Reprinted from the Dec. 4, 1970 issue of National DRAGSTER

ONTARIO, Calif. -- The first Annual NHRA Supernationals were a fitting climax to the 1970 "Super Season," where spectators and contestants alike were treated to the many conveniences of the fantastic Ontario Motor Speedway, and were a part of drag racing history! Superlative after superlative can be utilized to describe the $25.5 million edifice to motorsports, but it wasn't just the facility that made things as great as they were ... it was the people and ideas behind the race that contributed to the end product.

For the first time in history, a drag race was televised "live" on a national scale, as millions of people were exposed to the fastest growing sport in the nation!

Most amazed by the whole race were the seasoned veterans, who can easily recall days when a makeshift shack and an abandoned airbase were considered the epitome of a drag strip. The sport has indeed come a long way, baby, as witnessed by competitors working on dragsters ... each in their own individual garages! A Disneyland-type shuttle bus, taking spectators on motorized strips through the pits. A restaurant overlooking the strip, where one can dine in a fashionable manner while watching the races! These and many other facets made the inaugural Supernationals the hit it was.

The racing itself was of the hard-fought and close-knit variety that has made NHRA major events the thrilling spectacles they were during the entire "Super Season."

Rick Ramsey was the man of the hour in the Top Fuel ranks, as he guided John Keeling and Jerry Clayton's beautiful "California Charger" to an impressive win by virtue of a string of steady 6.6s and 6.7s, the final conquest being a 6.70 over Gerry Glenn.

In Top Gas, the battle between the singles and the doubles raged hot and heavy, but when the smoke cleared the final round found the nearly identical machines of Hadford & Maxwell facing Pusch & Cain, with Don Cain picking up the win right on the starting line as Ray Hadford red-lighted.

For a while, it looked like Funny Car eliminator would be decided not by who had the quickest car but who made it to the starting line first. The unique situation occurred when semifinal winners Larry Arnold and Gene Snow both encountered severe engine problems in their victories and neither car was ready when the time came. With the time stretched an additional 15 minutes, both cars rolled into the staging lanes with only seconds to spare. The final itself was rather anticlimactic as Snow and Arnold snorted and popped down the strip, with World Champion Snow lasting the longest at 7.49 to Arnold's 8.68 in T.B. Smallwood's "Kingfish."

Pro Stock, as usual, provided the fans with round after round of fender-to-fender action, In the end, it was a repeat of the recent NHRA World Finals as Ronnie Sox and "Akron Arlen" Vanke squared off for the money. History repeated itself as Sox pushed the Sox & Martin entry across the finish line first, 9.85 to 9.92.

In Comp, old master Gene Adams had his A/FD tuned to perfection and Don Enriquez responded accordingly with a big win in the final at 7.33 over Roy Rastetter. Modified Eliminator was decided between the California street roadsters of Jim Stevens and "Sunshine" Kaneshiro, with Stevens taking the win. World champion Ray Alley pushed his heavy Chevy to the Super Stock crown while Marv Ripes captured Stock when Joe Allread missed a shift.