55ColumbiaBuilt said:
outskirtscustoms said:
......Don "the swamp rat" Garletts, Steve McQueen's stunt double................
For the record. There is no such thing as a "Steve McQueen stunt double". Steve McQueen did all his own stunts, including jumping the fence on the motorcycle in the movie "The Great Escape" and driving that Mustang through the streets of San Francisco in the movie "Bullett".
And every time I saw Don Garletts in the 60's, he was "Big Daddy"!
Wow I didn't know McQueen did his own stunts.
As far as Donald Glenn "Don" Garlits goes, he was also referred to as "The Floridian" back in the early days of drag racing, around 1955, before permanently adopting the nickname, "Swamp Rat," which also became the theme for each generation of his innovative dragster designs even though a few were out of "injury inspired design".
For those of you who don't know the story, In 1970, Garlits was driving Swamp Rat XIII, a front-engined slingshot rail, when the two-speed transmission Garlits was developing exploded and took a piece his right foot.
Garlits was also the first drag racer to officially surpass 170, 180, 200, 240, 250, 260, and 270 miles per hour in the quarter mile. He was also the first to top 200 in the 1/8 mile.
"Big Daddy" retired in 1992 due to separated retina, a product of the 4g deceleration produced by a Top Fuel Dragster's braking parachutes. Since he has come back in 1998, again in 2003, and at the age of 71 years old he ripped down the quarter mile with a time of 4.788 seconds at 319.98 MPH ! He lost that race, the difference at the finish line was 107 thousandths of a second.
He also came back again in 2009 racing in the stock eliminator class.
He will never quit.
Okay enough nostalgia, what were we talking about again?
