We’ve actually shown a snippet of this very same documentary months earlier, but found the complete three-part 1971 film, “The Age of Drag Racing” recently and had to show it in its entirety.

To say Dick Landy was a pioneer drag racer is to sell a great American short. Landy is one of the fathers of funny cars and heroes of Super Stock racing, and his relentless pursuit of speed crafted an enviable legend in the annals of American racing. Landy’s name is sure to ring through the ages as a pioneer of motorsports.

While searching YouTube, we happened across this vintage drag racing video, appropriately called “The Age of Drag Racing.” Landy takes front stage in the first of three videos, but the video soon spreads out to cover other greats.

Landy was well known for his crisp white uniform, tennis shoes, and cigar-chomping ways on the track. He was a bigger-than-life personality, and to hear him give advice about what it takes to win is certainly something we take to heart. Watching him row the gears while still smoking his cigar and waxing poetic about what it takes to be a winner, coming down to tenths of a second, is really what made him such a legend.

About halfway through the first video, we really start to get into the action, watching tires smoke and engines blow. Considering this video is almost forty years old, it has a certain “fresh” perspective on the sport of drag racing, and watching these old school racers run down the track really takes us back to a different time.

All totaled together, these three videos take up about 30 minutes of your day. Yet we can guarantee they are the most exciting thirty minutes of video you’ll watching, from a time when excitement came with four wheels and a big honkin’ engine.

Unfortunately, Landy died January 11th, 2007 from kidney failure at the age of 69. He was a champion of the drag strip, a pioneer of early drag racing development and a spokesman for a generation.