Celebrating 75 years of speed, power, and the world's fastest motorsport

1966

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1966 TOP FUEL WORLD CHAMPION PETE ROBINSON

  • Won first career championship
  • Clinched title with win at NHRA World Finals
  • Final win was his first in four years
  • Innovative engineer known as “Sneaky Pete”

Top Fuel world champion
Pete Robinson

Top Gas world champion
Dick Padar

Funny Car world champion
Ed Schartman

Comp eliminator world champion
Terry Fritsch

Jr. Gas world champion
Jay Hamilton

Jr. Stock world champion
Jay Hamilton

Sportsman world champion
John Kenderesi

Street world champion
Deloy Naeb

Super world champion
John Kenderesi

Top Stock world champion
Jere Stahl

1966

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

HAWAIIAN WINS POMONA, INDY AGAIN

For the second straight year, “Hawaiian” car owner Roland Leong won the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona and NHRA Nationals in Indy, this time with Mike Snively at the wheel instead of Don Prudhomme.

MULLIGAN POPS FIRST SIX AT CARLSBAD

John “Zookeeper” Mulligan recorded the first six-second Top Fuel run at Carlsbad Raceway with a run of 6.95 e.t. at 221.12 mph during the first round of a match race with Tony Allen.

PLANS MADE FOR SOCAL SUPERTRACK

Plans were announced for the nation’s most modern dragstrip facility, Orange County International Raceway in Irvine, Calif., featuring permanent grandstands, a four-story control tower, picnic areas, and an electronic scoreboard.

SCHARTMAN FIRST FUNNY CAR WINNER

Ed Schartman, driving Roy Steffey’s S/XS Mercury Comet, became Funny Car’s first winner when he defeated Don Nicholson at the NHRA World Finals in Tulsa, Okla., and set both ends of the national record.

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