Mel Bashore
Don Nicholson's First Run-Ever in his "Eliminator I" funny car
Dyno Don Nicholson takes his first-ever pass on Feb. 12, 1966 at the AHRA Winternationals at Irwindale in his "Eliminator I" flip-top Mercury Comet funny car. The body went airborne a few hundred feet into the run.
and Lincoln/Mercury burned to body down at the very end of the return road so that they didn't have to bring back a "broken Car",