Slo Poks Members Earl Floyd, Jack Coonrod and Jim Albrich inducted into the NHRA Hall of Fame.

In June of 1965 the Northwind fuel dragster beat Georgia's “Sneaky Pete” Robinson in a best 2 out of 3 match-race to win the coveted title of Drag News Number 1 spot in the nation. The race held at Woodburn Drag Strip in Oregon placed the Northwest solidly on the map as a legitimate hot rodding area and would spark the careers for each in the world of drag racing.

The five Northwind Team members included Jim Albrich, Earl Floyd and Jack Coonrod of Vancouver, Washington, Ed “Ace “McCulloch of Fresno, California and Jim Rockstad of Issaquah, Washington.  Each would go on to their own careers within the sport.  Ed “the Ace” McCulloch went on to a very successful driving and tuning career that would include many record setting runs and titles.  Rockstad would go on to race a gasser successfully before becoming a successful manager and promoting some of the biggest events in the Northwest including such events like the 64 Funny Car event.  Jack Coonrod would go on become one of the first successful touring gassers in the nation, touring from coast to coast.  Jim Albrich after the Northwind success would go on to build a number of highly successful race engines from his new motor shop, Columbia Racing Engines. Earl Floyd owned an auto parts yard and continued in the sport with his wife and family dragsters team racing throughout the Northwest.     

      

The Northwind team received accolades at the NHRA Northwest Division Banquet on January 11^th 2014.