Still Living Fast Life on Strip

In 1963, Don Garlits won the top-fuel final of the third NHRA Winternationals at Pomona Raceway. Driving a Dodge dragster, he reached 186.32 mph in 8.26 seconds.

The last time he raced at Pomona, he won the 1987 Winternationals, defeating Joe Amato in 5.415 seconds at 258.54 mph. In between, he won the season-opening race at the county fairgrounds drag strip in 1971, 1973 and 1975.

And now, he’s back.

Big Daddy, who will be 70 in January, is driving Gary Clapshaw’s red, white and blue Spirit of Las Vegas dragster for the 37th Auto Club NHRA finals.

In Thursday’s first round of qualifying, the car dropped a cylinder and failed to make the 16-car field, but he will get one more chance today and two more Saturday.

“I had to quit in 1992 when I almost lost my eyesight when a ‘chute opened too fast,� Garlits said Thursday. “The sudden stop literally pulled my eyes away from the back of the eyeball.

“Doctors told me I might lose my sight if it happened again, but since then my eyes have healed and parachutes have improved. I don’t expect any trouble.�

Racing is not the only reason Garlits came west from his home and museum in Ocala, Fla.

He will receive recognition Sunday in prerace ceremonies as the No. 1 driver in NHRA’s 50 years as part of an anniversary celebration, and he will present Wally Parks, founder of the NHRA, a membership plaque in his Drag Racing Hall of Fame.

Garlits was chosen over 11-time funny car champion John Force and top-fuel and funny car driver-owner Don “Snake� Prudhomme in the top-50 rankings.

“It was a great honor for me just to be in that group of three,� Garlits said. “You could make a strong point for any one of us. Snake, he was a great driver and was the first to get big-time sponsorship for his cars, and Force, he made himself into a corporate success. He probably did more than anyone to bring the sport of drag racing up to the equal, in my opinion, of NASCAR.�

Force, voted No. 2, credited Garlits for helping make the NHRA into a national organization.

“If there hadn’t been a Don Garlits, hauling his car across the country from Florida when the NHRA was just getting started, there might never have been an NHRA the way we know it today,� he said. “And if there hadn’t been a Don Prudhomme, there might never have been a John Force.�

Although Garlits has not raced here in 14 years and was on the sidelines from 1992 until this year, he had a tuneup of sorts at the U.S. Nationals in September in Indianapolis when he qualified Clapshaw’s dragster at 303.37 mph in 4.72 seconds.

“It was a big thing for me. I had never done 290, much less 300, and I had never run lower than 4.90,� said the man who was the first to exceed 200, 250 and 270 mph.

After qualifying 15th, he lost to Mike Dunn in the first round. It was the first time he had been at a national event since the 1992 Southern Nationals at Atlanta where he failed to qualify.

“It was like learning to drive all over again,� Garlits said. “Today, you have to be much more precise.�

Garlits, who feels that his legacy is the rear-engine dragster--he designed it in 1971 while recuperating in a Long Beach hospital from serious foot and leg injuries--says he is not through innovating.

“When I built that first rear-engine machine, I just wanted it to be competitive,� Garlits said. “Everyone was against me. The sponsors, track operators, even the drivers. Some of them were afraid to run in the lane next to me.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I envision that it would be running the way it is now, or that everyone would be running one.

“If it hadn’t caught on, though, and guys were still running old slingshot dragsters today, there would have been a lot more drivers killed or hurt than we see today.

“We’re working on a new mono-wing dragster back home that will be much easier to hold [in] a straight line instead of wobbling at mid-track the way most dragsters do. We hope to have it ready for the Winternationals here in February.�

If the revolutionary car proves competitive, Garlits plans to run in selected NHRA events next year. “I wish he wouldn’t do it,� said Prudhomme, who retired in 1994. “He was so good at it, I hate to see him out there running like that.�

Auto Club NHRA Finals

When: Today, qualifying, 1:45 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 1 p.m. (ESPN2); Sunday, eliminations, 11 a.m. (ESPN2, 4 p.m., tape).

Where: Pomona Raceway.

Last year: NHRA champions Gary Scelzi and John Force added wins in finale. Kurt Johnson, Tony Mullen and Greg Stanfield also won.

On the net: https://www.nhra.com