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Don Garlits drove chassis he fabricated powered by engines he built. He won 144 major open events and 17 national championships. His career stretched from the fifties to the early nineties. If the man on the street knows anything about drag racing, he knows the moniker "Big Daddy" Don Garlits.
In the latter fifties, Garlits was campaigning his Swamp Rat I with an un-supercharged Hemi. In the middle of 1959, he added a blower to replace the original corroborated mill and created Swamp Rat IB. (Swamp Rat was a somewhat disparaging reference to his Florida lineage in a sport dominated by Californians).
On June 14, 1959, Don promptly set a new World Record (182.56 MPH) in Houston in the Swamp Rat IB. Over his career, Garlits was first to 170, 180, 200, 240, 250, 260 & 270 mph.
GMP has painstakingly recreated this pivotal machine in drag racing history -- a testament to one man's passion for excellence… or at least for besting any other competitor over a quarter mile of asphalt! Sold out at the manufacturer, Legacy Motors offers its last few to collectors of dragsters.
(03/04/2005)
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