Biggest handicap start you've seen/been a part of

[Fred Holdorf]

Back in the '60s, I ran at the old AHRA track (Fresno Dragway) at Fresno, Ca. They ran elims four cars at a time, two v8 Mustangs automatics on the left side and a '54 Chev stocker against me on the right. Now AHRA ran using car spots (15 feet per car) and the Chevrolet had a 27 car spot with the Mustangs at 14, and my '63 Falcon ,260 2BBL ,stick @ a13 spot. The starter was 250+ feet down the track, standing between the lanes, using a two flags, green a race and red a foul start. How he could judge my launch from that distance was a guess. He gives us the green flag and away we go, I caught the street Mustangs by second gear, but by now the Chevy was moving left into my path and as I passed him I had to miss the starter, who had nowhere to run to, and stayoff the centerline. We ran there many more times, but as I recall only two cars at a time.

Fred