User:Contributor454/sandbox/Tim Richards (Drag Racer)

Tim Richards (Drag Racer)

Tim Richards is a drag racer and crew chief from Pennsylvania. He won 6 NHRA Top Fuel world championships (1984, 1988, 1990-92, 2001) as a crew chief, the first 5 with Joe Amato and the last with Kenny Bernstein. He is also known for tuning Chuck Etchells to the first sub 5 second run in a Funny Car (4.98 seconds in ¼ mile) on October 1, 1993.

Career

Richards was a Super Stock racer in Pennsylvania known for running Chryslers. Upon retiring from driving, Joe Amato asked Richards to help him set up a Chrysler combination in his Top Alcohol Funny Car. The pair were successful and worked their way to Top Fuel for the 1982 season, finishing 6th in the national NHRA points and becoming the 15th member of the NHRA 250 mph club. They won their first Top Fuel race in 1983 finishing second in points for the season, and their first world championship in 1984. They ran the first 260 mile per hour run in drag racing in March 1984 with the help of a newly designed rear wing, which was smaller but mounted higher above and further behind the rear tires. (This 1984 car is now housed in the the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing.) They finished 2nd in NHRA Top Fuel points in 1985, fourth in 1986, second in 1987, won the title in 1988 (along with becoming the first Top Fuel car to reach 280 miles per hour), finished second again in 1989, and won three consecutive championships (1990-1992). In addition to running the Joe Amato Top Fuel dragster, he worked with Maynard Yingst on Joe Amato’s Bruce Larson funny car, which included the 1989 NHRA Funny Car championship. After the NHRA US Nationals in 1992, Tim Richards and Joe Amato ended their professional relationship. Joe Amato would later say that his biggest single mistake in racing was not staying involved with Tim Richards.

Richards planned to be crew chief on the Pat Austin Top Fuel dragster in 1993, but the relationship dissolved at the first race of the season. After the passing of his protégé crew chief Maynard Yingst in March of that year, he took Maynard’s crew chief position on the Chuck Etchells Funny Car. They were immediately successful, winning the Summer Nationals in Englishtown New Jersey, and famously running the first four second run in a funny car in Topeka and winning the event.

In 1994, Richards was crew chief on Connie Kalitta’s Top Fuel dragster, and he and Connie won the US Nationals that year. Richards would later say that that win in Indy was his favorite of all. They also won Gainesville and Atlanta that year and finished the year fourth in NHRA Top Fuel points. Tim Richards also tuned Kalitta to his first 300 mph run in Phoenix that year.

In 1995, Richards returned to work as crew chief on the Chuck Etchells funny car, tuning the car to top 5 finishes through 1999 (with Whit Bazemore driving in 1999). Richards left the team during the 2000 season.

In 2001, Richards was appointed crew chief on Kenny Bernstein’s Top Fuel dragster, winning the NHRA Top Fuel championship that year. He continued as crew chief on that car until retiring at the conclusion of the 2008 season. Richards has occasionally come out of retirement, most notably for a short stent tuning the Ron Capps driven funny car in parts of 2011 and 2012.

Personal

Richards is married to Top Fuel crew chief Kim (Lahaie) Richards, and is the son in law of 1987 Top Fuel world champion Dick Lahaie.