Veteran competitor Tom Baum, who raced every kind of dragster, including Top Fuelers, in a career that spanned almost four decades, died Oct. 27. He was 67.

Baum was best known for his long line of Top Alcohol Dragsters, all raced under the name Xecutioner and all built with his own hands in his one-car garage in Des Plaines, Ill.
 
Baum, known affectionately as "the Bomber" for his tendency to run his equipment all-out, was a perennial top 10 finisher in UDRA competition and at one time was the quickest driver in history at the wheel of a cast-iron Chevy blown Alcohol Dragster. His greatest moment, however, was when he won the overall TAD title in the Olympics of Drag Racing at Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, Wis., in 1988.