KS Pittman
KS Pittman was a native of Texas but when he was 17, he and his family moved to Southern California which was a hot bed for young men and women who were interested in speed and competition especially in the drag racing category. KS started racing shortly after his move to California in a straight eight Buick powered 1937 Buick. His prowess as a driver soon caught the attention of other car owners and before long, he was driving the Stone and Wood blown Olds 1950 Oldsmobile coupe. After that he moved over into the seat of Jon Edwards 1950 Oldsmobile fastback coupe powered by a Dick Harryman built potent blown Olds engine. Realizing that these big sedans and coupes had a weight disadvantages, in late 1958 KS acquired a 1941 Willy’s coupe and shoehorned Edwards big Olds powerplant into it and was soon making headlights in the drag papers. In his quest to go even quicker and faster, KS and Kurt Hamilton from Cal Automotive pulled the first molds off the coupe and produce the very first fiberglass front ends, fenders, doors, and deck lids all of which replaced the steel pieces of the coupe producing speeds of 119+ MPH and 11.69 second ET’s. What also made these times more impressive is the fact that the class required the competitors to run all legal street equipment including windshield wipers, lights, etc.
At the 1961 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California, KS drove the Stone and Wood Willys coupe with John Edwards blown Oldsmobile engine for power to some impressive times; launching the beginning of a new nationally recognized team in the super gas wars when Doug Cook became the third member of the team after KS moved on. In 1964 KS teamed with Chuck Stolze in a steel body 1933 Willys that was powered by a David Zeuschel built 420 CID blown Chrysler. While the pair raced at their share of national events, the big money for them was the ongoing match races across the country. The 1933 Willys biggest claim to fame came when KS took it to England as a member of the US Drag Racing Team and made exhibition runs at the British Drag Festival in 1964. In 1965, while making a hard practice run at the track in his hometown of Mineral Wells, Texas, the chute failed to open; KS totaled the car which prompted him to bring the 1941 Willys out of the moth balls and complete the match race season in it.
In 1968 KS purchased John Mazmanian’s tube chassised Austin coupe and slipped the blown Chrysler into it for the 1968 and 1969 match race season. Unfortunately, the cars radical design made it illegal for NHRA’s AA/GS class but it was a real crowd pleaser on the match race circuit. In 1970 KS took the Austin body off, stretched the chassis to accommodate a legal two seat Opal GT body and proceeded to set the NHRA class record with an ET of 8.54 seconds and several top speeds of over 170 MPH. By the end of the 1972 season bookings for the match race circuit had pretty much become the venue for funny cars; so KS made the switch again this time campaigning a turbocharged Chrysler powered Vega, but decided to retire from the circuit and just build race engines for other teams. When he built a turbocharged Chrysler engine for a blown gas hydro drag boat and decided its driver wasn’t doing his job correctly; KS came out of retirement for one final season and won the NDBAs Rookie Driver of the Year Award in 1978.
Among his other accomplishments and awards, KS was named to the 1971 Car Craft Magazine All-Star Team and was well known for his participation in and crowd-pleasing contributions to the Supercharged Gas Coupe/Sedan class. KS always presented himself as a true ambassador of the sport and helped advance it in many ways.