It’s been ten-and-a-half years since a freak accident during what should have been a routine test session took the life of rising Funny Car star Eric Medlen and put into motion a father’s quest to transform personal tragedy into meaningful change in race car design.
In this, the debut episode of Legends: The Series, Season Four, John Medlen talks about his son’s passion for life, his affinity for people and how his pursuit of a dream ultimately landed him in the seat of one of the world’s most powerful race cars and made him a six-time NHRA tour winner. “(Driving) was something he wanted to do very, very, very bad,” Medlen said of his son, who was just three races into his fourth pro season when he died at age 33. “I did everything I could to talk him out of it (but) I could see that’s where his heart was. That’s what he wanted to do.” Nevertheless, overcoming his own grief in the aftermath of the accident was a slow and very painful process, one in which he insists Eric played a major role.
“We all get to choose the path we take in life,” he said. “You’ve gotta make the best decisions you can, but it’s your life. It’s a time that God has given us on this planet and you get to pick. We have an arrival date and an ending date and there’s a dash between it all. We get to pick how we live that dash. (Eric) was a perfect example of living (that dash) to the fullest."
The 1985 Winston IHRA Drag Racing Series action was about as exciting as it could get. This traditional stop on the eight-race drag racing series in Rockingham, NC, brought all the action via its ESPN broadcasts produced by Masters Entertainment. In this era, the IHRA was heavy on the bodied cars was a 16-car field for Funny Cars and its exciting brand of Pro Stock featuring unlimited displacement engines.
This broadcast, one of four scheduled for the season, is chock full of action, whether it's the Pro Funny Car division or the Mountain Motor Pro Stockers. This event was the last for Dale Pulde's Miller Beer Trans-Am as it squares off against the veterans Don Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, and Billy Meyer.
During the final session round of qualifying at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, driver Alex Miladinovich’s Hot4Teacher Toyota Funny Car crossed the center line, slid sideways, and nosed hard into the wall before coming to a stop.
Miladinovich, of nearby Orange, Calif., exited the car under his own power and stood atop the car and saluted the crowd, perhaps his wife and crew members, to show he was unhurt.
His car suffered extensive nose and right-side damage.
It's a reverse angle for the Ron Capps Experience, this time he's on the other side of the microphone because now he's a team owner. Bobby Bennett interviews Ron about his new role as the bossman.
You'll learn more about Capps including his method for termination, and streaking. Yes, streaking.
THURSDAY - It's Day One of the long-awaited Professional Racers Organization Spring Training test session at Wild Horse Motorsports Park outside of Phoenix, Az. You will see the best of the best making test hits in preparation for the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.
Another rare find from YouTube, we present to you the 1979 NHRA Winternationals from Pomona. Travel back in time when NHRA Winston Drag Racing was on the outskirts of Corporate America's takeover. These are the days when paint was king, and wraps were well off in the future.
You'll see the legends in the NHRA's three professional categories, and you will also see some of the old veterans pulling out the tricks of the trade.
As traditional as the season-opener was in Pomona; even more traditional was the ABC Wide World of Sports broadcast with Chris Economacki.
There's plenty to like about this old ABC made-for-television drag racing-themed movie.
Hot Rod, a.k.a. Rebel of the Road, is a cult classic that features some cool, old machinery where a young drag racer (Gregg Henry) enters a local championship race with a 1965 Plymouth. There's a town boss, a corrupt sheriff and an attempt to ensure an entitled son wins the drag race.
The storyline might be a bit cheesy but it has classic cars and drag racing, which makes it all tolerable.
It’s been ten-and-a-half years since a freak accident during what should have been a routine test session took the life of rising Funny Car star Eric Medlen and put into motion a father’s quest to transform personal tragedy into meaningful change in race car design.
During the final session round of qualifying at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, driver Alex Miladinovich’s Hot4Teacher Toyota Funny Car crossed the center line, slid sideways, and nosed hard into the wall before coming to a stop.
Another rare find from YouTube, we present to you the 1979 NHRA Winternationals from Pomona. Travel back in time when NHRA Winston Drag Racing was on the outskirts of Corporate America's takeover. These are the days when paint was king, and wraps were well off in the future.
There's plenty to like about this old ABC made-for-television drag racing-themed movie.
