Throughtout most of the 1970's, you would get
8-car shows with that caliber of entry. Many
times race teams like Jim & Alison Lee's dragster,
Powell & Burnett, and Don Dixon's ultra-scary
Atlanta Speed Shop dragster would fill-in and
liven up the pot. Speaking of Dixon, some may
know that he was badly injured in 1970 during
a collision with Dick McFarland's "Superstar"
fueler in a Florida match race, sustaining serious
head injuries. He recovered, and in one of the
more surprising upsets of any year, Don and
the shaky Atlanta Speed Shop won the 1980 Snowbird
National Open Top Fuel title, beating the likes
of former Jim Head car-builder and crew chief
Johnny C. Davis and Don Powell.
Naturally during these salad days, Florida's
big ace-in-the-hole was the fact Garlits lived
there, and his name on the marquees at Bradenton,
St. Petersburg, Orlando, or Gainesville guaranteed
a crowd and paydays for the players. Guys like
Karamesines or LaHaie would stay at Garlits'
house or nearby and for them and the other month-long
Floridians, the month of December was a hell
of a lot of fun.
It wasn't all fuel dragsters in Florida in
these days, either. In the late 1960's and 1970's,
former NHRA World Champ Shirl Greer, Paul Smith's
"Entertainer" Funny Cars, former NHRA champ
Larry Fullerton's "Trojan Horse," Frank Oglesby's
"Quarter Horse" Fords,
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Don
Nieves' "Gold Coast" Dodge Chargers, and the
photographer-thrilling Herring & Herring/"Nighthawk"
Omni were among the holiday players.
In the more modern years, the results of two
shows, 1980 and 1988, stood out for me. In 1980,
Garlits headlined at Sunshine Dragstrip, but
unfortunately there were no other Top Fuel dragsters.
Garlits was paid to make three runs and he
did it as follows. In round one, he raced area
bracket charger Paul Strommen's Camaro in a
BRACKET race. What happened? Strommen kicked
his ass. Garlits broke out, as in atomizing
the dial-in with a 4.20 on a 4.55 dial-in.
He learned quickly, however. In round two,
he ran Jerry Gwynn's Alcohol Funny Car and ran
a 4.30 on a (I think) 4.25 dial-in to win. In
round three, "Big Daddy" showed that "Yes, Virginia,
he might've made a pretty good bracket racer,
too" as he logged a right-on the dial 4.30 to
beat Roger Gustin's Sherbits-sponsored jet dragster.
What the hell? I thought that was pretty cool.
The other thing that stood out for me was the
1988 Snowbird National Open at Bradenton where
Gene Snow punched out a fantastic 4.99, the
first four- second run in the history of the
state, and one of the first half-dozen or so
ever fours. (I know sloppy grammar, but Doode
this website is free!!) A few years later this
same race also produced one of the more spectacular
over-backwards wheelstands when the lovable
late Richard Holcomb destroyed his fuel dragster.
Well, those days are pretty much over. I don't
know what they've got cooking at Bradenton or
Orlando these days. Maybe nuthin', I don't know.
But if they do, hombre, say Garlits decides
to race "the Greek" for old times sake, I'd
go. Support it. The November/December Florida
races would be something I could stand to see
revived. 
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