Another Floridian, Jimbo

[BarryBobPosthole]

Here's another crazy Floridian for you Jim. On the deck of the USS Lexington, 1972. I had a buddy at MacDill when I was there that lived right down the street from the Big Daddy himself. A pretty modest spread to be honest with you. A pretty regular guy according to my friend.
BKB


2967

[Captain]

Since this thread involves a boat, this should be in the fishing forum. ;)

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[BarryBobPosthole]

I believe our resident squid, Niner, would be the first to tell you that that's a SHIP not a boat, lubber.

BKB

[Captain]

I actually figured that would get a rise out of the old boy, but he must be asleep at the wheel.. :D

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[LJ3]

If Big Daddy sees a green light there he may be asleep at the wheel in Davey Jones locker!

[Thumper]

I actually figured that would get a rise out of the old boy, but he must be asleep at the wheel...

That's asleep at the helm lubber! :D

[Thumper]

I grew up around "Big Daddy". He has a big museum just up the road from me in Ocala with his old cars and memorabilia in there. He and my dad used to hang together and dad even drove one of his old Swamp Rats once. They used to race exhibition races at times to draw a crowd to the drags. My dad was running a blown '57 Ford Fairlane against BD's Swamp Rat ... 'course Don would "spot him". It was always a good show!

[Fido]

Recall seeing him and his wife at Milan Dragway in Mich. They towed the Swamp Rat with a Dodge pick=up with an aluminum cap. They were touring the drag circuit doing exhibition races.

[DeputyDog]

I had that photo as a poster when I was a kid. I've been to his museum in Ocala. At that time, his mother, who was blind, was working at the front desk and would greet everyone as they got there.

He was quite the innovator with those Swamp Rats.

[Thumper]

They towed the Swamp Rat with a Dodge pick=up with an aluminum cap.

That could only mean one thing Fido .... you're OLD!! :D

Looking at that picture brings something else to mind. Don was a major "innovator" with drag cars. I remember he blew a tranny during a run when I was a senior in high school ('70). The catastrophic explosion cut the car in half and took off one of his feet (or a major part of it). Once he recovered, he headed back to the shop and developed a new "rail" where the driver was in FRONT of the engine (like the pic above) and I believe he won the championship with it.. That was the first one .... ALL top fuel dragsters today run that same "driver in front" design. Here is the "old" style and the "new" style. (well, new in '71 that is)

http://images15.fotki.com/v230/photos/2/282682/4266777/garlits02-vi.jpg http://images35.fotki.com/v1168/photos/1/1623761/9699696/SW14-vi.jpg

[BarryBobPosthole]

I used to build a lot of model cars and ships and stuff when I was a kid. When I was about 13 or 14 I bought a soldering iron and would take the plastic deal that the parts were stuck to and cut them up and weld them together to make 'rail' dragsters', inspired by the like of Big Daddy Don Garlits and the art work of Rat Fink Roth. I ran a street car in the open class once at the strip in Fort Smith (it was a race just for stock street cars and anyone could enter) but I managed to beat my qualifying time and DQ'd myself. It was worth the experience though just to do it. My old Pontiac would barely spin the tires. But it had Mickey Thompson tires on it so it made it cool!

BKB

[Niner]

That's a cool shot. I wonder what the setup for it was???? Now, a carrier's flight deck IS a quarter mile long..... Wouldn't leave much room for breaking though.
:biggrin
Neat shot of the old A-7 "man eater" too. My first job in the Navy, after schooling, was working on the cockpit indicators of those beasts.

[DeputyDog]

He was the first to have an enclosed canopy on a top fuel dragster too. I think it was with Swamp Rat XXX.

[BarryBobPosthole]

That's a cool shot. I wonder what the setup for it was???? Now, a carrier's flight deck IS a quarter mile long..... Wouldn't leave much room for breaking though.
:biggrin
Neat shot of the old A-7 "man eater" too. My first job in the Navy, after schooling, was working on the cockpit indicators of those beasts.

Captain called it a 'boat'.

BKB

[FooBang]

BBP, as a former squid myownself, I would add that it is standard to call a submarine a "boat". Obviously, that's not a submarine, but I thought I would be pedantic today.

[Thumper]

BBP, as a former squid myownself, I would add that it is standard to call a submarine a "boat". Obviously, that's not a submarine, but I thought I would be pedantic today.

True ... "U-boat" , "Das Boot" , etc. :D