NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Recent passings of notable figures from within the NHRA world. The NHRA extends its sincere condolences to the family and friends of those we have lost. Notices of passing can be sent to nhra@nhra.com.

Jerry Ruth, whose amazing Top Fuel career spanned 20 years and included the NHRA Top Fuel world championship in 1973, passed away July 1. He was 87. [Full story]

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Don Grotheer, who competed in NHRA’s Pro Stock, Super Stock, Stock, and Modified Eliminator classes, passed away June 29. He was 86.

Grotheer collected two NHRA national event victories, winning in Super Stock at the 1969 Winternationals and in Modified at the 1971 Summernationals, and scored three runner-ups, including two in Pro Stock in the 1972 season, losing both times to class master Bill Jenkins. Grotheer was mainly known for running Mopar entries, but also competed in Pro Stock in a Ford Pinto.

Grotheer is survived by his wife Joan; sons Randall and Steven; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in Don's memory be made to Karman Legacy Hospice, 1311 S. Western Rd., Stillwater, OK 74074 or on-line at https://smc-foundation.org/projects/karmen-legacy-hospice-fund/

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Larry Minor, the Southern California potato magnate who rose from his sand drag racing roots to become a successful multi-car team owner in NHRA competition and even an event-winning Top Fuel driver, passed away June 25. He was 85. [Full story]

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Longtime NHRA competitor Joe Welch, who most recently competed in the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown class, passed away June 25. He was 76.

"His time racing with the NHRA brought countless memories and proud moments to our family, the family said in a statement. "Joe’s passion for drag racing and the NHRA community was a defining part of his life. In 2023, he set a speed record at the Gatornationals that became a point of great pride for him, and for all of us."

Welch is survived by his beloved wife of 53 years, Clare. His 5 children, Ann Welch, Jennifer Welch, Jessica (Pete) Uher, Clayton (Katie) Welch, and Brad Andrews, and his 10 grandchildren. His nieces Johnni-Kay (Rob) Smiley, Joy (Barry) Rons, and Jeanene Boswell. As well as his brother-in-law John Boswell.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to one of Joe's favorite charities: University of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital, Wounded Warriors, Tunnel to Towers, March of Dimes, or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

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Longtime Division 1 Stock and Super Stock class competitor Spence Turner passed away June 17 after a long illness. Turner was a class winner at the 1968 and ’71 Summernationals class and the 1973 SS/MA national record holder 

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Longtime Division 6 track operator Jim Livingston, who operated Woodburn Dragstrip in Oregon for decades, passed away May 31. He was 86.

Livingston purchased Woodburn Dragstrip in 1971, 10 years after it was founded, and provided the guidance and excitement for the premier racing facility ever since. This family tradition of excellence continued under the same dedication and perseverance of the current owners, his daughter, Cherie Severance, and her husband, Joey, and their daughters, Preslie and Kinzley. 

Under Livingston’s guidance. Woodburn Dragstrip was named NHRA Division 6 Track of the Year on multiple occasions and helped developed some of the most competitive participants in the sport who have gone on to become NHRA divisional and world champions, including Joey Severance, who for years called Woodburn his hometrack.

Livingston, a former Comp eliminator racer, was an inductee in the inaugural class of the NHRA Division 6 Hall of Fame in 1994.

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Bob Gottschalk, the 1982 NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car world champion, passed away May 31. Gottschalk was a prominent figure in Top Alcohol Funny Car racing in the early 1980s and later transitioned to nitro Funny Car.

Gottschalk collected four NHRA national event wins, three of which came in his championship season and included a victory at the prestigious U.S. Nationals.

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Tom Kasch, a Midwest standout in Stock and Super Stock for nearly 70 years, died May 31. He was 87. Kasch was a winning and world record-holding Stock and Super Stock racer in AHRA, NHRA, and IHRA competition, and the loss of his right leg early in life never kept him and his beloved wife, Ruth, out of the winner's circle or the teardown barn. 

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Steve Huff, who made global headlines in 2020 as the designer, builder, and driver of the world’s first 200 mph electric dragster, passed away May 21 from cancer. He was 58.

In a professional racing career spanning more than 30 years, Huff set more than 20 national and world speed records but earned international exposure through exhibition passes at NHRA national events and established himself as a pioneer and innovator of drag racing’s electric future.

In 2020, after being diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic upper tract urothelial cancer in 2020, he rechristened his dragster “Faster Than Cancer” and met the challenge with the same determination and grit he brought to all aspects of his life and racing career.

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Robert Nickens, one half of the Texas-based Nickens Bros. Racing engine-building dynamos, passed away May 12 of liver cancer. He was 76.

With brother David at the wheel, the siblings were also extremely successful on the racetrack, claiming 29 national event wins and the 1991 world championship in Comp eliminator and another event win in Pro Stock Truck. Robert’s son, Buddy, also was a winner under the guidance of his father and uncle, claiming eight wins and the 1996 world championship.

Robert is survived by his wife of 57 years, Naomi Nickens; son Robert “Buddy” Nickens and wife Sissy; siblings Shirley Van Slyke, David Nickens and wife Karenina, Carlos Bales “Mr. Bull” and wife Patty; Charles “Butch” Bales and wife Candy, plus his 4-legged couch partner Chiquita, and a host of nieces, nephews, friends, and drag racing family.

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Jacques Guertin, founder of the legendary Sanair International Raceway motorsport complex, longtime home of Le Grandnational, passed away April 27. The Sanair track hosted drag racing, road racing, rallycross, and much more. 

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Other recent notable passings: Longtime Midwest Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, and Sportsman racer "Dyno Dave" Heitzman passed away May. 1. Longtime Mopar Super Stock racer Bill Weakley. Division 5 Super Stock racer Dave Smith. Longtime Midwest announcer Chuck Scrimpsher passed away April 21.

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Danny Gracia, former longtime NHRA National Tech Director, passed away on April 28. He was 80.

Gracia joined NHRA in February 1990 as Technical Services Manager.  After taking a yearlong break in mid-1991, he was rehired as National Tech Director in July 1992, and held that position until his retirement in December 2018, although he continued to serve as a part-time event worker through last season.

Gracia, who opened his paint and body shop back in 1976, where he painted custom cars and motorcycles and raced in NHRA Super Stock and Stock until he met Division Director Wayne McMurtry, who was friends with racecar painter to the stars Tom Stratton, both Colorado natives. Gracia was helping Stratton with some paint work, and one thing led to another, and Gracia came to NHRA.

Gracia is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Ellen; sons Jeff and Robert; brother Art, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
 

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Ed Pink, the iconic engine name that became synonymous with horsepower and precision in the golden age of drag racing, died April 27 at the age of 94. [Full story]

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Fuel Altered icon Rich Guasco passed away April 14. He was 88. 

In a rodding and racing career that spanned seven decades, Guasco found his passion for fast cars as a post-war teenager growing up in the family salvage yard in Tri-Valley region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Hot rods, roadsters in particular, were Guasco’s passion. He built two iconic versions - a purple 1929 Ford that won the coveted America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award in 1961. Ironically, Guasco wasn’t able to attend the event as he was serving in the armed forces in Germany at the time. What followed the trophy show car was a more popular roadster. 

Both powerful and fast, Guasco’s Pure Hell 1932 Austin bantam “altered” literally altered the course of the drag strip as one never really knew which direction it would go once the throttle was mashed and the clutch fully engaged down track. Despite being unruly, it won or set performance records at nearly every race in which it was entered.. With a supercharged V-8 engine pumping out incalculable horsepower, Pure Hell roared down drag strips and took fans' breath away. 

Driver Dale Emery thrilled race fans with impromptu wheelies, tire smoke, and 200-mph top speeds. One afternoon at Fremont Raceway, it went upside down into an irrigation ditch. Rebuilt in just two weeks, it set a class record later that spring in Los Angeles. After the bantam was retired following a crash during transport, Guasco switched gears. 

His purple Dodge Demon funny car was a popular entry on the national event trail and won the Funny Car Championship at the 1973 NHRA Springnationals in Columbus, Ohio. In the late 1970s, Guasco transitioned into a mechanic role for some of drag racing's top professional teams. He joined his former driver Dale Emery on Raymond Beadle’s Blue Max Funny Car before joining Dan Pastorini’s Coors Light Top Fuel dragster, all while raising his children, Gina, Rusty and Jill with his late wife Dody. 

In the 1990s, Guasco sold the salvage yard property, pulled Pure Hell out of storage, and had original builder Pete Ogden update the car’s safety features to run it on the nostalgia drags circuit. With Larry Huff driving, the car displayed its famed ill-handling characteristics. Rich parked the original car and had longtime ally Dave Uyehara build a modern versio,n which enjoyed tremendous success, even winning the top fuel class at regional races. Just like the 60s and 70s, Guasco barnstormed the entire country with the new Pure Hell. 

With Brian Hope at the wheel, the car achieved its best performance, eventually running as quick as 5.92 seconds on the quarter mile with a blistering speed of 244.7 miles per hour. When Rich and his daughter Jill weren’t racing, he was driving his hot rods, going as far as New York from his Pleasanton, Calif. home. 

Guasco found strength in keeping Pure Hell’s legacy alive, running the car at select events during the racing season. Guasco fell ill earlier this year. 

Guasco is enshrined in Don Garlits’ International Drag Racing Hall of Fame as well as the Grand National Roadster Show Hall of Fame. He was honored as Grand Marshal for dozens of historic races and other events, including the California Hot Rod Reunion. 

Guasco is survived by his daughters Gina and Jill, and their spouses Jeff and Phil, his son Rusty, grandchildren Dante, Grace, Hannah, Will, and longtime girlfriend Annie Taylor. A public celebration of his life will be announced as soon as details become available. 

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Maynard Rupp, who will live forever in NHRA annals as the association's first Top Fuel world champion, passed away April 8. He was 84. In 1965, Rupp defeated Danny Ongais, driving the Broussard Garrison-Davis Mangler, in the final round at Southwest Raceway in Tulsa, Okla,, for that distinction. [Full story]

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Bernie Fedderly, whose mechanical magic propelled drivers to winner’s circles and world championships over a Hall of Fame career, passed away March 15. He was 83. Among Fedderly's teammates were Terry Capp, Gary Beck, Ed McCulloch, and John Force. [Full story]

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Michael Bartone, who with his fast-driving brother Tony ran roughshod over the Top Alcohol Funny Car class in the mid-1990s, winning the 1996, and himself won the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals in 1995 in Top Alcohol Dragster, passed away March 14. He was 65.

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Longtime NHRA event worker and tech expert Dale Schafer passed away March 14. Schafer, a founding member of Albuquerque Dragway, was a member of the NM Timing Association and a long time NHRA tech inspector at many national events.

Schafer began his racing career in 1952, attending his city’s police department sanctioned “street racing.”  In 1961 Schafer and some associates formed the New Mexico Timing Association, which led to a very aggressive, revenue sale program which furnished the funds to build Albuquerque Dragway. Schafer was elected President of the NMTA and the new track began operation in the spring of 1964 where he managed the rack until 1974 that’s when the bond issue and improvements were paid off.

In 1964 Schafer was introduced to NHRA President Wally Parks, and was invited to work the first Winternationals. Schafer attended the race and was put to work with Dr. Dean Hill at fuel check of the race contestants. Some 40 years later Schafer was still working the national event circuit on fuel certification.

During the 1964 Winternationals race Schafer was also introduced to the soon-to-be first ever Division 4 Director Dale Ham. Ham asked him if he would be interested in working on his Division 4 certification team, a position that he still held some 44 years later.

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Steve Schmidt, a former NHRA Pro Stock and Comp racer, passed away March 4. He was 74.

Schmidt, who won three NHRA national event Pro Stock titles in the mid-1990s, was also a respected engine builder for a number of classes and it was in one of Schmidt’s cars that Pro Stock legend Bob Glidden made some of his last passes.

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Bill Shrewsberry, who for decades entertained and thrilled fans with his L.A. Dart and Knott Berry Wagon wheelstanders, passed away Feb. 19, following a long period of failing health. He was 86. [Full story]

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Ray Franks, who competed in NHRA’s Pro Stock class for nearly 15 years, from 1990 through 2004, has passed away.

Although Franks, from New Carlisle, Ohio, never reached the winner’s circle, he appeared in two final rounds, both in 1996. He was runner-up to Mike Edwards in Houston and to Jim Yates in Topeka.

Franks was also a member of both of Pro Stock’s great performance clubs, the Holley 6-Second Pro Stock Club and the Speed-Pro 200-MPH Pro Stock Club.

Franks, who was a renowned clutch builder in the class, became the 14th member of the Holley 6-Second Pro Stock Club with a 6.997-second pass at the 1997 Gatornationals and then, surprisingly, was just the fourth driver to exceed 200 mph with a 200.22-mph clocking in Houston in 1998.

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Other notable passings: AA/FD legend Rogrt Gates;  Don Ratican, who with Bill Jackson and Ron Stearns campaigned the Fiat bodied Ratican-Jackson-Stearns  A/A Coupe.

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Melvin Heath, who in 1956 became just NHRA’s second national champion, passed away Feb. 17. He was 94.  Heath won Top Eliminator at the 1956 NHRA Nationals in Kansas City, Mo., to claim the title. [Full story]

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Former NHRA Competition Director Lynwood Dupuy passed away Feb. 4. He was 85.

Dupuy spent his early years working at a number of dragstrips in his native Louisiana, including LaPlace Dragway, Southland Dragway and State Capital Dragway. This led to a career change when he accepted the position of General Manager of State Capital Dragway. He was known as the kind of guy who could perform nearly any function at a drag strip from starter to race director and earned a fair but firm reputation and was beloved by racers from coast to coast.

Dupuy’s work ethic and dedication to the sport was recognized by Dale Ham, the former Division Director, who recommended him to the NHRA for the open position of Competition Director, a position he held for 14 years. 

After retirement from NHRA, he remained embedded in the sport through stints with Houston Raceway Park, NMCA/NMRA and as an industry consultant.

Dupuy is survived by his wife, Mary, children David, James "Jim" Jr. (Gale), Wayne, Deanne (Evan Conravey) and Janine; his stepchildren, Sammy (Janice) and Tom Ragusa, his grandchildren, Ashleigh (Byron Blair), Brad (Courtney), Jessica, Hillary (Dax Hampton), Zachary (Kimberly), Dakota Conravey (Kelsey), Chloe (Corey Albert) and 10 great grandchildren.

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John Rasmussen, a Southern California racer who grew up in the hotbed of drag racing and who spent a lot of time with some of the future greats of the sport like John Peters and Gene Adams, passed away Jan. 21. Peters, whose "Freight Train" dragster was legendary in the 1960's, tabbed Rasmussen, as one of the drivers for the famous car. And Gene Adams, a wizard in the tuning department, added Rasmussen, to his team and they competed in both the fuel and the gas classes.

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Other recent passings:

Gary Watson, "the Texas Wheekstanding King," who thrilled fans with two-wheeled antics with memorable machines like the "Paddy Wagon."; Leo Dunn, driver and racecar builder from the 1960s and '70s, best known for his two-engined cars; longtime Division 1 bracket racer Carl Vrucher; John Macey, driver of the Lead Zeppelin Super Stocker;