Fri, 18 Jan 2002, 12:16 PM We All Lost A Lot This Week

By Bob Frey

With the passing of Buster Couch this past week, everyone in the drag racing world lost a lot. Even if you never met him, you knew him. Even if you never raced when he was the starter, you knew him. Even if you were never on the losing side of an argument with him, you knew him. Even if you were only remotely connected to the sport of drag racing, you knew Buster Couch.

Buster Couch

With his passing, we lose one of the last, real, true personalities in our sport. From his early days as a chief starter, to his time as the Division 2 director, to his final days as a worker in monitor control at the national events, Buster Couch cast a huge shadow over the entire sport. A shadow that let you know that he was, indeed, the man. And, while a lot of people miss the "good old days" of drag racing, the one thing that I miss the most is the imposing figure of Buster Couch on the starting line. With that comment, I certainly mean no disrespect to Rick Stewart, the current starter; it’s just that some people cannot be replaced. Even Rick will tell you that. Just like there will never be another Steve Evans, there will never be another Buster Couch. Those of you who just got into drag racing, and never saw Buster in action, have missed a lot. If you never saw "Jungle" Jim race, you missed a lot. If you never saw a top fuel car get push started, you missed a lot. If you never saw a funny car make four or five "dry hops," you missed a lot. But if you never saw Buster Couch in action, you missed a legend.

Most folk heroes have stories told about them after they’re gone, and, truth be told, most of these stories get slightly exaggerated as time goes on. Well, the Buster Couch tales are almost bigger than life to begin with. There are the small stories, of course, the ones that most folks never heard of, like the day Chris Karamesines called Buster over to his car after a burnout and gave him gave a bottle of liquor, then staged the car, and Buster sent him on his way. Or the time that Jerry Ruth told Buster how he was going to stage and how he wanted the tree to work at Indy one year. You can imagine how that turned out. Or the time at Cecil County, during the Super Stock Nationals, when the lights went out and Buster had to start the Funny Cars with a flag. And I’m sure there are hundreds more. And then there are the legendary moments, the times when Buster made a little bit of history as only he could.

Of course, one of the first, real big, momentous moments in Buster’s career came at Indy in 1971. It was the Top Fuel final and Don Garlits was racing Steve Carbone. Everyone knew that Carbone didn’t have a chance to beat "Big." Even Steve knew it. And, after losing to Don three years earlier in the final, Carbone vowed to do whatever it took to win, including having a burn-down with Garlits. Well, the two combatants pre-staged their cars and then they just sat there. And sat there. And sat there. Finally, Buster had had enough and he motioned to the two to stage the cars. The picture is a classic, as it shows Garlits with his new, rear-engine car on one side, Carbone’s classic "slingshot" dragster on the other, and Buster, seemingly willing the cars to stage, standing between them. The result of the race doesn’t really matter now, but Mr. Couch had provided many of us with one of the most vivid memories that we have of the U.S. Nationals. And that was 30 years ago.

More recently, a couple of feisty Pro Stock drivers decided to try Buster’s patience. It was at Houston in 1994, and it, too, came in the final round. The participants were Warren Johnson and Scott Geoffrion, not exactly close personal friends. The "Dodge Boys" had a way of messing with the "Professor," and he was never afraid to return the favor. After working their way through the field, Warren and Scott came to the line for the final round, and, like the two dragster drivers 23 years earlier, each driver decided to wait for the other one to stage first. In the overall history of Pro Stock, there may not have been a bigger roar from the fans then when those two drivers just sat there for what seemed like an eternity, daring the other guy to blink first. When neither one did, Buster told them to stage, just like he told Don and Steve at Indy. But this time, neither driver responded. After close to a minute in the pre-stage beam, Buster motioned them, in no uncertain terms, to back out of the beams, and this time, they obeyed. After a stern warning to each driver, the race resumed and, well, who cares who won. It was one of the great moments in drag racing, and Buster was right in the middle of it. Later, in that same year of 1994, Buster fulfilled a promise when he told everyone that he would "foul out" the next guy who took too long to stage. Well, that "next guy" just happened to be Bob Glidden, and the place just happened to be Indianapolis and the race just happened to be the U.S. Nationals. Imagine, giving Bob Glidden the boot in front of his hometown crowd in Indy. Only Buster could get away with that!!

Every drag racer who ever raced when Buster was the starter will tell you that they had the utmost respect for the man. No one, and I mean no one, commanded more respect at the track than he did. Of course, the fear factor played a little part in that, too. Fear that he’d reach in and shut your car off if you didn’t do it when your were told (and that happened). Fear that he’d leave you with the rpm’s sky high if he thought that you took too long too stage, (and that happened). And fear that he’d step right in front of your car to keep you from staging when he didn’t think it was safe to do so, (and that happened). Of course, all of those things were also part of the reason why the racers respected him. He was fair, and even handed in his dealings with the racers, and that’s all anybody could ask for or expect. He worked hard at what he did, and if he sent you down the track, you knew that your car and the track were safe, because, after all, safety was a big part of what Buster did.

I was fortunate enough to know Buster for thirty years, and I saw him get excited when some of his Division 2 racers won world championships, and I saw him get embarrassed whenever he was honored for what he said was, "just doing my job." In 1995 when he officially retired from the starting line, the praise from the racers was unending, and the tributes to him poured in from all over. Same thing when he was inducted into the Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Looking back, I’m glad that we all the opportunity to embarrass him just a little. I’m glad we all got to tell him and show him just how much we loved and appreciated him. It’s estimated that Buster started nearly a million races in his thirty years. Whatever the real total is, I know that the next race just won’t be the same, because it will be started without Eddie Hiram "Buster" Couch.