| 71578
EDIT THIS!
|
Thomas Nagy |
Ron O'Donnell (M) from
Chicago, Illinois
USA
(Comp Nr/Finish:
339 ) |
1973 - Category: FUELFC, Type: FN, Class: AA/FC, Div: 3 |
| "The Big Noise From Illinois" Owned by Ron O'Donnell
from
Chicago, Illinois
USA
| Crew Chief: Lance Larsen |
| '73 Plymouth Cuda by
Chapman Automotive |
Powered by Supercharged Nitro 484 Chrysler Hemi by Chapman Automotive with
2 speed manual transmission |
| 1/4 Mile ET: |
6.900 at IHRA Lakeland FL 3/73 |
1/4 Mile MPH: |
198.67 at Atco NJ 4/73 |
| 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 1973 Performance Ratings (0 to 100) based on comparison to average ET/MPH:
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1/4 Mile Rating: ET 27.26,
MPH 00.99 |
Entry is 1.03479 times average ET and 0.92405 times average MPH |
|
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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| 1973 Records: |
1/4 Mile: 6.169 ET, 235.64 MPH |
1000 Ft. 0.000 ET, 0.00 MPH |
1/8 Mile: 4.520 ET, 189.00 MPH |
| 1973 Average: |
1/4 Mile: 6.668 ET, 215.00 MPH |
1000 Ft. 0.000 ET, 0.00 MPH |
1/8 Mile: 4.657 ET, 184.00 MPH |
| 1973 Minimum: |
1/4 Mile: 7.168 ET, 200.00 MPH |
1000 Ft. 0.000 ET, 0.00 MPH |
1/8 Mile: 4.987 ET, 172.12 MPH |
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No Racer Website |
No video link |
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Notes: 1973 marked the first year that Ron O'Donnell was at the helm of his own race car. Before driving his own car, Ron had driven such well-known machines as the Denison, Arlasky & Knox AA/FA, Mr. Norm's Grand-Spaulding Dodge "Super Charger" AA/FC, Tim Beebe's "Fighting Irish" AA/FC, and Don Cook's "Damn Yankee" AA/FC. At the beginning of 1973, Ron held both ends of the NHRA AA/FC record at 6.41/227.84, setting both at Tri-City Dragway, Saginaw, Michigan, in July 1972. Ron was at Pomona for NHRA's wet-and-wild Winternationals. The track was horrible, and it rained for three weekends straight. Some 58 cars had shown up to qualify for the sixteen-car field. When qualifying finally ended, O'Donnell was the first alternate at 7.75/193.54. It got into the show when Dick Rosberg was unable to stay. It didn't help him much, as his 8.11 was beaten by eventual winner Don Schumacher's 7.64 in the first round. In March, he was at Lakeland for the IHRA Winternationals. It was another sixteen-car show, and his 7.20 qualified #8. In the opening round, Shirl Greer got out of shape against him, and Ron advanced with a 7.17/190.67. He ran his best time of the weekend in the semifinal, where his 6.90/194.84 defeated a tire-smoking Jim Paoli. In the final, he faced the "Superteam" of that era, the Barry Setzer-owned Vega driven by Pat Foster. No one gave O'Donnell much of a shot in the final, as Foster had been running steady sixes. Sure enough, Foster legged it through with a 6.63/214 (Low ET and Top Speed) for the title over Ron's 7.46/147.47 runner-up effort. Shortly after that, he was in Miami for a twelve-car show. He qualified #6 with a 7.12/180.00, but in the opening round of eliminations, he shut down early in his race with Don Wiley, as he thought he had him covered. But Wiley came roaring past just before the stripe to take the win. Late in April, he was at Atco for a best-of-three-match race against "Jungle Jim" Liberman. It was not Ron's day: in the first race, his 7.35/198.67 was beaten by Liberman's 7.31/196, and in the second match, he got out of shape and shut down to a losing 9.56. Liberman burned up a clutch and could not run the final race, so that O'Donnell would make an all-out run. Unfortunately, even that didn't work out, as he smoked the tires hard. Coke event promo poster from US 30 cited 6.41/228, but that was most likely the 1972 times in the other car. |
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Submitted by Thomas Nagy, Last updated on Saturday, May 2, 2026, 10:12:18 PM by
Ron Howard.
Approved by Super Crew. |
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Rankings updated: 05/03/26 03:02:39 am EDT
