Match Race Mayhem: Drag Racing's Grudges, Rivalries and Big Money Showdowns

Relive or discover the exciting history of match racing through the cars, drivers, rivalries, events, and everything that was fun about match racing in drag racing’s golden era.

This volume by veteran drag race author Doug Boyce is enhanced with wonderful vintage photography provided by fans and professionals in attendance.

Drag racing is a very regulated sport. In the history of the NHRA, IHRA, and other sanctioning bodies, many classes exist in an effort to make sure the cars racing against each other are as equal as possible. It is a noble, if not futile, pursuit. Two cars face off that have very similar statistics in terms of weight, transmission type, fuel type, estimated horsepower, and all other sorts of measurables. The byproduct is that often the races that were “fair” were not the races that the fans wanted to see.

During the golden age of drag racing, fans didn't care as much about class racing as much as they wanted to see scores settled, rivalries battled, and interesting matchups. There were the manufacturer rivalries, Ford versus Chevy, Chevy versus Mopar, Mopar versus Ford, as well as numerous driver rivalries. Match races were also a great way to feature wildly popular cars that no longer had a class in which to compete, yet the fans still wanted to see them. So popular and intense were these races that many track promoters didn't bother to promote class racing at all. Instead, they used the match races as headliners, similar to the marquee at your local arena or a billboard in Las Vegas, all resulting in putting more fans in the stands. And the drivers loved it too. Although the prize money for national events was fairly average for the day, the extra appearance fees and prize money to lure the most popular match racers to events increased the driver's take exponentially. Many of the most popular pro drivers quit class racing altogether just to go match racing.

If you are a fan of any class of drag racing from any era, Match Race Mayhem: Drag Racing's Grudges, Rivalries and Big-Money Showdowns is a fun addition to your racing library.

Doug Boyce has written numerous club and magazine articles related to drag racing's golden years. He has an ongoing love of drag racing and the way it used to be. He is the author of Grumpy's Toys, Junior Stock, Drag Racing’s Quarter Mile Warriors: Then & Now, Match Race Mayhem, and 1001 Drag Racing Facts all best-selling CarTech titles.