The Evolution of the Swamp Rat Drag Racing Car
> My First Car
1940 Ford Tudor Sedan
I purchased my first car in August 1949, a Washington Blue, 1940 Ford Tudor Sedan, for $345.00, and it's a cute and funny story!
I had my Florida Operator's Driver's License since I was 16 years old, but my Mother would not allow me to have my own car till was 17 and going into my Senior Year at Hillsborough High School. The school was about 5 miles away and for my first two years there, I rode my bicycle each day!
My Stepfather, Alex Weir, took me to "Used Car Row" on Florida Avenue to find a car. I spotted a Washington Blue, 1940 Ford Tudor Sedan and told Alex to stop, so I could check it out. I went into the small office and asked the Salesman if I could drive the car, he said yes. I asked for the keys and he said, "The keys are in the car"!
I drove the Ford around the block, it felt good and I decided to buy it, so I returned to the office and asked the man how much was the vehicle? He said, "$345.00". I handed the man $350.00 and he handed me back the "Signed, Open Title" and $5.00. Then he said, "The tag is good for another 6 months" and if I were you, Sonny, sometime during the next 6 months, I would go to the Tag Office in downtown Tampa and change the registration into your name. That will cost you "$1.25"enjoy the car, Sonny"!
I drove the car out into Florida Avenue and headed home. Talk about loss of Freedom, have you purchased any cars recently?
On the way home, I had my first Drag Race in this car. It was on Florida Avenue at the Buffalo Avenue intersection, northbound. Florida Avenue was two way back then. My friend, GP Robinson pulled up beside me in his brand new 1949 Chevrolet Business Coupe and said, “Let’s race”! I said “What”? GP said, “When the light turns green, step on it as hard as you can”! I did and I really had a thrill, I knew I wanted to be a Race Car driver! GP won, but it didn’t matter, it was the thrill of the competition that I loved. The old Ford served me well for over a year, but was pretty worn out from not having the oil changed regularly during World War II.
I had a lot of great dates with the good looking girls from my neighborhood and Hillsborough High in this old Ford! It didn't matter that I was just a small guy, I had a car and that's what mattered the girls!
I would find my next car, a real slick, 1940 Ford convertible, driving the old Ford down Waters Avenue, on my way to Sulphur Springs, Florida. Get "Don Garlits and His Cars" for the full story.
The pictures above are not the original car, but one I acquired in 2018, to put into the Museum for fans to enjoy and see just what Don Garlits drove in 1949, when he was 17 years old!
Top Speed; 85 MPH Flying mile.
> 1940 Ford Convertable
1940 FORD CONVERTIBLE
During the fall of 1950, while driving my old 1940 Ford sedan down Water’s Avenue, going to Sulfur Springs, Florida, I spied a beautiful black 1940 Ford Convertible for sale, $550.00. I spun around and inquired about the car. It had a rebuilt 1940 Mercury engine and really sounded good, compared to my worn-out old Ford. The lady said she would trade cars for $200.00, I rushed home, borrowed the $200.00 from my mother, and got the car. I drove it a year like I bought it, except for a Thickston, dual Carburetor manifold, purchased for $15.00, from Bob Jefferies Garage at 6112 Florida Ave.
Bob helped me install the manifold and I still have to this day! In 1951, my Brother Ed and I installed a Cadillac engine in our back yard at 8124 North Edison Avenue, Tampa. This move turned the little red Ford into a rocket ship and I won a lot of races with it, on the street! I painted the convertible "Chartreuse", but I never liked it that color It was with this car that we all used to drive up to Zephyr Hills, Florida, for our first “Legal” drags. Of course, we raced on the open highway, coming and going to Zephyrhills! I traded the car in on my next car, the 1950 Ford Sedan. The Convertible was destroyed in a head-on collision in Alabama in 1954.
We have recreated the car in red, the way I liked it the best! It’s a daily driver for me now. Get your copy of "Don Garlits and His Cars", for the full story.
Top Speed; 115 MPH, Flying mile.
Low ET: 17.10
> 1950 Ford Sedan
1950 Ford
Tudor Sedan
On my first date with my future wife, Patricia Louise Bieger, I could see that her father, Richard "Bud" Bieger was not happy with the Hot Rod 1940 Ford Convertible! "Bud", walked around the car and stuck his head in the driver's window and said, "Have her home by 11 PM, Boy"! In 1952, Hot Rodders were considered "Black Leather Jacketed Hoodlums"! I was going to need something very plain and mild, if I intended to get serious with this special young lady.
I had a friend at the local Ford dealership, Holsinger Motors, that always wanted the Cadillac powered Ford, so I paid him a visit. I explained the problem and Pedro said, "I got just what you need"! He showed me this "Bone stock", Hawaiian Bronze, 1950 Ford Tudor sedan with only 10K miles on the odometer. I could have this car for $500.00 and my 1940 Ford converti98ble. I made the trade and you can read the rest in my book, "Don Garlits and His Cars".
I won my first trophy in this Ford, which I still have, sitting right here in my office!! I later installed a 276 CID, 1953 Mercury engine into the 50 Ford. It was a very fast street car, but couldn't beat "King" Hogan! I needed a much lighter car! I found a nice 1936 Ford coupe and started on my next car.
Top Speed; 115 MPH, Flying mile.
Low ET; 17.10
> 1936 Ford Channeled Coupe
1936 Ford Coupe
The lady next door to us in Sulfur Springs had a cherry 1936 Ford coupe, that I really liked! One day in 1953, when I came home from work, I found it hung up on a tree by her driveway, I asked her what happened and she said she overshot the drive and hit the tree and I could have the car for $50.00. I gave the old lady the $50.00 and a couple of my buddies pulled the old Ford off the tree and over into my yard. The car should have had the front fender straightened, painted, and a new bumper, then saved for posterity. However, I had other plans! I removed all the fenders, bumper, and hood, then channeled it 6 inches. I thought it looked pretty good, I then removed the 276 CID Flathead from the 50 sedan, put a stock 1953 255 CID Mercury in it’s place and put the 276 CID Flathead into the coupe. It would run about 15 seconds flat in the quarter. I drove the coupe for about a year, but it wasn't fast enough to win Top Eliminator at the local tracks. So I put a stock 1948, 59 AB Flathead in the coupe and traded to Bill Ringo for his stock 1939 Ford Coupe. Of course, he soon crashed it and it was totaled. So in the mid-eighties, I found a really nice, rust-free 1936 body and frame and recreated the 1936 Ford coupe. I took it on tour in the late eighties and it was a real hit.
Top Speed; NA
Low ET; 15.00
> 1927 Ford "T" Roadster
1927 Ford "T" Roadster
I couldn’t win Top Eliminator with the 36 coupe, I needed something much lighter for the 276 CID Mercury engine. Dick Schofield had a used car lot on Florida Avenue and was trying to make a California-type roadster out of an old 27 Ford “T” Roadster, but his help was not too talented and all he had was a pile of rusty parts, taking up space on his lot. I offered Dick $50.00 for the pile of junk and he was glad to see someone haul it away. I built my first “T” roadster out under an oak tree in the front yard of our home at 706 E. 122nd Ave. Tampa. Florida. It was our new house that we built ourselves, with the help of some good friends, the Tinkers. I made a long extension cord that ran from the electric range plug to the oak tree to run the electric welder, a "Buzz Box"! The neighbors had a fit, but that didn’t stop me.
I won my first Top Eliminator Trophy with that car, against Charlie, “King” Hogan at Lake Wales Florida in 1954. I sold the body to some kids from GA in 1955. In the late eighties, I drove up to Georgia, found the body brought it back, and restored the car. It also went on tour in the late eighties for an entire season, Pat and I trailered it to the events and then drove it to and from the race track every day. It was a hoot, to say the least.
Top Speed; NA
Low ET; 13.50
> Flathead Dragster
Flathead Dragster
I didn’t run the Roadster very long till I figured that I was going to need a Dragster to go faster. That was what was happening in California. I took the roadster body off the chassis, moved the engine as far back as I could, and built a seat over the differential! It looked dangerous and probably was, but it was much faster and I won my first big NHRA event with this car, the “Drag Safari”, held at Lake City, Florida, in August 1955.
I was a member of a car club called the “Strokers”, and they gave Pat and me a little tea set, commentating the win, as the President, Gene Tinker, handed me the set, he said, “I guess you will retire now”! To which I replied, “Why would I do that”? He said, “Because, "you" will never beat the Californians”! Pat whispered to herself, “He just said the magic words”! Two years later, at Cordova, during the ATAA World Series of Drag Racing, in the first round, I beat the California Champion and world record holder, Cook and Bedwell! So much for the naysayers!
Top Speed; 108.69
Low ET; 12.10
> 1939 Ford Coupe
1939 Ford Coupe
I had traded the 36 Ford Channeled coupe to Bill Ringo for his stock 1939 Ford coupe, I wanted a powerful tow car for the Flathead Dragster which was “Flat Towed”. I wanted a 1949-50 Cadillac OHV, 331 CID engine for the car as that was the “Moonshiner’s” choice of engines for road cars. These engines were powerful and had lots of torque. I drove to Claude Major’s salvage facility on Florida Avenue to see what he had. There were no Cadillac’s available, “Moonshiners” had got them all last week! Claude said, “I got something better”! A 1954 Chrysler 331 CID Hemi!
I measured across the valve covers, determined it would fit and gave Claude $450.00. Probably the best move I had made in my life up to that moment!
One week later, I had it running, it was about 10 PM, I said to Pat, “Let’s drive down to the White Hut Drive-In and see what’s happening. Who should be sitting there but my old buddy David Phillips, in his 1939 Ford coupe with the Navarro Flathead engine with an Iskenderian 1023 Cam and three carburetors. I said, “What’s up”? David said, “Gas, it has went to 21 cents a gallon”! Oh my God, what are we going to do, I replied. David said, “Drive less, that’s what”!
I asked David if he wanted to race, this was a very bold statement as his Ford was the fastest streetcar in the city of Tampa. David said, “What'd you got”? This 1939 Ford, I replied. David said, “Sounds kind of mild, but lets go”! It was quiet, as I had just hung the original Chrysler mufflers off the 1954 Chrysler New Yorker, under the car, to get it running!
We drove out to a deserted country road that went to nowhere and lined the two cars up, his lighter Ford shot out a half a length for a moment and then the big Chrysler Hemi began to breath and make power, by the time I got into high gear, I could see his head lights in my rear view mirror! I was running about 115 MPH! However, it never dawned on me that this was the new engine for Drag Racing!
About 6 months later at Mac Dill field during some time trials. I timed the Coupe and the dragster, the coupe ran 114 MPH in the quarter and the dragster ran 110 MPH, the elapsed time for the coupe was 14.00 seconds and the dragster was 12.5 seconds, but a third of the weight. I started construction of my first Chrysler powered Swamp Rat.
I had to sell the 1939 coupe to Lloyd Swails in 1956, to get enough money to open my own shop on Nebraska Avenue. Lloyd gave me $500.00 for the coupe, with a 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket “88” OHV engine. He kept the car 27 years and sold it back to me in 1982 for $4,000.00. I completely restored the coupe with a 1956 Chrysler Hemi. It is one of my prized possessions.
Top Speed; 114.00 Quarter Mile Drags
Low ET; 14.00
> Swamp Rat-1
First Time Out
First Time Out
I first put the engine out of the 39 coupe into the flathead dragster "T" rail frame and took it to Brooksville. By the time we got to Brooksville, the frame was sagging from the heavy weight of the big Hemi engine. I made an easy run, 121 MPH, and knew this was the engine for Drag Racing. I returned home to Tampa and decided that I needed 1931 Chevrolet frame rails for my new dragster. I made a couple of calls and found a 1931 Chevrolet at West Hillsboro Auto Salvage for $35.00, if I removed the frame from the car. It took me all day Sunday to get the rails out of the car. Everything was riveted, so a Coal Chisel and a big Ball Peen hammer did the job. I welded the new chassis together in my home garage at 706 E. 122nd Ave, Tampa 4, Fla. I took the new car to Brooksville for the first runs set a new track record of 128 MPH and won the race, all my tough competitors were in attendance. I was on my way to becoming a Champion Drag Racer!
This car has been recreated and is a running example and is in the Museum
Top Speed; 135.00
Low ET; 10.90
Purple Dragster
The Purple Car
I won everywhere I went with the new dragster, so I built a full aluminum body and painted it purple, maybe because I had a gallon of purple paint, I just don’t remember. I continued to win races and set many track records, running on “Pump” gas.
I set the new track State Top Speed record at the Sebring Florida, NHRA Florida State Championships. I broke the transmission in the final against Floyd Albritton and he won the race, I knew the Ford gearbox had to go and I started designing an adaptor to use a Buick stick shift transmission.
This car has been recreated and is in the Museum now.
Top Speed; 145.61
Low ET; 10.88
Cordova “Killer”
,Cordova “Killer”
After the Sebring race, I removed the lightweight 1939 Ford gearbox and installed a 1940 Buick side shift transmission. This was a heavy-duty transmission kinda like a LaSalle trany. I also lowered the car and built a new nosepiece and painted the car black, with a shark tooth face on the nose. I was getting ready for the ATAA World Series, held at Cordova IL The Central Florida Timing Assn., members of the ATAA, were paying our expenses, $450.00, for the trip to Cordova as I had won so many Top Eliminator Trophies with the car.
It was rumored that the World Record holders, Cook and Bedwell, (168.22 MPH) would be there. They were my heroes and their picture was hanging in my garage, at 12828 Nebraska Avenue, Tampa 4, Florida!
I had changed my car from gas to 25% Nitromethane, but the California boys were running 98%, so my times didn’t compare to theirs, at the Cordova event.
I was not a bashful person, so I just walked over to Emery Cook, the driver, and asked him how did he get Stromberg Carbs to handle 98% Nitro! He rattled off a very long sentence, giving me the complete combination, not realizing that I had a photographic memory.
Pat and I loaded up the car, drove to a local gas station, converted the carbs, and returned to the racetrack, about 2 AM in the morning. We made a couple of easy tune-up runs and it was time for the first round.
The officials paired me with Cook for round number one, that's how it was done, back in the day! I put the California Champion on the trailer with a blistering 9.96 ET, to his respectable 10.04! My career was underway! The officials made me run him again to make sure all was okay, I beat him again just to make sure it was real, which made the victory even sweeter!
I didn’t win the event, as I had some bearing trouble with the enormous power the 98% Nitro was generating. I needed to regroup when I returned home for more car modifications. Get my Book, "Don Garlits and his Cars" for the full story.
Top Speed; 155.56
Low ET; 9.96
First Over 176 MPH
The 176 MPH Car
I returned from Cordova with lots of ideas on how even go faster than Cook and Bedwell! I watched several of their runs and got some good ideas! I couldn’t wait to get home!
I modified the chassis to lower the car, removed the heavy Buick transmission and changed to “High-Gear” only. The real change that made the difference was, the fuel delivery system.
I installed a large 2” hoses from the fuel tank to the fuel block, so there would be plenty of volume to feed the Stromberg’s and I changed to an 8-carburetor Weiand manifold from the crude, 6-carburetor, "Crower U-Fab" manifold. On November 10, 1957, we proceeded to the Brooksville airport for the test runs. I made an easy test run to see how the new chassis changes affected the handling, and all was well. We then put in the 98% Nitro for the hard run. It was a fantastic run but the officials didn’t know what the speed was because we went off the charts, which only went to 165 MPH! We would have to wait till Monday, so they could call California and get the speed.
Monday, around noon, I got the call from Ed Iskenderian, he said that I had set a new world record of 176.4 MPH in 8.79 seconds; the ET was also a record. This run set the Drag Racing World on it’s ear. According to all the experts, the run was impossible, so it must be a phony time. However, my phone was ringing off the hook for paid appearances at Drag Strips all across the country to have me appear and set their track record. I would have a fully booked tour for 1958!
We recreated a running replica of the 176 MPH car and it is in the Museum
Top Speed; 176.40
Low ET 8.79
180 MPH Swamp Rat
The 180 MPH Car
As soon as I set the 176 MPH record I got some new ideas, so after several events, I made some more modifications.
I built a new better set of headers and got rid of the old Ford banjo rear, installing a narrowed 1950 Oldsmobile rear that had less friction and more available gear ratios. This lightened up the car and gave me gear ratios for different strip conditions. I won some important races with this combination and stayed with it till I installed a blower at Ed Iskenderian’s shop in 1959.
The best performance from this set-up was 180.00 MPH in 8.52 seconds on December 8, 1958, at the Brooksville airport. I ran this combination for the last time at the US Fuel and Gas Championships in Bakersfield, CA, in March 1959, setting an unblown record there that lasted for 4 years! (174.00MPH)
When I restored the original Swamp Rat One, this was the configuration I used and after the restoration, I debuted the car at the 1979 NHRA US Nationals and made an easy 165 MPH run! On October 6, 1991 I took the car to Bristol TN and made a good run, 182.04 MPH! So much for the naysayers! The car is my favorite in the Museum and rests just inside the frond door the to collection.
Top Speed; 180.00
Low ET; 8.36
First Blown Swamp Rat, 1959
First Blown Swamp Rat
After Bakersfield, we decided that I needed to put a supercharger on the Swamp Rat, so Ed Iskenderian had his machinist, Van Luvin make the blower drive and Phil Weiand sent over a blower manifold for the Chrysler Hemi with an 8 carburetor manifold for the 6.71 blower. In about a week we were all set and the next event was Kingdon, CA. I won the event, set Top Time and Low ET and then Chandler, Arizona was next. I win again with low ET, (8.45) and Top Speed, (175 MPH) we return to Tampa and run the Brooksville Strip and set a new World Record, 185.56 MPH, the car is a rocket ship, but the 8 carburetors on top of the blower was really restricting my vision, I needed an injector for safety. Isky called Hilborn Fuel Injection and got me an Injector, with a PG 175 pump. The 185.56 MPH run was not allowed as a world record, because it was set on a concrete strip! Concrete was outlawed for the time being. I took the Hilborn injected car to Houston and set the new Drag News 1320 record at 182.54 MPH, won the race and on to Chester SC. It was here that I was almost burned to death in a fire at the finish line going over 180 MPH. The car would now be modified to fit my old buddy Art Malone, who would drive the car for the next 9 months.
Top Speed; 185.56
Low ET; 8.45
Swamp Rat 1-B
Swamp Rat 1-B
After I got rid of the Stromberg’s and was running an injector, not much changed on the car till the big fire at Chester, SC. I set a new record at Houston on June 10th 1959, 182.54, my 185.85 record was not allowed as concrete strips were no longer allowed to set records! Doris Herbert’s 1320 rule!
Then on June 20, 1959, I had a massive fire in SR-1B, which nearly took my life; by the grace of God I’m here to write this piece!
My old friend and classmate from Elementary school, Art Malone, took over the driving chores for a little over a year and the car was modified to fit the taller young man. He was a natural, and set the new world’s record on his first major event in Sanford Maine, 183.66 MPH, It was this car and time when my competitor, Setto Postoian called me the “Swamp Rat”, the name stuck forever!
Get my book, "Don Garlits and His Cars", for the full story. Then at the Bakersfield US Fuel and Gas Championships, a new record, 185.56, then on to Fremont in Northern CA, 187.10! Art would also reach 190.90 at Dunkirk, NY, before leaving to run his own car. At which time, I took over the driving chores.
Before retiring the car, I did reach 204.54 at Bainbridge, Georgia. The car went on a show circuit for several years, returned to the Tampa shop and then suffered major damage during the giant tornado of 1966 that hit North Tampa. Shortly thereafter, we moved to the old homestead in Seffner, Florida, where car sat till 1978, when restoration would began to put it back as it was in 1958, when it went 180 MPH, unblown!
Then in the late 90’s I found a nice 31 Chevrolet frame and decided to build a running replica of the SR-1B. When I finished the car, I took it on a nationwide tour, making just burnouts, as the roll cage did not meet the current specifications of the NHRA. It is on display at the museum.
Top Speed; 204.54
Low ET 8.23
> Swamp Rat-TOO
Banana
The "Banana"
Ed was running a 1932 Ford Roadster powered by a 1954 Buick “Nailhead” V-8. It ran well, but Ed, just like all the rest of us, wanted to go faster and he was a fan of Tony Nancy, who loved the Buick Nail Head engine.
We were young and uneducated, so I purchased some EMT tubing and gas welded together, and made a very light frame for a gas dragster. There was a Florida State Championship race in Miami, FL coming up, so we decided to attend. We had no trailer yet, so we just “Flat Towed” the little car to Miami!
We won the race, no problem, but upon return, the car’s frame resembled a “Banana”! The EMT tubing was very soft and meant to be bent! On top of that, gas welding the EMT, released poisonous fumes that made me very sick for almost a week!
We had to build another car and I wasn’t aware of 4130 Chrome Moley tubing yet, so I purchased some 1’ square mild steel tubing for the next chassis. We recreated this car, but this one, we used good steel tubing!
Top Speed; 136.36
Low ET; 10.95
Swamp Rat - TOO
SWAMP RAT TOO
BUICK & CHEVROLET
Ed Garlits always drove "Swamp Rat Too" cars. When Setto Postoian called me a Swamp Rat and I painted it on my car, Ed said, “I’m a Swamp Rat Too”! All of Ed’s cars were Swamp Rat Too cars and he had 5 of them, The first one was called the “Banana”, then Swamp Rat Too, Swamp Rat Too-A, Swamp Rat Too-B, Swamp Rat Too-C, then the Rear Engine Swamp Rat Too.
After the EMT tubing car, we built another car, same dimensions as the "Banana", except it was 1" square steel tubing. This was a very strong frame, but a little heavy, however it served us well. Ed won another Florida State Championship in 1958, traveled to several major events, The "World Series" at Cordova IL, the "NHRA US Nationals" at Oklahoma City, OK and a big rave at Caddo Mills, Texas.
Ed also won the big Brooksville, FL race and the Regional Championship at Kissimmee, FL, all in 1958!
At them end of the season, we installed a Small Block Chevrolet engine into the car and made a test run at Brooksville, causing me to get a call from Chrysler. This was my first communication with the Chrysler Corporation! This call started a 60 Sponsorship! Get "Don Garlits and His Cars" for the full story. We then installed an unblown Chrysler Hemi into the car. We made a recreation of this car with the SB Chevy and it's on display in the Museum today. Ed's next car was, Swamp Rat TOO-A
Swamp Rat TOO -A
Swam Rat TOO-A
Swamp Rat Too-A was the same as the Banana, except it was built on 1” square steel tubing, it was a real good car and won a lot of races, after the run at Brooksville, FL, with the Chevrolet Engine, we installed an injected Chrysler 331 CID Hemi we ran it with 6 carbs on gas, then with Hilborn Injectors, Didn't go fast enough to suit us, so on went the 6.71 blower and Hilborn's, on pump gas. and then a blower. Ed always drove the car, except at the NHRA first Winter Nationals, held at Spruce Creek, Florida, during the Daytona "Speed Week"
I won the big prize and the big trophy for Top Speed of the event! this is the first time that I met Wally Park, President of the National Hot Rod Association, from CA. He was just getting started and at that point, only had one event each year, the US Nationals, held at several different locations, they didn't have Indianapolis Raceway Park yet!
Ed and I decided that the frame was getting old and it was too heavy, so we built a new car for the up-coming Florida State Championships in Miami, FL, Swamp Rat TOO-B. Get "Don Garlits and His Cars" for the full story.
Top Speed; 168.01
Low ET; 9.50
Swamp Rat TOO-B
Swamp Rat TOO-B
Swamp Rat Too-B was built especially for the Florida State Championships, the car's first event, and the frame was built out of 2” x 4” steel tubing. It was a beautiful car and won the Championship event!
It had a beautiful body and paintwork. The car competed on the West Coast winning lots of races and the only bad thing that happened was; Ed broke a front wheel at the Golden Triangle Drag Strip and went for a wild ride into the swamp! But the Swamp Rat Too survived to race another day.
Then we built SR Too-C and we sold the car to Jim Kaylor in St Pete. Jim installed two small block Chevrolet engines and raced it for many years.
Top Speed; 175.56
Low ET; 8.75
Swamp Rat TOO-C
Swamp Rat TOO-C
While on tour in 1960, after Malone quit, I only had Pat for help, so when Art went on his own, as I traveled through Detroit, I picked up a very talented young man by the name of Fred Smith. He and Ed built the Swamp Rat Too-C from scratch. It was our best gas car to date. Ed won the AHRA National Gas Championship and the Florida State Championship with the car. Fred and Ed had a lot of “tricks” on the car that made it lightweight and very fast.
After winning the AHRA event, when Ed returned home, his wife firmly stated if he didn’t stop racing, she would divorce him! Ed sold the car to Billy Herndon and Billy put Bob Hamilton behind the wheel and they won the AHRA event again! After that, I don’t know what happened to the car.
When we were doing Ed’s booth at the museum, we recreated the SR-TOO-C, a running replica. It is on display in the Museum
Top Speed; 170.00
Low ET; 8.72
Rear Engine Dragster
Rear Engine Dragster
When Ed came back from the NHRA Nationals in Oklahoma City, we got the idea of building a really lightweight rear-engine dragster. Ed had witnessed a few racers had Oldsmobile engines that were running real well on gas and we had a nice Oldsmobile engine. So we built a cute little Rear Engine Gas Dragster, powered by a Hilborn Fuel injected Oldsmobile engine, 303 CID.
We took the little car to Dunnellon, Florida to test, about 300 feet off the starting line; it abruptly turned left and drove off the runway! Ed said he just barely touched the steering wheel and it turned left! We came home and I visited one of my older round track friends and he came out and looked at the steering on the car. He said it was way too slow, needs to be quicker, because sitting up front you don’t feel the movement quickly enough! We lengthened the Pitman arm and went back to Dunnellon. Same action, about 300 feet out, it made a nasty left turn. This time Ed just barely missed two parked cars on the side of the strip. Ed said, “That’s it, I’ll stick to my Buick slingshot, if you want to drive it, go ahead”! I said, “ I’ll pass”! We sold the engine to a friend and the chassis sat in the field by the shop for years.
We recreated the car from memory and a couple of pictures.
No speed or ET available
> Swamp Rat 3A
Swamp Rat 3A
This was the first Chrome Moley tubing car to come out of the Garlits’ Garage. It was built on 2” diameter Chrome Moley tubing, with a small, 1” truss, under the main rail and a 1 ¾” Roll bar. I built the first frame and learned to Heli-Ark weld doing it. It’s kind of like Gas Welding; I had done lots of Gas Welding in the body shop business. Swingle had come on board and was very excited about the car and he had accompanied me to Ashville, NC, with Swamp Rat 1, a few months earlier and learned to drive a Top Fuel Car. He, like Art Malone, was a “Natural”!
On this particular afternoon, I had gone to the Golden Triangle to test Swamp Rat-1B and had a bad fire, drove myself to the hospital, and checked myself out the next morning, the Doctor was furious, to say the least! Returning from the hospital, I walked into the shop and called Swingle into the office. I told him, I would put the entire shop on the SR-3A, so it could be finished in time for him and Bob Taaffe to take it to Detroit for the Match Race with Art Malone. Swingle was so excited; all he ever wanted to do was drive Top Fuel. We pulled it off and Swingle won the race and his career began. Swamp Rat 3A was very successful, reaching a Top Speed of 189.43 MPH and an 8.23 ET, but at Richmond, VA, on a Sunday afternoon, disaster struck, on the second run a blistering 189.43 MPH run, the parachute did not deploy and the car went off the end of the Drag Strip hitting a Pine tree, destroying the chassis, but only breaking a couple of Swingle’s ribs! We gathered up the wreckage, and rushed back to Tampa to build another car, SR-3B, because we had a match race the following Saturday night in York, PA!
Of course, we replicated the SR-3A for the Museum.
Top Speed; 191.00
Low ET; 8.10
> Swamp Rat 3B
Swamp Rat 3B
We rushed home from the Virginia crash to build another car and hoped we would be able to do it in time to get to York, PA for the match race with Dick Belfatti, the “Shadow”, the following Saturday night! Remember, Swingle has a couple of broken ribs! Well, we did it, but there was no Chrome Moley tubing available, so I just used mild steel, not a good idea, but I had no choice. I had to drive, non-stop to York, as Swingle was sleeping and hurting very bad. We won the race, but the chassis was sagging, because the tubing was bending. We drove over to the Hurst Shifter plant and George Hurst let me use his machine shop to straighten the frame and fish plate it. We had an exhibition appearance at the Reading Round track to promote the Match Race with Karamesines the following Saturday night at York.
Swingle misjudged the first turn, and flipped the car over the wall! We went back to Hurst and repaired the car again, but lost to the Greek the following Saturday night. SR-3B won the big Drag News Invitational, held at Riverside, CA in 1961. This is the event where I met Sonny Messner and began a lifelong friendship. SR-3B, was the first car into the seven second ET bracket, turning 7.88 Seconds ET at Blaney, SC, on a Saturday night, just before it was destroyed, later that night!
SR-3B was destroyed in a highway accident outside of Savannah, GA, which almost cost me my life! Get my book, “Don and His Cars” for more details.
We recreated Swamp Rat 3B for Sonny Messner and he has it on the West Coast for “Cacklefests”. Sonny has a “lifetime Estate” in the car and it will eventually return to the Museum.
Top Speed; 198.66
Low ET; 7.88
> Swamp Rat 3C
Swamp Rat 3C
After the crash into the canal, just outside of Savannah, GA, we came home and built Swamp Rat 3C, the final SR-3 car!
SR-3C was the best of all of them, as it reached 198.66 MPH in 7.99 seconds. Swingle won a lot of races with the car, it was never crashed and I sold it to Paul Vanderly in 1963, when Swingle quit, the first time, and went to the West Coast to work for Ed Pink Racing Engines. Paul modified the cockpit, moved the driver forward, drove it for a short period, and sold it to Jimmy Duet. Duet passed away and it is rumored that his Mother still has the car, but that is not a fact.
The Museum recreated the Swamp Rat 3C, and it’s on display at the Museum of Drag Racing.
Top Speed; 198.66
Low ET; 7.99
> Swamp Rat 4
Swamp Rat 4
I built SR-4 at the request of Dodge, they wanted me to build a Gas Dragster, with the new “Max-Wedge” 413 CID engine to compete at the US Nationals in Indianapolis over the Labor Day Weekend, NHRA was pump gas only then!
I built this chassis, myself out of very thin tubing, .035 wall, Chrome Moley. I made a very light car and at Indy, I was runner-up to Jack Chrisman in the Final. All in all, it did quite well for the new engine and the fact that I was not really that great with gasoline. Swingle took the car to the Big Race in Great Bend, KS, the next Labor Day weekend and won, running Nitro, but that destroyed the “Wedge” engine! I sold it to some kids in Miami and they eventually crashed the car.
Then in the 1990s, Swingle had a shop in Port Tampa, so I loaded up some tubing and parts, drove to Tampa, and had Swingle build a replica of the little SR-4 car, his health prohibited him from ever finishing it, so I went to Tampa, brought it back to Ocala and finished it myself. I took it to the Mopar Nationals at National Trail Raceway, in Columbus, OH, and drove it down the strip at 205 MPH! Boy, did I have my hands full! The replica is on display in the museum.
Top Speed; 185.00, Original car
Top Speed; 205.00 Recreation
Low ET; 7.82, Original Car
> Swamp Rat 5A
Swamp Rat 5A
Swamp Rat V was the first of the Square Roll cage cars built with the 1 ¼”, .049 wall Chrome Moley tubing. We would build over 300 of these cars before they were obsolete! This one was going to be a gas dragster, but we ran it on nitro instead. My first outing was defending my 1320 #1 spot against Vance Hunt at Green Valley, TX. I won the race and also won my first NHRA National title with the car at the 1963 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, CA. SR-V was also the first car in Drag Racing to use an inverted wing, over the engine for downforce. The car was hard to drive, because it was short, 120’ Wheelbase! After the Winternationals, I came home and built a longer car, a 140” wheelbase, Swamp Rat V-B.
I loaned the car, with the wing and a 413 CID “Max-Wedge” engine to Dodge for a couple of years and they lost it. To this day it has never been found!
The museum built a running replica of the car because of the historical significance of it running the first wing in Drag Racing!
Top Speed; 189.86*
Low ET; 8.11
> Swamp Rat 5B
Swamp Rat 5B
SR-5A was too short and hard to handle, so I built SR 5B. I had just received my first enclosed trailer from Pete Robinson, so we hooked the trailer to my brand new 1963 Dodge Station Wagon with a 383 CID Wedge engine and headed out on tour for the summer. It was a good car and I won a lot of races, no National events, but I made money match racing and it was just Pat, the two girls and me all year long. We finished the tour in the East and headed home to build a new car, as we had just got the new “round” bent tubing from Loggee Stamping and the new “Swoopy” tail sections from Arty Ross in Louisiana.
Top Speed; 190.26
Low ET; 7.91
> Swamp Rat 6A
Swamp Rat 6A
SR-5B had very little service, so we decided to just replace the square roll cage with the new round tube back half and the new Swoopy tail section, this was a one-day job and I needed it fast, as I had commitments all through the winter months.
Ernie Schorb, the NHRA Division II Director told me if I painted the car red, Hot Rod Magazine would put it on the cover, along with a nice story, so we did! My first appearance in Miami gave me a nice 200 MPH run. Then we went to the West Coast and I won at the meet being held at Pomona. But there was confusion with the red paint and other red cars, so I went back to my traditional black. At Bakersfield, the truck bumper caught the push bar and damaged the swoopy body and I’m so glad, for that damage allowed me to identify the car many years later at a swap meet!
I sold the SR 6A to Spencer Krummholtz in 1964 and he lost track of the vehicle, but I spied it in NJ in the 90’s, and low and behold, there was the repair on the inside of the swoopy body that I had done in 1964! I bought it on the spot and restored it to its original.
Top Speed; 192.30
Low ET; 8.04
> Swamp Rat 6B
Swamp Rat 6B
SR 6B is probably the funniest story of all, at this point, here it is; The second car off the jig with a swoopy tail was for Art Malone and he also took that car to CA for the Winter tour. The next car was for Spencer Krummholz and when I returned to Tampa, from CA, Spencer was waiting for his car, it was not quite finished. Spencer took one look at my SR 6-A and said I want that car, complete, how much? $7,000.00, and it’s yours. Spencer wrote a check and the car was his!
Art Malone rolls in and says, “Whose car is that you’re finishing up? Mine, I told him. Ah Ah!, you found out something, my car didn’t do well either, I want your new car! OK Art, but I get your new body! No Problem, so Swamp Rat 6B is actually the first car off the jig and originally was Art Malone’s!!
I repainted the car, it was first over 200, (201.34) officially, won the US Nationals in 1964, set the British Land Speed Record at 197 MPH and won the US Fuel and Gas Championships in 1965 over a 64 car field! SR 6B also beat the AHRA World Champion, Bobby Langley at Houston Texas to get the "King's Crown" of the World! Not a bad a piece of pipe, huh?
In 1965, after the Bakersfield win, I had the car sold to a couple of young guys up north, but I had one more match race to do at Great Meadows, NJ, then I would give them the car, they were waiting in a motel in Tampa for my return. However, I flipped the car in a slow roll over the railroad tracks, when the chute failed and bent the chassis up, pretty good. The guys wanted their money back, not a new chassis, nothing, just their money back and I gave it to them. I stripped the car down, built another car and stored the bent chassis.
In 1986, Herb Parks and I got the chassis out of storage and completely restored the old car to the condition it was when it went out of service. I took it to Great Meadows for the 60th Anniversary of the 201.34 MPH, World Record run and drove it down the drag strip under it’s own power! It’s in the museum.
We also built our own enclosed trailer for 1965.
Top Speed; 210.88
Low ET; 7.78
> Swamp Rat 7A
Swamp Rat 7A
Swingle didn’t like the Swoopy tail sections, so he built his car without one. It was definitely lighter! He won a lot of match races with the car but didn’t compete in National Events.
At 30, outside of Chicago, he crashed the car, it could have been fixed, but Swingle wanted to make sure he got a new car. He was funny that way! After the crash, he stripped the car down, put all the good parts in the truck, and left the damaged frame by the dumpster. Some kid put the frame in his truck and carted it home! At a Super Chevy Show in Indy, during the 90s, a man walks up to me and asks me if I would like to have the damaged frame from SR-7? I said, “OMG, you have that artifact?
I drove over to his home; about 50 miles away and he gave me the bent frame from Swamp Rat 7A! Years earlier, I had sold the special scoop and Hilborn Injector to a person in Canada, I got that back too! It didn’t take much to restore the beautiful Swamp Rat 7A
Top Speed; 193.12
Low ET; 7.78
> Swamp Rat 7B
Swamp Rat 7B
I was mad that Swingle had crashed an almost new car and then didn’t bring anything home to repair, so I insisted on a swoopy tail section car to replace SR 7A. We had him a car in a few days and went to Oldsmar to test, it ran well and Swingle did a couple of match races when Richie Bandell blew into town and purchased it right out from under Swingle! He was mad for a couple of days, but got over it as I was getting ready to build my first Swamp Rat for the new Dodge 426 CID Hemi!
This car would be for Swingle, as he was always the test driver!
Top Speed; 189.06
Low ET; 780
> Swamp Rat 8
Swamp Rat 8
Swamp Rat 8, was a swoopy tail section car with a 140” wheelbase, but powered by the new Dodge 426 CID Hemi. The new Hemi was supposed to be better, but it was a lot heavier!
We were very weight-conscious at this point in my career!
We took the car to Bakersfield and in fact, had three Top Fuel cars in the field! There were 120 Top Fuel cars entered in the event, probably the largest field ever in the history of the sport!
The new Hemi didn’t perform well, went out early in the 64-car field on Saturday, which I won with SR-6B, and didn’t make the 32-car field on Sunday, which my other Top Fuel car won, with Marvin Schwartz driving. However, it did make the 16-car field that was also run on Sunday and was runner-up to James Warren. The car would only run low 8-second ET’s and mid 190’s for speed. The 392 cars were in the high 7-second bracket and always around 210 MPH! We named the new engine, the “Elephant Motor”, because of its weight!
When I returned from CA, Dodge insisted I drive the 426 car in the 1965 season! “It was a very bad year”! I won nothing but some chicken shit match races and my other sponsors were getting nervous, However, Dodge insisted that it was a better engine, I just didn’t have the right tune–up on it. They were right, in desperation, at Rockford IL, on a Sunday afternoon, I moved the spark timing from 34 degrees, (the most you could put into a 392) to 40 degrees and the car went 213 MPH in 7.51 seconds! We checked the engine out, and nothing was hurt, so I moved to timing to 52 degrees and it was a shot heard around the world! 219.84 MPH in 7.31 seconds. On top of all that, the engine was still just like new, nothing was hurt! It was a better engine, as we all now know! I took the car back to Detroit, my shop was up there now, and stretched the wheelbase to 175” and renamed the car Swamp Rat 10! The museum recreated Swamp Rat 8 and it has been on tour and is now in the museum.
Top Speed; 208.32
Low ET; 7.55
> Swamp Rat 9
Swamp Rat IX FC
The Swamp Rat 9 story begins in Dick Branstner’s shop in Troy, MI. Jay Howell and Dick put together the first Dart, Jay ran it for a while, but couldn’t get the bookings, so Frank Wylie, our Boss at Dodge sent it over to me. My shop was just down the street from Dick’s on Minnesota Avenue. It was painted Pokka-Dart at the time, it had been painted a psychedelic paint job before. We painted it black, naturally! It ran well, but blew over backwards, in the timing traps, at Detroit DW, at nearly 200 MPH! Get “Don and his Cars” for the complete story!
Frank Wylie ordered me a 1966 Dart, Roadster body in fiberglass. We took the frame from Schwartz’s Top Fuel Dragster, modified it to fit the Dart body, and “presto”, we had Swamp Rat 9, a “Funny (looking) Car”! It was an instant success, with the famous Emery Cook driving. (Remember Cook and Bedwell?) Cook “Barnstormed the East with the car and became the first F/C over 200 MPH at Sunshine DW in Saint Petersburg, Florida. The times were; 200.44 MPH in 8.05 seconds. NHRA finally outlawed the tubing chassis and we sat the car out behind the Seffner shop, it stayed there till Pat and I formed the Museum. It is in there now, un-restored.
Top Speed; 200.44
Low ET; 8.04
> Swamp Rat 10
Swamp Rat 10
Swamp Rat 10 was originally SR 8, with a new front half, extended to a 175” Wheelbase. It was done in the Detroit shop and George Delorean, John Delorean's brother, helped me, George worked for me at the time and was great help! I put a temporary body on the car as I had a match race in El Paso, on my way to CA. I went directly to Crower Cams and had Byron Blair build a really nice, hand-formed, aluminum body. I had a big race that weekend at Half Moon Bay, against Don Prudhomme, for the Drag Racer Magazine, “Number One Spot”, so I just used a black spray “bomb” to paint the car and had a sign painter put my name on the car with silver paint, I was going to have the car painted red after the match race.
I won that race! Nobody thought I would, but I was just getting the 426 Hemi tune-up worked out and all went well! Get "Don Garlits and His Cars" for the full story!
Overall, it wasn’t a good year for me, as I was moving my operation back to Florida, from Troy, Michigan to the old Seffner homestead. My Dad had been killed in an auto accident and left me the Seffner property. There was a lot going on in 1966-7 for Don Garlits! I had to build a shop, house, and the massive move from Detroit!
Top Speed; 219.84
Low ET; 7.31
> Swamp Rat 11
Swamp Rat 11
The NHRA Springnationals was the last race for the SR-10, we left the track Saturday, knowing the car was obsolete and we needed a new car, but I had a match race the following Saturday night in Muncie, IN! We had to build a car in 3 days!
SR-11 was built in 72 hours and we did get to Muncie and outrun the Hawaiian Top Fuel dragster, we never shaved during this ordeal and vowed not to shave till we turned a 6-second ET. That happened in the Final at the US Nationals, winning the big race! SR-11 is in the Museum, in it’s original running condition, and we took it to Indy, and drove it down the track to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the beard-shaving event! It was an awesome car! Get my book, "Don Garlits and His Cars" for the complete story.
Top Speed; 225.00
Low ET; 6.77
> Swamp Rat 12A
Swamp Rat 12A
Against Bob Taaffe’s wishes, we built an experimental, short wheelbase Car for the 1968 season! Spent the winter in CA and won nothing. Very hard to drive! Came home. Sold the car to some local kids, who installed an SB Chevrolet and ran it locally as a “C” Dragster. In 1976, they damaged the car and brought it back for repairs. I gave them credit for the damaged frame and built them a new chassis. I stuck the bent frame in the back room. In 1987 we repaired the frame and made a “roller” out of the car, but did not finish it. Then in 2007, I got a call from Mopar to build a fuel Engine from a stage three, 2007 Hemi. Mopar sent me three engines for the build. We put the blown fuel motor into SR 12-A and made a Chrysler commercial and during the taping, I noticed how nice the flames were when the new engine idled. SR 12-A became my “Cacklefest” car! I still use it to this day! Hot Rod Magazine did a nice story on the new supercharged engine on Nitro!
Top Speed; 224.58
Low ET; 7.00
> Swamp Rat 12B
Swamp Rat 12B
We returned home from the West Coast like whipped dogs! SR 12-A was a miserable failure! Bob Taaffe, Jim Marrone, Connie Swingle and I built a new Swamp Rat with 115” wheelbase. This car was a winner! It won the NHRA Springnationals, the US Nationals, and the PDA Championships in California and set the new World Record at 240.00 MPH, the first car over 240 MPH!
During the fall of 1968, I had Tom Hanna put a new body on the car and I was sponsored by the “Smother’s Brothers” and Goodyear! I did not build a new car for 1969, but continued to run the SR 12-B till June.
At Naperville, Canada, the frame broke, and Lemons and I rushed home to get Swingle to help us build another car for the upcoming NHRA Springnationals that I had won the previous year, but Swingle couldn’t help us, Taaffe had quit and Marrone went to CA. The “King Fish” were running and Swingle was off the go fishing! TC and I gave it our best shot, but we didn’t make the NHRA event in Dallas that year. I sold SR 12B To the Wynn Oil Company for a show tour in Europe. In the 80’s, I asked Wynn’s if they knew where the car was and they found it in a warehouse in Holland.
Swamp Rat 12B was returned to the Museum; restored and is on display. My most beautiful slingshot!
Top Speed; 240.00
Low ET; 6.80
> Swamp Rat 13
Swamp Rat 13
We came home from Naperville with a broken chassis on SR 12B and we needed a car in less than a week, but Taaffe had quit, along with Marrone and Swingle was “Gone Fishing”! It was up to TC Lemons and me to snap a car together. We got it done, but too late to make the NHRA Springnationals in Dallas Texas.
Little did we know at the time that this would be the car to change the World of Drag Racing! We had a good year, won the AHRA World Championships and lots of match races, plus the US Fuel and Gas Championships, held at New York National Speedway. It was at this race that I determined we needed a two-speed transmission in Swamp Rat 13. I contacted Leonard Abbott in San Diego, CA, because I had heard that he was experimenting with a two-speed transmission. Leonard had one in his car, homemade, he took it out and sent it to me. It made a lot of difference. It was very crude, made from a 1949 Ford overdrive, I thought we could do better. I contacted Ed Stoffel's of Quartermaster Industries in Chicago and we came up with a better unit made from a Chrysler Torque Flite. It worked like a charm!
However, at Long Beach, during the last round of the AHRA Grand American, the sprag failed, allowing the drum in the transmission to go to 30,000 RPM! Of course it couldn’t take that kind of RPM, so it came apart, cutting the car in two and severing the front half of my right foot. There had to be a better way and so was born the Rear Engine Top Fuel Dragster of today.
I sold the broken car to my Crew Chief, TC Lemons, he and Swingle repaired the car and campaigned it till the end of 1970, then TC sold it to Art Malone and hired Bob Taaffe for the Crew Chief. They ran it for a year, unsuccessfully and Art sold the car to some guy down in South Florida.
At an event at the Desoto Memorial Speedway in Bradenton, I saw the chassis in the pits with a SB Chevrolet engine. I bought the car on the spot and restored it to running condition and took it to a “Cacklefest in Union Grove Wisconsin a few years ago! It was a hoot!
Swamp Rat 13 now rests peacefully in the Museum of Drag Racing.
Top Speed; 225.56
Low ET; 6.61
> Swamp Rat 14
Swamp Rat 14
The Rear Engine Car
While recovering from the loss of my right foot, in the Pacific Coast Hospital in Long Beach, CA, I decided that I would make an attempt at designing a Championship Rear Engine Top Fuel Dragster.
There had been a lot of RE Dragsters in the past, but none were really successful. Just to name a few: Dwayne Ong, Bernie Shackerly, Red Case, Ollie's White Owl, the Israeli Rocket, even my Brother Ed had one in 1957! Probably, there are more that I don’t remember. I didn’t invent the Rear Engine Dragster, I just perfected it!
As soon as I got home, Connie Swingle, TC Lemons and I started on the project. It was very simple, we just moved the driver to up in front of the engine, put roll cage hoop on the frame and presto! We had a Rear Engine Car! Within a week or so I was building a “Shorty” body for testing. That’s when crap hit the fan! No matter what we did, I couldn’t make a full run, without running off the strip! For three months this went on, till finally, we gave up, as it was getting time to leave for California for the winter meets. Plus I had a very lucrative contract with the AHRA, and this was their first event, at Lion's, where I lost my foot, just a year ago!
The boys and I snapped together a new Slingshot, Swamp Rat 15, to start the season. Pat came out into the shop to give me a message and saw the thing on the jig and flew into a rage! She wanted to know what did I think I was doing! I told her that SR 14 didn’t work and I had to be in CA in two weeks.
In no uncertain terms, she said to get back on the Rear Engine project, that too many of our friends had been killed in the damn slingshots! So we did. On the next outing, it was determined that the steering, off the slingshots was much too fast and had to be slowed down. We did that and the little car went straight as a string and the rest is history!
The original SR-14 is in the Museum for all the fans to enjoy. A much more in-depth story is in: “Don Garlits and His Cars”.
Top Speed; 225.56
Low ET; 6.21
> Swamp Rat 15
Swamp Rat 15
The last Garlits slingshot that never made a run, but was seen by millions of people! After about three months of testing SR-14, and not ever making a full run, Connie Swingle, TC Lemons and I decided the Rear Engine Car was a failure and we “Snapped” together Swamp Rat 15, the nicest Slingshot dragster, we had ever built. I was building the body when Pat walked into the shop and had a hissy fit! She made us get back on the RE Project! Pat sold Swamp Rat 15 To Goodyear Tire and Rubber and they used it in shows for about six years and then gave it to the Museum. We restored it as it had lots of wear and tear from thousands of people getting in and out of the car for photos! We loaned it to the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in Lake City, Florida and when the Hall was moved to Lakeland, Florida, we changed out SR-15 for SR-16. Again, we freshened up the car and displayed it for a short period of time.
Then When Summit opened the parts warehouse in McDonough, GA, they asked if they could borrow the car to hang from the ceiling in the Showroom. We agreed and that’s where it is to this day. As I said, it’s probably been seen by more people than any of my cars, except the SR-30, at the Smithsonian.
Top Speed; Never ran!
> Swamp Rat 16
Swamp Rat 16
In the fall of 1971, after the racing was over, we started construction of SR-16, we learned a lot from running the SR-14 and we applied what we knew to the new car. This was a great car and we won a lot of races with it. We débuted the new car at Fremont and Dan Olson supplied the new wing. However, we didn’t mount it properly and it collapsed at the 1972 Gatornationals, nearly causing me to crash the car in the timing lights. Lucky for me, I was able to bring the car under control and we rushed home to Tampa, installed a pair of “Canard” wings, returned to the track, and won the race!
After the Gators, we did the famous Navy poster on the USS Lexington in the Gulf of Mexico; we still have a few of the posters to this day! Get, "Don Garlits and His Cars", for the full story!
When The Florida Sports Hall of Fame was in Cypress Gardens, We loaned SR-16 to them for display, then when the HOF moved back from Lake City, to Lakeland, we loaned SR-16 to them again. When the Hall of Fame finally closed for good, SR-16 came home to its permanent resting place, here at the Drag Racing Museum.
In 2009, we loaned the car to the Gilmore Museum in Michigan for a year and it was well received. It’s back home now.
Top Speed; 243.90
Low ET; 6.05
> Swamp Rat 17
Swamp Rat 17
The Wynn’s Liner
When Robert “Jocko” Johnson saw the success I was having with the RE Car, he thought he should build a “Swoopy“ body for the car, like he did for Jazzy Nelson in 1959, which ran pretty well! We put a program together; Jocko built the mold in CA and came East to live in the White House next door. I had purchased that property, a few years earlier from our neighbor, Mr. Thomas.
We worked on the project for over a year and finally got the car to the AHRA Grand American at Orange County Raceway.
Butch Maas did the driving and didn’t qualify the car; it was only going a little over 180 MPH! We took it home, made some adjustments and I got Don Cook to drive it at Lakeland during an IHRA event. Again, only around 180 MPH. I decided to drive it myself and see what was going on. I soon found out, at about 180 MPH, the car hydroplaned on the cushion of air, building up under the car, and as the rear wheels came off the ground the engine revved up and the driver just naturally lifted. We abandoned the project and I sold the car to Russell Mendez for a rocket car project. Russell was killed in his Rocket car at Gainesville before he could finish the project and by then I had the museum, so I purchased the car back from the Mendez Estate.
The Museum restored the vehicle and it is on display.
Top Speed; 185.00
Low ET; 7.00
> Swamp Rat 18
Swamp Rat 18
Shorty
While we were building SR-17, I decided to build a short RE car to test the short wheelbase chassis that was being built for the Wynnsliner. I ran “Shorty” at the AHRA event in Tulsa and at Orange County; the same time we had the Wynnsliner there. I qualified “Shorty”, but Herm Peterson beat me in the first round!
Again, I learned, the Top Fuel cars must have a long wheelbase to perform properly. I sold “Shorty” to some kids up north and they ran it as a lower class dragster for a few years.
Then one day about 2000, I get a call out of Canada, that this guy thinks he knows where “Shorty” is, I check it out and sure enough, it’s the car! I bought it and restored it back to original, running and it is in the museum.
Top Speed; 238.00
Low ET; 6.80
> Swamp Rat 19
Swamp Rat 19
We learned from “Shorty” that a longer wheelbase was a must in Top Fuel, so the new car for 1973 was 240” wheelbase. This car also had a B & J two-speed transmission. It was a Killer. It set both ends of the NHRA and the AHRA World Records and won the AHRA World Championships. I actually campaigned the car in 1973 and 1974, because I sold my new car, SR-20 to Richard Holcomb, before I ever got to run it, but that’s another story!
At the end of 1974, I sold Swamp Rat 19 to Graham Writhers, down in Australia. Graham had set up an Australian tour for me, so the family and I traveled to Australia in December of 74 for the tour. The tour was cut short, and we returned home for Christmas.
Then in the 90’s I purchased the car back from Graham, minus the engine, brought it back to the Museum, and restored it as it was in 1973. It is in the museum on display. Read, “Don Garlits & His Cars” for the full story.
Top Speed 247.25 NHRA & AHRA World Record
Low ET; 5.78 NHRA & AHRA, World Record
Only time in the history of the sport did a single car set both Association’s records exactly the same! The NHRA records were set at the 1973 World Finals and the AHRA records were set at the 1974 Winter Nationals, about two months apart.
Top Speed; 247.25*
Low ET; 5.78*
> Swamp Rat 20
Swamp Rat 20
The first Swamp Rat 20 got sold to Richard Holcomb, before I ever got to run the car. It was sitting in my garage, all finished, except the paint, when in rolls Richard with more money than dirt. 10K later, he drove away with my new car for 1975!
On the very first outing, push starting the car, the push bar collapsed and the push truck rolled up on the rear tires, shot the truck up on the dragster, and collapsed the roll cage. By the grace of God, no one was killed! Holcomb repaired the car ran it for several years, and sold it to Art Malone, who campaigned it for another 3 or 4 years, but the car was getting obsolete. The car’s career ended after the 1980 Gatornationals. Art told the NHRA Starter, Buster Couch, that he was entering the car in the upcoming Gatornationals. Buster said, “I’ll bet you $500.00 you don’t even qualify”! Art took the bet, DNQ, and gave Buster his $500.00. Art never ran the car again. He built a special little house at the Desoto Memorial Drag Strip, that housed SR-20 for many years and then suddenly he decided to give the dragster to our Museum. It was very complete and is in my Private, Don’ Garage, awaiting restoration, back to the way it was in 1974. When I sold it to Richard Holcomb. I may take it for a spin, after all!
But there is another SR-20! Bill Harrah came to me in 1974 and wanted a running Swamp Rat for his museum. Glen Blakely built me a car, just like SR-19, we had Harry Schwartz build the body exactly like the body on SR-19 and we had the same paint job put on the car. It is a beautiful, running Top Fuel car and it is in the Holiday Inn Museum in Reno, NV. Holiday Inn purchased all of the Harrah Museum holdings when Bill died and they had a huge auction. However, they did keep some of the more important cars for a much smaller museum. It is still there today.
Top Speed; 245.00
Low ET; 6.11
> Swamp Rat 21
Swamp Rat 21
The “Jungle” Car
Jungle Jim called me in 1974 and ordered a Top Fuel Dragster, complete, less the engine. He sent me a 2K Dollar deposit and we built the car and had Harry Schwartz build the body. It had just been returned from Harry’s shop, when I got a call from Jungle, saying, “I want my deposit back, I can’t book a Top Fuel Car”! It was at this same time that Holcomb purchased Swamp Rat 20, so I painted my name on Jungle’s car and made it Swamp Rat 21!
I didn’t do well at the Gators, but I won the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, CA, however, the car didn’t fit me very well, as Jungle was a much bigger man. I contacted Don Cook from Dallas and he came to Florida and we built Swamp Rat 22.
In 1976, I sold SR-21 to Santa Pod Raceway and I flew over and drove the car for them. I set the British Land Speed Record with Swamp Rat 21, 234 MPH. They kept the car for several years and then gave it back to me for an appearance. When it came home, we cleaned it up and loaned it to the Museum in Sarasota, Florida, where it sat for many years. We have it back now and it’s under restoration. We are going to loan it to Santa Pod, as they are building a Drag Racing Museum on the Drag strip grounds. It will be there for 10 years.
Top Speed; 244.56
Low ET; 5.89
> Swamp Rat 22
Swamp Rat 22
The 250 MPH Car
Don Cook and I snapped together the 240” wheelbase frame for SR-22 at the Tampa shop in the summer of 1975. I then sent the car to Pensacola, Florida, to Harry Schwartz’s shop for the beautiful body. The car debuted at Blaney, SC for the NHRA Points Race. We won the race and this was going to be a really good car.
I lengthened the wheelbase to 250” before the NHRA World Finals. I won the World Championships with it in Ontario, CA, setting the national Record that stood for a full seven years, 250.69 MPH in 5.63 seconds.
I retired the car at the end of 1975 but brought it out of storage in 1978. to win the Gatornationals. It was on display for two years in New York City in the Kodak Display in Manhattan. It is now in the museum, on display in the Wynn’s booth, totally original.
Get my book, "Don Garlits and His Cars", for the complete story.
Top Speed; 250.69
Low ET 5.637
> Swamp Rat 23
Swamp Rat 23
The Blakely Car
When I returned home from California, all my help was gone. TC went home to visit his parents, Connie was in CA, and Bob Taaffe was working with his brothers in the “Garbage” business. I had my old friend, Glen Blakely help me with the building of the SR-23 Chassis. Again, I had Harry Schwartz build a beautiful body. I opted out of the NHRA Circuit for 1976, as Larry Carrier offered me a 100K Dollar contract for his ten races if I didn’t run the NHRA Circuit. I didn’t mind, as the NHRA had done some pretty underhanded stuff to me in 1975! We won the IHRA World Championships, but the big news was; that Ed Donovan supplied his 417 CID Aluminum Engines for SR-23. I had a lot of engine trouble, as the fuel pumps were not big enough yet and the early Hemi blocks were not as strong as the new Keith Black Aluminum 426 blocks. About halfway through the season, I built the SR-24 for the Donovan engine and set the SR-23 aside. The SR-23 was a little on the heavy side.
In 2004, we loaned the SR-23 to the Martin 131 Dragway for a year. It is now loaned to George Schreiber for his museum in Missouri.
Top Speed; 247.25
Low ET; 5.77
> Swamp Rat 24
Swamp Rat 24
The Navy Car
During the summer of 1976, Swingle, TC and I built Swamp Rat 24 with a three-speed transmission, a “Two Piece” chassis, and a Donovan engine. The first outing was Miami Hollywood DS and Ron Barrow did the test driving, getting his Top Fuel license, in the process. All went well and we returned home to Seffner. We got back in the we-hours of the morning and went right to bed.
The next morning, when we opened up the trailer the two-piece chassis had fallen apart at the bolt-together spot! We went back to the jig, turned it into a normal chassis, and stretched the wheelbase to 250”.
We took SR-24 and SR-23 to the Bristol Spring Nationals. The three-speed transmission was not doing well. We removed the three-speed.
Towards the end of the year, I got a call from Navy recruiting that they would like to sponsor me for 1977 if I would paint the dragster blue and white. I agreed and painted SR-24 blue and white. While looking at the pretty white cowl in the shop, I got the idea of putting a big “Cross” with “God is Love”, emblazoned across the crossbar. When I got to Pomona with the car, the “Cross” got me headlines in the LA Times and cost me the Navy sponsorship! Read, “Don Garlits and His Cars” for the full story. I ran the car for three full years. It won over 600K Dollars and was one of my best cars. I had to put the 426 Hemi back in the car in 1978, as the Donovan couldn’t keep up with the stronger, newer, 426 engine from Chrysler.
Swamp Rat 24 is in the Museum, on display, completely original.
Top Speed; 252.70
Low ET; 5.78
> Swamp Rat 25
Swamp Rat 25
The Lester Gilroy Car
Lester Gilroy was following us around in mid-1979 and said he had some ideas about “Ground Effects” for a Top Fuel dragster, If I would let him build me a car. I contracted with Lester and he started the project. I dropped by his shop in November, at the end of the season and all he had was some rails laid up and it was obvious that Lester had health problems and would never finish the car.
I paid Lester off, took the half-finished frame to Florida, and Herb and I finished the job and Larry Sikora did the body.
Herb and I ran the car for all of 1980, but it was so heavy and stiff, that we opted out of the NHRA Circuit, mid-year. Every minute of my time at home was spent on building one of the best Top Fuel cars I ever had, Swamp Rat 26. After I retired SR-25, Craig Arfons got me interested in a Helicopter engine. It was a General Electric T-85, Turbine. We installed this engine in SR-25 for a few test runs, but was not satisfied with the performance, so we put the car back to it’s original configuration and put it into the Museum, where it sits today.
Read, “Don Garlits and His Cars”, for the full story.
Top Speed; 251.39
Low ET; 5.75
> Swamp Rat 26
Swamp Rat 26
The "Black Car"
I started building the “Black Car” in the summer of 1980 when it became obvious that SR 25 was not going to cut the mustard! The car was completely built by me, Personally!
By the time the season was over in October, I had it finished and instead of paint, I black anodized the aluminum body panels to save weight! This was an awesome car right from the start.
Herb and I had a terrible falling out at the Bradenton Winter race and my Nephews, Billy and Eddie Garlits took over as my crew. We won the AHRA World Championships.
The car ran in 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984! That’s a long time for a Top Fuel car, but I was moving from Seffner to Ocala and had to build a new house. There just wasn’t time to build a new dragster. We won the 1984 US Nationals and the NHRA World Finals with Swamp Rat 26, The “Black Car”, and those two wins put me back into “Big Time” Drag Racing. Read the full story in, “Don Garlits and His Cars”.
Top Speed; 263.62
Low ET; 5.52
> Swamp Rat 27
Swamp Rat 27
The Sidewinder
During the fall of 1981, I got a call from Mike Sage, one of the owners of SCS Gearbox, in Bellevue, OH. Mike wanted to build a sidewinder to keep the Top Fuel cars from “Tilting to the right’, from the enormous torque generated by the Nitro-powered Hemi engines. I knew exactly what he was talking about, no matter how good a driver you were, the car always went a little left on the launch! Eddie Garlits, Billy Garlits and I drove to Ohio to get on with the project. The Sage brothers already had a new frame constructed and a body by Al Bergler of Detroit, one of the best Eastern bodybuilders, and the boys and I were just going to do the plumbing and other minor items.
As soon as everything was tidied up, we all headed to Florida for the test runs. Miami Hollywood DS was the place and on the very first run, it recorded a blistering 250 MPH! Everybody went “Bananas”, but me! I said it didn’t feel that good, more like 230 MPH, the next run proved it, 230 MPH and a broken gearbox. The Sage Brothers rushed back to Ohio to repair the parts and I prepared to go to California to race Shirley in a Match race at OCIR. Shirley easily beat the Sidewinder and on the second run, broke another gearbox. I knew I had to get back into the “Black Car”, so I had some friends bring it out to me for the rest of the winter tour.
When I got home, the Sage Brothers had made improvements on the gearbox, so I took the car to Rockford IL for a match race with the Chi-Town Hustler. The Funny Car easily beat SR-27, so I returned home to get my conventional Top Fuel car, but not before I paid a visit to South Florida University. I spoke with the Engineering Department and showed them my gear set up and a regular rear end with a ring and pinion, a Dana to be exact. This is what they found; the Dana absorbed 7% in parasite loss, and the massive gears necessary to turn the engine sideways, took at least 21%! Nobody can give up 14% of their power for any reason! The Sidewinder became a Museum relic and it is something that everybody loves to look at, because it’s an engineering marvel, to say the least!
Top Speed; 227.00
Low ET; 6.27
> Swamp Rat 28A
Swamp Rat 28A
High Gear-Top Fuel
The Sidewinder was history, the “Black Car” was getting old and I wanted something new and different. I built a nice lightweight Top Fuel car, “High Gear” only. I was just a little ahead of my time, as little did I realize at the time that we didn’t have nearly enough fuel volume to handle the load generated when the 4-disk clutch went one-to-one. You need about 50 GPM and I only had about 30 GPM! The result? Massive tire shake and it shook my lightweight car to pieces at West Palm Beach, Florida. Not realizing the problem, I intended to build a stronger back half, when Craig Arfons convinced me to install the General Electric T-85. Jet Fuel, Turbine engine. We spent a lot of time with this power plant, with Craig explaining to me how powerful the engine was; about 2000 Horsepower, with the water Alcohol injection. I don’t believe it ever produced that much power. However, I ran it at several events and it was totally unimpressive, with no noise and very poor times. I eventually sold the engine to an Australian Boat Person, and the Navy gave me a stock engine for the display car.
I saved all the parts and pieces from the original SR-28, so I recreated the Top Fuel, high-gear version. It’s a running model and presently is in the Motorsports Museum in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Top Speed; 255.54
Low ET; 5.92
> Swamp Rat 28B
Swamp Rat 28B
The Turbine Car
I had massive tire shake at West Palm Beach and it shook my little, lightweight car to pieces. Not realizing the problem, I intended to build a stronger back half, when Craig Arfons convinced me to install the GE T-85 Turbine engine into SR-28. We spent a lot of time with this power plant, with Craig explaining to me how powerful the engine was; about 2000 Horsepower, with the water Alcohol injection. I don’t believe it ever produced that much power. However, I ran it at several events and eventually sold the engine to an Australian. The Navy gave me a stock engine for the display car. Read, “Don Garlits and His Cars”, for the full story.
Top Speed; 219.00
Low ET; 6.46
> Swamp Rat 29
Swamp Rat 29
After winning Indy and the World finals in 1984, I decided to go back on the NHRA circuit. I hadn’t had a good car in several years, so I went to work building Swamp Rat 29. I built this car completely by myself in the Museum shop and were the employees ever surprised! They didn’t know I could do this kind of work. It was a good car; However, I crashed it on the first outing at Phoenix, during a match race with Gary Beck. The wing stand collapsed! But I won the race, and Herb, my nephews and I got it back together for the NHRA. 1985 Winternationals, in Pomona, CA. We did a match race at Fremont, CA, before we traveled home to put on a new front half. I won the NHRA World Championships in 1985 with SR-29, and I set the all-time Top Speed Record at 268 MPH. I told Kalitta that I had an idea of how to go over 270 MPH in the quarter, he just laughed and said, “Nobody will ever go over 270 in the quarter mile”! Get “Don Garlits and His Cars” for the complete story.
Top Speed; 268.01
Low ET; 5.450
> Swamp Rat 30
Swamp Rat 30
The Streamliner
I got the idea for the covered, small front wheels at the 1985 US Nationals, while doing an interview, down at the end of the track, in the Torco Tower! I noticed that the open-wheeled Top Fuel cars were disturbing the air a lot worse than the closed-wheeled Funny Cars. The whole story about this revolutionary car is in, “Don Garlits and His Cars”, it’s too much to print here. I débuted the car at the 1986 Gatornationals, won the race, and became the first car over 270 MPH! (272.56 MPH). It wasn’t a record, no backup.
At the Summernationals in Englishtown, NJ, I did set the NHRA World record at 171.00, but during a qualifying run on Saturday morning, I blew the car over backward and had to return home to make the necessary repairs. Herb and I won the NHRA World Championships and the US Fuel and Gas Championships, in 1986 with SR-30, as SR-31 was not completed by the end of the year, another long story, so we ran SR-30 for the first half of 1987. The last "Big" win for SR-30 and Don Garlits was the NHRA 1987 Winternationals, held at Pomona, CA.
In October 1987, Swamp Rat XXX was inducted into the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, something that makes me very proud! It’s like winning the “Big One”! The only other Drag Racing car in the Smithsonian is Bruce Larson’s Funny Car.
Top Speed; 275.65
Low ET; 5.264
> Swamp Rat 31
Swamp Rat 31
I started building Swamp 31 in 1986, but there were so many hold-ups with the fiberglass company in Michigan. They were trying to get me as much down pressure as possible with the new front end, so I didn’t get the nosepiece till around June of 1987. I was running SR-30 in the meantime. By August 1987, SR-31 was finished and Herb Parks brought the rig home we switched the two cars and headed to Brainerd, Minnesota for the NHRA event. I got beat in the first round, as I had too much tire spin, so for the next event at Spokane, WA, Herb and I installed the new “Double Element” wing, a big mistake! On the first run, the car blew over at over 225 MPH at half track and went through the timing traps at 215 MPH in 5.51 seconds, (Low ET of the event) Upside down, backward, on fire! I had a very close call that day and you can read the whole story in, “Don Garlits and His Cars”. I broke several ribs during the accident and was out of racing for over 6 months! Herb Parks quit, opened his own shop and NBC hired me for “Color” commentating. I was in Television for 27 years!
The wreckage of SR-31, went on the car show circuit for “World of Wheels” for several years, but now in the museum, on the transporting stage for the fans to enjoy!
Top Speed; 258.17
Low ET; 5.513
> Swamp Rat 32
Swamp Rat 32
The Mono-Wing Car
I got the idea for the “Mono-Wing” car when I drove Shirley Muldowney's car in 1989 at the Dallas Texas Motorplex. After I made that run, I knew we needed a rudder on these fuel cars! So I designed the Mono-wing car, Swamp Rat 32. I had a lot of trouble getting the approval, but finally, at Atlanta, the NHRA allowed me to run the car. I hurt my eyes with a hard parachute stop, so I got Bruce Larson to drive the car. We won some races in the IHRA circuit, but no NHRA events! It was an experimental car and we were on a learning curve. Murf McKinney built SR-32, because he had computer programs to tell us just what we needed in tubing sizes and wall thickness. I started Murf on Swamp Rat 34. Swamp Rat 33 is a Bonneville Streamliner, more on that later.
We retired SR-32 and loaned it to Summit Racing for display for 10 years, then loaned it to the NHRA Museum in Pomona California, where it is today. Swamp Rat 32 is hanging on the wall in their museum!
Top Speed; 299.30
Low ET; 4.92
> Swamp Rat 33
Swamp Rat 33
The Bonneville Car
Rich Venza contacted me in 1987 and asked me if they built a blown Flathead streamliner, for Bonneville, would I like to drive it and if we set the record, I would be in the Bonneville 200 Mile an Hour Club. What an opportunity, of course, I would drive it! So Venza started the project. We were in the process of building SR-32 in the Museum shop so this car would be Swamp Rat-33.
We all got to the "Salt" in 1988 with the beautiful Streamliner and I did set the two-way record of 217.947 MPH and it was definitely a team effort! It takes a lot of people to run a Bonneville car! The car and original Blown 1949 Ford Flathead engine are in the Museum for the fans to enjoy.
And here is the list of the crew, in the photo from Left to right,
Jerry Wessell, Tim Schultz, Don Kerr, Rod Kempkes, John Mackichan, Pat Garlits, Big Daddy, Rich Venza, Dave Thomssen, Tim Thomssen, Bill Bernstrauch, Don Williams, Bill Schneider, Fred Smith & Larry Borowich.
> Swamp Rat 34A
Swamp Rat 34A
1993-1998
By the end of 1992, I found several of the things about SR-32 that could be improved, the position of the rear wing, the size of the front wing, the position of the roll bar, and other minor design features. I contacted Murf McKinney, our chassis builder, and ordered a new car, Swamp Rat 34. Larson and I ran the car for all of 1993, winning a few IHRA events, but I didn’t care for the hard work if I wasn’t driving and my eyes were still giving trouble over the hard stop in 1992 with SR-32.
I sold the entire rig to Richard Langson of Reno, Nevada, and agreed to be the Crew Chief till he could find someone to handle the job. Richard had lots of ideas about Top Fuel racing that did not coincide with mine. However, the deal with Langson was; that when he was done racing the car, the Museum got it back.
So in 1998, Langson returned the Swamp Rat 34, sans the engine to Ocala, Florida.
Then in 2000, Chris Karamesines turned his first 300 MPH run in his Top Fuel Dragster! The Greek called me up and said that I should get SR-34 out of storage, put a new modern engine in it, and come to the 2001 US Nationals and go 300 MPH before I got too old! I was excited so I started ordering parts and I had all three Bucher Boys, Tim, Mike and Rick come to Florida to help get the car together for Indy. We called the operation, "Top Fuel Camp"!
All was going well, we tested at Gainesville and three days before time to leave, I got a fax from NHRA, with 16 pages of changes to SR-34, that we would have to do to enter the race!
I went out into the shop and gave everybody the bad news and pulled the plug! The bad news spread like wildfire on the Internet! About an hour later the phone rang and it was Gary Clapshaw. Gary said his car was entered, it had gone 300 MPH and I could drive it at Indy if I wanted to. I accepted the challenge and we all went to Indy and that took us to the next car, Gary Clapshaw’s “Spirit of Las Vegas”. Top Fuel dragster
> Swamp Rat Clapshaw
Swamp Rat Clapshaw
2001
Pat and I were so excited about Gary Clapshaw allowing me to drive his Top Fuel car at the 2001 NHRA US Nationals,
The Bucher boys brought an early Swamp Rat to Indy for display and to sell tee shirts, while Pat and I drove a passenger car. We were so surprised to find the "Spirit of Las Vegas" all wrapped with the Black paint and my name along with Matco Tools our sponsor! Gary had a great crew and all I had to do was drive the car.
After sever aborted runs, Gary said, "This horse is not going to come to you! You are going to have to come to the horse"! What he meant was, I was going to have to change my method of driving a Top Fuel dragster to the modern way.
On the next run, I followed Gary's instructions and turned 303.37 MPH, winning the match race against my old competitor, Chris "The Greek" Karamesines. I qualified the Clapshaw car, but got beat in the first round. I drove the car one more time at the NHRA Finals in Pomona, CA, but had trouble and didn't qualify.
Gary sold the dragster to an Australian team and they crashed the car destroying it completely, so I found an old fuel car like it, put the 2001 wrap on the car and I have it on display at Burnyzze's, my friend's car Emporium in Ocala, Florida. It will be there a couple of years and then return to the museum.
> Swamp Rat 34B
Swamp Rat 34B
After Indy, I asked the NHRA, Division II Tech man to visit the shop so he could take a look at Swamp Rat 34. I wanted him to tell me personally just what the NHRA needed for the car to be legal. It was very little; we did it in less than an hour. However, there were other issues with Ray Alley the Headman in Tech, back in California. Get the book, “Don Garlits and His Cars”, for the complete story. I only entered a few races in 2002, sponsored by Matco Tools and the best was Indy where the car made its fastest run up to that time, 318.54, in 4.76 seconds. Matco gave me a custom tool box for the record run! We were qualified for s few minutes and then got bumped out.
The following year, 2003, Summit sponsored me for a half a dozen races, and I made my fastest run at the 2003 Gators, 323.04, in 4.76 seconds. I finished the year, not hurting any parts, but only qualifying at the NHRA race in Atlanta, with a 4.73 ET, the car's best! Brandon Bernstein beat me in the first round.
At the end of the season, my wife asked me real nice, not to drive the Top Fuel cars any longer, as “it was scaring her to death”! I put the SR-34-B in the Museum and never drove it again.
Get, "Don Garlits and His Cars" for the complete story!
Top Speed; 323.04 Gainesville, Gators
Low Elapsed Time; 4.73 Atlanta, Southern Nationals
However, I did drive out the back door at the Gators and the computer showed the front wheel speed at blistering 340 MPH!
> Swamp Rat 35
Swamp Rat 35
The Dodge Challenger Drag-Pak Car
In 2008, Mopar flew me to Denver to test drive the new Dodge Challenger Drag Pak car for 2009. I loved the ride, so I ordered one and because of my long relationship with Chrysler, nearly 50 years at that point, I got the very first one produced! 2009-001!
I raced it at a lot of NHRA Championship races, never winning a big race, but having loads of fun! Then in 2011, Mopar came out with the 2011 Drag Pak car, powered by the Viper aluminum V 10 Engine. So I retired the 2009 car to the Museum, where it is to this day! Get "Don Garlits and His Cars", for the full story.
Top Speed; 135.66 MPH
Low ET; 10.01 seconds
> Swamp Rat 36
Swamp Rat XXXVI
2011 Drag-Pak Dodge
After I tested the Prototype, 2011 Dodge Challenger Drag-Pak car at the Gainesville Racetrack, I had to have one! It was faster than my best run in the 2009 model that I was racing. The new one came in black and Joe Adams did the special graphics. We had it at the Orlando PRI Show and it was a big hit.
The Gatornationals was my first outing and I turned 145 MPH in 9.46 seconds. However I “Broke Out” in the first round, as I didn’t figure out the car being so fast.
At the Mopar Nationals in Reading, PA, I was runner-up! I should have won, but I was getting double 00 reaction times and I must have staged too deep and “red Lit” on the Final!
My wife, Pat was getting really sick about this time, so I put the car up and stayed home with her till she “Passed” in 2014. I didn’t do much for a while, but then got the urge to pursue the Electric Dragster program.
Top Speed; 145.00 MPH
Low ET; 9.46 Seconds
> Swamp Rat 37
Swamp Rat 37
The first Electric Dragster
In 2001, we did a series of “match” races with Darrell Gwynn, using “Glorified” electric golf carts, that looked like our 1986 Top Fuel cars. We raced at a limited number of NHRA National events, raising money for the “Spinal Cord Injury Foundation”. Then at the end of the season, we sold the cars at the Barrett Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, AZ, and got more money for charity. We originally wanted the cars to go at least 100 MPH in the quarter, but had to slow them down to about 35 MPH, so that Darrell could drive his car with the “Joystick”!
When it was all over, I asked Mike Gerry, the builder of the cars, “How fast do you think we could go, if we took the gloves off”? Gary said, “I think we could go over 200 MPH”! Swamp Rat 37 was born! We raised money for several years. Did design work and by 2013 were doing some testing. We broke a lot of parts, as the electric motor had tons of torque. We finally settled on a “high gear” only drive train.
We raised the record several times, finally reaching 185.60 in 8.25 seconds, Swamp Rat’s best times and both World Records. Get “Don Garlits and His Cars” for the full story. Swamp Rat is retired now and on display in the Drag Racing Museum. We decided to build a new Electric Dragster, as SR-37 was too heavy, about 2300 pounds and I thought that Chris Bumpus and I could build one at about 1500 pounds.
Top Speed; 186.60
Low ET; 7.03 (No Back-up)
World Record ET; 7.25 Still standing, as of August 31, 2023
> Swamp Rat 38A
Swamp Rat 38A
The second Electric Dragster
Towards the end of SR-37’s racing life, I determined that we didn’t need a chassis like a modern Top Fuel car to only go a little over 200 MPH. those kinds of speeds didn’t require the heavy wall tubing that the Top Fuel cars had to have to keep from breaking in two, down course.
I designed a chassis very similar to SR-14, my first Rear Engine, Top Fuel Car. Swamp Rat 38-A weighed in at 1500 pounds, with me in the seat! The original car, SR-38-A was a single motor, 1000 HP, sidewinder, with chain drive. We did the original testing at Bradenton, Florida, sorting things out on the new car.
We then traveled to West Palm Beach, to try for the record. On the first run, we turned 189.04 MPH in 7.52 seconds, a new speed record, on only 80% power, we upped the power to 95% and went to the line. It was a great launch and then a rear hub broke and that was it for the outing. We did have a lot of trouble with the chain drive, as the motor had a tremendous amount of torque, so Chris Bumpus and I decided to build a new back half and use an automotive-type rear by Strange Engineering. We had to get rid of the chains; this new configuration would be Swamp Rat 38-B. Then I got COVID, almost died, and was out of the racing for nearly a year!
Top Speed; 189.04
Low ET 7.52
> Swamp Rat 38B
Swamp Rat 38B
The third Electric Dragster
After a year of struggling with the chain drive, which would only last a few runs from the tremendous torque, of the electric motor, we decided on using a Strange Engineering automotive-type aluminum rear. I had an extra one out of Swamp Rat 34A, a very narrow one and a 2.9 to 1 gear ratio was available.
Shawn Lawless gave us a new motor that would rev up to about 6000 RPM and make over 1200 HP!
Chris Bumpus did the chassis work and Shawn ordered up the new battery pack. We felt that this combination would easily go over 200 MPH. All went well and we had the new car at the 2022 Gators, in hopes of making a 200 MPH run. However the NHRA Tech Director, Josh Peterson, wouldn’t let me run the car, said it wasn’t certified and my NHRA License had expired! What a letdown! The fans and I were disappointed, to say the least!
After the Gators, we traveled down to West Palm Beach, an IHRA track, where they said it was fine for me to make runs at their facility.
On my very first run, during the burnout, the new batteries shorted out and caught fire and we had a tough time getting things under control. I’m done with Lithium batteries! They are just too dangerous.
Presently, I’m having the motor tested and we will get the new technology, “Quantum Glass” batteries that are a lot safer. Stay tuned!
No speed or ET available now.