Jerry Ruth
Self-proclaimed “King of the Northwest”, Jerry Ruth has done his very best to live up to his title. Jerry was exposed to drag racing at the age of 14 when he attended his first race at the only track in the Seattle, Washington area at the time Arlington Raceway. By the age of 16 he was the proud owner of a straight eight engine powered 1939 Chrysler New Yorker that’s all more street racing than it did race track use. After a tour of duty with the US Marine Corps, Jerry found himself hanging out in Southern California, where he found work at a couple of Chevrolet dealerships during the week and on the weekends hung out at the local dragstrips.
Jerry’s first race car was a small block powered 1955 Chevy that he competed in C/Gas class with. Not content with the speed the 1955 ran, he soon began racing a 1940 Studebaker sedan in C/Altered class, turning in speeds of over 121 MPH. Missing his hometown, Ruth moved back to Seattle and worked his way through a succession of full-bodied cars in the C/Gas then the C/Gas Supercharged, always striving to go quicker and faster. His first time behind the wheel of a dragster came after he did some swapping with Jim Green of Green Elephant Racing fame and wound up with greens old B/Gas dragster. The first time down the track in a dragster was enough to convince Ruth he would never be happy driving anything other than a dragster. While Jerry got the dragster itself in the swap deal, he didn’t get a trailer, so he had to borrow one from his friend Harold Gunderson. The only problem was, Harold was using the trailer for his own car at the time, so Jerry had to haul Harold’s car to the track, unload it and go home for his car. After the race he had to reverse the entire procedure, which made race day very long for Jerry. Jerry was finally able to buy trailer of his own, making his life less complicated and race day shorter. By 1962 Jerry had graduated to A/Gas dragster and was turning speeds 150 MPH, and life was great, but he wanted to go even quicker and faster.
By the end of 1962 Jerry decided to build and injected fuel-burning small block Chevy for the dragster, which he did and probably blew up. He then put together a blown small block Chevy on fuel and just as quickly destroyed it. According to Jerry that was when he decided it was time to make the move to AA/Fuel dragster with a blown 354 Chrysler hemi, on fuel, for power this proved to be the right combination for Jerry, who soon was turning speeds of over 200 MPH and mid seven second ET’s. In 1964 he set track records from Sheldon Washington to Half Moon Bay in California and most of the racetracks in between and earned the title of Washington State Champion.
After couple years with the 354 engine, Jerry switch to a 392 hemi, and from 1964 to 1969 he literally dominated AA/Fuel dragster class in NHRA’s Division Six, winning the division title five of six years and setting top speed records in 1966 and 1967. There was no doubt that during this period Jerry Ruth was the darling of the strip owners and operators in the Northwest territory. The more Jerry’s popularity grew and the more drag racing itself was promoted in the area, the more top fuel cars were built and raced in the area. Fortunately for him, Jerry’s winning streak was far from over, and in 1970. 1971, 1972, and 1973 he again won the divisional championships. By the early 70s Ruth had added a fuel funny car to his operation and soon had it in championship form. In 1971 Jerry became the first person to ever win a divisional championship in both top fuel and funny car classes. In 1973 he took home the Top Fuel World Championship trophy and joined the Crager Five Second Club with a 5.95 ET. Jerry’s list of victories and records continued to grow. In 1980 he won the AHRA World Finals. In 1981 he won the Mile-High Nationals in Denver, and in 1982 he won the IHRA Springnationals in Bristol.
Jerry is retired from drag racing but is still involved in cars. He built several street rods for his own use and continues to offer advice to anyone who is willing to listen. Jerry Ruth was truly king of the Northwest and still is today.