INTRODUCTION No matter the sport fans love speed And no one goes faster than race car drivers 4
Race car drivers are brave They are strong They must have sharp eyes and intense concentration And they have to know every inch of their cars Drivers race all kinds of superfast vehicles Some are open-wheel cars They race in Formula One and IndyCar Some race stock cars These NASCAR vehicles are modeled after the cars seen every day on the street And some race cars are hot rods They burn down the runways in drag racing No matter which style though all of them are built for speed Here are some of the best drivers in auto racing history 5
DON GARLITS 6 Imagine winning the first official race you ever entered Now imagine you were driving a car that you built Long before he became known as Big Daddy Don Garlits did just that in 1955 at age 23 Three years later Garlits moved to the big-time circuit of drag racing He drove the first of 34 race cars he would nickname Swamp Rat Garlits won 144 races overall and 17 season championships including eight in the NHRA National Hot Rod Association Garlits had many firsts in his career He was the first man to drive a top fuel dragster to speeds more than 200 mph 322 km h He was the first to mount a wing over the engine Then he became the first driver to go faster than 250 mph 402 km h Garlits also developed the first full-body fire-resistant racing suit He was a true pioneer Big Daddy remained a fixture in drag racing for more than 40 years
