Garlits in 1987

Donald Glenn "Don" Garlits (born January 14, 1932, Tampa, Florida - ) is considered the father of drag racing. He is known as "Big Daddy" to drag racing fans around the world. Always a pioneer in the field of drag-racing, he, with the help of T.C. Lemons, relating at least in part to the loss of a portion of his foot in a drag racing accident, perfected the rear-engine "top fuel dragster design". This design is notably safer as it puts most of the fuel processing and rotating or reciprocating parts of the dragster behind the driver. The driver is placed in "clear air" in front of nearly all mechanical components, thus remaining capable of activating a variety of safety equipment in the event of catastrophic mechanical failures or fire. Garlits was an early promoter of a full-body, fire-resistant suit - complete with socks and gloves, often branded as Nomex.
Garlits was the first drag racer to officially surpass the 170, 180, 200, 240, 250, 260, and 270 miles per hour marks in the quarter mile; he was also the first to top 200 in the 1/8 mile. Note that all official NHRA records require a "back-up" (speed and elapsed time within 1% of the record) run to verify the newer, higher level of performance. He has been inducted in numerous halls of fame and has won numerous awards during his career.

Career[link]

Early days[link]

In the early days of drag racing, the post-World War II Central and Western United States military aircraft pilot training fields had become available for alternate uses, including automotive racing. Don Garlits first “Real” drag race car was built under an oak tree at his home in North Tampa in 1954. An electric welder and gas torch modified an old 1927 Ford Model “T” Roadster to accept a 1948 Mercury Block, ’39 Ford floor shift transmission, and a ’48 Ford rear. That early T-Bucket's quarter mile performance was a 13.5 second e.t. at a speed of 93 mph. It was this successful, formative roadster that would give Don the beginnings of his first rail job dragster when he took off the body, moved the engine back and moved the seat behind the rear end. This would be the 12.1 second, 108 mph early slingshot dragster with which Big Daddy would win the first NHRA race he entered when the NHRA Safety Safari came to Lake City, Florida. Three short years later, he would become a professional drag racer. The first national drag racing meet, sponsored by the National Hot Rod Association was held on such an airfield near Great Bend, KS in 1955. Don Garlits, being from Florida, was something of an outsider. He was sometimes referred to as the Floridian, before permanently adopting the nickname, "Swamp Rat," which also became the theme for each generation of his innovative dragster designs.

In 1959, Garlits traveled to Bakersfield, California for the March Meet, then called the U.S. Fuel & Gas Championship, to show that the times he was setting were as legitimate as those set by the west coast racers. His presence helped to grow the sport of drag racing beyond its California base. In 1964 after winning the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Garlits travelled to England, with Tommy Ivo, Tony Nancy, Dante Duce and other racers to participate in the First International Drag Festival, a six-event series that did much to promote the sport of drag racing in the UK.

Accident leads to innovation[link]

In 1970, Garlits was driving Swamp Rat XIII, also called the Wynnscharger, a front-engined slingshot rail, when the vehicle suffered a catastrophic failure. The two-speed transmission Garlits was developing exploded and took a piece out of Garlits' right foot; he was out for the remainder of the season. He returned to Pomona in 1971 with Swamp Rat XIV, a brand new mid-engined, front-cockpit rail, also dubbed the "Swamp Rat I-R" by Hot Rod Magazine in the article introducing it to their readers.

At first, the rodding magazines considered the disadvantages of the new car design "obvious". Swamp Rat XIV was however so successful that in 1971, Garlits won two of his next three Top Fuel Eliminator titles (the Winternats and Bakersfield), plus a runner-up at Lions, all in the new car.^[1] A change so momentous had not happened since Mickey Thompson moved the seat behind the rear axle to create the slingshot in 1954.^[2] Rear engine dragsters have since become mainstream in drag racing.^[3]

Further accomplishments[link]

Swamp Rat XXX

Garlits won three National Hot Rod Association world championships, the last at age 54. He won a total of 144 national events. On October 20, 1987, his Top Fuel dragster, Swamp Rat XXX, the sport's only successful streamlined car, was enshrined in National Museum of American History, a branch of The Smithsonian museum in Washington, DC. In true Garlits style, during the press conference submission and placement ceremony, the dragster was fired on the Smithsonian "porch."^[4]

Retirement and post-racing career[link]

In 1987, Garlits suffered what drag racers call a blowover at a drag racing event in in the state of Washington at an AHRA event. He received several injuries from the resulting crash. Though none were life threatening, he temporarily retired from active driving and became a color commentator for NHRA telecasts on TNN and for NBC. He announced for four seasons, from 1988 through the end of 1991. In December 1991 Garlits came out of retirement to race in the Snowbird Nationals, but his comeback was to be short lived. "Big Daddy" retired again before the end of the 1992 season due to a separated retina, a product of the 4g deceleration produced by a Top Fuel Dragster's braking parachutes.^[5] Garlits resumed his career briefly in 1998, and again in 2003. His last qualifying race was in May 2003 at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals presented by Pontiac in Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 71 years, 5 months and 19 days he qualified 16th setting a personal best speed in the quarter mile with a time of 4.788 seconds at 319.98 miles per hour. Garlits had reached 323.04 earlier in the year at the 2003 Gatornationals. Mr. Garlits lost in first round competition with his Summit Racing-Mono Winged Dragster with a 0.064 reaction time, a personal best 4.737 elapsed time, at 307.44 miles per hour to Brandon Bernstein's (son of racing legend Kenny Berstein,) Budweiser/Lucas Oil Dragster 0.079 reaction time, a 4.615 elapsed time, at 321.42 miles per hour. The difference at the finish line was 107 thousandths of a second.

Garlits operates the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing on the grounds of his home in Ocala, Florida. He can also be seen from time to time on ESPN and Speed Vision doing commentary at racing events and performance expositions.

Always at the forefront of driver safety, in the wake of Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta's fatal crash, Garlits declared "I am 100-percent in favor of it", regarding NHRA's proposal to trim the race distance for Top Fuel and Funny Car from the traditional quarter-mile to 1,000 feet, also suggesting that he would support a ban on rev limiters and a return to a 70/30 nitromethane to methanol ratio.^[6] He has later had second thoughts.^[7]

In September 2009, Garlits returned to the quarter mile, racing a specially prepared 2009 Dodge Challenger in the stock eliminator class at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, IN.

Political affiliation[link]

In 1994, Garlits was the Republican Party nominee for Florida's 5th Congressional District. He was defeated by incumbent Democrat Karen Thurman ^[8] He supported the Republican candidacy of Ron Paul for President in 2008.^[9]

Awards[link]

• In 2004 he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.
• In 1997, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
• He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1989 as the sole representative of drag racing.
• On the National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers, 1951–2000, Don Garlits was ranked No.1.
• In 1987, Garlits' record-breaking 270 m.p.h. car, "Swamp Rat XXX" was inducted into, and enshrined at The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
• In 2008, he was inducted into the inaugural hall of fame class at Gateway International Raceway.
• In 2008, ESPN ranked him 23rd on their top drivers of all-time.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Garlits Auto Museums
• National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers article of Don Garlits
• Information on Don Garlits and the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing
• Listen to a live radio interview with Don Gartlits on Nostalgic Radio and Cars

Tom McEwen may refer to:

• Tom McEwen (politician), Canadian political candidate
• Tom McEwen (drag racer), American drag racing driver

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Tommy Ivo
Born	(1936-04-18) April 18, 1936 (age 76) Denver, Colorado, United States
Occupation	Actor and Drag racer
Years active	1944–1973

Tommy Ivo (born April 18, 1936, in Denver, Colorado), also known as "TV Tommy",^[1] is an actor and drag racer, who was active in the 1960s racing community. In the late 1950s, Ivo raced a twin (side by side) Nailhead Buick engined dragster which was the first Gasoline Powered dragster to break the nine-second barrier. The car held the Drag News Standard 1320 AA/GD et record at 8.69. The Twin Buick also was the first gas dragster to record speeds of 170, 175 and 180 mph which were Standard 1320 records as well. It was unique in appearance and won numerous races, including NASCAR's first National Drag Race. Later he designed a four-engine, four-wheel-drive dragster he called "The Showboat," but the National Hot Rod Association ruled it the first "exhibition" dragster, so he was unable to race it.

In the 1961-1962 season, Ivo played the role of Haywood Botts, boyfriend of the fictitious Margie Clayton, portrayed by Cynthia Pepper, in the ABC television sitcom Margie, set during the Roaring Twenties. In 1964 Ivo travelled to England, with Don Garlits, Tony Nancy, Dante Duce and other racers to participate in the First International Drag Festival, a six-event series that did much to promote the sport of drag racing in the UK.

Award[link]

• He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2005 for his drag racing career.
• Ranked No.25 on the National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers, 1951-2000.^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tommy Ivo at the Internet Movie Database
• Tommy Ivo Website

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Shirley Muldowney
Muldowney's dragster at the 1986 NHRA Nationals
Born	(1940-06-19) June 19, 1940 (age 72) Schenectady, New York
Debut season	1958
Previous series
NHRA Top Fuel
Championship titles
Top Fuel 1977, 1980, 1982
Awards
1990, 2001, 2004	Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, National Hot Rod Association top 50 Drivers of 1951–2000, International Motor Sports Hall of Fame

Shirley Muldowney (born June 19, 1940 in Schenectady, New York^[1]), also known professionally as "Cha Cha" and the "First Lady of Drag Racing", is a pioneer in professional auto racing. She was the first woman to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to drive a Top Fuel dragster. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980 and 1982, becoming the first person to win two and three Top Fuel titles.^[2][3] She has won a total of 18 NHRA national events.

Racing career[link]

Born Shirley Ann Roque, Muldowney began street racing in the 1950s in Schenectady, New York. "School had no appeal to me. All I wanted was to race up and down the streets in a hot rod," declared Muldowney.^[3] When she was sixteen, she married nineteen-year-old Jack Muldowney,^[4] who would build her first dragster. Jack Muldowney's garage was located at 1701 Upper Union Street, Schenectady at the corner of Regent St. There is still a vehicular business, Tire Warehouse of Union Street, on the same corner.

It was Jack Muldowney who first taught me how to drive a car. Jack was the mechanic. He was the guy who tuned the cars that let the girl beat all the boys. I was a kid from upstate New York with no guidance, no direction. I was headed for trouble, nothing going for me. Then I found the sport at a very young age and was able to make something out of it.^[5]

In 1958, the then eighteen-year-old made her debut on the dragstrip of the Fonda Speedway. Muldowney obtained her NHRA pro license in 1965. She competed in the 1969 and 1970 U.S. Nationals in a twin-engine dragster in Top Gas.^[2][6] With Top Gas losing popularity, Muldowney switched to Funny Car, buying her first car from Connie Kalitta.^[7]

Around this time, she and Jack drifted apart. "He didn't want to go nitro racing and we parted, but we stayed friends all those years until he passed away just recently."^[7]

Muldowney won her first major event, the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Southern Nationals, in 1971. From 1972 to 1977, she teamed up with Kalitta, competing in match races as the "Bounty Hunter" and "Bounty Huntress".

She stepped up to Top Fuel, getting her license in 1973.^[2][8] An unprecedented three NHRA Top Fuel world championships followed, in 1977, 1980, and 1982.

Muldowney's success came in the face of enormous opposition from those who felt drag racing (or any form of motorsport, for that matter) was no place for women. Don Garlits has said about her:

Now, if you ask who do I have the most respect for, I'd say Shirley Muldowney. She went against all odds. They didn't want her to race Top Fuel, the association, the racers, nobody...Just Shirley.^[9]

Muldowney noted, "NHRA fought me every inch of the way, but when they saw how a girl could fill the stands; they saw I was good for the sport."^[8]

A crash in 1984 crushed her hands, pelvis, and legs, necessitating half a dozen operations and 18 months of therapy.^[3] Muldowney was sidelined for a long period, but returned to the circuit in the late 1980s. She continued to race, mostly without major sponsorship, throughout the 1990s in IHRA competition as well as match-racing events. She returned to the NHRA towards the end of her career, running select events until her retirement at the end of 2003.^[10]

Muldowney was described by longtime drag racer Fred Farndon as the "best 'natural' driver (top fuel or funny car), no question."

Contrary to popular belief, her nickname Cha-Cha was not given to her by Connie Kalitta. Her husband Jack said it was given to her by a relative after the birth of her son, John. Shirley recalls it was an employee who writes the numbers on cars at the track, writing it on their '58 Chevrolet in shoe polish. And it just stuck. "TV Tommy" Ivo advised her to always include it on her cars.

Recent activities include the dictation of her memoirs, Shirley Muldowney's Tales from the Track, which Bill Stephens transcribed, and which Sports Publishing L.L.C. published in 2005.

Awards and honors[link]

• In 1975, she was voted the first woman member of the ten-person Auto Racing All-American team by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association.
• In 1976, she was named Drag News Top Fuel Driver of the Year and voted to the Auto Racing All-American Team for the second time.
• In 1977, she won the NHRA Winston world points championship, becoming the first woman to claim drag racing's most prestigious title. Recipient of "Outstanding Achievement Award" from the United States House of Representatives on October 14, 1977. Named Drag News Top Fuel Driver of the Year for the second straight season. Named Car Craft Magazine Person of the Year during the annual Car Craft Awards Banquet, Indianapolis, Indiana. First Top Fuel driver to win three NHRA national events back-to-back.
• 1980 Won NHRA Winston world points championship for the second time.
• 1981 Won AHRA world championship. Voted to Auto Racing All-American team for the fifth time. Voted Car Craft Magazine All-Star Team, Top Fuel Driver of the Year, for the second year in a row.
• 1982 Won NHRA Winston points championship, becoming the first person to claim drag racing's most prestigious title three times. Voted to Auto Racing All-American Team for the fifth time.
• In 1990, she was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
• In 2001, she was ranked number 5 on the National Hot Rod Association's 50th Anniversary list of its Top 50 Drivers, 1951-2000.^[11]
• In 2004, she was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
• in 2008, ESPN ranked her 21st on its list of the Top 25 Drivers of All Time, citing her record as the first woman to win a major racing championship.^[12]

Personal life[link]

Shirley was married first to mechanic Jack Muldowney (who died in 2007). They had one son John, who served as Crew Chief and Master Fabricator/Chief Engine Builder. He took on those duties in 1978 when Connie Kalitta left the team. Her second marriage was to her former crew chief Rahn Tobler in the late 1980s and they divorced in 2006. Shirley continues to reside in Detroit, Michigan.

Cultural references[link]

The 1983 film Heart Like a Wheel, about Muldowney's life and career, starred Bonnie Bedelia. Muldowney would rather have had Jamie Lee Curtis play her; she called Bedelia "a snot," and stated, "When she was promoting the movie on TV shows, she would tell interviewers she didn't even like racing. She got out of race car [sic] like she was getting up from the dinner table."^[3] Muldowney had mixed feelings about the film itself, stating, "No, the movie did not capture my life very well at all, but more importantly, I thought the movie was very, very good for the sport."^[13]

L7, an all-female punk band, featured Muldowney in their 1994 track "Shirley," on their fourth album Hungry for Stink.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Listen to a live radio interview with Shirley Muldowney