Mr. Everything - NHRA.com

Mr. Everything
If it had wheels, Pat Foster could drive it.
He could also build it. Or recreate it.
by Phil Burgess
requested by Jaden Acosta
Temple City, Calif.
There isn’t much that Pat Foster hasn’t
done in the world of drag racing. Best
known as a legendary and versatile
national-event-winning, national-recordholding
Funny Car driver, Foster also was a
master fabricator and race car builder on his
own and with the likes of Woody Gilmore,
John Buttera, Jim Hume, and others, and in
the last decade, he has become worldrenowned,
again, as a race car restoration
guru, having restored or recreated vintage
machines such as the Jade Grenade and the
dragsters of Creitz & Donovan, Steve
Carbone, Beebe & Mulligan, Benny Osborn,
Candies & Wales, and more.
Foster, 67, who is recovering from an
aortic aneurysm that almost claimed his life
this winter, was an honoree at the NHRA
California Hot Rod Reunion in 2001, the
same year he was voted number 68 on
NHRA’s list of top drivers during its first 50
years. Foster had a reputation for being able
to drive anything on wheels and, as a
renowned “test pilot” for wary owners,
claimed to have driven more than 50
different race cars from 1964 through his
retirement from racing in 1979.
The following is a quick look at some of
those many rides and his recollections of
them.
“I actually started in Top Fuel. My first full-time ride was Rocky Childs’ R&R Engines Top Fueler in 1964 that later became The
Addict. Here’s the story of how the car got its name. Rocky had diabetes, and at this time in my life, I knew little of diabetes.
On one of our first trips together, he pulled over and asked me to drive the truck awhile, then gave himself a shot with a
syringe and took some pills. I’m brand-new to this race driver deal, and all I can think of is, ‘Swell, I’ve got a fuel car ride, and
this guy is acting weird and shooting up; must be a dope addict.’ I sat there for 10 more hours trying to figure how to get out
of this deal. Rocky later explained the whole diabetes deal to me. Whew, was I relieved. A while later when we stretched the
car and replaced the nose, we thought a new name was in order. Naturally, I suggested The Addict.” In his Top Fuel career,
Foster also drove the Wikle & Trapp Magicar, John Bateman’s Atlas Tool Special, the sleek Scrima Liner, and entries for Dick
Lenz, Dusty Rhoades, Tom Larkin, the Beaver Bros. & Clark team, and others.
“Before Don Garlits brought
out his rear-engine car,
Woody Gilmore and I built
this car with Leland Kolb.
The rear-engine concept
was a good one, but we tried
to step up to the plate too
much before we knew about
the aerodynamics of the
package. The first time out,
at OCIR [Orange County Int’l
Raceway] in December 1969
(pictured), all went well until
about half-track, at which
time the car became very evil. We worked on slowing the steering ratio down and went to Irwindale [Raceway] for
more testing. It was better, but it still got very spooky at about 800 feet. After getting some new steering arms, the
following weekend we arrived at ‘the Beach’ [Lions Drag Strip] full of confidence and ready to show the world the way
of the future. She handled like a dream, on a string, moving hard the first half and settled in for a run to the eyes. About
50 feet before the first light, it went straight up, got up on a short single wheelie wheel, and cleared the right side
guardrail by five feet. I impacted a pole at 220 something [mph], and it tore the car off at the rear of the cage and sent
Leland’s engine out through the parking lot and clear on to Willow Street.”
58 ✦ National DRAGSTER

“Don Kirby’s Beach City Corvette had a bad reputation for crashing and burning
— Gary Gabelich drove it off the end of Orange County and out onto the freeway
— but I never crashed it or burned it. I made some awesome runs in it but
stopped driving it after I crashed our rear-engine car at Lions.”
“The Mustangs that I built for Mickey Thompson in 1969 were pretty revolutionary for the time.
We took a lot of ideas from the Top Fuelers, with a narrow chassis and a dragster-style roll cage,
and put [zoomie] headers on it. I built two, one that I drove and one that Danny Ongais drove. It
was the first Funny Car to run 200 mph and would e.t. pretty well.”
(Above) “I drove ‘the Greek’s’ [Chris Karamesines]
Fuller-built Mustang Funny Car and even his Top
Fueler on occasion in 1969. He didn’t like driving
the Funny Car, but he had one because everyone
else had one. Cliff Zink, Ron O’Donnell, Norm
Weekly, and I drove this car. It was basically a
spare-weekend car for him, but it meant the world
to drive for him. You’re a kid stumblin’ around the
Midwest, driving race cars whenever you can,
most likely starvin’ on occasion, but just gotta live
your dream. Then, when you’re about to chuck it
all and get a real job, the fabled ‘Golden Greek’
says to you, ‘Hey, kid, ya wanna drive my Funny
Car on tour’ Are you kiddin’ me”
“In 1970, I drove for John Bateman in the Atlas Oil Tool Special Maverick but ended up losing
that ride. We were at Capitol Raceway in Maryland, towing back down the return road after a
pass. I was in the race car with the body up. I caught the eye of some dolly in the stands next
to the return road. I smiled, waved, and tried to signal her to meet me in the pits. For whatever
reason, the truck stopped, but the hero racer didn’t. I hit the back of the truck at about 25-30
mph. We drove to Chicago, and Bateman dropped me off at [Chris Karamesines’] shop to get
the car fixed, but when he came back, he had a new driver with him.”
(Left) “After Bateman, I drove for
Roland Leong in the Hawaiian for
three or four months in late 1970
with this Dodge Charger. We got
along well, but it seems like he
always had a new plan in mind
and the next new driver ready to
go. We ran Indy and did well, and
we parted with no animosity.”
(Below) “I also got to drive ‘Big
John’ Mazmanian’s Barracuda in
1970, testing the car for the kid,
Rich Siroonian. His mom was
touchy about him driving a car
until it had been tested. I did that
kind of thing a lot. I had some
natural driving talent, but I was
also a car builder, so I could relate
to what the car was doing”
“I drove Don Cook’s Damn Yankee Barracuda for most of 1971. This was a Woody
car. I drove it up through Indy before I went to work with Barry Setzer. Ron O’Donnell
took over for me with Cook.”
to page 60
March 21, 2008 ✦ 59

from page 59
“Barry Setzer’s Vega, obviously, was the best car I ever drove. It was a consistent money winner. I drove it from late 1971
through 1973, and we won a lot. We won the Manufacturers Meet at OCIR in 1971 and ran 6.29 in 1972, which was the
quickest pass of the year. The next year we went to three straight final rounds, winning the Gatornationals and were
runner-up at the Springnationals and Summernationals. Barry was a manufacturer of high-end fabric from Hickory,
N.C. He contracted Ed Pink in 1970 to build motors for a Pro Stock Camaro he owned, and Ed exposed him to Funny Cars
and loved them. He then had Pink put together a turnkey Funny Car operation. Kelly Brown was hired to drive.
I was in Cook’s car at the time. With an over-the-counter Pink engine, we consistently ran quicker than the
Setzer car with little or no budget. This caught Pink’s attention. He asked me to help him with the Setzer car
at a test session at OCIR. My answer to Ed was, ‘No deal. Put me in the car on a permanent basis, and we’ll
talk.’ He did that, and from then ‘til Barry quit drag racing in 1973, we did well. We went after it seriously on
every run, like every run was for the national championship. We got chided by some of the smaller teams for
running that way, but I told them I had a car owner who wanted to tip the world over every time we went to
the starting line and that was my job. Barry was a quiet, soft-spoken, intelligent man, a man of his word, and
always a gentleman. A better car owner would be hard to find.”
“I drove a couple of cars for
just a few races, like Larry
Huff’s Soapy Sales Demon and
this car, the Keeling & Clayton
California Charger. I only drove
this car for a couple of
weekends, and [John Keeling
and Jerry Clayton] were good
to drive for, but they didn’t run
as often as I would have liked
to and didn’t quite have the
match race spirit.”
“Driving for ‘Lil John’ Lombardo in 1974 was one of my most pleasant
experiences. John was such an easy guy to get along with and was very
smart. He ran the car the way I would run a car, and we just excelled. That
Vega was a contender wherever it went. I even toured the car for him by
myself when his business, which was terrazzo flooring, got too busy. We
won the 1974 OCIR Manufacturers Meet with this car.”
Foster drove the popular Chicago Patrol Funny Car during the 1975 season. Owned by Chapman
Automotive from Chicago and serving as a promotional tool for the Chicago Police Department —
complete with flashing blue lights on the roof — it was a match race staple during the 1970s and
later was turned into a rocket Funny Car. “That was a soldier car; it didn’t have a lot going for it,
but we could always seem to get it together to make it run. Alan Gillis was an excellent mechanic.
We actually took this car back from a late-model [Hemi] to a Donovan and ran really well with it.
It was very popular and had the lights on the top — when Pat would remember to turn them on.”
“Gerry Glenn drove this car for a while, but Jimmy [Glenn] and I were good
friends and asked me to drive it in 1976 and 1977. We ran pretty good with
this car, down into the 6.20s as I recall. This car was an example of what
kept me driving so many cars; I could get in a car that was a little bit off
pace and, through some technical abilities, be able to pull a few strings and
get it to the front of the field.”
“I drove for Joe
Pisano for a
couple of years,
1977 and 1978.
We got along
really well, even
though his car
wasn’t running
all that well
during that
period, which is
why we stopped
racing together.
Joe was all about making horsepower, and he was trying to use too much of it and
made the car into a real shaker. He thought I should be able to cure it with the
clutch; I thought he should take a little fuel out of it.”
“I left Pisano to drive
for Harry Eberlin,
who owned the
Super Shops chain.
Ed Pink put that deal
together, and he
wanted me to go
help them tune it for
Dave Hough, who
was driving at the
time. Well, you know
me, I couldn’t do that, and I eventually got to drive it full time in mid-1978. That car hauled ass. We
got in the Cragar Five-Second Club as the third car to run in the fives [5.99 at Fremont Raceway, April
8, 1979]. Bernie Lewis was the tuner and did a great job. It was tough little hombre. This was the last
nitro car that I drove. I was getting to an age where I wasn’t at the top of everyone’s option list
anymore because I didn’t have the TV smile, and I didn’t want to be in a personality race.”
60 ✦ National DRAGSTER