‘Fast Lane’ Blows It on Garlits

What would a book on the history of major league baseball be without a mention of Babe Ruth? Or the NBA without Wilt Chamberlain? Or soccer without Pele in its pages?

Impossible, you say.

Not if you’re the National Hot Rod Assn., which in celebration of its 50th anniversary this year, has published a book, “The Fast Lane: The History of NHRA Drag Racing.”

Don Garlits, drag racing’s “Big Daddy,” whose exploits in top-fuel competition were as significant to the NHRA as Ruth’s, Chamberlain’s or Pele’s were to their sports, is left out. Ignored.

“It’s pathetic,” Garlits said from his racing museum in Ocala, Fla. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.”

This is what is shockingly omitted:

* The NHRA’s premier event is the U.S. Nationals, drag racing’s equivalent of the Super Bowl. Between 1964 and 1986, Garlits won it eight times. No one else has won more than three.

* Garlits won three NHRA top-fuel championships and 35 national events. Only Joe Amato has won more.

* Garlits was the first to officially surpass 190 mph (in 1963), 200 (in 1964), 240 (in 1973), 250 (in 1975) and 270 (in 1986), all major milestones.

After an accident in 1970 at Lions drag strip in Long Beach when a front-engine explosion severed his right foot, Garlits formulated plans for a rear-engine dragster while recuperating.

This is how “The Fast Lane” remembers it: “A series of serious mishaps involving slingshots in the early 1970s opened the bar for innovation . . . and this time mid-engine dragsters roared to the top.”

No mention that it was Garlits who was responsible for what became drag racing’s most revolutionary change. His first rear-engine dragster occupies a place alongside Kenny Bernstein’s first over-300 mph vehicle in the NHRA Motorsports Museum.

There are 230 pages of color photographs in the coffee-table book, but not one of Garlits. There is one small picture of his famed Swamp Rat dragster on the line with Gene Snow, but there is no caption to identify the cars or drivers.

Wally Parks, 88, founder of the NHRA, denies a direct involvement with the slight to Garlits, but the perception is that his fingerprints are all over the project.

“I know I’m going to get the blame for it, but it was a mixed-up production,” said Parks, a longtime protagonist of Garlits. “It was a terrible error and is embarrassing all around. I tried to discreetly offer recommendations, but some of it was misinterpreted. Unfortunately, there’s no way to retract such a visible omission.

“Don and I have been on different sides of the fence many times, but I still recognize him as one of the greatest--if not the greatest--drivers and car builders we ever had.”

Garlits says otherwise.

“I wrote Wally and he wrote back that he didn’t know what happened, but then I called the publisher [Tehabi Books of San Diego] and was told that Wally blue-lined every item about me,” Garlits said. “I don’t know, I guess he’s still thinking about 1972, when I ran my PRO meet against the U.S. Nationals.”

In that confrontation, Garlits rounded up top-fuel drivers who considered NHRA purses too low and put on his own Pro Challenge event at Tulsa, Okla., on the same Labor Day weekend as the Nationals.

Eric Pinkman, director of corporate publishing for Tehabi Books, said that the book was an official NHRA publication and as such, “the Fast Lane was carefully tailored for their approval, all the way to the top. We knew the Garlits issue was a sensitive one, but everyone at the NHRA was well aware of every page.”

Tom Compton, NHRA president, was out of his Glendora office and unavailable for comment. However, Garlits said that Compton had called and said that his staff had nothing to do with it and that Parks had put the book together.

Apparently, whoever wrote the text was embarrassed too. There is no author listed.

The price is $45 and it’s nicely done--if you don’t mind revisionist history.

Brian Tracy, who has been an instrumental figure in the NHRA’s growth for the last 27 years, has resigned from the Glendora-based organization.

Tracy was vice president of marketing and sales for 20 years before becoming vice president of broadcasting, where he played a major role in laying the foundation for the current ESPN TV package.

In the NHRA’s list of its 50 greatest drivers, Chris Karamesines is No. 30. The Golden Greek from Chicago never won a national event, but his Chizler dragsters made him a larger-than-life legend in the 1960s when he was a fixture at local drag strips, such as San Gabriel and Lions. A former stock car racer, Karamesines credited his sideways slides on ovals with helping him save out-of-control dragsters.

Karamesines, now 73, is still at it. Shortly after being named No. 30, he became drag racing’s oldest 300-mph driver when he ran 302.89 in the first round of the Southern Nationals last month at Atlanta.

“It took us 41 years to go from 200 to 300,” said Karamesines, who has been credited by many with drag racing’s first 200-mph run in 1960. “But you have to remember that we’re operating on a Social Security budget.”

Speedway

International Speedway has suspended Bobby Schwartz from the Orange County Speedway event Saturday night for actions during Jack Milne Cup racing last Saturday. The five-man final needed four starts to finally complete a four-lap race, which was eventually won by Milne’s great nephew, Gary Hicks of Corona.

On the third start, Hicks and Schwartz tangled while battling for the lead. Hicks made a move that Schwartz felt was unwarranted and that caused them both to go down. In frustration, Schwartz kicked at Hicks while he was on the ground.

“It was a desperate move [by Hicks] and it didn’t work,” Schwartz said. “[But] my actions were way uncalled for and I was totally out of line. . . . I messed up.”

During that same incident, Reno’s Chris Manchester, the season points leader, crashed into the wall. He suffered a torn calf muscle and probably will be out at least two weeks.

Monrovia’s Josh Larsen, who finished second, was injured on the first attempt to start the race. He broke his ring and pinky fingers, two bones in his hand and tore a ligament in his ring finger when went into the wall with Manchester. On that start, all five riders went down going into the first turn. He will probably miss at least four weeks.

Offshore Powerboats

The inaugural Long Beach Offshore Grand Prix, sanctioned by the Pacific Offshore Powerboat Racing Assn., will be run Sunday at 9 a.m. inside the breakwater area of the Long Beach shoreline. As many as 40 of the world’s fastest offshore boats are expected to enter the one-hour race over a 7.4-mile closed course.

The event is part of an eight-race schedule which has races at Huntington Beach, Aug. 7; Mission Bay in San Diego, Sept. 16, and Ventura, Oct. 7.

24 Hours of Le Mans

Fifteen American drivers will be trying this weekend to join the 12 who have been part of overall winning teams in the world’s most prestigious road race at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France. More than 200,000 spectators are expected for the 69th running of the twice-around-the-clock racing classic.

Among former winners are Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt, 1967; Carroll Shelby, 1959; Bill and Don Whittington, 1979; and Davy Jones, 1996, the last American winner.

Hamilton Watch

From the looks of what happened at Texas Motor Speedway in last week’s Casino Magic 300, maybe the Indy Racing League should have done what CART did and canceled the race.

Davey Hamilton, the only driver to have competed in every IRL race, suffered severe injuries to both legs and feet when his car hit the wall exiting the second turn on Lap 73. He has had several surgeries to reconstruct his damaged feet, and faces many more.

The popular Eagle (Idaho) resident, who drives for paralyzed former driver Sam Schmidt, is in stable condition at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where he was airlifted, but his family requests he have no visitors.

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Indy Racing League team owner Dick Simon has filed a suit in Orange County Superior Court against his former driver, Stephan Gregoire, citing a breach of contract after Gregoire allegedly quit the team to drive for Heritage Motorsports.

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Staff writer Martin Henderson contributed to this story.