Harry Schmidt, the original owner of the Blue Max Funny Car that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s has passed away. The Texan was on the vanguard of the Funny Car revolution in the middle 1960s and gradually moved from injected nitro burning cars into blown nitro machines. He was teamed with such well known names as Mike Burkhart and Mart Higgenbotham during that period before really stepping up his program in 1969 when he commissioned Don Hardy to build him a 1969 Mustang bodied flopper and the Ramchargers to build him a top shelf 426ci nitro burning Hemi to power it. Schmidt then brought on Jake Johnson to drive and Gene Snow to turn the wrenches on a car he decided to name The Blue Max.
The name for the car came from a movie of the same name starring George Peppard as a German pilot in WWI trying to earn the German war medal known as the Blue Max. The movie has largely been forgotten these days, but ironically with the popularity of nostalgia funny cars the flopper is still amazingly ingrained in the sport.
Johnson was replaced as the driver of The Blue Max in 1970 with Richard Tharp taking the seat and keeping it until 1973. At the point Schmidt, burned out on the travels and travails of living life on the road as a drag racer stepped away from the sport, but not for very long. After working with Don Schumacher’s assembled “super team” of the era (which eerily served as a small model of the empire he has built in drag racing today) assigned to Raymond Beadle who was driving the Stardust car, Beadle and Schmidt talked about bring the Blue Max back and hitting the road. Beadle talked Schmidt into it and the two hit the road and went on a tear the likes of which the match race and “national event” scene of the day had never seen.
They booked the car for more than 100 dates a year and by all accounts only Jungle Jim was more aggressive on that front. Beadle has been quoted as saying that the guys ran the car 90-95 times a year in 1974/75 when you factor in rain outs and other issues. That is an incredible statistic considering the fact that there are 52 weeks in a year!
The team was the first to really monetize the logo in the form of t-shirts and merchandise. They made scads of money selling shirts, so much so that the shirts actually gained a pop culture appeal and sold so well that they expanded to a mail order business for merchandise. Beadle has been quoted in the past as saying that at their height, they moved 100,000 t-shirts a month! That is incredible.
In late 1976, Schmidt and Beadle won the US Nationals in the Blue Max and Beadle knew that the road was wearing on Schmidt. He offered a buy out and Schmidt took it, walking away when the team was on the top. By all accounts Schmidt returned to Texas and was very successful in the jewelry business.
Although his name has not been in the same prominent spot as Raymond Beadle’s since he left the sport, make no mistake about it, Schmidt was a Funny Car pioneer and there would be no Blue Max without him. Another one of the men who built this sport we dig so much has left us. We are all poorer for it.
Godspeed. We are losing our heritage and culture for sure. No one can remember or tell it like those that were there.
He was a true pioneer. They are a lot of people who owe their existance to his expertise. He will be sorely missed.
Damn! Last I heard he and his wife had bought a big motorhome and were heading off. Sad news indeed. RIP Harry, you were as good as it gets.
One of the biggest cult heros of the day. I remember growing up in Central IL and hearing the radio ads; you know, “Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!”. Blue Max was always one of the featured cars at any Midwest track event, along with the likes of The Hawaiian, Chi-Town Hustler, Jungle Jim, Dunn & Reath, et al. Man, what a great time to be a kid!
RIP, Harry. Thanks for the memories.
I moved from the Kansas City Kansas area to Dallas in the 70’s. My dad had taken me to KCIR and I was well aware of the hometown legends there. Dickie Harrell, Al Vanderwoude, Ronnie Runyan, etc.
I was 16 and just learning to drive, but moving to Dallas was an excitement unparalleled for me. North Texas, the home of Mike Burkhart, Jim Nicoll, Gene Snow, Mart Higginbotham and the Drag-0n-Vega, Ben Griffin, Frank Cook, and oh so many more.
The crown jewel of my new town was that the baddest Funny Car next to anything out of California, and one on par with JJ and Chi-Town was of course the Blue Max.
It was an exciting time, and although I arrived in Dallas the year DIMS closed, I filled my need and desire for nitro antics by frequenting Green Valley Raceway.
I never met Harry, but always respected and lived in awe of what he put together. As documented, he sold the rights to Raymond Beadle eventually, but it was Harry and Richard Tharp, and later Harry and Raymond that had such a legendary and memorable run in the almighty Blue Max.
Respect is the word I am looking for, and that’s what I wanted to share. I never met Harry Schmidt, but always respected what he and Richard and Raymond put together and represented…a mean machine, a marketing juggernaut, and of course a household word(s) to all FC enthusiasts…
Thank you for great memories, your healthy contribution to the annals of drag race history and your contributions to the minds and hearts of us all…
God Bless the Schmidt family and Godspeed Harry…thanks for great memories and times !
Sincerely,
George Koehler
[email protected]
It is a shame. We are losing so many of my childhood heroes. Not long ago we lost Grumpy Jenkins and now Harry Schmidt. I was a regular at Green Valley for a few years and now it’s a neighborhood in North Richland Hills, Texas. Pity.
I WAITED IN LINE FOR GAS AT SEVERAL STATIONS TO GET A FULL TANK TO MAKE TRIPS TO ROCKINGHAM AND DARLINGTON TO SEE THE BLUE MAX FORD MUSTANG KICK IT !! NO ONE EVEN TODAY GETS MY VOTE AS A HISTORICAL TEAM THAT EVEN NON DRAG RACERS KNEW THE NAMES HARRY SCHMIDT WATERBED FRED RICHARD THARP AND RAYMOND BEADLE.MORE KIDS IN MY SCHOOL COULD NAME THESE 4 GUYS AND THE CAR BUT NOT THE PRESIDENT. WHAT A GREAT TIME TO BE A FREE AMERICAN TEENAGER. TO OWN A BLUE MAX TEE SHIRT WAS A BADGE OF HONOR. THANK YOU HARRY SCHMIDT FOR KEEPING DRAG RACING ALIVE AND WELL IN HARD TIMES USA!!!.BRING HER TO THE LINE HARRY,ITS THE FINAL ROUND………….
HARRY WAS A GREAT FRIEND OF THE NTSGA. HE WILL BE MISSED BY ALL THAT PLAYED GOLF WITH HIM. WHAT A WONDERFUL MAN FULL OF LIFE AND GENEROSITY.
HE HAD A DEEP FAITH IN HIS GOD.
WILL SEE YOU ON THE FIRST TEE IN HEAVEN HARRY.
Will miss this legend. His Blue Max Mustang turned many heads.RIP.
Cant believe another of the great ones is gone . Green Valley has lost another piece of what is left ** Memories **. The great funny car curciut that came thru Green Valley. very few left .They made Funny Car what it is today.