Three of Your Old School Hot Rod Hero's?

[cosgig]

Another of my heroes, my grandfather. He was a Kendall Oil rep, and he would take us to all manner of drag races, circle track races, tractor pulls, anything Kendall sponsored, he had to go and we wanted to go to. He is the one who got me and my brother interested in cars, although he was not a car guy by any means. Another lost too soon, he passed away less than 6 months after retiring. We still miss him to this day.

Here he is with his “girlfriend” as my grandma called her, at the Summernationals in 1978 or so. Every time we see Linda she always mentions how their curves just fit together.

 

[Black_Sheep]

In no particular order, Don Garlits, Carrol Shelby and Smokey Yunick…

 

[Richard Cranium]

Steve Lisk. I read about his car as an 11 yo kid. Maybe the first “Pro Street” car. It ran mid 9’s thru the mufflers. Was a regular on Oakland St. in Detroit. Oh, and it had Lenco.View attachment 1510230View attachment 1510229View attachment 1510231That’s Steve in the striped shirt.

I wonder how many street races he lost to the "Black Ghost"?

 

[kiwigtx]

Reading the thread title I thought it was about your heroes while at school....they would be ;
1 & 2 - Bo & Luke Duke,
3 - Cooter.

Nowadays, I look back and I am happy to list these three.....not that others aren't worthy of mention;
1 - Bill 'Maverick' Golden
2 - Roger Lindamood
3 - Dick Landy

 

[cosgig]

I’m going with this guy for number 3. It’s my brother Greg, we have been involved with Mopars and cars in general since we were just little squeaks. From sitting in boxes all drawn on to look like cars, to this very day, we have always been together when it comes to everything in life. Although I think he still holds a little grudge for me not co-signing on that loan for a Superbird back in the day, we’ve shared a love of cars and each other our entire lives. I couldn’t be in this hobby without him!

 

[beanhead]

After reading the responses, I got to thinking..I too loved McCandless; I got to meet him as well and he was great. Didn't matter that he was "Herb" he'd talk drag racing and Mopar engines with anyone who was interested. And I always liked Garlitts, and Landy- big 'ol boy with the cigar in his mouth.
The #1 pick in my earlier post still stands though..our Uncle Lujie was a hall-of-fame Indy car builder from back in the glory days and was later involved with multiple racing legends like Holman-Moody, Penske, special projects like the Challenger and development of the GT-40...the list goes on. I sure do miss him and his stories. He was like a walking encyclopedia of racing.