It cannot be overstated how much Mr. Garlits has done for Drag Racing. Especially with safety and innovation.

@slojoegtstang5775

5 жыл бұрын

that may be true but this is going nowhere faster than that car is.

@Triple88a

3 жыл бұрын

@@slojoegtstang5775 Yet* :)

a great interview with a great man

Don is a master innovator, visionary and very smart man. In the early days of drag racing there were basically two kinds of race camps: 1. Those who said his ideas were nuts. 2. Those who said WTF did he just do? If he were to stand up and predict to the world that one day we would be drag racing moon buggies I'd start looking for tickets.

Lol . Nitro methane in 4 X 44 gallon drums used to be stored in a small shed at the back of a race track. The lock on the door was useless . Piece of wire and we were in . Filled up our bottles then off we went . We were 12 years old l enough nitro to power our glow plug planes for weeks .

This man speaks the truth. Always has, always will. Ever the innovator and one step ahead of everyone else even to this day. If you get a chance to go to his museum, do it. You might even run into him.

Don Garlits I've been watching you since I was a child. Thank you for all your great racing, knowledge, and insight. We were born at the perfect time. We got to watch the internal combustion engine, and the sport evolve. The Best of the Best. Take care, cherish what's left. Godspeed. "Iron American Dream" on KZread.

The first book report I ever did in elementary school was, "King of The Dragsters." To read the childhood of Don Garlits inspired me greatly. And then to learn of his faith in Christ to keep him safe, I was doubly inspired. You can't do what this man did without the watch-care of GOD.

@strattuner

5 жыл бұрын

MUSTBE NUTS,why are you here,athiests don't live long,they have nothing to live for,just boring dead people who haven't keeled over yet,keel over today

AWESOME interview!!!!! 200MPH this year! Good Luck.

godfather of drag racing

We owe much to the pioneers, Wally, CJ, the Safety Safari, and Donald. Don to me, is, was, and will always be Drag Racing.

An absolute legend!!!

you cant handle the truth that nitro is better in every way

@daphnedesrochers9599

4 жыл бұрын

People like the sound, the smell of nitro

Good Luck Don! i hope you roll a 215 on that electric setup.

Big Daddy is spot on about Etown. For years the townspeople have been bitching about the track but the funny thing about it is, the community that is bitching was built years after the track was. Hotels/motels, restaurants/dinners and convince stores in Old Bridge and the surrounding towns make booming business when the Nhra comes around with the Summer Nationals.

@sbc388550

7 жыл бұрын

Never bite the hand that feeds you.

@WilliamWurz

6 жыл бұрын

46AFD u

@pauldaula1569

6 жыл бұрын

If you noticed the outcry from all of the drivers regarding short shutdown areas after Scott Kalitta at Etown, you would know Big Daddy is right about the encroachment of growing local communities. There is no room for Etown to expand, so they put as little money into the track as possible. If you've ever seen the actual shut down area or sit in those stands, you would get a sense of decay. The NHRA tour only shows up once a year; the rest of the year, Etown is vacant - that's too much really valuable real estate in the middle of Monmouth county to give up on tax-wise. There are million dollar mansions being built all around Pension Road.

@dragracevids4902

6 жыл бұрын

Now e-town is closed

Very sad state of affairs ...

A lot of nay Sayers here.No one knows what the future holds!but remember we need a future to find out

Drag racing ain't dead yet - it just suffers in pain. :(

Big fan of Don. Was going to drag races while my mother was pregnant with me. Ive been to Don Garlits museum. Hate to hear him talk about electric cars like that. Glad hes still in racing tho, or was

I laid out the paint scheme for this Dragster with Kenny Youngblood. My name is on the cowl!

I met the kid at Ed Iskedarian's cam works back in 1958 while we were there to get Ed to make some cams for our Hornet quarter midget racing engines . Don's Swamp Rat 2 was in the shop and Don let me sit in it , very nice guy !

Big Daddy Don's most likely to be true ! I'm part a Deisel pulling truck team ! Just waiting for the environmentalist to start protesting at these events !

The biggest threat to the future of fuel cars isn't the government, its the NHRA itself. There are less and less nitro cars, many times not enough for a full field.

you are so right . you were always ahead of the curve.

Met Mr Gartlits last year at the Gators. What a gentleman he was to me and many others.

@pR1mal.

7 жыл бұрын

During the early 90's I was at Maple Grove dragway in Pennsylvania, and I was standing on the starting line fence intently focused on watching the cars stage and launch. I was pretty much a hard core gearhead in those days, and I used to do my own wrenching so I had a good ear. I don't remember who spoke first, but I ended up having an extended conversation about each car with the man who was standing next to me. Our conversation probably lasted for a half hour. It was one of those times when you're so in to what you're doing at a sporting event that you don't really pay attention to anything but what you're focused on, and kind of only half glance at the stranger standing next to you as you converse. It wasn't until the conversation ended and he then turned and directly faced me in order to excuse himself that I finally realized that the fellow gearhead I was conversing with was actually Don Garlits. I was utterly floored as I shook his hand and watched him walk off and blend into the crowd. It really made my day, as far as I'm concerned he is one of the most down to earth celebrities walking the planet.

@shadowdog500

7 жыл бұрын

pR1mal, I think a lot of the drivers were more approachable back then. And almost every one was a gentleman. I was also a total gear head in the 80s, and had several short conversations with big name drivers in the pits including Don Garlits. Most of the older racers seemed like they were having more fun than us spectators. I was at Englishtown in 86 when Garlits had the first ever blow over and he was in the pits with his car afterwards and almost seemed like he was having fun talking to the hordes of people who came buy to see him and his car. Chris

@riceski

7 жыл бұрын

I go to several races each yeah and I find the DSR people to be very approachable and also super nice. ALL OF THEM. You must come again and meet the younger and newer drivers. Leah Pritchett even gave me a real hug - not the little kind but a real - glad to meet you hug. The guys all shake my hand too. The only complaint I have is not having enough time to meet all the drivers every race - there just isn't enough time but the drivers are all super nice and down to earth.

the grim reaper would take them pencil-pushing-tree-hugging-hippies to hell in a top-fuel dragster before that happens...

Don is spot on with this one. Sooner or later some government official is gonna say something like "dangerous and unneccesary, bye bye nitro." Gotta have something to keep it going. Maybe someday they'll find a way to make those nitro cars safer...maybe one day they'll even go back to the full 1/4 mile for nitro classes, that'd be cool.

@dthellland9738

7 жыл бұрын

then what are the dry cleaners gonna use?

@24kGoldenRocket

7 жыл бұрын

Dry Cleaners will use Carbon Tetrachloride like they do today. That Industrial Chemistry application has nothin' to do with Nitric Acid and Methanol. Nitric Acid can always be distilled from Potassium Nitrate and Vinegar due to differentials in boiling points. Merhanol can be fermented using wood and yeast and then distilled. They cannot regulate Nitric Acid and it cannot be eliminated without losing the Industrial might of the USA. Take some Chemistry courses.

@905Alive

6 жыл бұрын

just remember, our govt is owned by the corporations especially big oil and big weapons and defense, they won't cut oil because it would cut profit, we are a profit focused nation and it's the core of all of our problems, that said, they may kill some racing in a political statement which won't affect anything, too many cars just driving to work everyday for racing to have any real effect on the environment

@morteparla6926

6 жыл бұрын

LightningFast Rc The nitro cars are the safest race cars on the planet. No other racing series can say their cars have relatively frequent crashes at 300+ mph, and have the driver get out and walk away on his own.

@slojoegtstang5775

5 жыл бұрын

which is why Liberals need to be stopped.

Excellent analysis of the state of the sport and social pressures by the man who is still sharp as a tack.

"BIG," nuff said.

So much truth.

An active mind, and one of, if not the most innovative racers in the history of drag racing. Kind of sounds like a grumpy old man now though. When an electric dragster is faster than a nitro methane dragster, it will be the new top dog. Adapt or get left behind. Garlits has been doing that since before I was born.

The first guy did blow something up with Notromethane, the OKC bombing. The bomb in the truck was fueled with notromethane which is why it's so hard to get today.

RIP Dick LaHaie, He passed away Dec. 5. 2018. He was 76 🇺🇸

so glad to see Big Daddy doin what he loves!!!

Thanks Don

If nitro is outlawed we have 5000+ horsepower gas and alcohol turbo engines that could push a dragster into the high 4s .I'm glad Big Daddy is pushing the boundaries of electric dragsters though ,he has always been an innovator and it's interesting to watch the development of electric vehicles on the street and track .I'm hoping he will be the first to break 200.

Legend

Met Don at his museum in Gainesville, shook my hand. Great man..regular guy. He is 100% right, it might not be next week...but Electric is coming...with the development of new batteries..all the time. Love the sound of the cars but ...time and technology marches on.

The principal use of nitromethane is as a stabilizer for chlorinated solvents, which are used in dry cleaning, semiconductor processing, and degreasing. It is also used most effectively as a solvent or dissolving agent for acrylate monomers, such as cyanoacrylates (more commonly known as "super-glues"). It is also used as a fuel in some forms of racing. It can be used as an explosive, when gelled with several percent of gelling agent. This type of mixture is called PLX. Other mixtures include ANNM and ANNMAl - explosive mixtures of ammonium nitrate, nitromethane and aluminium powder.

Don is an innovator, pure and simple. He has been for years and years. I believe the only thing he will end up doing is getting NHRA to create an electric class for top fuel after he dominates the field for a year or two and everyone else complains like they did with Buddy and the V-6 Turbo Buick pro-stock in the 80's

Excellent production.

The dragsters will be nearly silent..... just like the spectators.

@slojoegtstang5775

5 жыл бұрын

because they wont be there HAHA

@colehara

5 жыл бұрын

@grumpy old fart We'd still be missing that wonderful smell of the nitro. ☺

@hackdeez1075

5 жыл бұрын

You can hear for long if your deaf

much love to this legend

Evolve or die out. Having a sporting 'legend' pushing a new vision is good for racing, we'll get to keep racing, as the sport evolves to match new challenges.

@libertarianlife3651

5 жыл бұрын

YEAH, THERE'S NOTHING MORE EXCITING THAN THE DEAFENING HUM FROM AN ELECTRIC POS.

@trosperdwuane2009

5 жыл бұрын

I guess I will just die out then, oh well. This whole world is going to sh#t anyway. Just saying....

@yarpos

4 жыл бұрын

by all means evolve, evolution is not going up blind alleys past peformance is not a gaurantee of future returns 2020 now, yawn

Worked on a project with Don some years ago. Very cool guy. He may be right but electric 1/4 mile cars will kill drag racing. Most racing fans love the sound of a blown nitro V8. Look at what electric did to F1. ICE's are incredible- think Hellephant, Demon's and their competitors.

Don has Become an AGREE OLD MAN !!!!

Garlits has always been "the" prophet of drag racing.

The way our government operates and the motives (greed) behind those moves makes me sick to my stomache.This video did not make me feel this way...carry on Big Daddy...for a good long time I might add!

Good on you Don. You are a future thinker.

As much as I love the sound and fury of fuel racing, there's a place for electric power on the track. Don is absolutely correct.

He's not lying about nitro being watched by DHS. Timothy McVeigh used nitro as a booster in the Oklahoma City bombing.

The day I can’t get turbo blue for my nova is the day I die, internally. Lol

Damn! Big Daddy is the King!

🇺🇸⚡️👑 ⚡️♥️ Big Daddy😇

late to the party, but an interesting point made is about noise ordinance. As cities expand it certainly puts pressure on tracks when their location has gone from "out there" to "next door" to some subdivision. Electric racing could continue, and be no louder than the PA at a collegiate or HS ball game.

I hope nitro never gets outlawed but if it did, i wonder how quick the fastest door slammer turbo engines would be in a dragster. I think some have run in the 5.30s or 5.40s at over 270 in promod style cars.

I seen him at Detroit Drag Way in the 70's, so cool

Put in some very fast squirrels running on treadmills.

We'll just have to live with the top alcohol classes. :D

It's kind of funny. The little old track in Great Meadows NJ where he ran 200 mph is still open, meanwhile Englishtown gave up and closed the track.

The King has spoken

@yarpos

4 жыл бұрын

with all possible respect , having done big things in the formative years back in the 60s and 70s is of little relevance to the sport today. We should all acknowledge the shoulders we stand on, they arent the ones with answers to todays problems.

You can't handle the truth ,ha ha ,the truth be told that big daddy will always be seen as No 1 ,valuable contribution to drag racing through his career, that has always pushed for safety and good racing ,he sees how the sport is going to progress so you better listen up or be left behind on the line

Today GM announce they going all out electric so @ Kamins and Jones what you say about that ? ,IMO Don was wright and IS just in front of us all .TY & be well Don... Oh drive safe too !! hehe ;-)

Big Daddy, what else is there to say?

Your Senile Don!

Englishtown is gone big daddy! The pen signed the paper on that chapter too!

And that is the TRUTH.

I like Don I do, and he is right that anything can be gone with the stroke of a pen. However I will argue my point all day long for the rest of the days of my life into the grave that no one and I mean no one would ever say they would rather see a electric rail run the quarter-mile over a Nitro burning Hemi. Sure as hell won't be me LOL. But good luck to Don and his crew to make a statement. I'll make one too... Those batteries are not cheap and neither are the motors. There's a whole list and one of the big ones is no one will ever convince me that tearing mountains and planets apart to find coal to produce electricity is a green answer to oil production. Hydrogen Maybe! But batteries? Takes five or six thousand dollars to replace Tesla's batteries every 7 to 10 years... Multiply that out times the cost of the vehicle and tell me you are winning

perhaps a mini tesla machine throwing lightening during a pass.

Times change that is life 200 MPH so slow today you ain't got the 300+ MPH

He's right look at the short fields this yr in Top Fuel. The costs along are prohibitive let alone the environmental factors!

It takes more than big broad shoulders to make a man (Grace kelly High Noon) Thank you Do Garlits

I love you Don ,and miss you on the track ..But i here want you are saying ....but Nitro gone ,me and a lot of other guys are gone to.BUT i don't think that those G-men are that stupid yet.Pick on China for polluting the atmosphere.1.3 billion people with cars with no Cats on them. Look at their cities with smog filled skies (chinese olympics) ..If they keep picking on the history and heritage of American Drag Racing ,then sooner or later it will be history...What's next NASCAR. INDY-CART. F1. MONSTER TRUCKS....PS DON was the man back then and still is the man today . You rock SIR.

@strattuner

5 жыл бұрын

rugue,you just spoke volumes

When the car goes over the guardrail and wads up and the sparks start to fly he'll wish that there was only a tank of nitro instead of all those angry watts. . .

@sbc388550

7 жыл бұрын

It's the amps that'll git cha.

@dedreman2227

5 жыл бұрын

Electricity can be nasty

How about Hydrogen Fuel Powered Dragsters Mr. Garlits? If the Fuel Tanks holding the Hydrogen Gas was safe enough, would it be an option?

Electric dragsters are in development in Australia that are more powerful than Top Fuel.

@yarpos

4 жыл бұрын

so much bullshit its hard to beleive anyone typed that

imo. if they somehow manage to outlaw Top Fuel. they had better for sure go after NASCAR as well. they put out more noise for a much longer time than anything in the NHRA.

@randyhutchinson9910

6 жыл бұрын

lilorbie lilorbie ya rat!!!

@yarpos

4 жыл бұрын

the continuous howl of a full NASCAR field is certainly something to experience

@lilorbielilorbie2496

4 жыл бұрын

yarpos I've been there and done that. I just like the NHRA better. I guess it's just what you grow up watching. I was born in the birth place of Drag Racing. Southern California.

The NHRA had a fuel ban in the late 50’s/early 60’s....that’s when the gassers flourished,multi engine dragsters were commonplace and the stock class was relevant.... I’m ok with that,idk if sponsors would be....

OG Swamp Rat

If everyone in America tomorrow magically had an electric car in their garage - it would crash the electric grid. We're a long way off from going full electric.

Second comment- lack of racing sponsors will kill nitro drag racing faster than outlawing nitro or noise. Even the legends like Force are struggling to share slim pickings for big money in drag racing.

Once again big daddy is right

👍👍👍

Electric would make a great addition , if people of Big's stature were involved, but it will never replace Nitromethane, you might as well remove the bat from Baseball. Instant death of pro Drag Racing, if it happens. LOVE IT WHEN BIG TELLS STORIES!!!

Didn't you live in Stonewall, N. C.?

I might as well just stay home and play drag racing on my Xbox

@sbc388550

7 жыл бұрын

Why not go to a drag race and support the sport.

Electric comes with instant torque and acceleration which is probably what is ticking away in the back of his head. If he was to get out on the edge of power density and ran as hard as he could he would sooner do flips than break 200.

Don't hate him cuz he sold out. Times they are a'changin.

Tim McVeigh used ch3no2 to blow up oklahama fed building , not taking anything away from Don , absolutely amazing individual and a pioneer for safety and speed records for the sport .

@ryanevans3206

5 жыл бұрын

Mcveigh used ammonium nitrate. Maybe do research before talking.

I love "Big Daddy" but he is wrong about someone using nitro to blow something up. He knows that gasoline has 8 times the explosive power of nitro and only a dummy would use it instead of gasoline as a weapon. Gasoline will be around for a long time...

@terrancewoods4892

5 жыл бұрын

Replay this video bro big daddy is telling everyone some good shit The gov can shut it down or restrict racing so much you'll shut down or evolve into smart racing I'm afraid its going to happen

@bladeaudio3951

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah but you can burn 6 times more of nitro than gas.

@ryanevans3206

5 жыл бұрын

@Bud Weiser You're a fucking idiot. Sit down before you fall down.

@williamcox5872

5 жыл бұрын

Roy Jones HE DIDNT SAY SHIT ABOUT A WEOPAN DUMBASS, HE WAS SPEAKING ABOUT CARELESS DIPSHITS BLOWING SHIT UP AT A RACE EVENT AND MAYBY HURTING SOMEONE, WHERE IN THE HELL DID YOU SURMISE THAT SILLY ASS BULLSHIT

@williamcox5872

5 жыл бұрын

Bud Weiser BUTTWUPER, YOU ARE A TRUE FUCKBIRD,, ILL BET WHEN YOU WAS A KID YOU WERE THAT DIPSHIT THAT TALKED ABOUT HAVING A "350 SHORT BLOCK" NOT A 350 SMALL BLOCK AND DUMBASS CRAPLIKE THAT, ALL KINDS OF CRAP ABOUT " BALANCE AND BLUEPRINT" THINKING IT WAS HOW THE MOTOR SAT IN THE CAR AS OPPOSED TO THE REAR END, THE GUY THAT CALLED " NUMBERS MATCHING" THE BLOCK AND TRANNY HAVING THE SAME VIN NUMBER,YOU WETE THE DUDE WITH AN UNCLE WITH A 56 CHEVY THAT " TURNED" MID 7 SECOND TIMES AT 270 BACK IN 1968, DUMB ASS, GARLITS WAS AND STILL IS A LEGEND, SHUT UP ASS HOLE

Donald for president !

Wouldn't capacitors be better for Drag Racing? Quick charge and super fast release????

@CulinarySpy

7 жыл бұрын

I thought they did use a combination of batteries and supercapacitors already for electric cars?

@michaelbuckers

7 жыл бұрын

Capacitors can't store a lot of energy. Top fuel car runs for 3 seconds at 10 megawatt power output, so you're looking to deliver 30 000 000 J of energy in 3 seconds. 3000F 2.7V caps store 10 000 J so you need 3000 of them, and they are 1 lb each.

@CulinarySpy

7 жыл бұрын

Is that what the Prius uses? The way I heard it they use supercaps for the initial burst then rely on the lithium batts. Or did I dream it?

You don't have to worry about Englishtown anymore. No more drag racing there. Strip is shut down

@robertklein9190

5 жыл бұрын

We had a good 55 year run there,remember when it was in the middle of nowhere to get there and you could park under the trees. They think we made a lot of noise, wait till all the concerts take over the strip, they ain't heard nothing yet.

@chrisevans9553

5 жыл бұрын

I'm sure that some it was due to noise complaints from people who moved close to the track AFTER it had already been there for 30 years. Idiots!

you can go pretty fast on ethanol. alcohol dragsters have run 5 teens .

I honestly think he could make a fuel cell dragster. They are already thinking of making cars with fuel cells and tbh i think fuel cell would put more power than electric.

What about those diesel truck drags?

wait until the first guy blows something up with nitromethane and its game over? It already happened. Oklahoma CIty. Alfred P Murrah Federal building April 19, 1995. The bomb was not ammonium nitrate Fertilizer and Diesel like we were told. Official FBI report is that it was Nitromethane, ammonium nitrate and diesel. How he got his hands on Nitro I have no idea because you have to have a license to buy it. It is and has been heavily regulated for a very, very long time. Regardless, you are already too late by many years.

@yarpos

4 жыл бұрын

yeah right , so its a big risk and its now 2020 and suddenly 25 years later its a big issue. That right there sounds like bullshit

First, they stopped running the quarter mile for the A/A nitro class and I started loosing interests in NHRA. Now, they're banning nitro racing and I've lost interest in drag racing COMPLETELY! It's been a nice fun ride, Big Daddy, but you're time is over.

Big Daddy!!!

A top fuel dragster runs clean though emission wise

KING OF KINGS!