THE GRIM REAPER HAS NOTHING BUT TIME............DO WE!

The headline defines the challenge facing the Quarter Mile Foundation to produce the PROJECT 1320 documentary film series on the drag racing’s history.

THE KEY: First person interviews of the surviving pioneering legends to gain an “I was there...” perspective of the “What, Who, Why When, Where, How” of the sport’s development.

THE CHALLENGE: Age and physical health of the remaining legends. The recent losses of James Warren, Joe Mondello, Dick Rossberg etc. are stunning examples of how important this is.

We cannot outrun death. It cannot be cured. Consequently, for the PROJECT 1320 to be an effective historical retrospective of drag racing (and the performance automotive aftermarket it generated), the interview film crews must get to these individuals before it is too late. It many cases it is already too late for our legends that are no longer with us. This is should be a huge eye opener to us for those that remain.

One of drag racing’s blessings is the relatively short period of time it has been in existence. This fact provides the Foundation with a truly unique opportunity to capture these narratives from the sport’s pioneering legends. Few major motorsports can access their “founding fathers” and influential figures as drag racing can.

THE OPPORTUNITY: Bluntly, the success of this documentary undertaking depends upon securing funding. The cornerstone of the effort is to get the interviews done.

The Foundation is seeking support from a wide range sources: from race fan and automotive enthusiasts, grants and industry companies; as well as sales of branded products such as caps, t-shirts and the like.

The Foundation has utilized (and will continue to do so as much as possible) major drag racing and industry events to conduct interviews, which reduces travel and overhead costs, but much more needs to be done.
Some legends cannot travel to these events because of health or other situations.

Your support and belief in the Foundation’s Mission will make it possible to dedicate time and resources to bring the mission to completion. This will also rapidly close the window to reach the legendary figures of the sport and the performance industry before it is too late. Death has taken many of our pioneers and will continue to do so; for those remaining your donation will secure those oral histories for generations to come.

The need to tell the story about the sport and the industry it built is long overdue. The younger generation which follows in the legends’ footsteps need to understand the effort and the sometimes brutal sacrifices that were made.

If the Foundation does not get the recollections of the pioneering legends – of their careers, plus tell the stories of their peers who have already died, these first-hand stories will never get recorded. And, all of us will be poorer for it!

Together, united as one in honor of those that gave of this great sport and industry, we will be able to share and preserve forever the stories of the brilliant pioneers which helped to shape an American culture and traditions. Their stories are the stories of the American dream, creating greatness from nothing but their seemingly impossible dreams. The spirit of innovation, fearlessness, technological exploration, competition, and entrepreneurship is still alive today, and more important than ever as we move into the 21st century.

The Quarter Mile Foundation and its PROJECT 1320 will celebrate the history of these pioneers because, in knowing where we came from, we can understand our future.

Your support is vital! Become a part of this crusade by donating at project1320. For every $2500.00 dollars donated, a pioneer’s interview is secured!

Let’s win this race for our Pioneers! NOW is the time to give back for all that they have given to us.

Become a part of sharing our history, for today, tomorrow and the future generations!

Donate options:

Project1320.com/donate.php Or mail your order donation by check/money to:

Quarter Mile Foundation
6210 Beverly Drive
Parma Heights, OH. 44130-2910

PROJECT 1320 produced by Quarter Mile Entertainment is an episodic documentary which will capture the history of drag racing - from the post World War II period to the end of the 1980s.

PROJECT 1320 will feature interviews of the surviving pioneers as they tell the story from their unique, personal point of view. Some of today's heroes will be featured, but it will focus on yesterday's legends as they tell of their experiences and explain the Who, What, Why, When, Where and How of the sport's early days and how it grew. You will also see how a multi-billion dollar industry - the performance automotive aftermarket - grew with the sport as ingenious racers built new parts to make their race cars go faster, and then sold them to their fellow competitors.

Drag racing fans can get directly involved with the PROJECT 1320 effort by becoming a member of "FRIENDS OF PROJECT 1320".

You get:
-- A PROJECT 1320 T-shirt, Cap and Hat Pin.
-- PROJECT 1320 Boxed DVD sets at discounted pricing.
-- The PROJECT 1320 website (www.Project1320.com) "Members Only" section.
-- Photos and movies from fans and old racers which will rekindle many memories.
-- As a special addition, you will also see actual interview pieces of each interviewee before the documentary is even released.
-- Join with a community of fans in the website's social network area sharing your personal recollections and thoughts with others around the world.

PROJECT 1320 will feature the important developments of each decade, how the pro classes came to be, the innovations in performance parts, the changes in safety and how drag races were conducted. You'll learn about how the automakers and Fortune 500 companies used the sport to market their products. Plus many more areas as PROJECT 1320 unfolds!

Parma Heights, Ohio -Racing fans and automotive enthusiasts have long had a desire to learn about the birth of the sport from the legends and heroes of the formative years.

To this point, there has been a patchwork of efforts but without an integrated approach to tell the story of how men and women with mechanical talent, fearless determination and skill built the cars and events to capture the glory of being the quickest and the fastest down 1320 feet of asphalt.

The focus of Quarter Mile Entertainment LLC (QME) and its Project 1320 is to capture first person narratives about the life and times of these early heroes…from the period immediately after World War II through to the beginning of the "modern era". The narratives of the sport's pioneers will be supported with still images and home movies of the period to deliver the "Who, What, When, Where, Why" of the times.

At the heart of the project is the goal to produce a high quality documentary film centering on the individuals, manufacturers, sanctioning bodies and the behind the scenes people…what it took to bring this great sport to its current level that can be divided into segments suitable for multi-part TV series use. The individuals and manufacturers who will be a part of this series will include many household names but will also include many of the "lesser-knowns" whose contributions have faded in our minds, but who helped launch the sport, nurtured it through its early growth and finally saw it become a major motorsport. The goal is to place the series on a cable network to expose the greatest number of viewers to why and how this sport has grown in popularity.

"Our greatest concern is to capture the stories and personal perspectives of the legends of the sport that are still living," says Traci Hrudka, chairman of Quarter Mile Entertainment. "We have lost a tremendous number of these people over the years, and time is running out to capture those oral histories in a digital format. If we ever want to do this, now is the time!"

The initial effort will be to provide an overview of the historical perspective of the sport - the key people and moments…the passion and the blood, sweat and tears it took to evolve the sport from a grassroots, never quit, "run whatcha brung" level to the point where corporate America and thousands of racers are involved on a weekly basis. It will also touch on how successful racers became successful business owners, supporting the racers with the products needed to get the finish line quicker and faster.

The blueprint for Project 1320 calls for a breaking down of the sport's dramatic growth…by decades, the evolution of today's major classes of competition, plus a look at the growth of the racing parts aftermarket, the influence of automaker participation and the support of corporate America, the historic race tracks and their owners and how the ideas of a small handful of men and women created the sanctioning bodies that have guided the sport.

The early grassroots support of Project 1320 has been amazing, fed by a word of mouth, internet-based network of old racers. A significant number of fans and racers have volunteered their home movies and pictures to this project. These images and movies will be digitized and archived for future use, as well as the first person interviews. The archives will provide much of the resource material for the subsequent project episodes.

Project 1320 will be seeking both corporate and grassroots support to document drag racing's historic moments and personalities. The "Friends of Project 1320" program will soon be launched to allow individuals to help produce this undertaking, and to build additional support.

The Board of Directors of QME hope the project will generate even more support by fans and racers who uncover their personal archives of yesterday and share it with future generations of fans and racers.

The Board of Directors of Quarter Mile Entertainment LLC consists of: Traci Hrudka (Chairman), Harry Hibler, Don Garlits, Steve Cole and Wayne Wolfe. The Board of Directors is assisted by an Advisory Board of Wally Booth, Darwin Doll, Don Ewald, Carl Olson, Stephen Krystek and Bill Pratt.