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Courtesy Phil Burgess, NHRA
Photog Web |
Richard Tharp (M) from
Dallas, Texas
USA
(Comp Nr/Finish:
441 ) |
1971 - Category: FUELFC, Type: FN, Class: AA/FC, Div: 4 |
| "Blue Max" Owned by Harry Schmidt
from
Dallas, Texas
USA
| Crew Chief: Harry Schmidt |
| '70 Ford Mustang by
Don Hardy |
Powered by Supercharged Nitro 426 Chrysler Hemi by Ramchargers with
2 speed manual transmission |
| 1/4 Mile ET: |
6.810 at Dallas TX 3/71 |
1/4 Mile MPH: |
218.97 at Dallas TX 3/71 |
| 1000 FT ET: |
Unknown at Unknown |
1000 FT MPH: |
Unknown at Unknown |
| 1/8 Mile ET: |
Unknown at Unknown |
1/8 Mile MPH: |
Unknown at Unknown |
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Entry's 1971 Performance Ratings (0 to 100) based on comparison to average ET/MPH:
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1/4 Mile Rating: ET 67.00,
MPH 78.46 |
Entry is 0.97564 times average ET and 1.05274 times average MPH |
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1000 FT Rating: ET 00.00,
MPH 00.00 |
Entry is 0.00000 times average ET and 0.00000 times average MPH |
| 1/8 Mile Rating:
ET 00.00,
MPH 00.00 |
Entry is 0.00000 times average ET and 0.00000 times average MPH |
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| 1971 Records: |
1/4 Mile: 6.480 ET, 227.27 MPH |
1000 Ft. 0.000 ET, 0.00 MPH |
1/8 Mile: 4.520 ET, 173.00 MPH |
| 1971 Average: |
1/4 Mile: 6.980 ET, 208.00 MPH |
1000 Ft. 0.000 ET, 0.00 MPH |
1/8 Mile: 4.780 ET, 161.29 MPH |
| 1971 Minimum: |
1/4 Mile: 7.480 ET, 194.10 MPH |
1000 Ft. 0.000 ET, 0.00 MPH |
1/8 Mile: 5.110 ET, 150.87 MPH |
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Notes: Only weighed 1700 lbs. This is the '70 Don Hardy car Jake Johnson drove to victory at the '70 OCIR Manufacturer's Meet, running a 6.72 Low ET. In '71, Jake moved to Gene Snow's two-car team. Richard Tharp began driving for Harry Schmidt in this car. The Buttera car came later in '71. The photo is from Lions. This was not the car that qualified on the bump at Indy; that was the new Buttera car. | This team sure did a lot of touring in '71. They were a top draw, and track promoters paid big to feature the "Blue Max." On January 10, Tharp was at Lions for the AHRA Grand American race. Over 30 cars attempted to make the sixteen-car field, and the "Blue Max" ran a 6.96 to qualify. In the first round, he improved to a 6.86/216.86 while beating Dale Pulde. In round two, he ran an even better 6.84/215.82 but lost to Jim Dunn's 6.74/191. At Pomona for the NHRA Winternationals, he qualified #3 with a 7.116/205.94, but in the first round, he smoked the tires and lost to Leroy Goldstein in the "Ramchargers" Challenger, 7.16/208 to 7.75/155.70. The next stop was at Southeastern's 900-foot track for its Spring Funny Car Championships. All eight-cars ran two rounds with the winner being based on a points system. The track record going into this race was a 5.66 by Bobby Wood. Tharp reset that down to 5.49. He didn't reach the final as eventual winner "Jungle Jim" Liberman, who was driving the "Chi-Town Hustler" at this event, beat him with a holeshot 5.78 that stopped the "Max's" 5.74. They then went to Southland Dragway for a four-car round-robin show. Tharp faced the brand new cars of Leonard Hughes and Gene Snow. The other car there was Kelly Chadwick's Chevy-powered Camaro. Tharp faced Hughes for his first race, but the Mustang broke a rear end, and Hughes soloed for the win. The "Blue Max" crew changed out the rear end, came back out to make a test run, and ran a track record 7.08 at 194.38. Tharp turned around and got the mph portion of the record as well when on his next run he ran 7.15/209.94 to beat a wheelstanding Hughes. Gene Snow took away some of the glory by running the track's first "six" in the next round. In March, the "Blue Max" crew towed into Dallas for a sixteen-car Top Fuel race. Tharp was not afraid to take on the dragsters with his Funny Car at he qualified #7 with a 6.87/209.30. He ran even quicker in the first round, when his 6.81/214.28 beat Kenny Bernstein's 7.50/205 in Ronnie Wright's car. His 7.00/218.97 lost to Bob Gibson's 7.01/218 in Ray Godman's cad in the second round. The team did not race at Bakersfield or the NHRA Gatornationals. On March 28, Tharp was at the Amarillo Opener. It was another four-car, round-robin race. They seemed to be down on power here as his best runs were a pair of 7.22s while Snow grabbed the track record with a 6.92. On April 18, they were at Rockingham for the IHRA Pro-Am Championships. It was a rough day for the team. Tharp set Low ET in qualifying #1 with a 6.88. He beat Shirl Greer in the opening round, and in round two, he blew an engine but still advanced when Bruce Larson fouled. The team changed motors for their semifinal race with Butch Maas in the "Hawaiian." Unfortunately, in that race, they lost another rear end. Union Grove held its Manufacturers Meet on May 2 and Tharp won over the sixteen-car field. Shortly after that, he faced former "Max" driver Jake Johnston in a best-of-three-match race at Edgewater. Jake won two straight, resetting the track record as well. The two would meet again soon after at Maple Grove with Jake winning that one as well. At least this time it was closer. Tharp overpowered the track in the first race and his 7.41/197.80 lost to Johnston's 6.98/196. In their second race, Jake reset the track ET record with his 6.80/205 beating Tharp, who reset the track's mph record with a 6.91/208.33. In the last race, Tharp laid a holeshot to Johnston that saw his 6.84/207.37 beat the Dodge's quicker 6.81/208. It was ironic that before Tharp's holeshot win at Maple Grove, the two had met in competition six times, and Jake had won all six. Another win came for the team at Martin, Michigan, over an eleven car field. He set a 211.78 track record and, in the final, went up against Pat Minick. The "Chi-Town Hustler's" transmission gave out and Tharp won with a 7.09/202.74. On May 27, Minnesota hosted a four-car event. Tharp beat Terry Hedrick in the first race with a 7.16/179.64 to Terry's 7.84/181. He had a close second race when both he and Maas ran 7.04 (Tharp at 201.79), but the Mustang got the win light. He ran Maas again in his third race, but the "Hawaiian" never finished its run as it sheared a rear axle while Tharp won with a 7.07/207.85. On the Memorial Day Weekend, Martin, Michigan, held an eight-car show that had all cars make three runs. Tharp was there and in his first race, he ran 7.11/205.01 to beat Minick's quicker 7.05/208. In his second race, he lost a close one to Don Prudhomme that saw the "Snake's" 7.13/200 edge his 7.15/198.67 for the win. He also lost his third race to Tom McEwen. At the NHRA Springnationals in Dallas, the dated "Blue Max" qualified #10 with a 6.975/210.77. In the first round, Richard improved to 6.82/213.77 to beat #2 qualifier Prudhomme's 6.92/211. He then lost to Henry Harrison who was driving Mickey Thompson's Mustang in round two, 6.84/214 to 6.94/206.42. A week later (June 20), he was at Bristol for the IHRA Springnationals. Tharp beat Clare Sanders (Chi-Town), Leroy Goldstein (Ramchargers), and Tommy Grove's Ford-powered Mustang, in that order, to reach the final. He faced Don Schumacher, and Tharp's 6.97/207 was good for the runner-up money as Schumacher won with a 6.87/209. Two days later, he was at Miami-Hollywood for a six-car show. He didn't win, but all three of his runs were in the sixes. As mentioned, the team toured a lot. July started with the team running in Canada on the 1st, on the 2nd they were in Wisconsin, it was Michigan on the 3rd, and on the 4th, they were in Minnesota for the afternoon and Iowa that night. On Monday the 5th, they were in South Dakota. The team was able to pick and choose their bookings. |
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Submitted by Danny White, Last updated on Friday, May 23, 2025, 12:32:24 AM by
John Murnan II.
Approved by Super Crew. |
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Rankings updating based on latest edits ...
