NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Drag racing legend “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, who in January celebrated his 90th birthday, completed Top Dragster licensing runs at Roy Hill’s Drag Racing School at Rockingham Dragway.

Garlits made a best pass of 6.393 seconds at a speed of 182 miles per hour to complete the licensing runs that, once his license application is approved by NHRA, will allow him to make exhibition runs in his electric-powered dragster next week in Florida.

Designer of the rear-engine Top Fuel dragster that revolutionized the sport in 1971, Garlits was the first to break the 200-, 240-, 250-, and 270-mph barriers and was a Top Fuel champion for three different sanctioning organizations, and his latest goal to break 200 mph in his electric dragster, which meant he had to license.

The experience was a new one for the Hall of Famer, one in which he was the student instead of the teacher.

“I wasn’t used to the car,” Garlits said, “and I knew right away that the car wasn’t going to come to me; I had to come to the car.  I was hoping I’d be able to do that in the amount of time we had.  I’m happy about it.”

Hill, himself a successful Pro Stock, Pro Modified, Super Stock, and Stock class racer and a 2020 inductee into the Garlits founded International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, handled the instruction and even operated the Christmas Tree starting system during Garlits’ runs, had high praise for the nonagenarian.

“He’s the best Top Fuel racer there’s ever been,” Hill said.  “He’s a real racer and it’s a lot of fun to work with a real racer even if (he’s) never driven this kind of car.  He had a lot of ‘feel’ and could tell me what the car was doing.”

Rockingham owner Steve Earwood, who worked closely with Garlits during his tenure as National Media Relations Director of the NHRA, was similarly impressed.

“I’ve signed licenses for (NHRA World Champions) Del Worsham, Greg Anderson and Erica Enders as well as for Tommy Hammonds (the former NBA basketball standout who had a brief career in drag racing),” Earwood said, “but I could never have imagined I would sign off on a competition license for the sport’s most innovative pioneer. It was an honor, really.”