Good one, Michael... science fiction, but funny!!!
The Van Cleve Fairlane is living on, apparently, through the efforts of a father who really cares about performance, and his son's love for racing. That's so cool!
My Dad want to the drags just once. My partners and I had a 345cid Olds-powered B/Gas Coupe back then (1962) and were middle-of-the-pack racers as far as performance went. We ran as fast as we could afford, which meant a milled, cast iron (3 two-barrel) J-2 Olds manifold on some '55 heads we'd put '56 exhaust valves in (bigger) and flat-top pistons, with some flex-pipe headers... (no kidding.)
My Dad showed up at one race (never to return), but I had no idea he'd gone there. When I got home, his one comments was, "GOT BEAT, DIDN'T YA..."
I just walked out of the room.
I think anyone whose Dad works on the race car is a lucky so-and-so...