Those watching yesterday’s ESPN2 telecast of the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals from Bristol were surely captured by the buzz surrounding the Cinderella story of drag racing’s elder statesman, “The Golden Greek” Chris Karamesines, as he earned his first round win in NHRA competition in more than two decades.
The mostly independent racer qualified 13th in the field with a 4.03 at 301.00 mph and earned his first round win since 1990 when Doug Kalitta struck the tires while the “Greek” sailed through with a safe 4.05 to advance into round two, where he would face Antron Brown. The problem was, the Karamesines team had never had to make the quick between-round turnaround, prompting the all-hands-on-deck volunteer effort seen on ESPN2 to get his dragster back to the line for the next round, where he ultimately red lit and lost to Brown.
In 2001, the now 79-year old Karamesines was ranked 30th on NHRA’s Top 50 Drivers of All-Time list, thanks to a more than six-decade long career in the sport in which he was the first driver to break the 200 mph barrier and is was considered one of the wildest and most entertaining drivers in the sports history. As an interesting side note, Karamesines was at the very first event held in Bristol back in 1965 and dueled throughout his career with Kalitta’s uncle, Connie.
Karamesines, who campaigns part-time on the NHRA trail, has carried backing from longtime friend Bob Stange and son Jeff Stange of Strange Engineering on the side of his dragster since the 1980’s and continues to carry that banner today.
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