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Garlits Prepares to Kick Ass Again
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Re: Garlits Prepares to Kick Ass Again
I can see a conversation something like this going down at a strip soon:
"Don't worry, it's just some old guy in the other lane."
"Oh yeah, what's his name?"
"I don't recall exactly, something like Garlits maybe?"
craps pantsEd Nicholson - Caledon Ontario - a bit NW of Toronto
07 Mustang GT with some stuff
88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe 5-speed
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Re: Garlits Prepares to Kick Ass Again
Actually, although the NHRA does have more opportunities for "senior drivers" than virtually any other motorsport (because of the limited duration of the races and lessened physical demands on drivers), it's too bad that the promoters, manufacturers, and sanctioning bodies haven't figured out a way to develop viable "seniors tour" championships for drag, oval and road racing.
There are probably a lot of fans who'd still pay to see famous septuagenarians like Garlits still mixing it up on a regular basis (see e.g. the celebration of octogenarian Hershell McGriff's return to stock cars http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/blog/...=nascar,171500)
And don't senior citizens need role models too?
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Re: Garlits Prepares to Kick Ass Again
Steve, Spidey's kicking the hornets nest (shocking! )
Don Garlits name did no appear one time in the NHRA 50th anniversary book, he was literally stricken from the record. He and Wally Parks had a "difficult" relationship and many suppose that Parks had a role in the Garlits snub.
The Parks/Garlits story is so unique that it would make an awesome book. Two guys who were both instrumental to each others' success and at the same time were diametrically opposed on just about every issue ever. I'd venture to bet that both men would tell you that they did not need the other to succeed.
Hell, Garlits basically tried to run Parks over at a meet and damn need succeeded when he motioned TC Lemons in the push truck to thrust his dragster ahead with Parks standing right in front of the car. Wally literally dove out of the way and Lemons clipped him with the push truck.
Then there were the races that Garlits staged against the US Nationals in the early 1970's....that didn't go over too well either.
BrianThat which you manifest is before you.
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Re: Garlits Prepares to Kick Ass Again
As long as Danica's not involved I don't care if it's a publicity stunt or not.
IT's good to see the old top out there doing what he loves and in a slightly less
dangerous way. Doesn't matter if he wins or not, Bet the farm attendance we'll
reflect the fact that the old man is there. :-*
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Re: Garlits Prepares to Kick Ass Again
Lohnes is on top of things as usual
how can you not be a garlits fan ?
built his own motors and chassis , don is even a fan of smokey yunick
they should name all drag racing after garlits - he talked big and backed it up
before force there was jungle jim and garbage don
wifey's daddy was from tampa - claimed to have worked with garlits - rich at work has a torque wrench that garlits gave him after don ran the first 200 mph at island dragway in great meadows , nj
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Re: Garlits Prepares to Kick Ass Again
My most prized piece of stuff is a timeslip from New England Dragway.
It was from the Super Chevy Show in 1998. I cut a perfect light in eliminations, marched down to where Garlits was signing autographs, waited in line, and when he asked what poster I wanted him to sign I handed him my time slip, he scrutinized the thing and signed it. "Nice light kid," he said.
THAT was a moment.
BrianThat which you manifest is before you.
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Re: Garlits Prepares to Kick Ass Again
Here's a clip that I've had hosted on Youtube for a while now..
I saw it on TV once, completely out of the blue. I eventually tracked down the DVD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEfYnByuTQ0
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Re: Garlits Prepares to Kick Ass Again
Quartermile tiresmoking..............Garlits-Warren, 1967 Nationals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8rGt...3CABBB&index=0
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Re: Garlits Prepares to Kick Ass Again
How he was "rated" by Wally Parks/NHRA,
"After an accident in 1970 at Lions drag strip in Long Beach when a front-engine explosion severed his right foot, Garlits formulated plans for a rear-engine dragster while recuperating.
This is how "The Fast Lane" remembers it: "A series of serious mishaps involving slingshots in the early 1970s opened the bar for innovation . . . and this time mid-engine dragsters roared to the top."
No mention that it was Garlits who was responsible for what became drag racing's most revolutionary change. His first rear-engine dragster occupies a place alongside Kenny Bernstein's first over-300 mph vehicle in the NHRA Motorsports Museum.
There are 230 pages of color photographs in the coffee-table book, but not one of Garlits. There is one small picture of his famed Swamp Rat dragster on the line with Gene Snow, but there is no caption to identify the cars or drivers."
"I wrote Wally and he wrote back that he didn't know what happened, but then I called the publisher [Tehabi Books of San Diego] and was told that Wally blue-lined every item about me," Garlits said. "I don't know, I guess he's still thinking about 1972, when I ran my PRO meet against the U.S. Nationals."
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jun/15/sports/sp-10794
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