IHRA: Throwback Thursday - Eddie Hill makes history with the first 4-second pass

Few who were there will forget it: Seeing that 4.990 light up on the sign at the end of the Texas Motorplex's quarter mile – the first time anyone had run under 5.00 – and saluting Eddie and Ercie Hill as the white-haired, white-bearded driver made his way back up the return road, pulling his yellow Pennzoil-sponsored Top Fueler.

It was at the IHRA Texas Nationals on April 9, 1988. And perhaps the most stunning aspect of all: The post-run computer readout showed that the number seven cylinder at failed at launch – Hill made the quickest pass ever in drag racing on seven cylinders.

Three weeks earlier, he had set a new speed record, 288.73 mph, on his way to winning the Gatornationals.
As the saying goes, it could not have happened to nicer people. Eddie Hill, now 80, began drag racing in 1955 in his Oldsmobile-powered hot rod near his home in East Texas. A few years later, in Wichita Falls, Texas, where he still lives, he built another dragster, winning the state championship. In 1960, Hill was credited as being the first driver to do a smoky burnout to heat and clean the rear tires.

Soon after, Hill began racing full-time, often with match races in his Double Dragon, a twin-engine monster that helped support his Top Fuel efforts. In 1966, the Double Dragon crashed, and his Top Fueler suffered a devastating fire, and that made Hill pursue the much cheaper venue of motorcycle racing, financed by his own motorcycle dealership.

By 1974, he had turned to boat racing, and he set multiple hydroplane records over the next 11 years. In 1984, he crashed at 217 mph, and the lengthy recovery time made him leave the water and return to solid earth.

"I'd had three good opportunities to kill myself in a boat," he told the New York Times. "I thought about all of the guys who had started racing with me, and most of them were dead.'"

In 1985, Eddie and Ercie, who were married in 1984, decided to return to drag racing. They used the equity inthe motorcyle shop, borrowed against life insurance, and rustled up $30,000 to buy a used dragster from ex-NFL quarterback Dan Pastorini, and an old pick-up and trailer. It took him 15 races to get past the first round, but when he started winning, he didn't stop. In 1996, at 60, he became the oldest Top Fuel event winner at the Mile High Nationals. He finally hung up his helmet in 1999.