Pomona is an integral part of drag racing’s rich past

Gasoline cost about 30 cents a gallon, John F. Kennedy was the new president and “Wagon Train” was the most popular show on television.

And in Southern California, a man named Wally Parks settled on a parcel of land next to the fairgrounds in Pomona in 1961 to establish the second major drag-racing event for his relatively new National Hot Rod Assn.

The event was called the Winternationals, and five decades later it remains among professional drag racing’s signature contests, even as the sport has expanded nationwide and speeds of its top-flight cars have soared to more than 300 mph.

The Winternationals event celebrates its 50th anniversary Thursday through Sunday at the Pomona site, now called Auto Club Raceway, and the race again kicks off the season for the NHRA’s premier Full Throttle Series of drag racing.

Beyond its spot on the calendar, the Winternationals remains an integral part of pro drag racing’s heritage, much as the Daytona 500 does for NASCAR in stock car racing.

Many view Southern California as the birthplace of drag racing, with the region’s deep-seated car culture and preoccupation with hot rods nurturing the growth of racing in one of its more primal forms: Two highly modified cars racing each other in a straight line for 1,000 feet.

At one time that culture spawned multiple drag strips around Southern California, from Long Beach to Irvine to Fontana.

But they have all disappeared because of the region’s growing population and rising land prices -- except for the Pomona strip, which also is where the Glendora-based NHRA closes its season each fall. This year’s Winternationals is expected to draw roughly 100,000 during its three days of qualifying and Sunday’s final eliminations.

Drivers who became legends in the sport -- including “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, Shirley Muldowney, John Force and Tony Schumacher -- cemented their places in drag racing lore in large part with multiple victories at the Winternationals.

“When you showed up at the Winternationals, that was fulfilling the dream we had,” said Force, a 14-time champion in the funny car class, which, along with top fuel, are the two fastest divisions in the NHRA.

Drag racing is now among the nation’s most popular forms of motor sports. Its most successful teams divide $3.4 million in championship-point and bonus funds in addition to $15.3 million in regular race winnings during the season. The top-fuel and funny car winners of this year’s Winternationals will earn $50,000 apiece.

In the early days of pro drag racing, prize money was scant. Some top-fuel winners won new trucks or other automotive merchandise, and cash purses were less than $3,000.

Even so, a Winternationals victory still provided a meal ticket for drivers because the winner’s car then would be displayed at other drag strips and car shows nationwide, Prudhomme recalled.

“We made a living in those days barnstorming around the country, and you could book your car from the publicity of being the Winternationals winner,” said Prudhomme, who won the race five times. “There wasn’t much prize money and it was just the beginning of the sport.”

The NHRA was started by Parks, then editor of Hot Rod magazine, in Glendale in 1951. Although the organization held its first race at the Pomona site in 1953, its first national event was held in 1955 in Great Bend, Kan., so that racers on both sides of the Rocky Mountains could compete without having to travel across the country.

As that event, called the NHRA U.S. Nationals, moved around to different Midwest locations, the Winternationals was created in Pomona in 1961 because so many drag racers called Southern California home.

“There was no doubt that the Winternationals was the crowning achievement of drag racing in Southern California,” said Dave McClelland, who for decades was an announcer and broadcaster of the sport. Winning the Winternationals, he added, carries “a prestige factor of exclusivity . . . .and that dates back to the origin of the event.”

Indeed, drivers in the Winternationals knew they would face the top racers in the sport, although Muldowney joked that “I don’t know if it was fun or agony for the guys who knew they were going up against the best.”

A longtime symbol of the race was a large white banner -- with “WINTERNATIONALS” written across it -- that stretched across the drag strip’s starting line. It stayed there in various forms until 1993, when it was removed because it obstructed views from a newly built tower of raceway suites.

The initial Winternationals reflected how the sport was still in its primitive stage.

For instance, races were started by a flag man who stood between the cars, jumped and waved his flag. (The NHRA introduced electronic lighting at the start, the so-called “Christmas Tree,” in 1963.)

Dragsters in the early 1960s were reaching top speeds of 175 to 190 mph -- the 200-mph barrier was broken by Garlits in 1964 -- and the NHRA drag strips were one-quarter mile, or 1,320 feet, in length.

Garlits, a Floridian who came west for the Winternationals each year, was legendary not only for racing skill but for his innovations, including placing the engine behind the driver for added safety, a setup still used today.

“I had the luxury of being able to build my stuff back [in Florida] in secrecy, so I always showed up with a surprise,” Garlits recalled. “You went to Pomona with your new car and you saw all the other guys’ new cars and it was like a sparring match.”

But last year, the NHRA shortened its top-fuel and funny car races to 1,000 feet to slow down the cars, whose speeds had climbed to 330 mph.

The move came after driver Scott Kalitta was killed and other drivers were seriously hurt in racing crashes. Although the shorter length was called a temporary measure, it’s still in place as the 2010 season begins.

So are the financial pressures on drag racing, just as in other motor sports, due to the ailing economy. They include the teams’ difficulty of finding new sponsors, or securing existing ones, to finance their racing. It costs about $3 million to field each of drag racing’s best cars.

Kenny Bernstein’s team was able to sign Copart Inc., an online vehicle auction firm, to succeed its longstanding main sponsor Budweiser. But Prudhomme recently had to close his one-car top-fuel team and Force pared his funny car team to three cars from four, both due to sponsorship problems.

“Back when we won [the Winternationals] in ‘65, you could do it with junkyard parts,” Prudhomme said. “Today, it’s a multimillion-dollar business to be real competitive.”

Still, Prudhomme will be among the legends in Pomona helping to celebrate this year’s Winternationals, as will Garlits and Muldowney, a trailblazing female racer of top-fuel dragsters.

“I’ve always liked that race and Pomona is a wonderful racetrack,” Muldowney said. “The fans also are wonderful. They treat me top-notch.”

james.peltz@latimes.com