![]() They made it to Pomona where he fought wheelstand problems like this and eventually qualified and reached the semifinals before losing to Joe Amato. It was locked, Johnny had the key, but Garlits apparently had a big enough hammer to “break in” and get the job done. West was not home but Garlits convinced his mom that Johnny would be OK with his good friend Don Garlits using his shop. ![]() At the conclusion of the third and final round, the wing struts on Gar’s new digger –- which he admitted afterwards used tubing that was too thin - collapsed, sending him tumbling down the top end.įortunately, Garlits was not injured and stopped off at nitro veteran Johnny West’s nearby shop to seek help repairing the car and building new wing struts in time for the Winternationals. SR29 made its debut in spectacular and memorable-for-the-wrong-reasons fashion at the pre-season event at Firebird Int’l Raceway in Phoenix where he beat Gary Beck in a two-of-three match race. ( Swamp Rat 27 was the sidewinder and SR 28 was the equally short-lived turbine car, both built in 1983) for the 1985 season. Nationals by shelving the outdated Swamp Rat 26 (built in 1981) and, with the late Herb Parks, building Swamp Rat 29. Garlits followed his comeback and signature win at the 1984 U.S. ![]() As with the previous installments, it’s not intended to be a historical look back at the era as much as a chance for me to make observation and tell stories about the subjects. It was an interesting decade.įrom a selection of more than 100 photos, I homed in on the following 14 as talking points. As big a fan as I am of the 1970s, the 1980s was a pretty interesting era in Top Fuel, from the Larry Minor superteam to the emergence of Joe Amato and a return to aerodynamic matters and comebacks by Top Fuel legends “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney, Gary Ormsby, and Eddie Hill. Over the past month or so, I’ve shared photos from his five-decade collection covering the 1960s and ‘70s ( Top Fuel and Funny Car) and now we’re on to 1980s Top Fuelers. Let’s continue our journey through the decades with another batch of images from the Ron Lewis collection.
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