2024
Event Sponsor Wynn’s Held Thursday March 7, 2024 Hilton University of Florida Conference
Center, Gainesville Florida
Bill Holland
Bill Holland is not a typical drag racer; he has been involved in almost every aspect of the sport. His first involvement began as soon as he received his driver’s license. Bill worked several years as a crew member on a supercharged Chevy-powered MGTD running in Modified Sport class.
In 1966 Bill won his first trophy as a driver at the wheel of a Chevy powered 1953 Studebaker at the dry lakes. In 1967 Bill became partners in a AA/Fuel dragster with John Guedel, which Tom McEwen drove at the Grand Opening of Orange County Intl. Raceway where it set the track e,t, record and was Top Eliminator runner up. Later that year the car was featured in the fabled Hollywood Santa Claus Lane parade and appeared on worldwide TV. The car was revamped in 1968 and received more national exposure by obtaining sponsorship from Art Linkletter’s House Party TV show. Later on, he and Guedel also operated National Speed Shop in Canoga Park, CA
Bill joined the advertising staff of the Hollywood Citizen-News/Valley Times newspaper in 1968 where he also wrote an automotive column called the “World of Wheels”. In 1969 he moved to the editor’s position at NHRA’s National Dragster (ND) where he remained for the next five years. He left ND in 1974 to form his own advertising and public relations business, Holland Communications, where he created advertising material and logos for companies such as JEGS, Lunati Cams and other notable brands --plus did promotional work for racers including Tom McEwen, Don Prudhomme and “240 Gordie” Bonin. He formed the automotive industry’s first internet resource for disseminating press information to magazine editors, www.Electronic-PR.com, in 1990.
Bill was part of the original committee that created the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion (CHRR) in 1997 and in 2017 he received the CHRR Lifetime Achievement award. Today Bill is still active, running his Holland Communications advertising/PR business, contributes tech stories to several publications and websites, and attends many racing /industry events.
Garth Hogan
Garth Hogan is a typical/atypical racer. He is typical in that he was interested in cars, speed and involvement at a very young age and couldn’t wait to get his driver’s license when he turned 15. He is atypical in that he has been a drag racer, a dry lakes racer, an oval track racer, owner of a performance equipment wholesale/retail establishment, owner of a racetrack and he is an active airplane pilot (specializing in but not limited to, old Warbird aircraft).
Garth began his drag racing career in an injected, small block Chevrolet powered dragster in 1974. Finding good parts and reliable information in New Zealand has never been easy but when Garth entered the sport it was nearly impossible. Much of his performance information came from publications such as Hot Rod and Car Craft Magazines and a lot was simply trial and error. It was partly because of his efforts to find good, reliable parts that Garth founded his Pioneer Auto Parts business.
Always seeking to go quicker and faster, in 1976 Garth partnered with Grahame Berry in a Ford Capri bodied Fuel Funny car with firstly a 392 and then 426 power in which he became the first New Zealander to run 200mph. In 1982 he moved on to a KB powered Top Fuel dragster. Like all dedicated racers, over the years Garth continued to field new cars with improved and better parts and in 1987 he became one of the first racers outside the U.S. to post a sub-5 second E.T. with a 5.90 E.T. at 238.09 mph. Later that season he ran 5.68 at 242mph which at the time was the quickest time recorded outside America. While Garth worked with and listened to numerous people over the years, but he credits two American’s with providing him with his best and most lasting and helpful advice and friendships early on in his career. One was Venolia Piston Co. owner and top-notch racer, Joe Pisano and the other was Carl Olson, NHRA’s Vice President of International Relations, President of FIA and legendary drag racer.
In 1972 he began importing and selling VHT paints on a part time basis and was successful enough to begin adding other major performance parts brands to his import list as time passed. He took the big plunge of opening his performance parts company, Pioneer Auto Parts the following year and began traveling back and forth between New Zealand and the US buying parts for the store, better parts for his race car and learning more about how to make his equipment better and faster.
To add to his racing activities, in 1988 he purchased and revamped Thunderpark Raceway located near Hastings, New Zealand. To complement and help promote Thunderpark, that same year Garth opened the doors on a new drag racing newspaper, Strip Talk.
In 1994 he expanded his automotive activities to include airplanes, obtaining his pilot’s license and in 1996, his first airplane, a pre–WW2 Tiger Moth biplane followed by a Yak 52 and then a P40 Warhawk. In addition to owning and flying them, in 1998 he founded Pioneer Aero Restorations to restore old war bird planes.
Around the same time, he was also appointed as New Zealand’s representative on the FIA Drag Racing Commission, a position he held for 5 years working closely with Carl Olson who was the Commission’s President
Today, he is retired from racing, has sold his businesses and is enjoying some leisure time attending various automotive and airplane events but along the way he established some enviable records including but not limited to:
Apart from a brief period in 1979 held the outright New Zealand Drag Racing record, bettering it continuously over the years, from 1978 thru to 2007….29 years
Won NZ Top Fuel title 7 times.
Member of the Australian 5 second Club
His XF/BFR Ford Flathead HiBoy Roadster set a new record for the class at Bonneville of 170+mph in 1998 and then raised it during 3 more trips to Bonneville to over 189 mph with a best of 193+mph in 2008.
Gary Southern
Gary Southern was one of the most versatile drivers in the sport. He competed in every type of nitro burning car from AA/Fuel Altered to AA/Fuel dragsters and included some Alcohol cars along the way. Gary didn’t limit himself to just drag racing either, he was also a stiff competitor in Go Carts often competing in both categories on the same night. During his driving career, he was actually at the controls of more than 75 nitro and alcohol cars which makes him, if not the top person, probably close to the top of having driven the most cars in the sport.
Gary began his driving career in drag racing in 1957 at the wheel of a flathead powered Altered Roadster owned by Will Tice and continued driving up to the late 1990’s. The next year he made his first appearance in a AA/Fuel Dragster and from that time on, he was the “have helmet will drive” person to go to for many teams. Interestingly enough, he started his career in a altered roadster and the last car he drove was a Fuel Altered roadster. Included in the list of people he drove AA/Fuel Dragsters for was Wilton & Doss, Hawkins & Akins, Bob Meyer, and Hippo Bremmer to list just a few. His list of AA/Fuel Funny Cars was just as extensive, just a couple included in this list was John Lindsey’s “Impulse” Vega and Ted Combas Capt. Crazy. He also drove the infamous Akins & Hardcastle Stinger 2 and when NHRA outlawed it because its body was not an American made car, Gary took it on an incredible nationwide tour.
While he was a super competitor, he didn’t limit his skill to just open competition, he a drove a dragster in the 1990 American Express Superbowl commercial featuring Paul Newman, he was the stunt driver at the wheel of the go cart and he also spun the dragster out in the movie Bikini Beach, and he drove the “Coffin” dragster that was featured in one of the Munster TV Shows.
His most prestigious win was at the 1988 NHRA U. S. Nationals in Indianapolis, IN at the wheel of Dale Smarts AA/Alcohol dragster and the pair won the final race at the original Irwindale Raceway track. Gary won Middle eliminator at the Bakersfield March Meet in 1967 in the Stinger 2 prior to its NHRA ban. At age 80+-, he was still competitively driving, this time in Go Karts. In 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, racing at the Wheel2Wheel Raceway in Victorville CA., he posted 10 wins and came in second in the championships in 2021 and 2022 finishing second to his grandson.
Joe Gibbs
Joe Gibbs has brought a lot to the sport, from the publicity he received with his first involvement announcement and scores of new fans to assisting in bringing non-automotive sponsors into the sport. His first Funny Car with Cruz Pedregon at the wheel featured McDonalds as its sponsor, and notched twenty-one NHRA national event wins along with a NHRA National Funny Car Championship.
Gibbs has often compared a football team and a race car team as being alike, football has a general manager and racing a crew chief, but both outline the “game plan”, set the agenda and handle the day to day duties.
While still in high school and college in Southern California, Joe could also be found on one of the local drag strips, first in his gas coupe and later in a gas dragster. He has stated that the fastest he believes ever went was about 145 mph, he has always loved the sport.
In 1955 after he retired from Pro Football coaching the first time, he founded his Joe Gibbs Drag Racing team and fielded three cars in it, a AA/Funny Car driven by Cruz Pedregon, a AA/Fuel Dragster driven by Cory McClenathan and a Pro Stock Firebird driven by Jim Yates.
Pedregon won Gibbs first NHRA national event at the 1995 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, CA and followed up later that year with a win at the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, IN. McClenathan posted Gibbs first Fuel Dragster win in 1997 at the NHRA Mile High Nationals in Denver, CO and followed that with a sweep of the famed Western Swing and a win at the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, IN. Yates brought the team 2 NHRA Pro Stock Championships in 1996 and 1997. Over the span of the next six years, the team posted a total of thirty-three NHRA National Event wins. In 2000, Joe withdrew from drag racing participation to concentrate on his NASCAR involvement. However, his past association with drag racing continues to draw new fan attention.
In addition to his involvement with Pro Football, Drag Racing and NASCAR, in 1992 Joe branched out into motorcycle racing forming the JGRMX team to compete in AMA motocross and supercross championships.
Adding to these accomplishments, in 1992, Gibbs co-authored Fourth and One, and in 2003 he co-authored Racing to Win, with both books resembling a business, life how-to and motivational guide based upon his own career.
Joe Gibbs list of honors is also quite impressive and its range is one-of-a-kind:
NFL Superbowl champion 1992, 1987 and 1991
NFL Coach of the Year 1982 and 1983
NFL 100 All-Time Team
NASCAR Cup Series Championship five times
NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship four times
Pro Football Hall of Fame 1996
Washington Ring of Fame
NASCAR Hall of Fame 2020
Pamela (Pam) Hardly
Pamela (Pam) Hardly is better known as Jungle Pam from her years as Jungle Jim Leiberman’s “back up girl”. Pam is considered by most racers and spectators to be the original back up girl and much like Linda Vaughn who set the standards for bringing lasting attention to the sport, she proved that great looking ladies in colorful costumes add greatly to the “on track” show.
When Jim first met Pam, he already had a reputation as a real showman, making fiery burn outs, 100 mph backups and even full-track wheel stands. Jim met Pam when he saw her walking down the sidewalk and stopped to talk to her and ultimately offered her an opportunity to join him on tour. The pair added greatly to Jim’s “showman” title when Pam accepted his offer and became his back up girl. Dressing in her “patented” short-cut off-jeans and braless halter top, Pam was also responsible for presenting the sport with a sexy but wholesome image and generated a lot of interest from new fans that still exists today.
Unlike many of the later “back up girls”, Pam was also part of the crew. She often packed the parachute, added the water and oil after each run and learned quickly how to check for oil and water leaks. Unfortunately, Jim died in a car crash in 1977 and Pam backed away from any active race participation.
Pat Austin
Pat Austin’s dad Walt was a successful drag racer, so Pat came into this world under a strong influence to become involved in the sport. In 1971 at the age of seven, he and his brother Mike, age eight, were in the garage helping Walt wash parts and prepare his twin engine gas dragster for the next weekend. That year, Pat made his first photo appearance in the winner’s circle when the family won the NHRA FallNationals AA/Gas Dragster class.
In 1980, at the ripe old age of 16, Pat built and drove his first race car, a 1955 Chevy with a modified 350 Chevy for power. While he was satisfied with the car’s overall performance, it wasn’t quick and fast enough for him so in 1982 he installed the engine out of the ’55 into a rear engine econorail dragster and promptly won the first two races he entered it in.
Once again, while happy with the econorail’s performance, Pat was ready to move up to another class, so he sold it and began working with Walt who was racing a AA/Alcohol Funny car. By this time Pat had graduated from high school and was working for his dad who owned an automotive service company, learning how to operate a business and learning more about being a successful racer. He was also itching to drive his dad’s Funny Car and, since Walt had purchased a second funny that was in pieces, he told Pat he could drive it if he put it back together. It only took Pat four days to have it ready to run and two weeks later Pat was licensed in the “spare” AA/Alcohol Funny car. This was the beginning of team Walt Austin Racing (WAR) and the start of a new drag racing legacy.
WAR posted its first NHRA AA/Alcohol Funny Car class event win at the 1986 Baton Rouge, LA Cajun Nationals, followed by a win at the NHRA Springnationals in Houston, TX, and the beginning of a career total of 75 NHRA National events. The following year WAR became a member of the six-car, six-class Castrol GTX Superteam of, Gary Ormsby, John Force, Larry Morgan, Bill Barney, Pat Austin, and David Nickens and won its first of four NHRA World Championships.
In 1991, WAR purchased Gary Ormsby’s AA/Fuel Dragster and Pat took over the driving chores in it. The teams first win in this class came at the NHRA Nationals in Topeka, KS where he won both AA/Fuel dragster and AA/Alcohol Funny Car classes. Pat went on to post a total of five NHRA AA/Fuel Dragster class wins to join his 75 AA/Alcohol Funny Car class wins. Of all of these wins, Pat cherished his NHRA AA/Alcohol Allstar wins in 1987, 1988 and 1989 most because they were always on Father’s Day, and he could present the trophy to Walt to celebrate it.
Pat was also inducted into the Car Craft Magazine All Star Team for an unprecedented five consecutive years, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991.
Adding to the many WAR wins and honors, it is only one of two fathers and sons to be inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame honor. Walt and Pat Austin and Connie and Scott Kalitta now have that honor.
Rickey Smith
Rickie Smith was an all-star athlete in high school with college scholarship offers waiting for him upon graduation. However, his love and fascination with racing was stronger so in 1973 he began his drag racing career in a Chevy powered Nova. From that day on, he has been a winner in multiple classes and Associations.
Driving a Jack Roush powered Ford, Rickie notched his first IHRA Super Modified Championship in 1976 and his second one the following year. In 1979 he switched classes and in 1982 won his first of five IHRA Pro Stock World Championships. He also won consecutive IHRA Pro Stock World Championships in 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989. He dabbled in the oval track world part time in 1988 at the wheel of a NASCAR Busch Grand National car while still racing in IHRA Pro Stock.
Rickie began competing in NHRA events in 1990, making his first NHRA Pro Stock winner circle appearance in 1993 at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, CA. In 1996 he teamed up with Troy Humphrey in a Pontiac Firebird Pro Stock car and finished the year fifth in the NHRA standings. Halfway through the 1997 season he moved back to his IHRA roots in its Pro Modified class where he would finish third in the Championship points race.
In 1999 he was able to claim another NHRA Pro Stock win at the NHRA Supernationals in Houston, TX. For the next three years Rickie moved back and forth between IHRA in a Pro Modified car and NHRA in a Pro Stock car but when NHRA announced it would be hosting a Pro Modified class beginning in 2001 he not only moved over into that class, he also won NHRA’s first ever Pro Modified event.
Smith competed in Pro Modified on a limited basis in 2002 and 2003 but was able to post wins both years at the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, IN. He returned to the IHRA circuit again in 2006, this time in a Pro Stock Cobalt. Proving he was still a force to be reckoned with, he won his first return visit to the class. Along with finishing tenth in the IHRA Pro Stock Championship Points race his first year back, in 2007 he was named IHRA’s No. 1 Mountain Motor Racer of All Time and he captured its Pro Stock Tuner Challenge Award. In 2009, Rickie was inducted into the Bristol Motorsports Hall of Fame and also into its 220 MPH Club.
In 2010 Rickie was inducted into the North Carolina Drag Racing Hall of Fame. That same year, he added an additional class to his competition list, IHRA’s Nitrous Pro Modified class and he added another Association to his list, the American Drag Racing League where led its Championship Points race most of the season. 2014 was another good year for him where he won three NHRA Pro Mod Series races and his second Pro Mod Championship.
The years leading up to 2023 have proven to be very successful for Rickie with him posting numerous wins in Pro Mod. In 2016 he won a third NHRA Championship in the class and was able to lead the points from start to finish that year. Adding to his various Association wins and honors, in 2015 he competed on the PDRA circuit and won its class Championship. In 2023, Smith cut back and only ran three NHRA National events but ran a full season in PDRA finishing fourth in the class.
Even after suffering through serious back surgery and having to step out of the driver’s seat for part of a couple of seasons, Rickie has maintained his winning ways both as a crew chief and back in the driver’s seat notching class wins every year.
Adding to his other firsts, in 2013 his son Matt became the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Champion and Rickie won the NHRA Pro Mod Championship, making them the first father/son Class Championship winners.
Scott Kalitta
“Scott was a larger-than-life character.”
“He was a big brother, a mentor and a best friend rolled up in one.”
“He had a big, big heart.”
“He was a practical joker; he messed with everyone.”
“If you were loyal to him, he was 10 times more loyal to you.”
“He’s the baddest-ass racer I’ve ever known.”
Those are just a few of the ways some of the people who knew Scott Kalitta best describe him today. Whether it was fighting to win races and championships, giving friends from other teams a race car after they crashed their own or flying his team to California for a funeral in 1996, the son of NHRA legend Connie Kalitta was by all accounts, an amazing person.
Scott Kalitta won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1994 and ’95 and is one of only 18 drivers to win races in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. After Kalitta Motorsports resumed operation following a brief shutdown, the team hired Dick LaHaie in 1992 as Kalitta’s crew chief and brought back the core team members to run his Top Fuel car.
After finishing second in the final season standings in 1993, Kalitta became the first Top Fuel driver to win four-straight races in 1994 reaching the winner’s circle at Columbus, Ohio, Topeka, Kan., Denver and Sonoma, Calif. He won five races that season on the way to his first NHRA Top Fuel title. The next season, he won six races and his second-consecutive season championship and followed the championships with a runner-up finish in 1996. That was the first and second in four seasons. Not bad.
Although he made his mark in Top Fuel, his first win came in the Kalitta Flying Service Funny Car in 1989. It was a win for the ages that showed the kind of driver and competitor Scott Kalitta was.
“Scott was very competitive; he wanted to win races,” teammate Jim Oberhofer remembered. “Early on, you could see his struggle with that. In the old days, it was show up at the racetrack, and the thought mentality of the crew was like, ‘we hope we can qualify’, getting to the second round was like winning a race. Anything further than that was amazing. We always thought, ‘Scott will win a race when hell freezes over.’”
In Houston in 1989, it almost did. The race was snowed out. When they raced the next weekend, the Kalitta Flying Service Funny Car nearly hit the wall after dropping a cylinder in the final round, but Kalitta came from behind to defeat Bruce Larson and claim the first of his 11 race wins.
“Scott was an old-school racer,” Oberhofer continued. “He was an interesting mix because you have the guys who were the foundation of drag racing like Don Garlits and Connie, The Greek (Chris Karamesines) and all these guys. And then somewhere in the middle falls Scott. I think he was very under-appreciated as a legend of the sport.”
It wasn’t all about the competition, though; Kalitta was a practical joker and a generous soul. When a friend’s team wrecked its only car, Kalitta didn’t loan them a car, he gave them a car.
When Scott met Kathy, whom he would later marry, family became his focus. Despite all the racing accolades, the fun, friends, and frivolity, being a good husband to Kathy and a good father for Corey and Colin was more important to Kalitta than anything else.
“As good a race car driver as he wanted to be, he wanted to be the best father ever, and he worked hard at that,” Oberhofer said. “I give him tremendous credit for how hard he worked at that. He was an awesome dad, an awesome husband, and an awesome son.”
Scott Kalitta – a two-time champion, a larger-than-life big brother, mentor, best friend, practical joker, and bad-ass racer with a big, big heart is now rightfully a member of the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Connie and Scott Kalitta join Walt and Pat Austin as the hall’s only two father-son inductee pairs.
Terry and Rosalee Noble
Terry and Rosalee Noble are typical of a lot of drag race families, just not quite as well known. They got started in the sport in 1966 when their local drag strip, Coles County Raceway opened its doors. The couple were a common sight at the track, helping both the track owners and the racers when and where they were needed. Unfortunately, the track closed its doors in 1968 so Terry and Rosalee stepped away from the sport and spent the next few years building a home and raising their two sons.
In 1985 they were looking at a way to become involved in drag racing again and at the same time contribute to help improve it. The result of their quest was to join on a part time basis, The Drag Racing Association of Women (DRAW) which had been formed the prior year. The mission of the non-profit association was/is to provide financial and emotional support to individuals involved in drag racing accidents at the track. DRAW’s members has included the wives of some of the sport’s most well-known competitors including Gere Amato, Holly Beadle, Etta Glidden, Lynn Prudhomme and Pat Garlits to name a few. In 1998 they were both retired so they became full time DRAW workers, working at the local tracks and traveling to national events to work the associations booth. Their duties at DRAW have had Rosalee serving as its secretary, working on its newsletter, serving as vice president and eventually as its president. In 1995 she assumed the position of fundraising chairman, a position she still holds today. Terry has stayed busy working the track booth at national events, selling DRAW “goodies” and maintaining all of the inventory, while attending as many as 25 events per year.
Not content to just spectate, in 1991 they debuted their 1982 Buick LeSabre station wagon, dubbed “Care Wagon” at Coles County Raceway. Since that initial outing, they have visited the winners’ stage many times and posted a couple of track championships along the way. In addition to competing with the Buick, as its name suggests, it is used to help bring attention to DRAW and its purpose.
In 2020 Rosalee was inducted into the Coles County Dragway Hall of Fame. In addition to their racing and DRAW involvement, Terry and Rosalee are also very involved in helping find homes and care for stray animals, especially dogs.
Walt Austin
For his 16th birthday, Walt’s dad got him first car, a 1937 Chevrolet Coupe which Walt promptly installed a 455 Oldsmobile in for power and a Pontiac rear end to accept the power. From its distinctive sound, he garnered a bit of neighborhood fame but a year later, becoming more serious about racing, he swapped the ’37 for a 1936 Chevy Coupe but kept the Olds engine and installed it in the ’36. Before long he began modifying the Olds engine, his first one, the addition of six carburetors. At about this same time he also began racing in A/Gas class, winning his first couple of races.
In 1957, Walt teamed up with Bruce Cole who owned a rear engine chassis and swapped the Olds engine from the Chevy into the dragster and the pair never lost a single race. Living in Tacoma, WA with considerable technical knowledge, in 1960 at only age 22, Walt was appointed Technical Director of the Tacoma Timing Association.
Walt continued searching for better and faster equipment and in 1961 he teamed up with Gene Olson in a Ally-Opp 1928 Ford roadster with the Olds engine, now equipped with a front-mount supercharger, for power. Unfortunately, something in the front end of the roadster broke during a run and the car was totaled. In 1962 Walt had chassis builder, Dave Jeffers build him a front engine dragster chassis for which he built and installed his first 392 Chrysler Hemi engine on gas. With Walt building and tuning and Jeffers driving, the pair posted 50 straight round wins that year alone.
When his dad passed away in 1962, Walt, at age 24, put racing on hold to take over the job of successfully running and growing his dad’s automotive service business. His retirement ended in 1971 when he built a AA/Gas Dragster powered by twin supercharged Chrysler Hemi engines. This combination proved to be a real winner, posting 350 AA/Gas class wins along with setting and resetting the NHRA class record six times and winning the NHRA Division 6 class Championship.
Around 2000, Walt broke the popular Chrysler – Chevy engine mold and teamed with John Rodeck to produce a unique, Ford based Top Alcohol engine. Unfortunately, NHRA outlawed it before it even reached the racetrack, so he returned to the Chrysler Hemi for his Funny Car. However, Walt’s idea proved its merit 20 years later when his grandson, Drew, introduced it for power in the A/fuel dragster and then moving to nostalgia Funny Car (N/FC) Car he was competing in the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series with.
Retirement from racing came again in 1972 when he stopped racing to focus on building his automotive service business and coaching his sons in football. Adding to his winning record, the football teams coached by Walt only lost one game over the next five years.
Walt un-retired again in 1985, to go racing with a AA/Alcohol Funny Car. With sons Pat and Mike now totally involved in racing, in 1986 he founded Walt Austin Racing (WAR) and concentrated on building and maintaining the teams AA/Alcohol Funny Car and wracking up a win record of 75 NHRA national class wins.
Included in Walt’s honor list is:
AM/Roadster 1320 record holder
2-time NHRA Division 6 Top Gas Champion
1969 Wynns Oil Top Mechanic award
1969 AA/Gas Champion NHRA WinterNationals, Dave Grassi, owner/driver, Walt Crew Chief/Tuner
World’s winningest Sportsman Crew Chief, 1987 and 1998
Northwest Funny Car 6 race series Championship 1984
Walt and Pat are one of two fathers and sons to be inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame honor. Walt and Pat Austin and Connie and Scott Kalitta now have that honor.
Walt Barbin
In his early teens, Walt was really into baseball but around his 13th birthday he started hanging around with some older guys that were into hot rods and racing and he quickly became hooked along with them. His first car was a 1936 Ford convertible that he installed an Oldsmobile engine in. In 1954 a drag strip was opened on an abandoned airstrip not far from where he lived, and he was able to start getting serious about racing and building better equipment.
By 1958 he had added a supercharger for more power however, it used V Belts to drive it and the belts wouldn’t stay on during a run. Also, by this time Walt had purchased a Curry lathe and was doing machine work for a living. His lathe used a Gilmore type belt system and one day while he was changing its drive speed, he got the idea to try this belt system for the supercharger drive system. He made pulleys that matched the belt, installed them and it worked. Walt has always been into problem solving but he never became involved in marketing his inventions but, was okay with others copying them so before long his Gilmore System was on the market by other manufacturers.
Walt moved from the ’36 Ford to a Hemi Chrysler powered Fuel dragster in ______ and began applying his talent for developing new and improved parts for this class. At this time, a lot of effort was being made by the camshaft manufacturers that included roller tappet lifters. The lifters worked okay but the push rods started bending and other problems developed in the valve system. Always working to eliminate a problem, Walt redesigned the rocker arms being used and soon all the cam manufacturers were using his design for their units.
In 1963 Walt opened his own speed shop that was equipped with a complete machine shop. He was also still running his AA/Fuel dragster and learning more ways to improve its horsepower output. About this time, he realized the engines needed more air but the superchargers couldn’t put out more air without scuffing. One day while cooking with a Teflon coated frying pan he got the idea to try coating the impellers with Teflon to stop the scuffing which worked. However, the Teflon would not adhere to the impellers if there was any oil on them, so he tried inserting Teflon strips in them and more, he introduced an improvement that was soon being copied by the other manufacturers.
Each time he reassembled his dragster he would push start it on the street to fire it and “dial it in”. Unfortunately, the local cops didn’t believe that was a good idea, so they told him to stop it. This led to Walts’ next big contribution to improving the sport, a starter system. He had a friend that was involved in Indy Car racing and when Walt saw him use a crank starter to fire it, he immediately went to work designing one for drag cars. The Fuel Dragster guys and the racetracks liked having the cars push start in front of the spectators so it didn’t receive much acceptance there but the Funny Car racers liked the starter idea. His first customer was Jungle Jim Liberman who touted it, and the rest is history.