The 1980s: High-Priced Gas, Smog Controls, and Complicated Electronically Controlled Cars—Sound Familiar?
Our September '84 cover announced the "T-Bird is Back" and included a photo of Bill Elliott's as-yet uncluttered No. 9. The next year Million Dollar Bill totally dominated NASCAR, setting amazing records and winning everything in sight-except the championship.In April '82 we "Pro-filed" the latest rundown of new Pro Stock rules, including NHRA's first 500-inchers, IHRA's monster motors, and AHRA's nitrous bottle rockets.
Our coverage of the '83 Winternatlonals was titled: "Who'll Stop the Reign?" Shirley Muldowney, coming off her then-unequalled third Top Fuel national championship, won the Winters and seemed unstoppable. In July '84 she crashed in Montreal. What can we say? Bob Chandler's Bigfoot has left a lasting imprint on this decade, drawing millions to stadiums just to see it, spawning hundreds of clones, and epitomizing the ultimate extreme in the four-wheel/off road end of our sport.may have begun in the '70s, but it reached outrageous Pro-portions in the '80s.