Thu, 9 Sep 2010, 11:30 PM The Times They are a Changin'

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Larry Griffith

In drag racing, or in any sport for that matter, there are always those who talk about the "good old days." I'm sure we all know someone who has been around the sport of drag racing for years who always talks about how good things were "back in the day." I know I've heard that expression a lot, and in some cases, I agree. For the most part, however, I enjoy living in the present and I like to watch the current crop of racers and race cars go down the track. As much as some folks long for those good old days the fact of the matter is that today, on the track and off, the cars are so much better, quicker and faster and the competition greater than it ever was before. Even when folks talk about the "muscle cars" of the sixties they yearn for the days of the high-performance cars, you know, the GTO's, the Mustangs, the Camaros, the Hemi Mopars and the like. But truth be told, the cars that are being produced today could run rings around those 1960's era machines. Pick you favorite, the new Mustang, the Camaro or the new fleet of cars from Mopar and you'll find a car that is quicker, faster and a better ride than any of their brethren from the '60's. And when people talk about how they miss the factory involvement that we had in the early years of drag racing, all they have to do is look at the track today and see what the car companies are producing. Or they could just talk to Larry Griffith.

Griffith with his '68 Dart at Cordova.

Larry Griffith was at Indy this year racing in the A/SA class. Actually, Larry was watching the A/SA class as Charlie Fitzsimmons drove Larry's car in competition. "I didn't have enough grade points to run Indy," Larry said. "I asked them if they could just use the 'Grandfather Clause' for me but they weren't buying that. Hey, I tried." The reason that Larry asked for a waiver was because he was one of the pioneers in the NHRA Pro Stock class and he competed at Indy back in the early 1970's. "We had cars that ran in a heads-up format long before Pro Stock was even a class." That racing, which was confined primarily to the tracks in and around the Midwest, featured a string of Mopars that Larry raced. "We had a 1966 Dodge Coronet that had a street Hemi in it and weighed about 3,200 pounds. The cars would get or give a head start based on the size of the engine. For example, a big block would spot a small block and a car with two four barrel carburetors would give a head start to a car with one. It was all designed to make the racing close and give us a chance to run in a heads-up format." Racing at tracks in Michigan, Ohio, Iowa and the like, Larry had a lot of success and he won three UDRA championships, the World Series of Drag Racing in Cordova and he built a reputation as one of the toughest racers on the circuit. During that time he heard that Mopar was going to build some new cars for the NHRA Pro Stock class. "I kind of pushed my way through the crowd and asked the folks at Chrysler if I could be part of the program. "Apparently, pushing works, because Larry got on the Mopar deal and he had one of the first, legal NHRA Pro Stock cars. "I was racing a 1968 Hemi Dart, and when Chrysler came out with the Pro Stock program they asked a few of us if we would convert our cars to 1970 models. Melvin Yow and a few others, like me, agreed, and we went Pro Stock racing." After racing the newly converted car for about a year, Larry was rewarded with a new ride for 1971. "I got one of the new Dodge Demons and we raced that for a while." And, while he did qualify at Indy in 1970 and 1971, Larry new that he didn't have a car that could run with the top dogs. "After the '71 race I said that I would love to come back to Indy but not until I had a car that could get us noticed." Well, it may have been a long wait, but Larry certainly got noticed at Indy this year.

The gap between the early 1970's and the 2010 U.S. Nationals wasn't a complete drought for Larry. "We built a car in the late '80's and did some racing with it. It was a 426 Hemi that ran in the mid-ten second range. It wasn't that fast but it was heads-up racing and I enjoyed it." He also took his car to a lot of the nostalgia races and that's when he started to hear rumblings about the new car that Mopar was coming out with. "I found out about the new Drag Pak cars and I knew that I wanted to have one," he said. "I put my name in and said that I wanted the first one." Well, as much clout as he may have had with Mopar, Larry didn't get the first car. "Don Garlits got the first one and mine is number '002.' Hey, just to be on the same list with Don is exciting." Larry and Don were both at Indy last year and they talked about the new cars. "Don was running his then and I had my car there and Don told me that this was as much fun as he had in a long time. Just to see the smile on his face with really great." After that, Larry began working on getting his car into race-ready shape. "I heard about Arrington Engines and found out they knew a lot about the 5.7 and 6.1 liter engines. I checked out their web site at www.shophemi.com, called them up and we got together and they are the ones who are doing my engine work. They do a great job and they make a lot of power."

Fitzsimmons in Griffith's car.

As we all know, making power is one thing, being able to use it is another thing. "The first run at Indy was the first run that Charlie ever made in the car," Larry said. "As you can imagine, it was a learning process for all of us." After a few passes and a broken transmission, the team got it all together and ran 9.88 in the first round of eliminations. "The car is pretty heavy, about two hundred pounds, and we still made a great run. Now that we've learned a little about it and Charlie is getting more comfortable in it I know we can go a lot faster." Ironically, since the car does run so quick, even if he gets the grade points Larry will now have to get a physical and an NHRA competition license before he can go down the track. "Believe me, just seeing the car race and be competitive brought a real smile to my face. These cars are so good and run so well that it's amazing." And when asked to compare this car to his old Pro Stock car Larry just said, "This one rides and tracks so much better than the old car. It isn't even close." Plus, after years of trying with his Pro Stock car the best Larry could do was a 9.97 - 132 at the NHRA races and a little better on the match-race circuit. "There's no doubt that once we get it all sorted out we'll run better than the Pro Stock car did. Isn't that amazing?"

Larry Griffith has experienced the best of both worlds. He was part of the exciting match-race scene and he competed in the formative years of Pro Stock, and now he has one of the most technologically advanced cars made today, and he says that he enjoyed them both. "It was great to be part of the Mopar team back then but I have to tell you, this car is a dream to drive and I'm having more fun now than I ever did." At Indy this year he renewed acquaintances with a lot of the old Hemi guys. "If you look at the trunk of my car you'll see a lot of the old Mopar guys like Herb McCandless and Tom Hoover have signed it. It was great to see them and I'm glad that we were able to get together and talk about the old cars and the new ones." And the way he's going, the next time they all get together may be in the winner's circle.