Be careful. First, what year are you asking about? In the 60s, the national event numbers were doled out according to the order the entries were received in the NHRA office. That changed slightly later.

When the national numbering system began to evolve, things changed yearly. But they really tried to maintain some semblance of order, starting with the pros. Although the Pros no longer run divisional races, that numbering system remains. A driver from California, will still receive a number beginning with a 7.

OK, so lets move to Sportsman in 2009. You obviously know about the seven divisions, plus there is an extra 8 first number where they throw in ALL international drivers when they run in the US. The first number is the Division, so let’s take a typical SS entry. Here is our engineer’s (here at T&D) SS/TB entry a few years back, number 7668.

There is the Div VII start with an arbitrary number behind it. He chose the number from what was left open. That is HIS personal number even if he moves to a different category. So, there are still plenty of three digit numbers floating around too. Same deal, just a driver that has been around for awhile. When you earn a competition license, you can request a number or look down through the files to see what is still available. Please don’t ask what happens when a division has more than 999 class racers — it gets into a number-letter deal then.
OK, so a driver does really well.

Daddy Warbucks SOHC Falcon:

The SOHC was developed so rapidly there were NO aftermarket cams or manifolds for it at the start of 1965. For intakes, there was the 1-4bbl NASCAR manifold, and the 2-4bbl drag manifold.

Maybe you remember that Ford quickly developed a SOHC manifold for 4 Webers--
Nicholson tried that one and used it to some success. It was that manifold that the match racers first used, with FE Hilborns bolted on it.But that was a few months into the year -- maybe May or June.

Keep in mind that factory Ford teams were forbidden to race the AWB Moparsat that time -- that is the reason Bonner built the Falcon on his own dime. He also had a legit A/FX Mustang.

By late June, a number of the match racers had injectors and methanol (some even nitro) but Ford still held out. They insisted on their guys running 3200 pounds, gas and carbs -- and forcing the competition to do the same.

But demands/requests/screams from fans/track operators turned that whole thing upside down and by July, run-whatcha-brung was the only rule. The torches came out and even the major Ford racers bowed to the pressure.