During the mid 60's, "Dyno" Don was synonymous with Mercury factory drag racing.  His march to fame began with Chevrolet in 1960, but when GM mandated a ban on all motor sports sponsorship in 1963, Nicholson was quickly picked up by Mercury.

In 1961 "Dyno" Don Nicholson used a 1961 Chevrolet Bel Air, powered by the famous 409 c.i. engine, to win the Stock Eliminator class at both the Winter Nationals and the Nationals.  In 1962 he repeated the Winter Nationals victory, this time in a 409 propelled 1962 Bel Air.  In addition to winning these major events, Nicholson became a very popular match racer on the east coast and deep south.  He moved to Atlanta, GA to ease his travel schedule.

Seven Comet Cyclones were prepared for the 1964 Super Stock wars. These cars were powered by the 427 hi-riser engine with dual Holley carbs.  Fiberglas was used extensively to lighten the car even more than the Thunderbolt.  The radical cars were re-classified by the NHRA to "Factory Experimental," owing to the low number of cars produced.  Only four of the Comet Cyclones are known to exist today.

Along with Ronnie Sox and a few other drivers, "Dyno" Don made Mercury's first drag racing effort successful.  He established another new record, driving his "stock" Comet down into 10 seconds at well over 125 mph in the quarter mile.

The stock drag racing world began to change in 1965 when the cars started to appear anything but stock.  Engines were moved back nearly a foot and the driver moved to the center of the car. The wheel bases were altered and the front and rear wheels moved on the frame for better weight transfer.  Nicholson drove his 1965 Comet Cyclone to a best of 9.360 seconds at 150.50 mph.  The huge time and speed improvement was assisted with a single-overhead-cam hemi 427 c.i. engine, running on small doses of nitro.

Eliminator II rolled out in 1967 and he lowered the mark to 7.96 @ 190 mph.  Nicholson had still not resorted to a blower on his big block.  Most of his competitor's cars were blown and producing even more power than the Mercury Comet, but tire technology had not kept up with engine performance and, while competitors overpowered the strip, Nicholson and the Eliminator II scored win after win.

The power plant was a 1000 horsepower 427 SOHC, utilizing relatively stock internal components, except for experimental Crane cams.  He used Hilborn injectors feeding nitro to a GMC 6-71 blower. Chrome Jardine headers exhausted the spent nitro remains.  The Logghe tube chassis was tied into a simple center mounted four point roll cage that spanned 3/4 the width of the car, with a reinforcing hoop behind the driver.  The days of sophisticated driver protection cocoons were still years away.  The driver's seat was centered in the car, with Nicholson looking over the enclosed blower compartment.  An air intake was centered where the dashboard would be on a street car, with a rectangular opening following the rearward slope of the windshield.

The body position on the car gives the impression of a raised rear end and lowered front.  This is the look that inspired so many of us to run out and purchase air shocks to raise the body and chassis of our (often) woefully under powered glass-pack muffled street cars.  In fact, the chassis sat fairly level to the ground. The Fiberglas body mounting points were lowered in the front to keep the car from lifting off the ground at speed.  Aiding the radical aerodynamic body rake is a boxy front spoiler that spans two thirds the width of the front end, running from the bottom of the front valance to the top of the "bumper."  Two Simpson chutes were mounted between the rear sequential tail light pods and were deployed to slow the car after each run.  Wheelie bars were suspended a few inches above the ground.  Thus, the basic design of today's Funny Cars was established.

The Cougar Eliminator ran the quickest class time in 1968, going through the quarter mile in 7.37 seconds at over 190 mph.

During Don Nicholson's career he amassed nine wins in fifteen NHRA Championship finals appearances.  He won Ford's first Pro-Stock finals championship at the 1971 Summer Nationals, earned the NHRA Pro-Stock World Champion title in 1977 and three AHRA national event titles before he stopped racing in the professional circuits.

At age 72, "Dyno" Don is still active in match race and exhibition drag racing.  His current car is a 180 mph 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air that is reminiscent of the car he drove in the early sixties.  The Cougar Eliminator Funny Car had a brief shining moment in professional drag racing, but the memories will live forever!