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You guys need to brush up on your history a bit. The 8 3/4 was the first rear in the 5's...a mainstay in the Top Fuel cars right up to the early 70's. Keep in mind that spools didn't become popular until '72 or so, and up to that point it was pretty evenly split between open and sure grip diffs in the Fuelers. According to the spec sheet on Garlits first R/E car, it was rolling on 4:10 gears and stock Chrysler spiders.



Top fuel cars were running in the 5's in the early 70's ???

Ok guys sell your dana 60's and the rest of your safety equipment , the early pioneers of the sport did just fine without it ... it's a MONEY GRAB


edit .... oops , now i did it i questioned an icon of mopardom



Go ahead and question me! Tommy Ivo ran the first 5 (426/8 3/4) but it was done at a match race and so it didn't count as official.
First official 5 was a 5.97 by Mike Snively in the Diamond Jim Annin T/Fueler (426/Dana). This was at the 72 Supernationals at Ontario. Same event, same day, Don Moody clocked at 5.91 (392/8 3/4) in the Walton Cerny Moody car.
There was alot of speculation at the time about hot clocks, but at the beginning of the 73 season 5's became common. I believe Garlits ran a 5.78 or so at Indy that year...also spit out a 250 that stood for some time.
At about this level, the 8 3/4 was starting to reach its breaking point. There was a guy that went by the name of Major Cooksey from Florida who was known as The Man when it came to T/F 8 3/4's...I believe there was an artical in Car Craft around 1972 that outlined his prep steps.



thanks tony , stupid question though , how HEAVY were those cars ??? did they have TRANSBRAKES ??

as far as strength i feel the nod goes to the 742 over a 489 even with a solid spacer ... but that is just my opinion ...