Way Back Wednesday Video: Allen Hartley’s “Double Vision” Dragster

There was once a time, not that many moons ago, that innovation and drag racing went hand-in-hand; when the only way to get quicker and faster, and therefore win, was to continually innovate and try new things. The march to innovate led to a number of now-legendary concepts — some that worked, some that failed miserably — but it was a great ride for those that had the freedom to try new things and the fans that got the opportunity to watch it all unfold, successfully or unsuccessfully.

allen1In the late 1980’s and early 90’s, racers still had some freedom — and the itch — to think outside the box and act upon it, before innovation was largely stifled in the late 90’s and into the early 2000’s in the name of safety, spending, and parity. But not before we saw some entertaining creations, like the unique streamliners  of the time and even twin-engine Top Alcohol Dragsters.

Although twin-engine dragsters were a decades-old concept at the time, there was, in fact, a time during the modern era of drag racing that a pair of engines was a legal and invited combination in an NHRA category. Sadly, in this day and age of cookie-cutter race cars, something that unique is almost hard to believe.

Texas racer Allen Hartley campaigned a number of Top Alcohol Dragsters that featured not one, but two alcohol-burning, nitrous-injected powerplants situated one in front of the other in the chassis of his iconic “Double Vision” dragsters. From the information that we can glean, the engines in this particular car were big block Oldsmobiles, making around 1,200 horsepower apiece, backed with a two-speed manual transmission. The car was competitive, but the twin-engine configuration wasn’t the combination to beat, and while there’s no record of any great successes with the car, it was certainly a head-turning concept — one that helped make drag racing such an intriguing sport in those years.

As you can see in the second clip, Hartley’s dragster tagged the wall in Dallas in 1992 after losing the steering, but it wasn’t that incident that brought an end to his twin-engine days, but rather, a widening performance gap between his car and the screw-blown and A/Fuel cars. Hartley later switched to an A/Fuel combo, and later turned the driving chores over to his son, Joe. Many of you reading this may recognize that name from the Top Fuel ranks, where the Hartley’s have competed with some success since their pro debut back in 1998.

About the author

Andrew Wolf

Andrew has been involved in motorsports from a very young age. Over the years, he has photographed several major auto racing events, sports, news journalism, portraiture, and everything in between. After working with the Power Automedia staff for some time on a freelance basis, Andrew joined the team in 2010.
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