ANOTHER AMERICAN DRAG RACING LEGEND JOINS BRITISH DRAG RACIN
Discussion
If stardom is measured by the number of Halls of Fame into which you have been inducted then American Funny Car driver Bruce Larson is definitely a superstar. Check out the list. The International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame, the Eastern Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, and the Super Stock Magazine Drag Racing Hall of Fame.
He has never had the chance to race in Europe. But we can live in hope and the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame (BDRHoF) has invited him and his wife Nancy to join Ron Hope of Rat Trap fame, Bob Muravez (Floyd Lippencote jnr) of Freight Train fame and Waterbed Fred Miller of Blue Max fame, to be special guests at this year’s BDRHoF’s Gala Awards Dinner being held at the Savill Court Hotel, Windsor Great Park on November 21st. This is his first trip overseas.
What a fantastic line up; and the 2015 BDRHoF Inductees have not even been announced yet! That happens in July. Their induction ceremonies will be made all the more memorable with these drag racing legends attending. Truly a Night of Stars.
Photo Bruce Larson
Competing in his 1932 Ford, Bruce Larson began drag racing as an East Coast 16-year-old. By the mid-1960s he was working at a Chevrolet dealership and he formed a Chevrolet-based Funny Car team with the dealership owner Greg Sutliff. At this time the Funny Car class was still being born and the cars were still described as Factory Experimentals.
They initially built a fiberglass-bodied injected Chevrolet Chevelle (now in the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing). This was followed by a Camaro and they toured the country in match races. He added the famous "USA-1" license plate and painted the cars red, white, and blue - applying "USA-1" decals to the side. The Bruce Larson brand had arrived.
Photo; Bruce Larson
Larson put down a 7.41-second run in 1967 which broke the existing Funny Car elapsed time record. After a Funny Car fire in 1972 destroyed his machine, he began to do some Pro Stock racing and his familiar red, white and blue “USA-1” livery was this time seen on a 1970 Camaro and later on a 1972 Chevrolet Vega. He returned to the Funny Car ranks in 1975 with a Chevrolet Monza and later a Corvette.
www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk
He has never had the chance to race in Europe. But we can live in hope and the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame (BDRHoF) has invited him and his wife Nancy to join Ron Hope of Rat Trap fame, Bob Muravez (Floyd Lippencote jnr) of Freight Train fame and Waterbed Fred Miller of Blue Max fame, to be special guests at this year’s BDRHoF’s Gala Awards Dinner being held at the Savill Court Hotel, Windsor Great Park on November 21st. This is his first trip overseas.
What a fantastic line up; and the 2015 BDRHoF Inductees have not even been announced yet! That happens in July. Their induction ceremonies will be made all the more memorable with these drag racing legends attending. Truly a Night of Stars.
Photo Bruce Larson
Competing in his 1932 Ford, Bruce Larson began drag racing as an East Coast 16-year-old. By the mid-1960s he was working at a Chevrolet dealership and he formed a Chevrolet-based Funny Car team with the dealership owner Greg Sutliff. At this time the Funny Car class was still being born and the cars were still described as Factory Experimentals.
They initially built a fiberglass-bodied injected Chevrolet Chevelle (now in the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing). This was followed by a Camaro and they toured the country in match races. He added the famous "USA-1" license plate and painted the cars red, white, and blue - applying "USA-1" decals to the side. The Bruce Larson brand had arrived.
Photo; Bruce Larson
Larson put down a 7.41-second run in 1967 which broke the existing Funny Car elapsed time record. After a Funny Car fire in 1972 destroyed his machine, he began to do some Pro Stock racing and his familiar red, white and blue “USA-1” livery was this time seen on a 1970 Camaro and later on a 1972 Chevrolet Vega. He returned to the Funny Car ranks in 1975 with a Chevrolet Monza and later a Corvette.
www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk
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