Dick Dale followed up Checkered Flag with another hot-rod-themed album, Mr. Eliminator. With Gary Usher as executive producer, the group’s fourth studio album is pretty far removed from the surf-pounding sounds found on their first.

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Dale translates his hard-picking surf sound into the hot rod zeitgeist in the opening track, 'Mr. Eliminator' while ’50 Miles to Go’ is an obscure cover of a song that had been released one year earlier by the City Surfers. ‘Flashing Eyes’ and ‘Taco Wagon’ are both energetic instrumentals, while the Carol Connors/Steve Barri vocal number, ‘The Squirrel,' goes nowhere. Dale’s signature mid-eastern electric sound returns in the ‘Victor’ while the ‘Blonde in the 406’ receives an adequate vocal from Dick but suffers from a few too many lyrics. ‘Firing-Up’ blends into the other instrumental tracks while the clumsy ‘My X.K.E.’ stumbles along helplessly with no avail. ‘Nitro Fuel’ is an adequate enough effort, though ‘Hot Rod Alley’ is not so fortunate.

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Dale’s final foray into the Hot-Rod genre, Mr. Eliminator is very much a continuation of Checkered Flag's trajection. A rather formulaic endeavor, every track fuses with the next, resulting in a weak, if not forgettable, album.