Chris “The Greek” Karamesines was one of those early drag racers. The Greek began his drag racing career in 1954 racing close to his hometown of Chicago at Half-Day Dragstrip. In those days he was racing a full-bodied Ford Phaeton with an overhead valve V-8 under the bonnet. By 1957 Karamesines had abandoned racing full-bodied cars and built his first Top Fuel dragster. In 1958 Karamesines and his crew chief tuner Don Maynard started match racing around the country, even getting booked into West Coast Top Fuel meets by none other than the famous C.J. Hart. In 1960 they raced at but didn’t win the March Meet at the legendary Famoso strip near Bakersfield, California.
Fast forward 50 years or so and professional drag racing has become really big business and the darling of Corporate America. Fortune 500 companies back national drag racing series, teams and, in some cases, drivers. Motorsports, especially NASCAR and to a lesser extent drag racing, are replacing stick and ball sports as the people’s favorite spectator sport.
