July 19-20, 1958, in Houston, Texas. After weeks of hectoring, Garlits agreed to meet the competition halfway... you’re from California, I’m from Florida, fair fight. Do it in Texas and at the Texas State Championships, featuring Jack Moss, Bobby Langley and Californians like “Red” Case in the Cagle & Callahan dragster, Jack Ewell in his Jim Kamboor’s Jado Spl., and Pete Ogden in Romeo Palamides’ hot rod. To make a long story inconsequential, Garlits won handily; better driver, better car. Langley had low e.t. at a 9.42, and “Big Daddy” had Top Speed at 161.29 mph, but Garlits really stirred the pot with what this writer sees as one of his half-dozen most important wins.
The first Bakersfield meet was held Feb. 28-Mar 1, 1959, on an old abandoned WWII landing strip just north of Buck Owensberg in Famoso. Garlits was paid 1,000 bucks to come out and ‘rassle with the Californians... the first time a drag racer had been paid appearance money. (Holy crap, already over 800 words! It’s getting tight, folks!) Suffice to say, that the blown cars were too much for the unblown Garlits dragster, although, in fairness to der old man, before he went down on breakage in round one he did run a 9.00, 172.41 with a 392-cid Chrysler and 8 Stromberg carburetors. As good as that effort was, Gary Cagle and eventual winner, Art Chrisman, would have been awfully tough to beat either way.
Interestingly enough, the next week, Garlits had a blower on “Swamp Rat 1” at Kingdon Dragstrip’s (Lodi, California – like in the Creedance Clearwater song) Northern California Championships and kicked butt, as in win the show.
As for the race itself, considering it was run in the heart of the nitro ban, and 31,000 fans or thereabouts showed for what was the Monterey Pop Festival of Drag Racing. The race showed beyond a doubt that nitro-methane not only was a hit with the fans... it was the future of the sport. (Geeeezze – 900-plus words).
Okay, I need to stop and collect myself; it’s obvious I’m going to go over the limit. You know what that means if you’ve ever dealt with the criminally purposeful. “Spread your right or left hand out on the table. Which digit can you afford to lose?” (DAMNNN! 1,024 words – Ah shit, “words”: makes it 1,025) And these... ahhh... to hell with it... EDIT BAY – drink up... Old Testament revenge!!!)
In 1960, the race warmed the cockles of my heart. My all-time drag racing hero, Chris “the Crazy Greek” Karamesines from Chicago, drilled Frank Cannon in the previous year’s champ car during round one. Worse yet, Garlits got flattened by Mickey Thompson’s fuel Pontiac in the same heat. The ultimate winners were one of the great underrated teams in DR history, Ted Cyr and Bill Hopper.
The field was not all that big overall. The first round consisted of Don Garlits and Art Malone, “El Greco,” Thompson, two Chrisman & Cannon cars, Arizonan Larry Steinnegger, Jack Ewell and Jim Kamboor, Jack Reed in Archie Ary’s gorgeous dragster, Emory Cook, Bobby Langley, Ted Gotelli and Jim McClennan with the San Francisco-based Champion Speed Shop dragster, Jack Hart in Joe Reath’s rail, blowermeister Don Hampton in Kenny Lindley’s dragster, the West Coast’s “Mr. 180,” Gary Cagle and Todd Rawleigh. Just 15 cars, but take it from your uncle “Sideshow Bob”... great ones.
In 1961, the only gas dragster to walk off with the Bakersfield Top Eliminator trophy rocked the house. The twin, in-line-motored, injected Chevy(s) digger of Chet Herbert (“Lefty” Mudersbach chauffering) cleaned up beating the Top Fuel class winner Jack Ewell in the final.
Don “Not Yet the Snake” Prudhomme pulled off the win that sent his name into the stratosphere when he put his 20-year-old butt and 22-year-old Dave Zeuschel’s fueler into the winner’s circle the following year. This was an interesting race because the Bakersfielders got a hint of the future and ran a straight up Top Fuel show. Exactly 35 cars ran under 9-seconds to qualify.
’63 (Hey screw that journalistic maxim of never start a sentence with a number... who cares. You get it doncha?) Okaaaay, INNN 1963, Karamesines ran what was generally accepted as the first 7-second run with a 7.99 to lead qualifying, but got decked early in the show. The final pitted one of the sport’s great natural talents, Art Malone against Tom McEwen, who like “the Snake” was not known by his famed sobriquet of later years, ‘The Mongoose”. In one of the closest finals in the events history, Malone just did edge him out via a holeshot 8.33 to 8.31.
Now to the wrap-up (of this installment), the 1964 was the first 32-car show in Bakersfield history and was a tremendous event. “The Greek” ran a 7.84 to clock the event’s first 7.8-second zone elapsed time, but lost in the quarter-finals to Frank Cannon in “the Hustler IV” and was a spectator when Garlits pulled up to race young Michigander Connie Kalitta in the final. Kalitta won an excellent 7.95 to 8.12 joust and secured the first really big win of his career (1500 words).
Okay, I gotta go. (Frankly if I had my way I’d say throw out an ad and let me ramble, but that’s not a friendly gesture to my friends in the gray flannel suits.)
A couple of harbingers of the future that greatly affected the Bakersfield events follow in Part 2 or Part 2A if you consider my initial screed in the September issue. The 1964 season marked the initial appearance of the Funny Car (Jack Chisman’s blown and injected, fuel-burning Mercury Comet at the 1964 U.S. Nationals) and NHRA ran a Top Fuel show for only the second time since the 1957 nitro ban. The Bakersfield meet still had some great shows left in its purse, but the two above happenings would eventually figure in its ultimate demise, at least as far as big-time shows went.
Okay, until next issue, spay the Bush Family, and remember no matter how far you took it, it wasn’t far enough. Just look at what happened to the March Meet from material in the next installment.
