Corpus Christi Caller-Times from Corpus Christi, Texas • 50

4D Corpus Christ! Caller-Times Sat May 24 1069 Drag Racing Going at Top Speeds Locally Corpus Christ! Caller-Times Sat May 24 1969 5D Sounds wjwirw The list of local record favorites for the week from Radio Slatioo KEYS 144ft survey: 1 GET BACK FLIP Beatles 2 MORE TODAY THAN YESTERDAY Spiral Staircase 3 THESE EYES Guess ho 4 WHERE'S THE PLAYGROUND SUSIE Giro Campbell 5 BAD MOON RISING Revival ft OH HAPPY DAY Edwin Hawkins Singers 7 GITARZAN Ray Steveiw ft LOVE (CAN MAKE YOU HAPPY) Mercy Local Raceway Is Excellent v- GOODBYE 1ft PINBALL WIZARD 11 THE BOXER 12 GRAZING IN THE GRASS 13 I'VE BEEN HURT' 14 ATLANTIS 15 IN THE GHETTO II TIME IS TIGHT 17 EVERYDAY WITH YOU GIRL sMr IV y'- wr By SIIAY NICHOLS Corpus Christ! Raceway had its grand opening last week and it was a tremendous success for both spectators and racers Even though the first day of the two-day race was reserved for classification because of the rain the devision points race was entirely run on Sunday without a hitch Upon arrival at the track Saturday afternoon we found tlie NIIRA technical officials could spot a car which was illegal three cars back In line yet when it came time to discuss the problem with the owner of the car the officials were tactful and understanding One official's wife was particularly understanding when problems in the technical line occurred Even die was aware that racing in many cases is a business and this was not "just another rare" but was very important to the professional with a problem Sunday morning the gates opened fur the tirst day of Christi Rareway is a hard asphalt surface a joy to drive on This surfacing of the return road prevent es any damage to race cars It keep tires clean between rounds and prevents any damage to even the most expensive paint job This major MIRA Points Meet was one of the smoothest run races this year and Ihe friendly helpful altitude of ihe officials make MIRA the fine group that it is Corpus Christi Raceway certainly is a super drag strip When fully completed it could Srove to be one of the nation's est June 13-15 MIRA will be holding its Spring Nationals in Dallas at the new Dallas Raceway Park Watch the classification and see how these super technical officials opperate Spend some time looking at the rare cars and talking to the racers It will deiinitely add a great deal of insight to your present knowledge of MIRA racing During the morning 15 staging lanes held all the Stock Modified Production and Gas cars during fueler qualifying but when cars were being run from these lanes it was alw ays run evenly from all lanes Everyone was able to make all of the time trials tune up runs and record attempts necessary After completing a time trial or a round of competition the racer returned to his pit area via a uniquely paved return road The boys working in the timing booth whose job was to hand the racer his official slips showing his et and ntph on each run were always on their toes cars were never allowed to stack up on the return road which can cause engine overheating after a hard run The drivers who didn't need a slip after a particular run were given plenty of room to return to the pits without having to wait in line The return road at Corpus II ISRAELITES Desmond Decker Aces 18 SWEET CHERRY WINE Tommy James 2ft TOO BUSY THINKING ABOUT MY BABY Marvlu Gave 21 THE COMPOSER Supreme 22 DAY IS DONE Peter Paul Mary 23 HEATHER HONEY Tommy Bw 24 LET ME Paul Revere Raiders 25 1 COULD NEVER LIE TO YOU New Colony Six 2 SUPER LOVE David The Giants 27 LETS DANCE Ola I The Janglers 28 PROUD MARAT Solomon Burke 29- ONE 3 Dog Night 3ft MEDICINE MAN FART 1 Buchanan Bros FIVE GLIMMERS i LISTEN TO THE BAND Monkees 2 TOMORROW TOMORROW Bee Gees 3 MY CIIERIE AMOUR Stevie Wonder 4 GOOD MORNING ST ARSHINE Oliver 5 WHAT IS A MAN Fonr Tops Photos By Start Photographer GEORGE TI LLEY Thee are some of the sights at last 's MIRA World Championship series of drag racing held at the Corpus Christ! Raceway located four miles west of 'Padre Island lme on the Old Brownsvilie ltad at t'uddihy Field Mori ihan entries were received from ieading drivers in the Southwest There were acceleration rates with two cars racing side by side covering a quarter mile straight line dis tance The loser in these races is eliminated while the winner returns to rare a new challenger until cniy one car remains The World Championship Series of drag racing is now in its ffth year The season lasts 21 weeks and involves more than 10000 competitors Mary llopkla He Who Slmoo ft Garfunkel Frieods of Distinction Bill Deal Rhondells Don ovai Ehls Prwilfjf Booker MG's Classic IV 5 Mary Hopkin Edwin Hawkins The Who Jerry Bntlrr Isley Brothers Spiral Staircase Elvis Presley Generation Gap Falls to the Hot Rods TOP 20 NATIONALLY By The Associated Press The most popular lanes In the country for the week according to a nation Ide survey: 1 GET BACK Beatles 2 LOVE CAN MAKE YOU HAPPY Mercy 3 AQUARIUSLET THE SUNSHINE IN 5th Dimension 4 HAIR CousIRs 5 THE BOXER Simon Garfunkel ft YOU'VE MADE ME SO A ERY HAPPY Blood Sweat Tears 7 ATLANTIS Donovan I GITARZAN Ray Stevens ft THESE EYES Goes Who 1ft HAWAII FIVE-0 Ventures 11 ROMEO JULIET THEME Henry Mancini 12 SWEET CHERRY WINE Tommy James Shondells 13 MORNING GIRL Neon Philharmonic By BOB LIK'HNAK NEW YORK (XEA) It takes the East Coast awhile to catch on Out there out west it's all different Even Detroit with its snail-slow reaction time is paying attention Mention rods" on the eastern seaboard even to motor racing cultisN and you might get a dull stare' if you're lucky perhaps even a smart-aleck remark about the greasy-haired leather-jacket set which scares little old ladies off the Santa Monica Freeway Nice image that Only it's not true While the tweedy sports car fellers break away from their upper-class stupor and realize that racing is bi? business and Rig Daddy Bill France spreads his slock car empire northward the Californians can smile indulgently They've been Jn on nonsense racing for years and have got a golly-gee-wow organization to prove it It's called the National llot Rod Association and it's a real generation gap-closer and N-Stock Automatic There are many more Unlike other forms of racing with the possible exception of Sports Car Club of America amateur events almost anybody tan play ihe drag raring game It is America'' answer to soccer So any youngster growing up with cars and a certain mechanical ability (an with little money and a great amount of patience build his own competition car practically from the ground up Many dragsters function also as street machines during the week and double on weekends as competitive vehicles The more sophisticated types (ihe ones with bicycle tire's up front and the driver sits behind the exposed engine) function only on the quarter-mile strips AND T1IE spectator gets a real shew since his seat is right on the action line Activity is pinned on the workings of Ihe Tree" a vertical column of niullicoloml lights which signal a countdown for the driver until the green light ays go Totaled in the track's center almut 20 feet from the start line ihe Tree electrom-( ally triggers the start And then with an incredible roar of engines and billowing clouds of smoke the ungainly vehicles rip down ihe course Speed is not so important as elapsed time in Ihe quarter-mile The cars are moving so fast at the end of the run that parachutes are triggered to help slow them dowi The action must le seen to be believed Top-of-lhc-line MIRA racing takes place June 13-15 the Spring Nationals at the Dallas International Motor Speedway: the Nationals (Aug 28-Sept 1) at Indianapolis Raceway Paik and the World Finals (Oct 18-19) at Tulsa International Raceway DRAG RACING is tuned in The object is fastest time from point A to point on a straight line a concept which the automotive industry has been surreptitiously peddling fur some time All of this may sound as if I'm drag racing's biggest supporter and that the rest of racing is barely tolerable Which is not the case Speed is all right so long as it is coupled with some sort of linesse and frankly drag racing has about os much finesse as a sledge hammer Rut as a spectacle fur i-ur times it's right in tliere ITEM: In 1967 2164 meeis were sanctioned by the National lint Rod Association (MIRA) ITEM: Nearly 4 million paid spectators were tallied in the same year ITEM: Contestant (nines numbered 3431C5 ITEM: Between 1955 (year of MIRA founding) and 17 paid spectators increased by 576 per cent One does not quart el lightly with that set of figures One must only (include that somehow drag racing has a hole lot of friends TO THE uninitiated the sport might seem somewhat complicated But what Ihe spectator sees is simply a series of one-to-one eliminations with the eliminator" emerging as class champion Because of the considerable difference among cars the categories ate needed to separate type from type That's why a typical drag meet might offer competition divided into such classes as AA-Kuel Dragster AA-Gas Dragster A-Kuel Altered CC-Gas Supercharged A-Fufiny Car F-Modified Production 14 GOODBY 15 On HAPPY DAY Iff PINBALL WIZARD 17 ONLY 1HE STRONG SURA IV 18 ITS YOUR THING IS MORE TODAY THAN YESTERDAY 39 IN THE GHETTO.