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

1981

Select Year

1981 Pro Stock world champion Lee Shepherd

  • Collected first of four straight championships
  • Scored six event wins, including final four
  • Won NHRA U.S. Nationals for second straight year
  • Won championship by nearly seven rounds
  • Compiled 31-5 win-loss record

Top Fuel world champion
Jeb Allen

Pro Stock world champion
Lee Shepherd

Top Alcohol Dragster world champion
Al DaPozzo

Top Alcohol Funny Car world champion
Frank Manzo

Comp eliminator world champion
Norwin Palmer

Funny Car world champion
Raymond Beadle

Modified world champion
Larry Kopp

Super Stock world champion
Val Hedworth

Stock eliminator world champion
Pete Kost

1981

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

ALLEN EKES OUT TOP FUEL TITLE

Jeb Allen won the Top Fuel world championship at the final event of the season after Gary Beck fell two mph short of resetting top speed of the meet, which would have given Beck his second crown.

POMONA’S ‘TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE’

Kenny Bernstein sawed the roof off his Funny Car and gave it to fellow Texan Raymond Beadle to repair his wounded mount for the NHRA Winternationals Funny Car final that later lost to Billy Meyer.

SPORTSMAN CLASSES GET REMAKE FOR 1982

Late-season rules announcements for 1982 spread Modified eliminator classes into Comp and Super Stock, Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car into one eliminator, and introduced Super Gas as a new class.

OCIR GETS WORLD FINALS

The much-traveled NHRA World Finals was awarded to Southern California’s Orange County International Raceway after a seven-year run at Ontario Motor Speedway, marking the fifth different home for the season finale.

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s