World Drag Racing Finals : Garlits Poised to Take Title Again

Drag racing-starved Southern California fans, who once could attend weekly shows at four or five strips, were treated to a day of record-shattering performances Saturday as qualifying concluded for today’s Winston World Finals at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona.

Drag racing is only a twice-a-year thing now, the Winternationals in February and the World Finals in October. All the other strips--Lions, Orange County, Irwindale, San Fernando, Fontana, et al--are closed.

So a record Saturday crowd of 30,000 showed up to see what developed into the fastest racing in Pomona’s 26 years.

In the Cragar/Weld Top Fuel Classic, Don (Big Daddy) Garlits demonstrated his remarkable reaction time when he defeated former World champion Joe Amato in the finals despite the loser’s quicker and faster car. Garlits got his Super Shops Dodge off the line .05 seconds ahead of Amato (.46 to .51), which made up for Amato’s quicker (5.358 to 5.399) and faster (271.16 m.p.h. to 266.19) run.

“If I’d come off the line even with him, he’d have beaten me,” Garlits said after collecting his $30,000 prize. “The performance of my car is not up to par, but it’s getting better every run. We’ll be ready tomorrow.”

All Garlits needs to do to win his second straight World championship and the $75,000 bonus is win his first round race against Gene Snow. Even if he doesn’t, however, Darrell Gwynn, who qualified third, would have to win the World Finals and set an NHRA speed record to win.

“It’s very inconceivable right now that he can win the championship,” Garlits said.

Other speed developments:

--Larry Minor, a full-time potato magnate and part-time race driver from San Jacinto, ran a remarkable quarter-mile from a standing start in 5.327 seconds. It is the fifth-quickest of all-time, and all four better than Minor were set during the same event by Gwynn last month on an all-concrete track in Ennis, Tex.

--In qualifying, Amato thundered his car through the speed trap at a Pomona-record 274.22 m.p.h. Like Minor’s elapsed time, Amato’s speed was fifth-fastest ever, and all four better were set by Gwynn in Texas.

--Six-time World pro stock champion Bob Glidden of Whiteland, Ind., set a track record of 7.474 seconds in his ’86 Thunderbird.

--Three-time World top fuel champion Shirley Muldowney, in the final event of an amazing comeback season after a horrendous accident more than two years ago, ran the quickest and fastest run of her career at 5.424 seconds and 267.30 m.p.h.

--Warren Johnson of Duluth, Ga., who is the only driver standing in the way of Glidden winning his seventh World pro stock championship, ran a track record 186.41 m.p.h. in his ’86 Firenza.

Minor’s fast time startled drag racing followers because he has always considered himself as the No. 2 driver on his team until a few weeks ago when he and former World champion Gary Beck parted company.

Minor had not even qualified for the 8-car Cragar/Weld shootout because he has driven in only 8 of the NHRA’s 14 national events. His fastest previous time was 5.40 at Bakersfield.

“I’m going to do things differently next year,” Minor said. “I’m going for the World championship myself. In the last few weeks, I’ve found that if I attend to business myself, things go better.

“It’s like on the farm. When I’m the first out, taking roll call on the radio, everyone notices. I can imagine them saying, ‘Hey, the boss is up, we’d better get going.’ That’s the way it is with the race team now. The boss is up and working, and things are running better.”

Dick Lahaie of Lansing, Mich., the fifth-fastest qualifier, will replace Beck on Minor’s Miller American team next year.

On the Fairgrounds strip that is the oldest on the NHRA schedule, perhaps it was fitting that the record-setting was done by old-timers. Garlits is 54, Minor 46, Muldowney 45, Johnson 43 and Amato and Glidden both 42.

The day wasn’t kind to all the old-timers, however.

Tom (Mongoose) McEwen, who had hoped to win at Pomona for the first time to cap his finest season at age 49, failed to qualify when he could coax only a 5.901 time from his Corvette funny car. McEwen, who won two national events this year, also failed to qualify in the Winternationals earlier this year at Pomona.

Johnny West of Chandler, Ariz., driving an ’86 Daytona, set a funny car record of 5.584 seconds last Friday, and no one could better it. Mike Dunn of Bellflower, whose father, Jim, won the World Finals in 1981 at Orange County Raceway, set a Pomona speed record of 265.72 m.p.h. in a Firenza.

Eliminations start at 11 a.m. today.