BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE GATORNATIONALS

Words by Jeff Burk

Larry Dixon, Tony Pedregon, Darrell Alderman, and Craig Treble cool off after their wins at the NHRA Gatornationals in hot Gainesville. (Steve Gruenwald photo)

GARLIT'S COMEBACK SLIGHTLY OFF TRACK

The legendary Don Garlits' latest attempt at a comeback in Top Fuel was not as successful as the Seffner, Florida racer might have hoped.

According to sources in the Garlits camp, most of the "Old Man's" problems resulted from the lack of a qualified crew to work on the renovated Swamp Rat 34. Evidently Frank Oglesby, who was rumored to be crew-chiefing the car, was replaced early on by Dale Armstrong and Bob Brooks. There was no shortage of brainpower on the team, but as one observer was overheard to say, "Looks like there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians."

Reportedly, a former Jerry Toliver crew member was doing both the bottom end and the cylinder heads. The rest of the crew supposedly had very little or no experience working on a Top Fuel car and crew. One member of the Garlits entourage said that probably Garlits' next appearances on the NHRA trail might be at Brainard, followed by the U.S. Nats.

Garlits basically smoked the tires on every qualifying lap, as illustrated by this great photo, until the last qualifier. The team managed to get the car to run a low five-oh, which qualified him until "The Greek" bumped him out with a 5.03. (Jeff Burk photos)

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