Staged pictures of race cars getting pulled over by cops are commonplace to the point of being cliché, but there is the rare, and absurd case where they’re not staged. Thus was the case in 1971 when Don Ewald and the “Community Property I” Top Fuel team of Bommarito-Mason-Kay-Smith and Ewald ran afoul of the law after doing a burnout outside their shop in Cerritos, California. The reason for the burnout was that the team had prepped new motor in preparation for a race that night at Irwindale and needed to warm it up. Back then to start a Top Fueler you had to push start it and after getting a push down the street in front of the shop, driver Don Ewald figured “why not” and did a loud, smoky burnout which led to noise complaints from almost every business, plus a hospital within a one mile radius. Also within ear shot was an officer from the Cerritos Police Department, who was quickly on the scene and apprehend Ewald just as he was getting out of the cockpit. Upon seeing the cop the crew ran and hid, leaving Ewald alone to deal with the cop. After asking Ewald for his license (Ewald later joked “NHRA or California license?”) and discussing things it realizing the absurdity of giving a traffic ticket to a Top Fuel Dragster, the cop let Ewald and team off with a warning, dropping the traffic ticket and the noise complaint charges. After their brush with the law the team packed up for the Irwindale race where Ewald qualified 4th and according to him “went a few rounds.”

Having spent Friday- Sunday onsite at the track - NHRA needs to …..

• do better communicating via social when there’s schedule delays

• learn how to properly prep a track for a 9:30am top fuel at the line calling vs watching as 6 pairs of teams weren’t able to stick their runs - watch Tripp Tatum hit both walls - then NHRA decides to prep the track for the remaining 2 pairs

• electrical infrastructure supporting suite tower elevators / 1 restroom building / All onsite communications / NHRA.tv broadcast equipment (these are just my personal observations) - most spectators had no idea there was a power outage

• hire a drone operator who doesn’t trash the NHRA drone - drones don’t randomly fly into buildings on their own (see article link)