Print edition: 
Variety was the keyword of the day when Hot Rod Magazine's Drag Week rolled into Great Bend on Tuesday. Leaping nitrous oxide-aided Mustangs, a Datsun 280Z with a gigantic supercharged Chevy engine, a rust-encrusted 1959 Oldsmobile and Larry Larson's bad to the bone '66 Chevy Nova made passes down the historic quarter mile where the first NHRA Nationals was staged.
The group of street-driven racers came to Great Bend by way of Topeka, where they had their first of five sessions at four strips. Missing were eight of the original entrants that had succumbed to various mechanical maladies.
After a morning of acceleration time trials at the Great Bend site, the participants would load their cars, some towing small two-wheel trailers, and head for stops in Amarillo and Tulsa before returning to Topeka for the final leg and the crowning of the Fastest Street Driven Car in the World.
Competitor Sean Fling of DeSoto was wheeling a turquoise 1963 Ford Fairlane wagon powered by a supercharged '93 Lincoln engine. He was in awe of the background of the Great Bend site. His grandfather, Dan Scheicher, was a competitor with an early rear engine dragster at the first Nationals in 1955. "The sense of history is overwhelming," Fling said.
Each car and owner on the five-race tour has their own story, but the one virtually everybody wanted to know about was Larry Larson. Make no mistake, Larson's car does look like a race car. With gigantic DOT slicks tucked away inside the rear fenders and several feet of wheelie bar hanging out the back below dual parachutes, there is no mistaking this car's purpose. And yet, after Larson slipped his helmet and driving suit on and blistered the Great Bend pavement with the day's top times of 7.17 seconds at 203 mph, he packed up his oil, small repairs and duffel bag of clothes and cruised out the gate heading for Amarillo.
The rules require the drivers to follow a specified route from city to city and to supply photographic proof that the cars actually drove the route. No chase vehicles or outside team members are allowed to help out on the grueling over-the-road race series.
Larson's Nova is equipped with comfortable seats and actually runs on standard premium gas. The secret is that the twin turbos almost never see action at highway speeds.
For results of the competition, check www.hotrod.com.cq
