The Legend Of Big Daddy Don Garlits

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•Nov 21, 2019

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The VHS Reviver
556 subscribersThis tape from 1987 follows "Big Daddy" Don Garlits from a few 1/4 mile passes at 270 MPH plus to a tour of the first drag racing museum in the world. ------------------------------------------ This video was uploaded for the sole purpose of preservation of a piece of unique older media to keep it from becoming lost. No infringement is intended.

 

Big Daddy Don Garlits

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•Feb 4, 2021

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Rick Gilbert
This video is about Don Garlits

 

Big Daddy Don Garlits 2019 Interview and The Museum of Drag Racing

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•Sep 15, 2019

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SDR Video Productions
10.9K subscribersBig Daddy Don Garlits 2019 Interview | The Museum of Drag Racing... Unbelievable private interview I was granted with the man himself... In his private office... You are going to want to watch the whole interview as he is full of wisdom and insight from his amazing life at 87 years old...

 

Don Garlits Drag Racing Museum 2018

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In the beginning there was no sound except for back ground noise
•Dec 2, 2018
A look around all the exhibits. Good to see the restored Megalomania on display that ran at Santa Pod England in '67 & '68.

 

Don Garlits I was thinking about you today.
-Bob

 

How ‘Big Daddy’s’ 1970 Wreck Revolutionized Dragster Design, Saving Countless Lives

Jim Clash
Contributor
Mar 16, 2023,10:18am EDT

MAR 17 1970, MAR 22 1970 Driver Injured as Transmission Explodes Don (Big Daddy) Garlits is in ... [+]
Denver Post via Getty ImagesIn the first part of this interview series with drag-racing legend “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, we discussed his colorful competition in the sixties/seventies against the likes of Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, the late Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen and Shirley “Cha Cha” Muldowney; Funny Car superstar John Force, whom he ranks as the best-ever drag-racer; women competitors in the NHRA; and fan accessibility to drag racers in the pits. Here, we examine how Garlits’ serious accident at Long Beach, California, in 1970, changed the design of dragsters, moving the driver from behind the engine to in front of it; his being first to break the 200-mph barrier in a dragster, in 1964; and what he wants his epitaph to be. Following are edited excerpts from a longer phone conversation this past week.

Jim Clash: Your accident in 1970 helped change forever the design of dragsters. Explain.

“Big Daddy” Don Garlits: It was a two-speed transmission then. We had been using it for about a year, and it had been running really good. But that day there was a mechanical failure inside of the transmission, which allowed the drum to spin backwards at almost 30,000 rpms. It couldn’t take that, and, on its way to 30,000, split into two pieces and came right through the case, cut the car in half and took part of my right foot. I was fortunate that I didn’t get killed.

Clash: That gave you an idea about changing where the driver should sit, correct?

Garlits: We had been experimenting with a rear-engine car, but it turned right or left at the timing traps, and that was bad. Everybody got on me about it. Goodyear said, “Oh my God, we have so much money invested in you, we don’t want anything to happen. Can’t you get off of that project.” Then, at a Chrysler Corp. meeting in Clearwater [Florida] regarding the Ramcharger, a member of the audience asked, “What do you think about that rear-engine car Mr. Garlits is working on?” The head of the Ramcharger project answered, “We have the utmost respect for what Mr. Garlits has done, and his contributions to the sport. But this time, we think he’s bit off more than he can chew.”

 

POMONA, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 11 : Legendary NHRA racer Don 'Big Daddy' Garlits acknowledges ... [+]
Getty ImagesClash: So the headwaters were pretty stiff at the time?

Garlits: Yes. As we struggled with the thing, we couldn’t get it to go straight, as I said. Finally, I set it aside in the garage while preparing my new sling shot for 1971. When we were about finished, my wife came out to the shop and asked what it was. I told her it was my new car, and that in two weeks I had to get it to California for the season opener. She said, “You would get back into one of these cars after it’s mutilated you like that? Get back on that rear-engine project.” So we took the rear engine car over to the track the next day, and again, it turned right. I was really dejected. On the way home, I casually said to the guys in the truck, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think the steering was too fast.” Connie [Swingle] said, “Well, let’s just slow the steering down. This isn’t a sling shot - it’s a front driver.” So we slowed it down, and, oh my God, I made my first straight run! We went 6.86 seconds. The sling shots held the record at 6.85, a one-hundredth-of-a-second difference. We knew right then we had to get the car to California, so we loaded up and headed west.
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Clash: That design revolution probably saved a lot of lives?

Garlits: Six people had been killed in the sling shots in the two years leading up to the California event, and only one or two have been killed in the 50 years since. All of the rest of the dragster classes went to rear engines, even the little-bitty junior ones [laughs].
(Original Caption) Speedway, Ind.: Tom Sneva, who in 1977 broke the magic 200-MPH barrier, broke his ..own record 5/20 with a 4-lap, 10-mile qualifying run of 202.156 MPH. Sneva had the pole position last year and his speed this year looks like it might get him a place in the front row 5/28 for the Indianapolis 500 classic.

Bettmann Archive. [+]
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Clash: Like Tom Sneva at Indianapolis in 1977 with IndyCar, you were first to break 200 mph in a dragster, but you did it in 1964. What was that like?

Garlits: The cars back then accelerated so much harder at the end. It was a fast ride that pulled you hard through the traps. There were a couple of things I had figured out. We were all running in the high 190s, but nobody could seem to get to 200. I put on these special exhaust pipes. They gave you forward thrust, down pressure and cleaned the tires, all at once. And that was it - we did it August 1, 1964. I knew that I could do it beforehand, though. I had run two or three 200s on tracks where I knew the timing was good. I called up NHRA and asked where the next record event was. To set a record, you have to run at one of their events using their clocks. They said New Jersey, the following weekend. We got there, and I’ll never forget this - I was sitting in my truck and this kid came over and asked me, “When are you going to run 200, Big Daddy?” I said, “Right now.” I got out of the truck, put my helmet on, and we ran 201.34 mph!

Clash: What do you want your epitaph to be?

Garlits: “A fair and honest person who always wanted to do right. A God-fearing man who loved his country and his God.” That’s what I want to be remembered as.
Bettmann Archive

 

‘Big Daddy’ Don Garlits Reflects On Drag-Racing Career, Suggests Competition Rule Change

Jim Clash
Mar 15, 2023,02:43pm EDT

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BRAINERD, MN - AUGUST 01: Don "Big Daddy" Garlits works on his AA Fuel Dragster at North Star NHRA .Nationals held in August 1986 in Brainerd, Minnesota. (Photo by Alvis Upitis/Getty Images)
Getty Images. [+]

Getty ImagesIn the heyday of drag racing, the sixties and seventies, one name stood above all the rest, Don Garlits - better known as “Big Daddy.” His major competitors back then also had colorful nicknames: Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, Shirley “Cha Cha” Muldowney, “The Golden Greek” Chris Karamesines and Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen.

As an impressionable teen, I watched on television these brave souls blister down a quarter mile of asphalt in a scant few seconds. First, it was the 200-mph barrier being eclipsed (Garlits, 1964), followed by the 240-, 250- and 270-mph speed-marks, again all reached by Garlits. In total, Garlits won a 144 National events during his career, and 17 World Championship titles, making him a legend of the sport, akin to say, a Michael Phelps in swimming, Usain Bolt in track, Tom Brady in football, Mario Andretti in traditional motorsports. In 2003, at age 71, he ran his top speed ever, a blistering 323.04 mph. (The world record currently is 338.94 mph, set in 2022 by Brittany Force.)

At 91, Garlits still has his finger on the pulse of drag racing. In addition to signing autographs and guest appearances at many NHRA events, he recently piloted a quiet, electric-powered dragster at 189 mph during a pass. His ultimate goal: To eclipse 215 mph in a battery-powered vehicle. But we all know he already CAN do that, when he finds a sponsor to pay the entry fee. But business man that he is, he doesn't work for free.

We caught up with Garlits this past week, just after he had inducted a more recent legend, John Force, into his Garlits’ International Drag Racing Hall Of Fame. Following are edited excerpts from a longer phone conversation with Garlits. This is Part 1 of a multi-part series.

Jim Clash: Many consider you the greatest drag racer of all time. If you were compiling that list yourself, who would you put at the top?
CONCORD, NC - SEPTEMBER 17: NHRA Funny Car points leader John Force speaks with the media at
zMax Dragway on September 17, 2010 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images)Getty Images... [+]
Getty Images

“Big Daddy” Don Garlits: For No. 1, I’d pick John Force. I think Shirley Muldowney is No. 2. She did so much for drag racing and women. She showed that they could do it, and, because of her tenacity, we have a number of females in our sport that compete equally with men.
Clash: That’s interesting. In IndyCar, NASCAR and Formula 1, there have been few females in the top echelons, if any. Why so in drag racing?

Garlits: Drag racing doesn’t last very long. Women don’t have that tremendous stamina that a man might need to run NASCAR. You have to be tough to be in a car for 500 miles at 200-and-some mph. In drag racing, a woman can just get in the car for three or four seconds to make a [1,000-foot] pass.

Clash: You raced at a time when drivers had colorful nicknames, were real characters. Take, for example, Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen. What was he like?
Shirley Muldowney sit in her race car at an NHRA Drag Racing event.


Getty ImagesGarlits: I’ll never forget racing McEwen at Nationals in 1967. I came in as an underdog. I had a beard at the time, and said I wasn’t going to shave until I ran under six seconds [for the quarter mile]. When I lined up next to him [in the semifinals] and belted into my car, he said, “Old man [Garlits was only in his 30s!], when you run six seconds, that beard is going to be snow white, and you’ll be tripping over it. Right now, though, I’m going to give you a driving lesson.”

At the other end of the track, I said, ‘That’s a good lesson. I’ll try not to do that,’ because I had just won [laughs].

Clash: How about Don “The Snake” Prudhomme?

Garlits: He once made a statement to the press, “Don Garlits drove me out of Top Fuel [competition]. I couldn’t beat him [in that category], so I got a Funny Car.” That said, he was one of the toughest guys out there. Tougher, though, was Muldowney. The third toughest was “The Golden Greek” [Chris Karamesines].

Clash: You just inducted Force into your International Hall Of Fame. You also just put him at the top of your list as the greatest drag racer.

Garlits: John represents America. He came from absolutely nothing, just a house trailer. I remember him in the seventies with one guy, like me, in a truck and trailer working on his car in parking lots. But he never gave up. Look what he’s done now, the promotion he’s given the sport. It’s hard to put into words how much of a difference John’s made. He is the epitome of drag racing, as far as I’m concerned. And then, look at how old he is - over 70 - and still driving competitively! Multi time world champion...goes over 300 MPH and takes 3 seconds to do it.
HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 26: Drag racers Tom 'The Mongoose' McEwen (L) and Don 'The Snake' Prudomme attend the premiere of "Snake & Mongoo$e" at the Egyptian Theatre on August 26, 2013 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)Getty Images... [+]

 

Getty ImagesClash: Do we need more John Forces, Mongooses, Snakes, Cha Chas and Big Daddys to bring the sport back to mainstream prominence? If so, how do we do it?

Garlits: I don’t know. Drag racing should make some changes, though. They need to go back to quarter-mile racing [instead of 1,000 yards]. The fans hate the shorter distance. All that needs to be done is to slow the cars by restricting the engines a little more, make some tweaks. That would be the best thing they could do.

Clash: Of the motorsports events I’ve attended, it seems drag racing allows fans to rub shoulders most with the star drivers versus say NASCAR, IndyCar and especially Formula 1.
UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 14: 5th Annual NHRA Supernationals - Ontario Motor Speedway - 1974. The Top Fuel Eliminator or the 1974 sper meet was none other than Don "Big Daddy" Garlits, capturing his 11th NHRA National title.Garlits ran four rounds of eliminations to take the title. As sometimes happens, two of his competitors broke prior to their scheduled race, and Don had to take single runs. He floored the gas anyway and put on a show. As Dom (Fast and Furious) Toretto says: A win is a win."(Photo by Rick Voegelin/The Enthusiast Network via Getty Images/Getty Images)The Enthusiast Network via Getty Images ... [+]


The Enthusiast Network via Getty ImagesGarlits: That’s so true. And that's what’s made us so liked by the general public. You go into the stands and talk to people from all walks of life. My attorney likes drag racing, and so do the guys sweeping the floors in the shop. That’s not the way it is with other types of racing. It’s more a select group of people that really like them, but we have a nice cross section of the public. That's because they can come into the pits, meet the drivers, get right up close to the cars - and we’ve always been that way. It’s a little dangerous, and a few people have been hurt in the pits, but they know that when they come in.

 

Don Garlits Museum Of Drag Racing Photos: Our Final Gallery Of Great Racing And Classic Car History Is Right Here, Plus Links To All Our Previous Photos

Apr 08, 2023Chad Reynolds1320 Gallery, 1320 Spotlight, BangShift 1320, BangShift Galleries, Car Shows, Drag Races, Event Coverage, Gallery, Historic Photos, Museums3
Stacey and Joe Grippo are awesome, and while I don’t get to see them in person very often, we have been friends for years. They are drag racers, true automotive enthusiasts, and are the dynamic duo of adventures. So the story below from Joe, which has them making sure to hit Garlits Museum on their impromptu vacation, should not surprise you. But we sure as hell appreciate the fact that they don’t go anywhere that BANGshifters would love, without shooting photos to share. And we appreciate it so much.

There are some pretty cool automotive museums around the world, and I’ve been lucky enough to visit several of them. They are all filled with automotive examples that inspire, awe, and excite, but some of them go the extra mile. The Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing is one of those. It isn’t the biggest automotive museum, but what it houses is truly special and the stories and details and memorabilia are amazing. You really must visit. Thanks to our dude Joe, we’ve got another great gallery to share with all of you. Check it out below, along with a link to any you might have missed.

(Words and Photos by Joe Grippo) I guess it was early February, on a freezing afternoon and I was just going through my day working and minding my own business and my wife Stacey turns to me says. “We should go to Florida.” I said, “You don’t have to tell me twice. Where should we go?” Her reply was, “How about the Baby Gators?” I was in immediately. After some quick discussion and planning, we had booked a VRBO, a rental F150, and plane tickets. Fast forward a few weeks and there we were in sunny Jacksonville, Florida and soon heading south towards Ocala.

If you don’t know what the attraction to Ocala is, you may be on the wrong website. Ocala is the home of the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing. This place is a must for even the most casual fan of the 1320, it’s the Louvre for gearheads, the MOMA for the quarter mile. If you have never been, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Big Daddy’s cars dominate the collection but a true cross-section can be found, from Top Fuelers to Pro Stockers and other oddities of the strip. The cars are front and center but Don Garlits is known as the Swamp Rat, but he could also be called the Pack Rat. Don has amassed an incredible array of drag racing memorabilia and artifacts and it is all on display. The Museum of Drag Racing consists of a few buildings and multiple rooms within, one building houses Don’s extensive early Ford collection, a bit of a departure from the nitro-burning monsters on display in the main building but are off the scale cool, nonetheless.

Dig into the galleries, and be sure to get down there yourself, it’s worth the trip.
Stay tuned for more vacation photos from our whirlwind automotive tour of the Sunshine State.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE MUSEUM

CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED OUR PREVIOUS GALLERIES OF PHOTOS