NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

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.

Minor fielded NHRA world championship Top Fuel entries for Gary Beck in 1983 and Dick LaHaie in 1997, along with the car that Cruz Pedregon drove to the Funny Car title in 1992. And though he drove only in a part-time role himself, Minor was equally adept behind the wheel, winning Top Fuel crowns at two NHRA national events in four final-round appearances.

Minor’s racing activities began around 1956, when at age 18 he began competing in off-road events near his hometown of Hemet, Calif. When Ford developed its Bronco truck in the mid-1960s, company representatives came to Hemet to watch many of the local races and ended up offering Minor a factory ride. Minor raced in the Ford program for 10 years, winning such events as the Mexican 1,000 twice, and then decided to switch to NHRA Drag Racing in 1978. 

Minor had planned to drive but couldn't get his license in time, so he first tapped Larry Bowers to drive his new Top Fuel car, but Bowers crashed the car at a tune-up race the week before the NHRA Winternationals. Following that, he hired Larry Dixon Sr. to drive the rebuilt car and primarily concentrated on Division 7 competition.

In 1980, at the suggestion of Steve Gibbs, Minor hired Gary Beck as his Top Fuel driver. With the subsequent addition of Bernie Fedderly, the Beck/Minor combo finished second and fourth, respectively, in 1980 and 1981. Following a fourth-place finish in 1982, it all came together with Beck’s championship campaign in 1983, in which they won the title, going away with a 2,000-point margin over second-place Joe Amato.

With the assistance of Don Prudhomme, Minor acquired Miller Lite sponsorship for the 1984 season and was able to expand the operation with the addition of an Oldsmobile Funny Car driven by Ed McCulloch. After Beck left the team following the 1986 season, he was replaced by Dick LaHaie, who went on to win the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1987.

Minor’s success attracted even more corporate assistance when he landed the prestigious McDonald’s sponsorship in 1992. Said Minor, “Cruz Pedregon had joined the team earlier as the driver of our Top Fuel car. Before the 1992 season began, McCulloch asked if he could trade places with Cruz because all of his old racing buddies, including Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, and others, were now racing Top Fuel. We all talked it over and agreed.”

The result was Pedregon’s championship campaign of 1992, which made him the only driver other than John Force to win an NHRA Funny Car championship in the 1990s.

At this stage of his racing career, Minor’s priorities began to change. “My kids were growing up, and I wanted to spend more time with them,” he said. “I started drifting away from drag racing, but before I got out of it completely, I had Tony Pedregon drive my Top Fuel car in the early 1990s. When I heard that John Force was going to run a second car in 1996, I told John that Tony should be his driver. I wanted to make sure that Tony had gotten himself a secure ride before I retired from drag racing.”

Minor, who was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2020, continued to operate his highly successful Agri-Empire farming operation and still enjoyed the sand racing scene from where his competitive roots first sprouted.