Saturday 9th April 1988

White-haired, underfunded, 50-years-plus former drag-boat and motorcycle race Eddie Hill became the first person to run a ¼ -mile dragstrip in under 5 seconds when he ran a 4.990 second ET in his Top Fuel dragster at the Texas International Hot-Rod Association Nationals. An on-board computer readout showed he set the record on seven cylinders, as one failed at launch.