First in the Fours, 25 years ago today, FourFather Eddie Hill

**Dbwy** · April 9, 2013, 09:52 PM

Ive always loved racing and going fast, but I never paid too much attention to funny cars or top fuel cars...I guess I just knew I would never be able to experience something like that. But I just studied that time slip and compared it to my 1/4 mile days many years ago when we actually had a legal 1/4 mile track in San Diego. Haha, not much of a comparison to what we used to run.

All I have to say is holy effing s__t. That's pretty amazing and almost unbelievable. Congrats Eddie, and happy anniversary!

**FourFather** · April 10, 2013, 04:54 PM

Thanks for all the kind words, guys. I was just very blessed to be one of the very few people that ever get to experience such an awesome ride.

Eddie

**Terry Kennedy** · April 11, 2013, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by FourFather

Our Atoms would probably do about the same if we could add maybe 6 or 7 thousand horsepower and be able to use full throttle for 1/4 mile or so, without spinning the tires, and if we didn't have to shift gears--

This seems appropriate:

**AtomJohnny** · April 17, 2013, 10:10 PM

Congratulations and happy anniversary Eddie.

What happened to the car in the left lane? I guess something either broke or it was planning on going "Back to the Future".

**FourFather** · April 18, 2013, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by AtomJohnny

Congratulations and happy anniversary Eddie.

What happened to the car in the left lane? I guess something either broke or it was planning on going "Back to the Future".

Thank you. That cloud in the other lane is tire smoke--he got a bit too aggressive on the clutch tuneup, and spun the tires and shut off. That was fellow Texan, Gene Snow, and he rolled through to the finish line slow enough to see my four second time come up on the scoreboard at the finish line, the first time anyone had ever seen the elapsed time number start with a four. At Ennis, Texas, on 4/9/88, under IHRA sanction.

And coincidentally enough, Gene was in the other lane again, six months exactly later, when I ran an identical 4.990 elapsed time to set NHRA's first official National Record in the four second range. And he again got too aggressive with the clutch tuneup, but this time his car went into a too-high wheelstand, and he again had to shut off, and roll through the course slow enough to see the 4.990 come up on the scoreboard.

And that is--The rest of the story--

Eddie