😊👍 him and that old truck driver from California will forever be etched in the minds of millions of race fans 😊 !

Absolutely agree!

Check out his museum in Ocala, it’s special.

My dad has a memorial brick at the museum right at the front door. My father partied with don a lot back in the day, rip pop. Don is the real deal.

Don is the Top Fuel G.O.A.T.

He was the SOUTHERN THREAT - that put the West Coast boys on NOTICE !!! LONG LIVE THE KING

Absolutely only one BIG DADDY

👍🏼 legendary 👍🏼 and 91 years old

Right there with you.

Oh I do man. All the way

Get you some menopause pills, you'll be ok

Chills down my spine

Idk about that. He almost got killed in these front engine death traps a few times. Those things are scary to even look at

You know he wanted to hit down the track ..

WOODBURN, SIR

If he comes to George Rays he can race it. Wildcat strip not very many rules very laid back.

Do you you really want a 91 year old person racing that thing. Honestly it would probably kill him from lack of reflexes, mental clarity, etc. That seamed like it was enough activity for him.@@thecollectoronthecorner7061

Obviously most are unaware of how Don Garlits was trying to make racing about the welfare of the racers. ie AHRA IHRA>

This is the original from the late 60's. It was found and completely restored and is now kept at the Garlits Museum. It was also the first to hit 240 MPH.

Big Daddy looks calm and ready to handle it. Glad to see him enjoying life again, losing his wife has been hard on him.

😢

😢

😔

@@Shopsmith10er Well thank you . I didn't know that . All I remember was Dons flywheel explosion that broke his car in half and took part of his foot . He later came out with a tear engine car and the rest is history . Thanks for the heads up .

​@Shopsmith10er Oh yeah, you are correct. But Garlits was the first one who perfected it, and the first one that won with it. Which is why you never hear of what's his name.....

Don always said few other guys built rear engine cars. He was first to get it down track straight. Honest man right there. Gives credit where credit is due💪✌️👌👏

Garlit's front engined Swamp Rat 13 broke in half March 8, 1970 at Lions Drag strip.

@@Shopsmith10er Thanks for the info . I saw on TV and I knew how slingshots were built . Your feet around the bell housing and the seat slightly behind the diff. I was worried about Don . If I remember right he lost some toes.

I live just up the road from the museum

S'mores , anyone?

When I was a kid, he gave me a used slick at the Gator Nationals in 1987. Hank Endres randomly gave me one in Columbus the year before so the next spring as a naive young boy, I just asked him if he had a used one that I can have. So they cut the sidewall and gave it to me. Im not sure where those slicks are now, but Im pretty sure that my mom got rid of them when I moved out and I left them in their garage. I wish I still had them.

I was in the pits at Tucson and Phoenix most races early to mid 80's.. My boss had a rear engine gas dragster, it ran good. A Econo Dragster was the class. I met all the big name racers in the 80's. Don and Shirley were both really class acts.. The Snake and the Mongoose both classy legends, but Big Daddy ruled.

Big Daddy was a good man and a bastard as well . Anyone in the drag racing sport will understand . I don't mean bastard in a bad way either.

I'm 57 and I built one to

Yep That is so cool.

I get the same feeling when I take my '68 Camaro for a drive. As soon as I get outside the city limits, I'll wind her up a bit and bang some gears. Long gone are the days I would dump the clutch and see how long of a set of black marks she'd leave. My reflexes aren't what they used to be, so my burnouts are shorter and in first gear only now. If she gets squirrely, I lift.

@@kennydemartini2169 yes I understand what you mean, awhile back my son and I replaced the entire front suspension on my 08 Shelby, we replaced the k-member and radiator support with all tubular parts, it took 100+ lbs off the front and took us the whole weekend to do the job, on one test drive I left a little and immediately felt it sway towards the curb, maybe in my younger years I would've kept going and straightened her out but this time I just let off the gas , right now I'm teaching my son how to drive manual transmission so he can drive my car someday.

@@hermanguzman1460 I remember those days of riding it out until the car went straight again. I also remember the time I dumped the clutch and the car got sideways. I grabbed second gear and the car went around on me. It jumped the curb sideways, knocked the rear tire off the wheel and popped the clutch linkage off from the body flex. I was left sitting in a yard facing the street with a flat tire and no clutch pedal. I started the car in second gear and limped it to my shop. I'm too old for that stuff now... I'll be signing the car over to my son on his thirtieth birthday. Hopefully he'll have a little more sense than I did.

@@kennydemartini2169 my son just turned 18 so I'm planning on turning over the car once he passes his driving test and gets his license but only I the condition he learns how to handle the car, I have 2 mustangs shelbys a 08 and a 09 one for each son, I have other cars they can practice on until they learn how to drive better, I started driving at 15 and by the time I was in high school I already had my first car and was drag racing in the streets, when I think back now I can't imagine how I would've been if I was able to have the same cars I have today, sometimes I get enough satisfaction just sitting in my garage and enjoying a beer while listening to music and looking at both cars parked there, all the memories and wild rides I had when I was young all come back, still there's always that time when I need to climb in and start them up.

I got that feeling when I had my first go-cart ride when I was a kid. That power in my hands got me. I'm 74yo now, I never for got that feeling.

When I was driving truck I use 2see museum on us 75 OCALA, FL OF THE HIGHWAY SALUTE BIG DADDY 😊

Bet that really captured the blast when fuel cars made a pass with those covered grandstands😳

It's a Blower.

@@gordbaker896 Yeah, thanks for the clarification. My point is- you can hear the whine of the blower since the engine itself isn't nearly as deafening as a newer 426-based fuel engine.

@@gordbaker896 Terminology🤣I wonder why he's only firing 8 sparkplugs with 16 plug heads??

Usually the both fire at the same time in each cylinder.@@rrwr4035

@@SolamenteVees First of all a blower and supercharger are one in the same, and it's not a "newer" 426 because this is not a G1 392. This is a G3 392, AKA newer than a 426

Lion’s drag strip, Long Beach, CA!

It's a shame that dragstrip is gone. Only live about thirty minutes away. I wonder if any if the people are still alive would trade all the build up and traffic chaos EVERYDAY for the noise.

That book's sitting on my book shelf about three steps away, right now!