Driver

“Austin,” the NHRA wrote in 2001 when ranking him #13 of its Top 50 drivers ever, “is the most successful drag racer born after the 1940s and the best driver of his generation. His 68 Alcohol Funny Car wins are 25 more than the next-winningest Sportsman racer, and his 75 overall wins, including five in Top Fuel, make him the fourth-winningest NHRA driver ever^[1], just ahead of (inductees) Kenny Bernstein, Joe Amato, and Don Prudhomme, all of whom he beat in finals.” From 1980-96, the Tacoma, WA native was NHRA’s winningest driver, despite only starting in 1985. Between 1987 and 1991, Austin won four NHRA Alcohol Funny Car championships in five seasons. In 1991, he recorded Alcohol Funny Car’s first perfect season (five national + five divisional wins) and scored the first-ever “double” in NHRA national history, capturing Top Fuel and Alcohol Funny Car at Topeka. He repeated the feat a year later in Phoenix.

^[1] Austin finished his career with 75 wins, good for 10th on the NHRA all-time list as of 2020.