Hot Wheels Big, Up Close, and On Fire!

By Chuck Bills

Back in '71-'74, there were a lot of the HOT WHEELS DUELS. The Snake and Mongoose used to get it on all over the country. When I was eight years old, my Dad -- a racer from the late '50s and early '60s with a kick-butt '37 Chev D/Gas car -- took me to the "Hot Wheels Nationals" in Seattle in 1971. Well I was hooked -- how cool was it to see the BIG HOT WHEELS!

Well we went again in '72. This time we sat on top of our pickup right at the beginning of the finish line. The Snake made it to the finals. In the final round, Prudhomme BLEW UP IN FRONT OF US! Parts were all over and people were running to get glass parts from the body! What memories!

By the way, little did I know that at those two years at the Nationals I was watching the first digger I drove -- Jerry Ruth's "Pay-N-Pak" Top Fuel Car! We purchased it in 1981 and ran a small block Chev. 

Exciting races and good memories!

You can see photos of the cars my dad raced and we raced, plus the junior dragsters we race now at www.chuckbills.com/racing