Garlits' museum

I had a chance to see Don Garlits' Museum of Drag Racing.
Photos are in the link:

http://photobucket.com/albums/g153/eastpark/Garlits

Went there eons ago and loved it. I still remember the WW2 engine with a patched bullet hole in the block.

my brother was there, met Garlits himself

I got to talk to Big Daddy years ago when I worked at the front desk of a hotel the drag racers stayed at for the Pomona races. Nicest man I think I've ever met. Talked to me for like 20 minutes. As the announcer said at those races, the answer to half of all drag racing questions is Don Garlits. How cool is it that someone that famous is that cool?

There are actually two museums, the drag racing museum and the antique car museum, on the same property. Either of them would be worth the visit, and catching both of them on the same day is an experience I would recommend to any car enthusiast, whether you are into drag racing or not. He also hosts a lot of car shows, listed on the museum web site. Garlits has his home on the property, so he spends a lot of time at the museums and the adjacent shop when he is not off racing his Challenger or the electric dragster. If you can't make it to Ocala, his book "Don Garlits and His Cars" is fun reading, chock full of stories from the early years of drag racing.

I've seen that list of records, "First Driver to break..."speeds in 10 mph increments (180, 190 and so on.) He has damn near all of them, over a period of decades. Simply amazing, not just to be so good but to be THE innovator for so long.

Sadly, Don lost his wife about a month ago; she had Parkinsons and dementia. They had been married for 61 years.

I got to speak with Don at the US Nationals back in 2010. He was running his Challenger. Like others have said, a really nice person to talk with.
I first visited his museum back in 1998 and last week I got to see it again. This time I had a camera with me. It's a neat place to see, I probably spent about 5 hours there.

Been there a few times even got to talk with Don wife god rest her sole. Such good people there. some of the cars in the 2nd building were so cool like the FBI hemi car.