THE WINDS OF CHANGE

John L. Stein . June 02, 2022 . All Feature Vehicles

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In March 1970, Don Garlits’ Swamp Rat 13 slingshot altered drag racing forever.

Of the 34 dragsters built by Don Garlits and his team from 1956 to 2003, Swamp Rat 13 particularly altered the course of history. “It was a high-tech slingshot for the time,” Garlits explains. “Our motive was to get down the quarter mile with the fewest number of parts possible, so the cars had to be lightweight and simple. We were getting away from direct drive and using a 2-speed transmission of my own design, which worked really well until it blew my foot off!” That disaster occurred in Long Beach, California, in 1970, and prompted Garlits to design Swamp Rat 14, his first rear-engine dragster, while recuperating in the hospital. Today all top-fuel dragsters are rear engine, putting the potential for such explosions and fire behind drivers, instead of in their laps. And the danger really had been in their laps with the front-engine slingshot designs. “The driver sat right on top of the rear end with the transmission between both feet and the clutch just about a foot away, inside an aluminum bellhousing—not good, to say the least,” Garlits adds.

Follow along with Garlits for some of the technologies in Swamp Rat 13, now restored to how it looked on the fateful day before Top Fuel went to rear engines. If you want to see the car in person or learn more about the other Swamp Rat dragsters, visit the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Florida, or go to www.Garlits.com.