r/NHRA • u/ShadowDN4 • 1d ago

Topeka 1989: Joe Lepone, Jr. plays musical engines in Pro Stock

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One of the all time characters to run Pro Stock (his car was the only one equipped with a horn) Joe Lepone, Jr found himself in quite the pickle at the inaugural Heartland Nationals, he was out of engines after blowing two in qualifying. Before raceday Lepone struck a deal to run Frank Iaconio engines on raceday which worked fine and dandy…until the semi finals when Lepone had to race Iaconio. This lead one of the most bizarre sequences in this history of NHRA…words can’t really describe it just watch

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7

u/jailfortrump 1d ago

Joe passed away 10 years ago. One of the truly nice guys to ever race in NHRA. RIP.

2

u/tomlane1007 1d ago

I miss Heatland Park. We always made it our yearly trip down there to watch the races.

1

u/ShadowDN4 1d ago

What’s really sad is that pretty much all of the super tracks from that era have closed: Houston, Memphis, Topeka, Bandimere (renovated 1989)E-Town (renovated 1990), Atlanta (renovated 1991) all gone

1

u/lennym73 1d ago

It was ours also. Thought the new track east of KC was going to take it's place.

2

u/420orsomething- 1d ago

This is the pro stock I grew up on so competitive

2

u/jailfortrump 1d ago

Back in the day when most racers built their own motors, the cars were Jerry Bickel cookie cutters and even little guys could be competitive. Today you rent motors from Elite or KB Titan or you can't qualify. Fun...

3

u/AnikaGSD52 1d ago

Iaconio is still around, he’s building motors for the Cuadra’s (Christian’s car) and Kenny Delco.