Kenny Safford
One of drag racing’s more likable drivers, Kenny didn’t make his mark in the sport because of his trait. He has been one of the most professional and hard-working gentlemen to ever climb into the driver’s seat of any race car. Kenny was one of the original members of the Road Kings Car Club whose list of current and past members include such names as Don Prudhomme, Tommy Ivo, Don Johnson, Don Gaide, and Jimmy Miles to name a few. Kenny started his racing career in a 1944 Ford and quickly moved up to a 1957 Chevy street machine. Not content with the performance of this class of machinery, Kenny soon moved on to dragsters, where he experienced the thrill of their performance at the wheel of Don Johnson’s streamlined Daddy’s Auto Body top gas car. That first ride in 1958 hooked Kenny on driving, and in 1960 he joined with Don Gaide to build and run an Oldsmobile powered top gas dragster. Kenny drove this car into the winner’s circle in five of the first eight races he entered it in. When the gas engine in the car broke, Don Ratican joined the team with his nitro burning Olds engine. From 1961 through 1963, they became the most successful team to ever run the old engine. By 1963 the team had picked up a nickname, the Sour Sisters, and had also started looking at the advances being made in the sport by the more reliable Chrysler engine. Giving into the need for its reliability, in 1964 the team switch to a Dave Zeuschel built Chrysler in order to continue being competitive. The 1964 Chrysler car did have a very unique feature: it was equipped with a B&M Tork-Master torque converter and automatic transmission. Known as the B&M Tork-Master car, Kenny set track records at major race tracks up and down the West Coast. Kenny also stepped into the top fuel car owned by Frank Cannon in 1954 and became one of the first people to run over 200 MPH. In 1965 the Sour Sisters added a swoopy sharks tail body to the car and quickly establish itself as one of the best looking and most competitive dragsters of its time. From 1965 through 1968 Kenny took over the driving chores of one of the most feared cars in northern California, Ted Gotelli’s top fuel dragster. Looking to expand his reach and knowledge, in 1969 Kenny moved into the seat of his first funny car ride, the Stone, Woods and Cook Mustang that they campaigned in the Coca-Cola Cavalcade of Stars series. By 1970 Kenny was really enjoying the funny car and had moved over to drive the Mr. Norm’s Super Charger Dodge funny car. At the 1970 NHRA Springnationals, Kenny became the first funny car driver to record a seven second run when he ran a 7.04 ET. Not too long after that season, Kenny purchased the Mr. Norm operation and as the owner and driver of the team, he campaigned on the circuit until 1981 when he made the decision to retire. A couple things influenced the decision to retire, Kenny was involved in a serious crash in 1977 and another one in 1981 and by this time he was also part owner in Performance Auto Parts in Chicago. It was really time to devote full time to the business if it was to maintain a steady growth. While not ready to reenter the funny car wars, Kenny wasn’t ready to bow out of drag racing; he and the other Sour Sisters completed restoration of the “Shark” car with the intention on making exhibition runs with it.