8/2/06
DRAG RACING LEGEND "BIG DADDY" DON GARLITS AND SWAMP RAT I COMING TO SUNDAY NIAGARA! NOSTALGIA EVENT AT LANCASTER RACEWAY PARK AUGUST 12-13
LANCASTER, NY: Drag racing legend “Big Daddy” Don Garlits is
returning to Lancaster Raceway Park to participate in the 14th annual
Sunday Niagara! spectacular Aug. 12-13. The man dubbed “King of the
Dragsters” and the National Hot Rod Association’s (NHRA) No. 1 driver of all
time will sign autographs on both days of the nostalgia drag racing
show, seated at his historic, record-breaking Swamp Rat I dragster.
The weekend actually begins on Friday, Aug. 11, with a full program
of International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) drag racing featuring an
added nostalgia class.
On Saturday, Aug. 12, Sunday Niagara! kicks off at 9 a.m., with
tech inspection at 10 a.m. and time trials at noon. Eliminations will take
place at 5 p.m. The show will include four front-engine Top Fuel
Dragsters, two nostalgia Funny Cars and more than 100 of the country’s finest
Willys, Anglia and Austin Gassers. The day will include a nostalgia
eliminator class for cars 1975 and older and fans can enjoy live music
after the races.
Sunday Niagara! continues on Sunday, Aug. 13, with The Hot Rod
Happening presented by Buffalo’s Clutch Artists car club. The show is open
to all antiques, hot rods, customs and collector cars. Cars entered in
the show also are invited to drag race on Lancaster’s 1/8-mile strip.
In addition to Garlits’ appearance and the car show, the day will
include ‘60s muscle cars, front-engine dragsters, Gassers and Altereds.
Entries are expected from as far away as California, Nevada, Texas and
Florida. Gates will open on Sunday at 8 a.m.
Lancaster Raceway Park is located at 57 Gunnville Road in
Lancaster, N.Y., just east of N.Y. State Thruway Exit 49. For more information,
please call the speedway at (716) 759-6818 or visit online at
www.lancasterracing.com.
Some “Big Daddy” Don Garlits facts.....
* Born Jan. 14, 1932 in Tampa, Fla. Resides in Ocala, Fla.
* Began drag racing in 1950.
* First victory: 1955, in Swamp Rat I (12.8-sec., 108 mph).
* Won Florida State Drag Racing Championship in 1956 with Swamp Rat I
(10.9-sec., 135 mph).
* In 1960, he retired Swamp Rat I, built Swamp Rat II and switched
from eight Stromberg carburetors and gasoline to a supercharger and
nitromethane.
* Earned “Big Daddy” nickname in 1962. Other not-so-kind nicknames:
“Don Garbage,” “Tampa Dan” (Dan?) and “Swamp Rat” – all hung on him when
he traveled west and beat California drag racers at their own strips.
* 17 national points championships (NHRA, IHRA, AHRA).
* 144 national-event victories.
* Won five U.S. Fuel & Gas championships (Bakersfield, Calif.).
* First driver to make an official 200-mph pass (1964 – Great
Meadows, N.J.).
* First driver to exceed 250 mph (1975 NHRA World Finals). His mark
of 250.69 mph was not topped for seven years.
* Won his third NHRA Winston Drag Racing championship in 1986 aboard
Swamp Rat XXX, which now is on display at the Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C.
* First visit to Lancaster (N.Y.) Dragway: May 1973. Match-raced
Chris “The Greek” Karamasines. Big Daddy’s fuel tank sprung a leak on the
first pass, so The Greek soloed the second run while Garlits waited for
“some guy” to return with his repaired tank.
* First driver to use “bike” (spoked, motorcycle) wheels on the front
axle of his dragster.
* Over his long career, Garlits has constructed 34 “Swamp Rat” series
dragsters.
* Although he retired from drag racing in 1992 at age 60, he briefly
returned in 2001 to drive Gary Clapshaw's Top Fuel Dragster to a run of
303.37 mph, 4.720 sec.
* Voted the No. 1 Drag Racer Of The Last 50 Years (1951-2000) by NHRA
in 2001.
* In 2002, he took Swamp Rat 34 out of his Museum of Drag Racing,
entered it in the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis and turned a
career-best 318.54 mph, 4.76 sec.
* First dragster driver to hit speeds of 170, 180, 200, 240, 250, 260
and 270 mph in the quarter mile; and also the first driver to reach 200
mph in the eighth mile.
* Operates the Don Garlits Museum Of Drag Racing in Ocala, Fla.
* "I just loved it," Garlits said of why he drag raced. "I liked the
idea of two cars lined up side by side, not bumping into one another.
It was one person against one person, one machine against one machine.
There was a winner and a loser. It was real simple."
Source: Jennifer Fidanza & John Bisci/Lancaster Raceway Park PR
Posted: August 3, 2006
