This two hour and fifteen minute original video production takes an in-depth look at the period of 1977 through 1984 for the Pro Stock eliminator. The video includes Pro/Stock racing at twenty-one NHRA National events, three AHRA races, three IHRA races and three independent races. You get to see over 145 different Pro Stockers with some shown multiple times. We also give the name of the driver, car owner and build information for most of the cars. We did extensive research on the cars and drivers and share that information in our narration which runs on top of the film footage.
We begin our coverage with the year 1977. Even though I have no home movie footage of 1977 races I use some TV coverage to tell the story of how Dyno Don Nicholson won his first and only NHRA Pro Stock World Championship. Don used a 1976 Mustand II built by Don Hardy and powered by a Jon Kaase built Ford engine. At the time Don was nearly 50 years old and that was an oddity for drag racing at the time. The sport was not old enough to have 70 and 80 year old professional drivers in the 1970's so someone who was 50 was seen as ancient. The segment ends with a tribute to Mopar racer Don Carlton who was killed in a testing accident on July 5, 1977.
Our 1978 segment begins by introducing John Griswold who contributed some 8mm sound movie footage for use in this production. Back in 1978 most of the home movies shot by drag racing fans were silent movies but John wanted to have the ability to record sound in addition to the visual record of the race. In essence John captured the actual sounds of the cars and that is priceless. John toured the east coast with his camera and captured footage at the Gator Nationals in Florida, the Summer Nationals in New Jersey, the Molson Grand Nationals in Canada and Pro Stockers at New England Dragway in New Hampshire.
Another contributor, Rick Howard, provided some great footage of an independent race held at US 131 dragway at Martin, Michigan on August 13, 1978. The race was the 10th annual Popular Hot Rodding Magazine Championship. Rick's footage did not have any sound but I was able to dub in real sounds to spice it up. I believe it sounds as good as the real sounds contained in John's footage. In any event there is some great footage in Rick's contribution. We close out 1978 with a tour of the pro stock pit area at Dragway 42 in Ohio.
In 1979 we begin at the Gator Nationals and I use a combination of home movies and TV coverage to tell the story of the race. This is the race where long time Ford racer Bob Glidden surprised everyone by debuting a 1979 Plymouth Arrow at the event. The biggest surprise however, was his winning effort with the Arrow. From there we visit Darlington, SC for an IHRA event and then the Dixie Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. You get to see the Atlanta track in its early days when spectators were only a few feet from the racing action and you also see a great group of Pro Stockers. Our next stop is at the IHRA Pro Am Nationals at Rockingham, NC. The IHRA had no limit on cubic inches so the cars were quicker than their NHRA counterparts. Great cars in the coverage including the "Oak Ridge Boys" Mustang run by Rickie Smith. This was the first Pro Stocker (Mountain Motor) to run in the 7's. From there we follow John Griswold's camera to the 1979 Summer Nationals. We combine some TV coverage to John's footage and follow the action to the final round. We do the same thing for the 25th running of the NHRA US Nationals at Indy to close out 1979.
1980 opens once again at the Gator Nationals and this time we see Lee Shepard emerge victorious over Glidden. From there we go to the 1980 IHRA Springnationals at Bristol, Tn. The big news was Bob Glidden and his 1980 Ford Fairmont. In the final we have Warren Johnson vs Rickie Smith. WJ gets the win in Jerome Bradford's '79 Camaro. All the big hitters showed up at the 1980 NHRA Summernationals at Englishtown, NJ. We use both home movies and TV coverage to show you the results. Our next stop is at the AHRA Grand Nationals at Dragway 42 in Ohio. Once again rain forced an end to the race after the first round but we saw some cool cars during the round. Next we use some TV coverage to show the World Finals in Ontario, Ca. It was a classic battle between Bob Glidden and Lee Shepherd. Glidden got the win. After the race I take you to the 1990 US Nationals at Indy where car collector Brent Hajek had Gliddens 1980 Fairmont on display. You get to see Bob and Etta's reaction to seeing the car. We also show you the nostalgia parade on the track and take a look at the 1000 foot club with Bret Kepner.
We had no home movies from 1981 NHRA events so I used some TV coverage of the World finals where Lee Shepherd win his first NHRA World Championship. We do have some nice footage from the 1981 AHRA Grand Nationals at Dragway 42. One of the competitors was "Animal Jim" Feurer and his 1979 Mercury Zephyr. Animal used nitrous oxide as did all of the AHRA small block cars. The big block cars had no restriction on cubic inches. I am sure you will enjoy the interview with "Animal Jim."
1982 is when NHRA found the fix for all the problems with the Pro Stock class. The new rules allowed engines up to 500 CI and a minimum weight of 2350 lbs including the driver. We show some action from the 1982 NHRA Spring Nationals and the '82 NHRA Summernationals. The big news at the Summer Nat's was Warren Johnson's first NHRA event win.
The 1983 NHRA Summer Nationals saw Lee Shepherd taking home the win. We show his march through the field with some TV coverage. We also show Rick Howard's footage from the 1983 AHRA Grand Nationals at Dragway 42. There are some very cool cars in this footage. In the end Chuck Aronson earned both the event and season AHRA World Championship with his Ford Fairmont.
We start off 1984 with some footage of the NHRA Winternationals and then go to some TV coverage hosted by "Mr. October" Reggie Jackson. Our final event is the 1984 Spring Nationals at Columbus, Ohio. You see every round of racing and also see the final NHRA event win for Lee Shepherd. Lee went on to claim his fourth consecutive NHRA Pro Stock World Championship in 1984.
We close out the video with a tribute to Lee Shepherd who was killed in a testing accident on March 11, 1985. It was a very sad day for drag racing in general and Pro Stock in particular.
This is the thirty-second and final original movie production will be creating. We have added a special Bee On Video farewell message at the end of the video.
Order your copy of the third episode of our three part series dedicated to the Pro Stockers of the 1970's and 1980's.
