Pretty Cool. There will only ever be one Big Daddy!

Car out of the museum 4 year's old. Puts it in the winners circle. Class act. Thanks Don ✌

You don't work, you don't eat 💪🏿💯

No one else in the world like Don Garlets! BIG DADDY FOR PRESIDENT

Good on you for posting this, Rick!!

Happy Birthday Don, another win under your belt

Did he die? What do you mean by 1941-2015? He is such a good story teller.

Swamp Rat , 1965 Golden Triangle Drag Strip, nitro fueled & corn dogs, like yesterday. Big Daddy Don

Don you are a true pioneer and may God always bless you for being true to how your dad taught you don't work don't eat money don't grow on trees.

Big Daddy & Miss Shirley are my faves! Thanks for sharing this wonderful interview!👍😎

Best of the Best.........growing up Don Garlits showed what it is to be a nobel king..... he still is.

I met him several times at the Summernationals at Raceway Park in Old Bridge, NJ. The man is an innovator, fierce competitor, great businessman, and a bit of a mad scientist. Overall, he is just an amazing human being. I remember one year at the Summernationals one of the smaller FC teams was in a bit of a bind because they won the previous round but blew up an engine big time. They were a bit overwhelmed by the task in front of them and went sure if they were going to be able to race the next round. Big D was already out of competition for that race and sent a couple of mechanics over to help them put their car back together.

Thank you for your response to my interview of Don Garlits. I first met the great man in 1973 when I was teaching a class at San Francisco State University called “The Psychology of Drag Racing.” It was an elective “field study” that lasted one year and included many trips to the drags. When it was over, my students wrote a 15 page paper about what we found as we compared professional and amateur racers. You can find that paper here if you are interested: www.rickgilbert.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-Psychology-of-Drag-Racing.pdf Before my visit to the Drag Racing Museum in 2017, I sent Garlits the paper. When I met him to do the interview, he said he’d read the paper and really like it. You can imagine, that made my day. If you liked this interview, I thought you might be interested in how I used the interview in my new audiobook: Sharing Our Stories: Tales of Resilience and Renewal. Don Garlits talks about the hard lessons his father taught him, and what he wants to be remembered for: “A God-fearing man who never wrote a bad check or bankrupted a company.” This audiobook can be downloaded onto your phone, or listened to on your computer or via flash drive. To learn more about the book, please visit my site: www.rickgilbert.net/ricks-book/

I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, but when I drove 1,300 miles round-trip to the U.S. Nationals in 2001 to finally see him in action, he was anything but cordial. I went up to his table and, yeah, he signed an autograph, but never looked up at me, smiled, or said anything. He seemed to be in a bad mood and had a bad attitude. In fact, he purposefully left off the 'S' at the end of the autograph he gave me. He signs it with the S other times. He was angry because NHRA would not let him run the monostrut car without his making a bunch of changes, and he did not have the time to make the changes before the race. So he was punishing NHRA (and fans like me) by acting that way, and by wearing the bandaid. And maybe his language is like that all the time in front of women and kids after he couldn't shut off the car. I was at his museum years before, and also later saw him at Englishtown when Larson drove the monostrut, and he was all smiles. But to drive all that way when I had so many other things I could have been doing. He should have been more grateful that Clapshaw let him run, and that fans still wanted to see him. And trying to run for Congress on a platform of smokers' rights? Really? The "cute" girls at the Winston table that weekend asked me if I wanted to sign a petition for smokers' rights. I told the one that smoking killed my grandfather, mother, then my father. She didn't want to hear that, and wow that's when her real "beauty" came out. Maybe others had a better time there that weekend.

What’s not to love about Don! Great guy!

A class act.

I met don at the us nationals. Shook his hand and everything richard dryfus was grand marshall that year

Met him at the Goodwood Festival Speed. Really friendly guy. Amazing to see him!

I went to race and got a poster he autographed Too cool 😎

The Babe Ruth of drag racing.

My hero growing up watching him race 😎

Nice job capturing this!

God fearing man! That's his foundation.

For most kids super man was there hero... as a kid growing up BIG DADDY was my my hero....

Great video Rick, thank you bro!👍🏻☮✌🏻️

Don Garlits versus Tommy Ivo, way back machine .... some drag strip in some state called Maine.

I saw him, his team and car in the early 70’s at Orange County drag strip. Just sayin : )

Man, I could listen to this all day..

I totally agree with his philosphy of running the car as hard as possible to win without destroying everything. Today's TF and nitro FC classes are enormously $$$ to run in let alone to win in! Those cars burn up engine parts on every run and need big c$rp$rate sp$ns$rship just to operate, so different from the much simpler and cheaper AA/FD cars that were run out of private workshops!

Don is a class act thanks don Eric from canada

His museum is awesome.!!!!! Go everytime your in ocala.big daddy is rite .you don't work you don't eat.!!! True American legend.

He kept me glued to the drag racing magazines

Now that is how to roll. God bless Big Daddy.

I met Mr. Garlits in passing at Seattle International Raceway in the mid 70's. He was kind and attentive to fans that greeted him. A true gentleman.

he wants to be remembered for never bankrupting a company, but pollution of his activities contributed greatly to the ecological bankruptcy of the ecosystem. he is fond of the grass roots (mom & pop) era, but laments corporate (win at all cost) philosophy, which is capitalism's end game. God fearing, because God is a fascist. But no worries, because it's not real

So if his father taught him to save 10% of everything, how come the father didn't practice what he preached and Garlits grew up "dirt poor?"

I can remember when Garlits and Ivo raced at a little 1/8-mile track called Shuffletown in Charlotte, NC. It was a big deal for that little track. Now all that remains is the overgrown strip long abandoned.

What a ride in life his guy has had.. all the best daddy.

He was one of the innovators from working out of his back door and worked with what he had by learning new technology and money out of his back pocket drag racing got ruined for the back yard mechanics because of corporate sponsorship

I'm 65 now, when I was 16 and just getting my drivers license I already idolized Big Daddy! Been hooked ever since. Life, Don Garlits, top fuel, what a ride!😁

Awesome, thank you Don, And thank you very much for this video Rick !

Your a hell of a man Don Garlits

I'm from CT and went down to Don's museum over 20 years ago and met Don's dad at the cash register. I asked if Don was around and said he was on the road. What a great museum. I remember seeing Don at CT Dragway back in the 70s. Is the A7 on the stand out front? I worked on the A7Es in the Navy as an AT and made the first Med cruise on the IKE with her in 78-79. I still have my 55 Nomad from 1974 and still play with cars. He has been a big inspiration to me and the auto industry regarding high performance.

I have always had much respect for Don Garlits, I'm going on 72 years old and I can remember reading about him when I was just 11 years old. He's been around a lot of years and set an example for many people in Drag Racing.

I thought you would say your Dad wanted you to always give God His Ten percent first 😉

The first Hemi he got, he put it in his 1939 Ford tow car. During a race, his dragster with the flathead broke. He still wanted to race, so he ran his tow car with the Hemi. His wife told him to be careful, if it broke that was their ride home. It ran faster than the dragster, so he put the Hemi in the dragster. Then the fun and winning started.

Swamp Rat!!! Have alot of respect for this gentleman. Have one of his top fuel rods at home top fuel starter kit. Cool museum in Ocala Florida need to go!!!!

Indeed, legacy, I took picture with him at 1985, with love from Kuwait

👍👍💪🙏

It's been a long time dream to meet this man. I pray that someday real soon that I could go Mr. Don!