Albuquerque Dragway: Lyle Greenberg — who recorded first sub 6-second run in NM — is racing again this weekend

For Lyle Greenberg, gunning his nitro-fuel-altered dragster down the racing strip is a feeling unlike any other.

And at 66, it’s that feeling that keeps him coming back.

“There’s nothing like methane power,” Greenberg said. “It sounds different. It’s so surreal to watch. The sound and the noise and running somewhat afterward, the engines make flames out the exhaust pipes. It’s a real spectacle.”

Greenberg and several other nitro-powered speed burners will be at the Albuquerque Dragway at Mesa del Sol on Friday and Saturday doing their thing as part of the New Mexico Fuel Altered Nationals.

It’s a full two days of racing, said track owner Robert Costa.

“We’ll have about 100 local racers in four different classes,” he said. “In addition, we’ll have a jet car demonstration. It’s a long dragster with a jet engine. And we have six of the nitro-methane racers.”

But by far the main attraction will be Greenberg in his Cone Hunter dragster.

“I hope we get a good crowd out there and be really successful,” he said. “Robert Costa is doing the community of Albuquerque such a service. There’s a horrible street racing problem in Albuquerque and it’s a shame that he doesn’t get more support from the community and from the politicians to leverage that track more.”

Greenberg will be looking to better the state record that he set last year at this event, cruising down the quarter-mile track in 5.91 seconds. It was the first ever sub 6-second run in New Mexico, Costa said.

That means Greenberg reached a stop speed of 241 miles per hour.

“That’s fast,” Costa said in a vast understatement.

Cone Hunter is a “purpose-built chromemoly (high-strength alloy steel containing chromium and molybdenum) steel tubing chassis built by Victory Race Cars in California,” Greenberg said.

In runs off a TFX billet aluminum block based on the Chrysler Hemi design with a 6-71 supercharger and an MSD 44-amp magneto for ignition, he said, adding that the Alchemy Engineering fuel pump sends more than 30 gallons per minute of 90% nitromethane creating 3,000 to 4,000 horsepower.

For Greenberg, who was born and raised in Albuquerque and recently moved to Texas to be closer to his children and grandchildren, strapping himself into that roaring monster remains a thrill, but the real excitement is just hanging out at the track.

“It seems like an addiction at this point,” he said with a chuckle. “Drag racing is such a varied thing. There are ways to participate with just your regular street car, on up to 12,000-horsepower, 300-MPH top fuel cars and everything in between. There’s a place for everybody. I know so many people that do it at so many levels. I’m actually a fan. I just enjoy going to the races and hanging out with people. It’s my community. I love being in my community.”

In looking back at that record-breaking effort last year, Greenberg said it was a memorable experience that he hopes to better this time around.

“When you hit the throttle, it’s about a 4G-force launch and from there, it diminishes as your car is going down the track because it can’t keep up the acceleration, but by 1/8 of a mile, you’re hitting 200 MPH, and it’s fast,” he said. “Things are happening fast. You have to be on your toes.”

And Greenberg said he could have actually gone a bit faster if not for a slight mechanical issue.

“On that run, we had a cylinder on the left side of the engine start misfiring and when that happens, it gives thrust out of the header, the exhaust header,” he said. And then the car loses 25% of its downward thrust and “when (it) happened, the car started trying to drive to the left,” Greenberg said. “It didn’t just go right down the track. I was having to wrestle the thing to keep it in the groove.”

But, Greenberg, who started racing at the Albuquerque Dragway in 1974 when he just had gotten his learner’s permit, had the experience to keep the vehicle heading down the track.

How long he keeps going, however, is something else, again.

“I think about that a lot these days,” Greenberg said. “Mostly when I’m under the car working on it and have to get up and I think maybe I’m too old. But I’m still pretty health and I still enjoy doing it. I hope I can do it until I’m at least 70.”