Sam Fitz & Herm Petersen
In 1960 Herm Petersen joined the Handlers Car Club, which was the beginning of his drag racing career. The Handlers Car Club ran the local dragstrip in Bremerton, Washington, and in 1961 Herm took over the duty of track manager, a position he held until 1968. In 1965 he was elected to the position of club president and continued as president until 1968.
In 1968 he competed in his first top fuel car, the “Viking”. In 1970 Petersen and Fitz who was a Bremerton businessman, the owner of three local restaurants, became friends, and shortly thereafter the Petersen and Fitz Race Team was born. The team campaigned mainly up and down the West Coast and in NHRA’s Division VI for the next couple years, and was dubbed “The Northwest Terror”.
In 1973 the team experienced what was one of their career highlights when they won the NHRA Gatornationals. In July 1973 the teams luck turned upside down when the car flipped over at Orange County International Raceway and Herm received critical burns over 50% of his body and face. While Herm was spending the next four months in the hospital and more time at home recovering from the burns, Sam was busy securing a three-year sponsorship agreement with Olympia brewery and building a new streamliner.
The streamliner debuted at the 1974 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona. The cars design was beautiful, but unfortunately, it proved to be too heavy to be competitive and was very quickly retired. The streamliner is on display at the Don girls Museum of Drag Racing. In May 1974 the team debuted a conventional rear engine dragster and ended the season by taking home the division VI Championship. At the NHRA World Finals they became one of the elite teams to enter the five second arena with a blast of 5.87 ET at 241.96 MPH.
The team retired its operation in 1977, and Sam return to the restaurant business. Unfortunately, Sam Fitz died in April 2000, just a few much before he and Herm were inducted into the NHRA Division VI Hall of Fame.