Jerry Eckman reinstated by NHRA

[Dennis P Chapman]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

Billy did it, to prove to Bob that it could be done. It has been concealed in several places.

I thought Bob was the one that did the plumbing on Billys car.

[Bunkster]

This interview...2 or 3 pages in...BG tells what happened:

http://www.dragracingonline.com/innerview/x_12-glidden-1.html

[Pvt Parts]

Originally Posted by Bunkster

This interview...2 or 3 pages in...BG tells what happened:

http://www.dragracingonline.com/innerview/x_12-glidden-1.html

Great article, great racer. Now we know the rest of the story......

[k.pascoe]

Originally Posted by Tim Ellis

I think it was Billy, I believe he was one of the first 10 or so to run in the sixes?

Billy I believe was the 2nd member of the Holley 6-sec. club, with a 6.999.

[Bobby Bennett]

Here are the Jerry Eckman stories

http://www.competitionplus.com/featu...-ready-to-talk - His first interview

http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-...-process-today - Eckman Licenses

http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-...-last-15-years - Eckman Podcast -- Talking about the last 15 years

http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-...-stock-in-indy - Eckman completes licensing, completes return with Indy entry

[Tim Ellis]

Very interesting Glidden article. I always thought NHRA turned a cold shoulder to a man who held more records than anyone else, I think even more than Force at the time.

[Todd Boyer]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

If Warren Johnson had been playing with giggle gas, Alderman wouldn't have any championships.

Then who rose to the top when the Dodges disappeared? That's when Warren got all of his wins. I found it odd that Warren didn't go shooting his mouth off as usual when the Wayne County boys had the "break in". Still LOVE to think he ran the juice. He's really good at what he does, but I never had any respect for him or his attitude.

[randy wilson]

Warren never slowed down, remember. The dodge boys probably cost him 3 or championships. Just saying.

[Todd Boyer]

No one could slow down and not be obvious, Warren was in the pack and had to carry on like everyone else. I loved it when the Dodges were whipping Warren's ***, it just really sucks that they were cheating to do it. As I said in my earlier post, the whole deal pretty much killed my interest in Pro Stock, and even up to now I don't have a lot of respect for Allen Johnson even flying Mopar colours. I'm actually cheering for Erica now in spite of the fact that she drives a "Chev". (I put that in quotes because none of the cars are really "stock" any more).

The sad thing about it all is that Eckman got bounced for 15 years just because he happened to be the one who got caught - red handed mind you, but caught none the less. NHRA had to make an example of someone and Jerry was it. I've heard the Dodge boys thing all happened and they "didn't get caught" to protect Mopar's sponsorship of 2 national events (at that time) and them being a major sponsor overall. I think the Wayne County thing goes way deeper that the "break in in the middle of the night".

[jmcarter]

Originally Posted by randy wilson

Warren never slowed down, remember. The dodge boys probably cost him 3 or championships. Just saying.

Well he sure has slowed down now that he's not getting all the GM $$$$. I actually always admired his tenacity, it served both him and Glidden very well over the years until corporate sponsorship completely ruined fuel racing (remember Big's vision of where T/F and F/C needed to go vs. where Bernstein led them) and the same would happen in PS if the class got all the hype and uninformed fan base it's fuel brothers got. If you read the Eckman interview it is obvious he has suffered many years from the mistake, I'm glad he gets another chance. The deal with the Dodge Boys was tough for NHRA, they were in a lose/lose situation and then even compounded it by how they handled Eckman.