Marvin Schwartz
Marvin Schwartz was introduced to drag racing astride a 90 mph Triumph motorcycle as a teenager in Zephyrhills, Florida in 1954. A move to Denver saw him construct a C/Gasser powered by his beloved Ford, but his interest gradually faded away from drag racing. Once again bitten by the racing bug in the early 60s, the onetime luggage salesman built his own 508 ci. Ford powered AA/FD. The car had plenty of power but was ill handling. He called on his old Florida buddy, Don Garlits, to build a chassis and before long that new car became known as “The World’s Fastest Ford”, turning a 7.70 ET and running over 190 mph regularly. “Starving Marvin” soon joined Garlits to work in his chassis shop, which provided Schwartz with a near twin of Garlits’ own car to drive and maintain. That car afforded Schwartz the proudest moment of his career at the Bakersfield Fuel and Gas Championships when he defeated a field of 32 of the country’s best fuelers to win Top Fuel Eliminator, only to fall to his mentor,Garlits, for the Overall title. Marvin parlayed this success with a series of his own cars on the match race circuit, and went from “starving” to a rigorous schedule of traveling 80,000 miles a year and racing in average of three days a week. Schwartz died at the 1980 AHRA Winternationals during qualifying.