What do you get for the 60th anniversary of the organization that’s done the most to legitimize and foster the growth of the sport of drag racing? How about a couple of dragsters?
That’s what drag racing collector Bill Lindig recently did when he donated to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum two dragsters campaigned by the legendary Art Chrisman: the famed #25 dragster and the Hustler 1. Chrisman, the subject of a recent biography by Tom Madigan, “The Chrisman Legacy: Always Faster,” cut his teeth racing on the dry lakes of Southern California and eventually joined the Bonneville 200 MPH Club, but is known to many as a drag racer. He piloted the #25 dragster – itself a former dry lakes racer lengthened for drag race duty and co-owned by Leroy Neumeyer – during the 1950s, including at the 1955 Nationals in Great Bend, Kansas, NHRA’s first national event, and became the first man to run 140 MPH while drag racing. In 1958, Art, his brother Lloyd and their father, Jack, along with Frank Cannon, built the Hemi-powered Hustler 1, which they campaigned through 1962 and used to reach the 180 MPH mark in the quarter-mile.
Lindig formally made the donation January 28 at the museum at a special reception. “We hope these cars will forever be seen by the people interested in motorsports in America, and we hope they enjoy them as much as we did,” Lindig said.
The two dragsters will go well with the new pictorial exhibit at the Museum celebrating the 60th anniversary of the NHRA, which opens February 23. The exhibit celebrates some of the 60 greatest moments from NHRA history, from its founding in 1951 to Shirley Muldowney’s first female world championship in 1977 to John Force’s Funny Car championship last year. The exhibit, timed to begin with the 51st Winternationals in Pomona, will run through the end of this year.