Drag racing is full of surprises, but few things turn heads more than an unexpected winner. Over the years, NHRA Pro Stock has seen its share of oddball cars—not the dominant players, but unique machines that managed to claim victory against the odds. These five cars didn’t just race; they etched their names into history.

The AMC Hornet showed that American Motors Corporation (AMC) could hold its own on the big stage. Wally Booth was the man who fared the best in NHRA competition with his Hornet. Winning the 1974 Gatornationals, and then nearly winning the World Championship in 1976. Booth’s performance that year culminated in a historic final. The NHRA Finals that year showcased the only AMC Pro Stock Final Round ever held. A quicker elapsed time turned by Dave Canners, but the reaction times of Wally Booth gives him the win at 8.78 seconds and over 154 miles an hour.

The Oldsmobile Starfire made a brief but memorable appearance in 1982. Warren Johnson was the pilot of a crimson red old Starfire in 1982. This was Oldsmobile’s version of the Chevrolet Monza, for lack of a better explanation. Johnson was able to notch three victories that season, letting the world know that he someday would be a world champion. One of those wins stood out as “a real rock ’em, sock ’em affair against Lee Shepard.

Randy Humphrey and his Plymouth Volare made history at the 1979 Mile High Nationals in Denver. When Randy Humphrey won the 1979 Mile High Nationals over Bob Glidden, he stopped the greatest win streak in NHRA Pro Stock history. Nine straight races Glidden had won, but on this day Humphrey saw the win light through the windshield of his Volare. This victory was significant, as it was the last Mopar Pro Stock win until 1989, and the last win for a HEMI-powered Pro Stocker until Mark Osborne did it in 2001.

Bob Glidden’s 1982 Ford EXP was, by all accounts, a difficult car. If there was a single car that Bob Glidden never spoke a good word about, it was the 1982 Ford EXP he ran during that season. The small car was an ill-handling, seemingly never-ending source of troubles for the legendary 10-time champion. Despite its flaws, Glidden coaxed a win out of it. 

In 1990, Pontiac’s Grand Prix achieved a rare Pro Stock victory. Pontiac held a massive presence in Pro Stock drag racing through the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s and did so with a few different models. But Kenny Delco’s win at the 1990 Gatornationals was unique. Kenny Delco stands alone in Pontiac lore with his victory at the 1990 Gatornationals in a Pontiac Grand Prix. Of course, his win came against, you guessed it, a Firebird.

These cars may not have dominated Pro Stock, but their victories stand as proof that even the most unconventional machines can rise to the occasion.