Other killers like Dennis Ferrara are shown as well. Lingenfelter was there running his Econo-dragster and Sox was running a late 1970s Challenger (renamed Mitsubishi) with a big hemi engine in it. There’s a cool driver intro portion of the show where people are introduced with their cars and two of the big names that jump out of course are John Lingenfelter and Ronnie Sox.

They were a major player for a while and it was one of those situations of them coming in hard and fast and leaving the industry just about as quickly. You can sort of see the trailer and all of the recognizable logos on it from the plethora of brands the company controlled before deciding to get out of the high performance parts business. Some people may have forgotten how deeply involved Grace was in the high performance aftermarket for years. Heck, just pay attention to the amount of different stuff you’ll see in this 5-minute video.

Perhaps even more than it is now, Competition Eliminator was a wide open exploration of ideas and concepts. Grace Cup and then goes into an explanation of the handicap starting system used to “even out” the field in Competition Eliminator. Anchored by the venerable duo of Evans and McClelland, the show opens up with an explanation of the W.R. The footage was taken for the television broadcast of the 1978 NHRA SportsNationals which were held (as they had been for a few years) at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Of course we’re talking names like John Lingenfelter and Ronnie Sox among other notable hitters that are also featured here. Firstly the cars rule and secondly we get to see some of the coolest guys who ever attacked a drag strip get after it.

This is a great video for a few different reasons.

1976 nhra sportnationals video