Unfortunately we ran out of film when it came time to take pictures of all the winners in their classes. There were just so many beautiful cars that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to film them. To me this was the last of the great drags of the 50's where the guys worked on their cars in their small shop or home garages and gas was the hottest fuel that could be used. When the fuel cars where let in the little guys were left out; only the most fortunate too over the drag strips of the late 50's and it became a "big business" game. It was no longer a backyard, home garage fun game. Somehow, that seemed to take away the hart of it for me. And, NHRA became corporate. I never attended another drag meet.

     In 1957 I was an NHRA Advisor appointed by Wally Parks. I had spoken to Wally many times using his expertise in setting up a drag strip in Big Spring, TX. I finally met him at the 57 Oklahoma National meet. I found his sentiments toward fuel introduction into drag racing to be the same as mine; it would engulf the drag racing little guy putting him at an extreme disadvantage. After all, it was the little guy, the average Joe that Wally had worked so hard in establishing NHRA for. However, the pressure was already on. AHRA had already endorsed the fuel elites which spurred the interest further.

     It was a hard choice for Wally and his crew to limit the Nationals in Oklahoma City to strictly gas. That choice would stave off the fuel issue one more time and it proved Wally's point that there were the little guys out there that still wanted their share of the fun. There were 450 approved entrants at Oklahoma and approximately that many that were turned down not meeting the NHRA rules in one way or the other. There were approximately 10,000 people in attendance in the stands each of the four days. The fans were hungry for good old fashioned sport as well.

     There were still guys pushing the limit though; names like Art Arfons, James "Red" Dyer, Raymond Godman, Leland Koldb, Gene Adams, Glen Ward, Leroy Mackey, Dode Martin, Jim Nelso, Buddy Sampson, Carl Grimes. There were many others unnamed that fought for the title in their class. I hope you enjoy the pictures we captured those four days. I remember them well. E-mail me at> hldeshazo@aol.com. If you got here by a link see other 50's stuff at www.hdeshazo.com.  Other sites you might be interested in and devoted to the history of drag racing are www.memphisrodders.com   www.nitrogeezers.com  - a great blog spot  www.hechointexas.blogspot.com by my friend Paul Herdes.