Bruce Larson
Bruce Larson started his drag racing career at the age of 16 in Linden, New Jersey driving a fenderless, chopped 1932 Ford coupe. Over the next 10 years, Bruce was a consistent winner at the local tracks, first with the 1932 coupe and then with a 1954 Olds Gasser and finally with a 1932 Chevy A/Gas coupe. Not only were his cars fast and reliable, they were also some of the cleanest in the area, which earned him the nickname of Mr. clean.
In 1965, Bruce switched from the altered coupes to a 1964 Ford Cobra and promptly set both ends of the NHRA A/Sports and AA/Sports national records. He also drove the Cobra to win at the NHRA Winternationals, Springnationals, and the US Nationals.
Bruce was working as a mechanic in a Chevrolet dealership at this time, and because of his longtime winning record, the owner of the dealership, Greg Sutliff, decided Bruce had serious potential, so the two teamed up in a funny car operation. In late 1965, the team debuted the first ever all fiberglass Camaro bodied funny car, which was the first of a long line of Chevrolet bodied funny cars for Bruce.
For the next five years, Bruce toured the country as a match racer, successfully competing against most of the biggest names on the circuit. In 1968, Bruce captured national attention when he ran a 7.41 ET to become the quickest funny car ever at the time. In 1969, Bruce won the prestigious Super Stock Nationals in York, Pennsylvania giving him additional exposure to show to potential sponsors. While Bruce made his living at drag racing from 1966 the 1972, the 1973 through 1977 years were pretty lean for anyone touring with no major sponsorships, Bruce included. During these lean years Bruce never gave up either his love of the sport or his goal of becoming a world champion, and continued looking for a major sponsor.
In 1985, Bruce inked a deal with the Datcon/Sentry folks that gave him the financial backing needed to pursue the championship. With a sponsorship in hand, he switched from Chevrolet to Oldsmobile and at the same time teamed up with Joe Amato, who was already a NHRA Top Fuel World Champion and was able to share and a lot of the information Joe picked up with his top fuel dragster. In 1988 Bruce won the NHRA Cajun Nationals for his first-ever national funny car win, and by the end of that season he was ranked number six in the funny car wars. In 1989, Bruce’s ship really came in, first winning NHRA Winternationals, then the Springnationals, Mile high Nationals, Seafair Nationals, Fall Nationals, and the season ending NHRA Winston Finals. Adding to the impressive wins, he finished as runner-up at five other national events. Between his wins and runner-up appearances, Bruce led the points chase from beginning of the season to the end, locking up his dream, the NHRA World Championship. That same year, Bruce also was voted Car Craft Magazines Funny Car Driver of the Year, and the car he won the title with joined the only other drag racing car to ever be placed on display at the Smithsonian Institute Washington DC, Don Garlits Swamp Rat 30.
Over the years Bruce received too many awards to list here, but some of the ones that stand out above the others were the 1980 Jungle Jim Lieberman Memorial Award, the 1989 Car Craft Magazine Driver of the Year, 1989 Eastern Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year, AL Holbert Memorial Award, 1989 NHRA Northeast Division NED of the Year Award, and the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame inductee honor in 1993. A few other highlights were the Super Stock Magazine Drag Racing Hall of Fame inductee in 1995, East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame inductee in 2003, and Eastern Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame induction in 2004.