Fri, 22 Oct 2010, 09:16 AM I Went to the Bank Every Monday

By Bob Frey

John Livingston Photo by Lonnie Gautreau Jr., OSI

There's no doubt that there are a lot of racers who have been competing for a long time. Chris Karamesines comes to mind. The "Greek" became the first driver to run over 200 miles per hour when he did it in 1960. He raced at Indy in 1963 and he's still going strong racing in Top Fuel today. Bobby Warren recently was inducted into the Drag Racing Hall of Fame and he won a national event in his seventies and he's still racing. Others, like Connie Kalitta and Jim Dunn are still actively involved in the sport even if they aren't driving. Those two have been at it for more than fifty years and they still have a love for the sport and they still have that enthusiasm that they had when they first started out. There's another racer, maybe not quite as famous as those already mentioned, but a man who has accomplished a lot in his career and who is still at it even at the age of seventy-three, and that man is John Livingston.

Livingston's '57.

John was racing this past weekend at the Lucas Oil race at Silver Dollar Raceway in Georgia and he was doing it with the twenty-fifth different car that he has raced. Since 1966, when he was already a veteran of the quarter-mile, all of John's cars have been named "Tennessee Thunder." For John, like so many others, his racing career started with one of the classic cars of all time. "I had a '57 Chevy that we raced at Union Hill Drag Strip," he said. "We ran it in F/Stock and we raced it almost every Friday and Saturday. Back then you got seven dollars for winning your class and fifteen dollars for winning the eliminator and I went to the bank every Monday." The '57 also picked up wins at Bowling Green and Cumberland Drag Strip as well as at his home track, Union Hill. Like most racers John always had a desire to go faster, and like most racers, he headed in that direction. "I bought a car from Dickie Harrell and I used to match-race that a lot." From there he got a couple of good rides in some high-profile Mopars, including an altered wheelbase car that brought him a lot of success. "I set the C/SX record in Bristol back in 1966 and then I teamed up with Herb McCandless and we ran one of the old Ramchargers cars." That car, one of the classic, early model Funny Cars, met a quick demise at John's home track. "We had a match-race and they told us not to run more than 85% nitro in it," he said. "But we wanted to go faster so we tipped the can a bit and the end result wasn't good. The car got away from me and I flipped it. After that run my Funny Car career was over." But not his drag racing career.

Livingston with his Ramcharger car.

After racing with Mopar and being part of the factory team for a while, John figured that, when Pro Stock became a class, he would be part of the team. But he was wrong. "They told me I couldn't run a Mopar Pro Stock car so I went out and got a Chevy. The factory wasn't too happy about that, but what could they do." Along with his brother, Gerald, they raced that car for a while before John got a ride with F.L. Crowder. "Mr. Crowder bought one of the old Motown Missile cars and he asked me to drive it. It was a pretty good car and we had a lot of fun with it. But after a while Mr. Crowder and I had a disagreement and we both moved on." John moved on to a fleet of cars and a bunch of businesses. "I was in the speed shop business with Herb for a while and then I was in the boat business, the night club business and the service station business." While in the boat business, as he put it, John ran several drag boats and, true to form, he won with them and he set national records with them. "I was in the service station business for almost forty years, but I sold that recently and now I just have my used car lot." That and a couple of very nice race cars.

Livingston in his current car. Photo by Lonnie Gautreau Jr., OSI

At Silver Dollar John was racing in Stock Eliminator with his current ride, or one of them, a Chevrolet Camaro with a 350 cubic inch, fuel injected engine. "I have another car, a Super Stocker, but I sold my stacker trailer so I don't have any way to get it to the track. I really enjoy racing and even if my car isn't as quick as some of the new cars, I have a lot of fun. I run 11.40 or 11.50 and that's about as fast as you want to go at my age. I get to go to the track, see my friends, do some bench racing and drink some beer. What more could a guy ask for?" Hey, that sounds like it's almost as much fun as going to the bank every Monday!!

Livingston at the Winternationals

While John has raced a lot of cars in a lot of classes and while he's had a lot of fun the one thing he hasn't been able to do is win an NHRA national event. He has won several divisional races and been to the final round at IHRA national events but he hasn't yet won the big prize. He came close, very close, at the Winternationals in 1968. "I had a very good car and made it to the semi-finals in Super Stock Eliminator. I spun the tires against Dave Wren who then lost to Al Joniec. I'd love to have that race to do again. As nice as it would be to win one of them I really have had a great time racing," he said. "I enjoy it a lot and I really enjoy the people. And when it comes to cars, well, I build them, race them, sell them and then build another one. I don't have any of my old cars." He does say that he would like to have one or two of the old rides. "I had a guy call me from South Dakota who said he had my old '65 car and I'd like to see that. He asked me to come to South Dakota to drive it but I passed. Now if he brought the car down here I'd get in it in a minute."

John Livingston has raced for a long while and he did some of it with Herb McCandless, a lot of it with his brother, and he has been rewarded and recognized for his accomplishments. A few years ago he was inducted into the Division 2 Hall of Fame and that was followed by induction into the East Coast Drag Racing Hall of Fame. "Those were great honors," he said. "To be recognized for what you've done is really neat." And when I asked him how long he plans on racing he said, "Well, I'll race until I can't get in and out of the car by myself." And then he paused for a moment and added, "or until I can't pay someone to help me in and out of the car." From a fan's point of view, I hope John continues to race for a long time, because it's guys like him who make this a wonderful sport.