AA/FA

“There’s nothing else like it in motorsports.” That’s what drag racing journalist Dave Wallace says about Fuel Altereds. The class was eliminated by NHRA nearly 50 years ago, but these wild dragsters are still around, still putting on exciting races, and still drawing dedicated fans. In a 2015 issue of Elapsed Times magazine, Wallace spoke to Dave Hough, patriarch of the family that has helped keep Fuel Altereds alive.—HRM

It’s not as if Dave and Linda Hough missed the memo back in 1973 that officially rendered Fuel Altereds obsolete. Mr. and Mrs. Hough were in the room when NHRA Division Director Bernie Partridge dropped the bomb about nitro-burning altereds losing their class and, consequently, their only opportunity for national event exposure. He quickly added that AA/Fuel Altered teams would be welcome in NHRA’s new Pro Comp Eliminator—as long as they either converted their current cars to methanol or built a new dragster or Funny Car.

“Wally [Parks] was there, too,” Dave recalls. “I told them that we all had jobs and families. I couldn’t afford to invest in the three-speed, the big blower, and everything else we’d need to switch, even if I wanted to. I said that we’d be sticking with nitro. Wally looked right at me and said, ‘You will never run an NHRA track.’”

We all know how that prediction worked out. As the old bumper stickers screamed, “Fuel Altereds Forever!” These dinosaurs have survived decades of chronic homelessness largely because the Houghs have tirelessly promoted, booked, and herded these wild cats throughout North America since the late 1960s—and still do, drawing on the dozen or so traditional teams still active and reliable. Credit for the “Awful-Awful” renaissance is shared with the innovative International Hot Rod Association, whose exit polls consistently place these cars at or near the top in crowd appeal, according to