Sat, 28 Nov 2015, 11:20 AM Gone But Not Forgotten

By Steve Reyes Photo copyright 2015 Steve Reyes

As 2015 comes to a close, I think back to those we have lost in the drag racing community. For me, its personal because I grew up watching and photographing them race and do their thing. Each one of these individuals left a legacy in the sport of drag racing and I must thank them for their contribution to the sport I have enjoyed for over fifty years.

From the pro stock ranks we lost Larry Huff, Joe Lepone and Hubert Platt. The funny car class lost car owner Nick Boninfante Sr., car owner/driver Gary Burgin and Roger Garten. Bill "Maverick" Golden passed away from the exhibition class. Then from the top fuel ranks, we lost Dave Beebe. A very personal loss for me was the passing of photographer Jim Kelly. Kelly was a long time friend and his images of drag racing from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s are true classics of the sport.

One other person I should mention is the loss of George Barris. While he wasn't a drag racer or owner, he was the self-proclaimed "King of the Customizers" If you grew up in the '60s and '70s, were into cars and TV, then you saw some of George's ideas grace the small and large screens of TV and movies. The Batmobile of the 1966 Batman TV Show was a Barris creation. The rock group the Monkees had their Monkeemobile on their TV show and of course, Herman Munster was at the wheel of the Barris designed and built Munster Koach while Grandpa Munster drove the Drag-U-La coffin shaped dragster. These wild creations all came from the imaginative mind of George Barris. I was fortunate to have worked with Barris on a few stories for Popular Hot Rodding during the 1980s as well as with Ed "Big Daddy" Roth before his death in 2001.

All of these men touched the automotive industry in a unique and individual way and their passing is a time for us to remember their contributions to the world around us.

If you wish to purchase prints of the photos below, they may be obtained by contacting us at breyes@reyesontour.com. Other photos may be viewed by following the link at the bottom of the page at www.reyesontour.com.

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Being a wheeler dealer, Larry Huff hit it big with the Bestline Soap Company
and took his fortune and went top fuel racing with old pals Tommy Allen and
Steve Carbone. The Soapy Sales AA/FD was a fixture at NHRA national events
and NHRA division seven racing. Carbone would drive the ex-Lucky Dodge
(Soapy Sales AA/FD #2) for a short time. Then Carbone left to race his own
top fuel car for about three years, only to return and drive the mid-engine
Soapy Sales top fuel dragster.

Huff branched out into the world of funny car racing with the help of drivers
Dave Beebe, Dave Uyehara and Richard Tharp driving Huff's Soapy Sales
funny car. Beebe won his and Huff's only NHRA national event in the funny car
at Columbus, Ohio in 1973.

When the pro stock class began to take off Huff was there with his Soapy Sales Mopar
pro stock. Huff drove his Mopar at NHRA, AHRA and IHRA events and won his fair share.
Retiring from the driver's seat in the late seventies Huff returned for some driving fun
in the retro Pure Hell AA/FA in 1991. Old friend Rich Guasco provided Huff's "comeback"
into racing via the Hot Rod Reunions.

Now a guy I didn't get to see much on the West Coast was a very popular driver
on the East Coast, Joe Lepone. This guy was good enough to be hand-picked by
Bill Jenkins to spend time in the Grumpy's Toy pro stock car. Lepone won races
for Jenkins and then went out on his own. He was a great talent in the world of pro stock
and from what I understand, he was also a very funny guy.

The Ol' "Mouth from the South" was Hubert Platt. Platt entertained race fans from
coast to coast with this A/FX and super stock race cars. When pro stock came into
play there was Platt fighting it out with Chevrolet and Mopars with his mighty Fords.
He was never shy and always told it like it was, so some fans loved him and others
hated him, but that was Hu Baby!

Making and leaving his mark on the funny car class and drag racing was Nick Boninfante Sr.
Nick's funny cars were rolling labs for his many innovations. His Raybestos clutches were
some of the best in racing. Richard Harman, Pat Walsh and of course, R.C. Sherman,
drove for Nick and his Raybestos/U.S. Male funny car line.

Gary Burgin was a drag racer I saw evolve into one heck of a race car driver and owner.
From the AA/GS class to fuel burning funny cars, was a trail blazed by Burgin.
He really bloomed when he started his line of Orange Baron funny cars and he was a
fan favorite wherever he raced.

Southern Californian Roger Garten was a lot of fun to watch drive in the 1970s.
He was at the controls of the Tocco and Harper AA/FA and put on a show wherever
he raced in California. Garten came up from the AA/GS coupe ranks into the
fuel altered class and then funny cars. The Tocco, Harper and Garten Warhorse was
a cornerstone in Southern California funny car racing during the 1970s. Roger and the
gang retired in 1976 to concentrate on their business and families. Then in the early '90s,
their AA/FA was found and restored to a cacklefest car. Then in 2008 the team got the
nostalgia funny car bug and by 2010, the Tocco, Harper and Garten's Warhorse was a
regular at nostalgia funny events. The 69 year old Garten died June 28th as a result of
a two car funny car crash at Bakersfield, California, on June 27th. RIP Roger.

Bill "Maverick" Golden wowed race fans for almost three decades with his Little Red Wagon
wheel stander. Golden loved to perform for his fans and his fans loved him for it.
Bill even went two wheel drive pulling in the 1980s with his Little Red Wagon Dodge Ram
pick-up truck. Bill was quite the character and I will miss him.

Drag racing and the world lost one of its nice guys with the passing of Dave Beebe.
When he drove in the late '60s and '70s, he was a fan favorite and a feared foe on
the race track. I got to photograph Dave driving the Beebe Brothers and Sixt AA/FD,
The Beebe Brothers Dodge Fever funny car, the Mr. Ed funny cars, Larry Huff's
Soapy Sales funny car and Rich Guasco's Pure Hell funny car. Beebe did well in
everything he drove but he would not tour. He wanted to stay close to his family.

On a more personal note, I lost a friend and one heck of a racing photographer in 2015.
With the passing of Jim Kelly, an era of incredible photo images has ended.
Kelly was one of four photographers inducted in Drag Racing's Hall of Fame and I am
the only remaining one living. Kelly joins Eric Rickman and Leslie Lovett in that photo area
in the sky. RIP Kelly.

Late this year, we said goodbye to "King of the Customizers" George Barris.
George brought the world the 1966 TV's Batmobile, the Munster Koach and
Drag-U-LA coffin dragster. He and his brother Sam were a major force in bringing
custom hot rods to the streets of Los Angeles. Our paths crossed at ISCA car shows
(pictured with Bob Linevee Sr., president of ISCA) and I would venture down to his
North Hollywood shop to do stories on cars he was building on his million dollar model car
collection. Did you know Barris was a photographer? One of his early subjects was
as starlet named Marilyn Monroe.