Tales from the Drag Strip with "Big Daddy" Don Garlits

Since the moment that young men began modifying and personalizing their automobiles back in the 1940's and 50's, "Big Daddy" Don Garlits was squarely in the thick of this intoxicating pursuit. By the time he had built his first serious dragster, drag strips were popping up all over the country- primitive at best-but wild and untamed racing venues where home-built creations laid the groundwork for today's multimillion-dollar high-performance industry. For the last 50 years, Big Daddy has been on the move, traveling from coast to coast with his series of "Swamp Rat" Top Fuel dragsters, electrifying fans and adding to his already immense legend as an innovator, a visionary, and a champion. In 2001, during the National Hot Rod Association's 50th anniversary, Garlits was named the No. 1 racer on the list of the 50 Greatest Drivers in History. And at that year's U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park, the sport's most prestigious event, Big Daddy achieved what may be his most cherished personal milestone, covering the quarter-mile in less than five seconds at more than 300 miles per hour for the first time in his storied career. Tales from the Drag Strip with "Big Daddy" Don Garlits is a first-person account of the many memorable experiences this drag racing icon has lived through in his half-century of nitromethane-fueled exploits. The many races, racers, race fans and race tracks which have touched his colorful career are recounted as only Big Daddy can, painting a vivid picture of his life at speed and the triumphs and tragedies that came along the way. Insightful, ironic, humorous, touching-but all true-Big Daddy's remembrances are the next best thing to reliving the glory days of America's quickest and fastest motorsports through the eyes of an American institution.