2026
Held Thursday March 5, 2026 Hilton University of Florida Conference
Center, Gainesville Florida
Arlene Johnson Pat Garlits Memorial Award
Through six NHRA and two IHRA championships, 97 national event wins, and an abundance of performance milestones, Arlene Johnson has been by husband Warren Johnson's side. They met in Minnesota in 1960 at the age of 17 and were married a year later, and over the next decade they began to build a life that revolved around all things automotive.
Warren and Arlene first ventured to a racetrack together in 1962, and in the early 1970s, W.J. fatefully dipped his toe into a new class: NHRA Pro Stock. Soon, they were all in, and by 1976, racing was their full-time gig. It wasn't a difficult transition for Arlene, who grew up helping her father work on cars, washing parts and whatever else needed to be done.
Arlene was W.J.'s first crew member, and at home, while he was deep into research and development in the shop, Arlene was running every aspect of the office and keeping everyone fed and paid. When their son, Kurt, was small she was active at the racetrack changing tires, charging batteries, managing the fuel, changing jets in the carburetors, packing the parachutes, and tackling whatever else she could to make sure that Warren could focus on what he did best.
Through good times and bad, Arlene showed fortitude, strength, and support. No task was beneath her; she rode in the truck with the crew for thousands of miles, and when they were able to get a motorhome, she drove it on her own for thousands of miles more, bringing homebase with her as she bolstered the career of a driver destined to become legendary.
With Arlene by his side, usually taking video of his runs so that he could scrutinize them later, Warren Johnson became the most winning Pro Stock driver in the history of the class when he passed Bob Glidden's record with an 86th victory in 2002. He claimed 11 more wins over the years, the 97th coming at St. Louis in 2010, and held onto the lead until the Dallas race in 2021, when former protégé Greg Anderson broke through with 98.
Arlene was an integral part of every one of W.J.'s milestone, and in addition to Warren's championships, she was an important factor in son Kurt's career as he earned 42 wins and finished No. 2 in the nation multiple times.
Through her extensive collection of scrapbooks, notes, and photos she took over the years, Arlene was a major contributor to the Warren Johnson biography released by CarTech Books in 2021. She is wife to W.J., mom to Kurt, mother-in-law to Kathy, and grandmother to Conner, Erin, and Jarrett.
Steve Boggs
Steve Boggs was a born gearhead, He and his brother Ron began tinkering with mechanical equipment, including the family tractor, as soon as they were big enough to do so. The pair raced together as the Boggs Brothers until the end of the 1977 season. They notched their first national event win that year and Ron made the decision to stop racing. Steve continued in the sport, and before long became a recognized and sought after crew chief and engine person. Over the years Steve has always had the support of his wife of forty-four years, Cheryl and sons, Stevie and Scott, five grandchildren, three great grandchildren and stepson, Todd.
The first car Steve officially owned was a 1958 Oldsmobile but that was replaced with a 1958 Corvette that soon found its way to the racetrack. By 1965 the need to go quicker and faster nudged Steve into building and racing an injected, big block Chevrolet powered A/Altered Roadster. That car carried him to the class winner circle at the NHRA US Nationals in 1967. Always looking better and more dependable performance, in 1969 Steve fielded a supercharged, big block Chevrolet powered AA/Gas Roadster and finished the year by winning the AA/FA trophy at the NHRA US nationals.
In 1971 he stepped up to a blown hemi powered AMX, BB/Gas Funny car competing mostly at NHRA tracks and in 1973, with a new Vega body on board, he was also able to post an impressive performance streak at the UDRA events as well.
Steve’s notoriety as a Crew Chief really stepped up when he assumed the position for Tony Bartone’s TAFC Funny Car in 1992. The team ended the 1996 season winning the NHRA World TAFC Funny Car title. That year also marked the beginning of a relationship for the pair of over 34 years with the team posting an impressive career of 42 NHRA National Events, and at one point winning 33 consecutive rounds.
Not limited to tuning just alcohol cars, in 1993 he took on the job of tuning Joe Penland’s TAFC Funny car at the same time. He continued in this paired position until the end of 1995 when Penland’s car won the NHRA class World Championship and Penland retired from racing. Bartone and Steve posted their first NHRA TAFC World Championship win in 1996.
In 2001 Tony took over the driving chores of Jerry Toliver’s Fuel Funny Car and from 2004 to 2008 he drove for Jim Dunn’s team. During this period, Steve assumed the tuning chores for John Fink, Morgan Lucas and for Mitch Meyers’s A/Fuel Dragster, with which they were able to win the NHRA class World Championship in 2004. Bartone retired from driving in 2013 and began competing with a new team, Bartone Bros. Racing in the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Championship circuit and Steve was right there as the team manager and engine tuner. This team has won the class championship three times, 2013, 2014 and 2015 and is still its most consistent winner.
In 2013, Steve and Bertone also aired up with Rick Jackson on his TAFC car and shared the winner spotlight with thirteen national event wins. Bertone formed a new AA/A Funny Car team in 2014, with Boggs as the Crew Chief/Tuner. The team put Sean Bellemeur in the driver’s seat in 2018 and to date has posted forty-nine national class wins, three mid-west national event wins and five NHRA World Championships and its second season with a perfect score of seven national event wins and three regional wins.
Don’t go looking for Steve Boggs during the new racing season because he will be located at the racetrack as usual and as usual overseeing the tune up of the Bertone Alcohol Funny Car.
Bob Frey
Bob Frey in some ways is a typical car nut but is different in others. As a teenager he loved being around cars and being part of the culture. His first car was a 1961 Ford followed by a ’72 Dodge Dart. Bob tested the Ford at the local track one time but quickly changed directions.
Instead of participating as a racer, other than that one time, Bob learned he was good at announcing the local races and that he really enjoyed it. Bob served in the United States Air Force from 1965 to 1969 and began announcing the races at Strato Rods Drag Strip while stationed at McGuire Air Force Base. In 1966 he branched out and worked as an announcer at Atco Dragway in New Jersey. In 1967 he was able to begin announcing local NHRA divisional events.
In 1971 Bob moved over to the IHRA camp and became its official announcer through 1981. He continued announcing various events over the next few years and in 1985 he accepted the position as NHRA’s National Event Announcer where he stayed until 2012.
In addition to announcing NHRA and IHRA events, Bob is one of the very few people who ever announced for NASCAR drag racing events.
His career has not been limited to track announcer by any measure. Bob was co-host for TNN’s NHRA Today show from 1991 through 1999 and Host for TNN’s live NHRA national event races from 1997 through 1999. He has co-hosted special event coverage by ESPN, served as a Columnist for National Dragster, 1994 through 2012 and served as Special Contributor for DragRaceCentral.com.
Bob is also one of the most widely recognized drag racing historians today. His expertise in this arena is often put to use by various organizations. He is also currently working as statistician and statistical provider for NHRA on Fox TV shows. Also, not to be overlooked is Bob’s duties as special event announcer for such events as NHRA’s Hot Rod Reunion and the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame annual events.
His list of honors is also very impressive.
Drag Racing Association of Women (DRAW) Person of the Year 1997
Car Craft Magazine Special Award Winner for Contributions to Drag Racing 2001
Maple Grove Raceway Hall of Fame 2009
Only non-driver to ever receive the NHRA Championship ring 2012
NHRA Northeast Division Hall of Fame 2013
Grand Marshall for the New England Hot Rod Reunion 2014
NHRA Lifetime Achievement Award 2014
Atco Raceway Hall of Fame 2017
Eastern Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame 2020
Founders Award from the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame 2023
Anita Makela
A native of Finland, Anita got her first exposure to drag racing during a trip to Ohio, USA at the age of 16. She was so enamored with what she saw that upon her return to Finland she purchased a Pontiac Trans Am and began both cruising and street racing.
Anita’s true drag racing career began in 1987 when she purchased a gas-powered Competition Dragster. She teamed with Simo Patoharju as her engine guru and notched wins at both Motopark in Finland and Santa Pod in England. However, her final run at Santa Pod ended badly when the chutes failed to deploy and the car was totaled. She had a new Competition Dragster built over the winter and won the Finnish Championship in both 1988 and 1989.
In 1990 Anita made the switch from Competition Dragster class to Pro Comp in the seat of a Top Alcohol Dragster and in both 1994 and 1996 she notched the European Championship in this class. Along the way she also managed to record the fastest speed and quickest Elapsed Time for the class in Europe.
1996 was a major change year when she and Top Fuel racer, Tommi Haapanen were married and Anita took her first ride in a Top Fuel dragster. In 1997 Anita obtained her TF license, took over the controls of Peter Lantz’s Top Fuel dragster and placed third in the 1998 FIA European Top Fuel Championship. In 2000 she won the FIA European Top Fuel Championship title and became the first racer to win this title in two categories.
After a four year hiatus to concentrate on raising a family and expanding the family business, Anita replaced Tommi as the driver of the family-owned TF and from 2009 to 2015 she finished in the fop five of the FIA European Top Fuel Championship six times, posting four race wins and the European ET and speed records along the way.
With the tuning advice of the Lagana brothers, in 2016 Anita won two races and claimed her second FIA European Top Fuel Championship title and repeated her Championship form again in 2918. Anita’s best year ever was 2019 during which she won four of the six FIA Championship races and claimed her fourth FIA European Top Furl Championship title.
The 2020 covid pandemic changed her plans for defending the FIA Championship title but she and Tommi still attend select races and compete in exhibition races. A quick recap of Anita’s career shows she won a FIA record number of fifteen Top Fuel races and is still leading the all-time cumulative points total for Top Fuel drivers in the history of the FIA European Championship.
Anita was inducted into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2019 and remains a fan favorite wherever she goes.
David Reher & Buddy Morrison (1944-1998)
David Reher grew up fascinated with cars and how to make them perform better every time they were started. The son of an economics professor from Iowa, David was raised in a disciplined academic environment that inspired him to bring an analytical and meticulous approach to his passion for drag racing. As a teenager, David scoured the pages of Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines to learn about the intricacies of internal combustion. He partnered with a friend to explore the unknown world of drag racing with a hot rod '57 Chevy.
To say Charles “Buddy” Morrison was a mechanical genius is an understatement. To him all things mechanical were items to be studied, dissected and reassembled in an improved manner.
Then as college students at the University of Texas at Arlington, David Reher met a fellow student named Buddy Morrison. Their mutual interest in drag racing became the foundation of their lifelong friendship and an enduring partnership.
In 1971 the pair founded Reher-Morrison Racing Engines. RMRE's biggest asset was a Ford Maverick powered by a small-block Chevrolet that quickly became the scourge of local sportsman racers. In 1974, with Lee Shepherd at the controls, the pumpkin orange Reher-Morrison F/Gas Maverick won Modified eliminator at the NHRA Winternationals. A stylish Corvette replaced the Maverick the following season, and the trio won the 1975 NHRA Springnationals competing in the E/Modified Production class.
Their success on the racetrack soon translated into enough business to open the doors of a new shop that had the tools needed to do the job right. Here, David, Buddy and Lee were able to modify cylinder heads, precisely machine off-the-shelf pistons, develope superior valvetrains, and coax more horsepower and reliability from every engine.
Always an integral part of the business, David was involved when the team built its first flowbench followed shortly by an engine dynamometer and a valvetrain spin fixture. They were way ahead of most of their competitors with these tools and used them to their advantage.
To stay competitive, in 1976 the team fielded its first Pro Stock car, a Monza built by legendary chassis master Don Ness and powered by a small-block Chevrolet. That initial foray into Pro Stock produced only limited success, but 1980 was a turnaround year for the trio. They created an innovative lightweight long-wheelbase Camaro powered by small-block Chevrolet that took advantage of the complex Pro Stock rules of that era. They consequently recorded six wins and three runners-up in ten NHRA national events.
They came roaring back the following year with their next breakthrough: an arsenal of small-displacement big-blocks. Another careful reading of the NHRA regulations had revealed an overlooked combination. By adapting a short-stroke crankshaft from an obsolete 348ci "W" engine to the Mark IV big-block, Reher-Morrison created a new breed of highly efficient 365-cubic-inch "Rat Motors." The three Texans won six more NHRA national events in 1981, and claimed their first Pro Stock championship.
NHRA introduced new Pro Stock rules in 1982 that mandated that every car run a 500-cubic-inch engine and weigh at least 2,350 pounds. Reher-Morrison's relentless development of the big-block engines gave the team a jump start on its competition -- but it didn't stop there. They also introduced top-secret cylinder heads that were based on the factory's solid aluminium head castings -- entirely legal under the rules, and unprecedented among Pro Stock engine builders. The lack of water jackets allowed Shepherd to radically modify the heads with enlarged and relocated ports, install bigger valves, roll the heads by welding and angle cutting the decks, and then machine precisely located water passages to cool the castings.
The early 1980s were a Golden Age for Reher-Morrison & Shepherd. From 1980 through 1984 the Texas trio reached the finals in 44 of 56 NHRA national events and won 26 of them. They also began competing in the IHRA Mountain Motor events and between 1983 and 1984 posted a 48-6 win record. In 1983, Shepherd became the first driver to win both the NHRA and IHRA Pro Stock championships – a feat he repeated the following year.
Then in 1985 Lee Shepherd was tragically killed in a testing accident, and Bruce Allen stepped in as his replacement. The team continued its winning ways as Allen scored the team's third consecutive IHRA championship. He subsequently added 16 more NHRA national event victories to the Reher-Morrison record. Allen finished third in the NHRA standings three consecutive seasons (1985-87) and was runner-up in the 1989 championship.
Allen walked away from driving after a harrowing high-speed crash at the Texas Motorplex in 2005. Before the accident, Bruce and David had agreed that the expense and effort required to compete in Pro Stock had escalated to the point that they were going to leave the category at the end of the season. In 1985 they had begun to develope a line of Super Series engines and components specifically for sportsman racers competing in heads-up Super-type eliminators and fast brackets. Continuing that work to support sportsman competition, RMRE also expanded its product line to include immensely powerful nitrous-assisted Pro Modified engines that rewrote records for elapsed times and top speeds.
Buddy lost his fight with cancer in 1998 but will always be remembered as the “Gentle Giant” who never gave up on a project.
Today, David is still at the helm of the Reher-Morrison Racing Engines facility and still turning out first-class products from internal parts to complete engines. Reher-Morrison's expertise now extends far beyond drag racing to short-track oval engines, sprint cars, tractor pullers, and land speed record setters. Away from the shop, David can be found piloting his Cessna airplane, pursuing his longtime interest in boating with his family, accompanying his grandson to amusement parks, and walking his dog daily at a nearby park.
Over the years, the Reher-Morrison Engines team notched numerous honors among them:
Car Craft All Star Team Pro Stock Engine Builders of the Year five times (1982 – 1986)
Car Craft All Star Team Persons of the Year 1980
Rahn Tobler
Rahn Tobler grew up not far from Lions Drag Strip and was a fan there but after moving to Texas when he was 15, he became involved in it. His first real exposure came during his daily trip from home to his job in a grocery store. A pair of racers, Steve Stephens and Dick Venables Sr., had a Top Fuel Dragster they worked on in the evenings and often left the door to their shop open and Rahn would stop and admire the car. After about a month they invited him to come in and shortly after that invited him to go to the races with them. The race was the 1971 NHRA World Finals in Amarillo, TX and it was Rahn’s first opportunity to actually work on a race car. The pair also ran a AA/F Funny Car and Rahn worked as a crew member on both cars from 1972 through 1975.
In 1975, Rahn got his AA/F Dragster license in the Stephens and Venables AA/F Dragster with the intention of competing as a driver but signed on as a full-time crew member with Marvin Graham for the 1976 season. At the end of the 1976 season, Rahn left Graham’s team and took the Stephens and Venables dragster to Florida for a three race program. While in Florida, Connie Kalitta approached him to become a crew member on Shirley Muldowney’s car which Rahn accepted. In 1977, with Connie as the crew chief and Rahn a full-time crew member, Shirley won the NHRA World Championship.
Connie and Shirley parted ways in early 1978 and Shirley offered Rahn the crew chief job which he took. 1978 and 1979 were learning years for Rahn as a crew chief but the team turned things around in 1980 and won four NHRA national races and Shirley’s second NHRA World Championship.
In 1981, the team began competing in non NHRA sanctioned races and in 1981 won the AHRA World Championship. The team followed its successful 1981 in 1982 by winning four NHRA National Races and in 1982 won its third NHRA World Championship title. During the following seven years, the team expanded its racing events to include NHRA, AHRA and IHRA events.
With no major sponsorship signed on, from 1990 through 2003, Shirley and Rahn raced strictly as a business venture, competing mainly in match races. However, they did win three additional IHRA National Races during that time. With Shirley’s retirement, Rahn took over as Crew Chief of Doug Kalitta’s AA/F Dragster and in the following three years they won fourteen NHRA National Races,
Rahn switched from dragsters to AA/Funny Cars in 2007 as Cruz Pedregons Crew Chief and in 2008 the team ended the season with three NHRA National Event wins and the NHRA Funny Car World Championship.
During the following fifteen years, Rahn worked as Crew Chief on Don Schumacher’s Jack Beckman driven Funny Car, Ron Capps Funny Car and John Force’s Austin Prock Top Fuel Car. Rahn’s record as Crew Chief is three NHRA AA/F Dragster Championships, one AHRA AA/F Dragster Championship, two NHRA AA/F Funny Car Championships, thirty-two NHRA Fuel Dragster National Events, forty NHRA Fuel Funny Car National Events, eight AHRA Fuel Dragster National Events and three IHRA Fuel Dragster National Events.
Rahn Tobler has not retired, in 2023 he took on the role of Consultant for two part time teams, TJ Rizzo’s Top Fuel team and Jason Rupert’s Funny Car team.
Bob Smith Founders Award
Robert “Pennzoil Bob” Smith was a true racing fan. He enjoyed every form of racing from drag racing to NASCAR and everything between. Bob served as the head of Pennzoil’s High-Performance Division from mid-1960’s through mid-1970’s. Also, he did not confine his interest and/or appearances to just automotive events. wherever there was an event that included aircraft and/or boats Bob would be found making sure the team involved was using the correct oil and other Pennzoil lubricant products.