racing is not only based on which car has the most powerful engine, or which car can run faster.  Sometimes, if not most of the time, it depends on the one behind the wheel.

Without the proper ministrations, the quicker reflexes, or the better judgment of the driver, even the best and the most powerful machine would be relatively useful.  In drag racing, the best of the best drivers are the rock stars of the race track.  The National Hot Rod Association, a governing body for drag racing, sets the rules and host events all over the United States have set a list of the country’s top drag racing faces to honor the best drivers the association and the country has ever had in the field of drag racing.

The top five drag racing faces that the NHRA has voted and awarded were voted for their accomplishments in the sport, for the records they have set, for the championships they have won, and the contributions they have given to the sport and to their colleagues.

The following are the crème de la crème of drag racing:

Donald Glenn Garlits

The “Big Daddy,” “Swamp Rat,” and “The Old Man” of drag racing, Garlits has won 144 major open events and 17 national championships.  Garlits’ scores of wins, numerous championships, technological breakthroughs, his popularity, innovations and contributions to the growth of the NHRA, has earned him the top spot on the NHRA’s all time list for the best drag racing drivers ever since the association was established.

John Force

One of the most prolific drivers in professional drag racing history, Force has won a record of 11 winter championships and unparalleled 98 national events.  Force also has 113 victories as car owner, 9 consecutive Funny Car Championships in the NHRA.  Force is also the only drag racer to be named National Motorsports Driver of the Year in 1996 and also owns a pack of Winston Drag Racing Series Records.  With many other accomplishments under Force’s belt, his status in the top honchos of drag race drivers is well deserved.

Don Prudhomme

An accomplished drag racer driver even before he was barely out of his teens.  Prudhomme won the prestigious Bakersfield Top Fuel and Gas Championships at the age of 20 in 1962, three years before Garlits won his first March Meet title.  Prudhomme won the only two national events in drag racing and beat Garlits in 1965 with the Winternationals and Nationals.  He came closest to enjoying an undefeated season in the mid-1970s when he won six of eight national events in 1975 and seven out of eight a year after.  Definitely a gifted driver, Prudhomme has won his place as the third on the list.

Bob Glidden

Glidden, the fourth top drag racing face in the NHRA, his best kept secret is not any special training but his will to win.  He attributes his success to “Common sense and the will to survive.”  Glidden qualified for first place at a record 23 consecutive races in 1 events in 1987.  He has won seven times at Winternationals, Gatornationals, Fallnationals and World finals, and won two consecutive Winston titles.  Glidden went on to win several other titles under his belt, Glidden won his last national championship in 1995, but had to retire soon after a heart attack.

Shirley Muldowney

Muldowney, only woman that was included in the top five of the NHRA’s list of drag racing faces of all time; she is by far the most successful at beating the big boys at their own game.  Muldowney raced for forty years against men professionally in the fastest category, the Top Fuel.  Muldowney is even more amazing by accomplishing all that she did in a time when women where only accepted in the pits.  Muldowney started her career in a dragstrip in 1958 at Fonda Speedway in New York behind the wheel of a ’58 Chevy.  After marrying a former drag racer, Muldowney earned her license in 1965 started making history with her husband and became tagged as the “Bounty Hunter” and “Bounty Huntress.”

There are many other drag racers that have made their mark in drag racing.  And with many other new bloods that are continuing to get their own slots in the history of the sport.  Earning a slot to be one of the most memorable drag racing faces, especially in the NHRA, is the ultimate dream and aim of every professional drag race driver.