During the 1980s and early 1990s, there was no better drag racer than Joe Amato.
Now 63, Amato is the only driver to win five (1984, 1988, 1990, 1991 and 1992) NHRA Top Fuel championships. As well, he is the only driver to win three-consecutive titles.
The native of Exeter, Pa., earned 57 (52 Top Fuel, five Top Alcohol) career NHRA national event victories before retiring suddenly at the end of the 2000 season. Amato finished in the top 10 in the standings 19 consecutive years.
Amato, who fielded his own team for much of his career, was ranked No. 9 on NHRA’s list of its top-50 drivers of all time.
Amato also operates Keystone Automotive Warehouse, a distributor of automotive parts.
Featured here (clockwise from top left): At the track in 1989; The four-time Top Fuel Champion in 1992;  Waving to the fans in Englishtown, N.J., in 1996; Listening to Don Prudhomme; Telling children to ‘say no to drugs’ in 1988; Taking off in the Valvoline Top Fuel dragster; Competing in an AMC Gremlin in the 1978 Champion Spark Plug Challenge. —NSSN Archives