NHRA News: Carter, longtime crew chief for Eddie Hill, dies (5/17/2000)

Carter, longtime crew chief for Eddie Hill, dies

by Phil Burgess, NHRA.com
5/17/2000

Fuzzy Carter

Terry "Fuzzy" Carter, the well-liked and roundly respected red-bearded sidekick of former NHRA and drag-boat champion Eddie Hill, died May 17, at his home in Big Spring, Texas, after a brief battle with cancer. He was 41.

It was Carter, who went to work for the Hills in the early 1980s as a truck driver before working his way up to valued wrench, who helped "the Texan" in his return to the quarter-mile in 1985.

"We started with a bunch of blown-up boat junk and kind of went from there," Carter told National DRAGSTER in 1994, during the team's title defense.

Together Hill and his wife, Ercie, and Carter and his wife, Jana, created a formidable team that carved a spot in the history books with drag racing's first-ever four-second pass and an NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1993 while winning the hearts and admiration of fans the world over.

In addition to winning the Top Fuel title in 1993, it was that magic day, April 9, 1988, at Texas Motorplex, that Carter called his greatest moment. There, during qualifying for an IHRA event, Hill recorded the sport's first sub-five-second pass, a 4.990.

Carter, whose title on the mighty Super Shops and, later, Pennzoil "Nuclear Banana" dragster was crew chief, though he openly admitted that Hill was the tuner and he merely the foreman who directed the crew.

"Eddie's been like a dad to me," Carter said in 1994. "He practically raised me. I have my own ideas, but why would I wanted to argue with him? He's the teacher and I'm the student - always."

Carter was big on loyalty - he and his wife, Jana, had been together since their early teens - so it was difficult when the team split up in February 1997 following a frustrating series of early-round losses.

"This is a sad, sad day for myself and Ercie," said Hill from his Wichita Falls, Texas, home. "Fuzzman was like a son to us. He and Jana lived with us here for 10 years, and I still think of this back bedroom as his. Always will. It's hard for us to believe he's gone."

Carter most recently tuned for Top Fuel newcomer Terry Mullins in 1998 and 1999 and fell ill during this year's Mac Tools Gatornationals, an event that he and Hill won in 1992 and 1993.

Carter is survived by his wife; Jana, brother Jim Bob; sisters, Debbie Wyrick, Donna Franklin, and Carla Shaw; and his mother, Willie Carter.

Services will be held Friday, May 19, at 2 p.m. at Trinity Memorial Cemetery in Big Spring, Texas.

The Fuzzy Carter Medical Fund had been established to cover his expenses, and donations are still being accepted to help defray costs. Donations to the fund, as well as condolences, can be sent to P.O. 1423, Big Spring, TX 79721-1423.

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