D.I. COLUMNIST
On the Road
with Van Abernethy
If ever there was a column I
wished I had more than just a
single page in which to “tell the
tale,” my sit-down with Don Garlits
last year definitely qualifies. Nevertheless,
as the COVID-19 pandemic
sidelined my travels for a few
months in early 2020, it actually
presented a perfect opportunity to
revisit the memorable day I spent
with the man known as “Big Daddy,”
whom I believe to be drag racing’s
greatest icon.
It all started in late January 2019
when I sent Garlits an email. He
and I had actually corresponded a
few times over the years whenever
I needed some vintage drag racing
info, the kind of stuff I knew he’d
have keen insight on, and he never
failed to write me back and provide
fascinating details for various stories
over the years.
The reason for this particular correspondence,
however, was to let
him know I was traveling to Florida
in the coming days and wanted to
drop by and visit his legendary Don
Garlits Museum of Drag Racing and
document the experience in an upcoming
column.
I sent the email on a Monday
morning, and the following day
my phone rang, displaying “Ocala,
FL” as the location of the incoming
call. I instantly thought, “Oh
good, someone from the museum
is calling to set up my appointment
with Mr. Garlits.” To my amazement,
though, the voice on the other end
says, “Hello, Van, this is Don Garlits!”
He asked me when I would be
arriving in Florida and how much
time I’d like to have interviewing
him. I told him I’d be there on
Thursday and if I could have just
10 minutes with him I’d be happy,
as the main thrust of the story (I
thought) was going to be about the
contents of museum, and I figured
I could entertain myself for most of
the day looking at cars and taking
notes. He explained that the museum
opens at 9:00 a.m. daily, and
it would be great if I arrived early,
since he had a lunch engagement
later that day.
As promised, I came rolling in
on Thursday morning just as they
were unlocking the doors. A staff
member ushered me into
Don’s office and he was
pleased at my punctuality.
“You’re right on time!”
I remember him saying
enthusiastically. He got
up from behind his desk,
shook my hand and directed
me to a pair of
wingback leather chairs,
where no doubt many visitors before
me had been seated alongside Garlits,
as he recounted stories of drag
racing folklore.
I was amazed when he later told
me that some of those visitors include
the likes of Muhammed Ali
and baseball great Reggie Jackson.
Garlits even handed me the autographed
bat Jackson gave him as
a gift years earlier, directing my
attention to the splintered dent in
the wooden bat where Reggie connected
with a home run, calling it
the “sweet spot.”
On the coffee table in front of us
lay a stack of hard cover books that
Don had been autographing with
a Sharpie marker that morning.
“These need to be shipped today,”
he told me. People routinely order
various books and memorabilia
from his website, while Facebook
also plays a major role in the promotion
of the museum. “Social media
has been good to us,” he said. “In the
beginning I thought it was a waste
of time...it was a new technology
that I didn’t think would take off
the way it did, but I was wrong!” he
declared. Garlits was 87 years old
when we first sat together last year,
so I was reminded of just how vast
the technology and advancements
he’s experienced has been.
Among the things I ran out of
space to include in the first column
was a story he told me
about a very significant
item he regrets is not in
his famed museum: the
Model T truck his parents
drove from New
Jersey to Florida when
they relocated in 1927.
Garlits was born on the
same Seffner property in
1932, and eventually inherited it. “It
took weeks and weeks just to clear it
(this was in 1966) and I threw a lot
of stuff away that I shouldn’t have.
The Model T was still sitting in the
woods and I just junked it. I’m so
sick over that!” he told me.
In fact, decades later when he
erected the first building on his
present-day museum complex, he
parted ways with the biggest part
of his antique car collection just to
fund the project, raising the necessary
capital so nothing had to be
financed. “I sold cars I treasured,”
he shrugged.
The 10-minute interview that I
requested eventually spilled over
to more than three hours! By now
it was lunchtime and he had to
leave to fulfill his appointment,
but invited me to hang out at the
museum and we’d talk more when
he returned.
The most memorable stories he
told me that day involved his rivalry
with Shirley Muldowney during
the height of their careers. While
it’s common knowledge that Garlits
signed off on her license, along
with Tommy Ivo and Connie Kalitta,
he readily admits he never expected
Shirley to pose such a threat as a
competitor.
“Truly, in my heart I didn’t feel
like she would ever amount to anything,”
Garlits said. “A lot of people
say they’re gonna come out and do
all these wonders – I mean, look,
me and a couple other guys made it
look easy – but it wasn’t easy and I
didn’t think Shirley would do what
she did, but she fooled me...she was
a champion!”
In the ensuing years came a rivalry
that was remorseful at times.
A dramatic turn of events came in
1984 when news reached Garlits
that Shirley had experienced a horrific
crash in Montreal that left her
with life-threatening injuries.
“We didn’t expect her to survive,
let alone drive again,” remembers
Don. “That was the turning point in
our relationship, and I never spoke
bad about her again, and I asked
God to forgive me for anything I
said that wasn’t nice.”
Her rehabilitation was lengthy,
but when she finally did return,
Garlits even joined her team as a
tuning consultant. Among his best
memories of that era was when Shirley
clocked her first 4-second run at
Maple Grove in 1989 alongside Joe
Amato, which was celebrated as the
sport’s first side-by-side 4-second
Top Fuel pass.
These days, Garlits says that he
and Shirley are the best of friends,
and he even whipped out his iPhone
and read to me a recent text from
Muldowney, in which she signed off
by writing, “Love, Shirley.” Suddenly,
the magnitude of the moment finally
hit home, as I was reminded that I
was actually hanging out with Don
Garlits, who was reading me a text
message from Shirley Muldowney!
To commemorate this oddly surreal
moment, I too whipped out my
iPhone and snapped the selfie pic
that appears in this month’s column.
Oh sure, I still hope to someday
write a more detailed story about
the contents of his one-of-a-kind
museum, which is amazing for a
variety of reasons, not the least of
which is the fact that on display
you’ll find the world’s largest Shirley
Muldowney collection of race cars
and memorabilia.
Every time I ponder the day I
spent with Garlits at his museum,
I always end up spending far more
time recounting those stories he told
me, and of course, longing to hear
more. DI
48 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated.com Issue 157