Garlits Goes After 270 M.P.H. Barrier This Week at World Finals at Pomona

With Winston World Championships in Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock already secured, attention to this week’s 21st annual Winston World Finals will focus on Don Garlits’ announced bid to eclipse the 270-mile-an-hour speed barrier. The event runs Thursday through Sunday.

Garlits, the Top Fuel winner at least year’s World Finals and the newly-crowned Winston World Champion, is sincere in his belief that such an accomplishment is possible at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona and has targeted Friday as Record Day.

Although deposed world champion Joe Amato of Old Forge, Pa., holds the official quarter mile speed record at 264.70 m.p.h., a mark he established 15 months ago at Englishtown, N.J., Garlits has been clocked at 265.48 m.p.h. and 266.11 m.p.h. already this season.

On neither occasion was he able to satisfy National Hot Rod Association record-certification guidelines which require a back-up run within one per cent for a speed record to be considered official, a variation on the two-day requirement for world land speed records.

At the World Finals, however, Garlits will make speed his priority.

“We didn’t really try to back-up those other runs because we thought it would jeopardize our chances of winning the race,” said the 53-year-old Ocala, Fla., pro. “Winning the Winston World Championship was our top priority. Now, the record is our goal.”

Coming off a track record-breaking 263.15 m.p.h. run at Phoenix, Ariz., on Oct. 5, Garlits is even more confident of breaking Amato’s world record as well as his LA County Fairgrounds standard of 264.23 m.p.h.

“(At Pomona), the altitude is lower, the air is cooler, there are no bumps in the track that I know of, the starting line is good and there’s plenty of shutoff (area),” he said.

“We’ll make a Thursday pass to see what kind of speed potential is there,” continued the 29-time NHRA tour winner. “If it’s 263, 264 or 265--right in that range--we know we’ve got the potential.”

The eight-time Auto Racing All-American also can tie a single season record for victories if he is able to repeat in Sunday’s 11 a.m. finals. He already has won six times this year and has claimed eight of 14 races since coming out of retirement last fall.

In addition to Garlits’ Top Fuel bid, more than 500 other racers will be vying for championships in Funny Car, Pro Stock, Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Competition, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Stock, Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle.

The most successful teams will share in a posted purse of $527,150 with the potential of a $50,000 weekend for Garlits or any other Top Fuel driver able to win both Saturday’s Crager/Weld Wheel Classic (for a $30,000 top prize) and Sunday’s 16-car Winston World Finals.

Not surprisingly, the favorites in Funny Car and Pro Stock, respectively, are newly-crowned World Champions Kenny Bernstein of Dallas, Tex., and Bob Glidden of Whiteland, Ind.

Both have won five times this year and have been to the final round on eight occasions, completely dominating their respective divisions. Moreover, both have set NHRA national performance records for their classes: Bernstein at 5.569 seconds, 260.11 m.p.h. in Funny Car; Glidden at 7,4907 seconds, 186.87 m.p.h. in Pro Stock.

Glidden, 41, will be bidding for his eighth World Finals victory in the last 12 seasons. In addition to his victory a year ago, the six-time World Champion won the World Finals in 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980.