NHRA Story » Garlits 80th birthday Rat Roast fundraiser to be held during Winternationals

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Garlits 80th birthday Rat Roast fundraiser to be held during Winternationals

Friday, January 13, 2012

Drag racing’s biggest birthday party is about to happen ... and it will be BIG!

The greatest driver in NHRA history is celebrating his 80th birthday. And to mark the occasion, a special Don Garlits 80th birthday Rat Roast charity event will be held Saturday evening, Feb. 11, at the Sheraton Fairplex during the weekend of the 52nd annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Super Start Batteries, Feb. 9-12 at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

The Rat Roast is being presented by NHRA, and proceeds will benefit the Quarter Mile Foundation, whose mission is to collect and archive the history of drag racing and related aspects of the high-performance aftermarket. The Quarter Mile Foundation focuses on capturing the first-person, oral histories of the greatest pioneers and legends of the sport.

“There is a need to preserve and archive the history of drag racing through video, and the Quarter Mile Foundation has been working diligently the last 18 months to put these pioneers on video,” said Traci Hrudka, chairman of the Quarter Mile Foundation. “Proceeds raised will further the production of the Project 1320 documentary centering around the history of the sport as told in the words of the pioneers.”

The Rat Roast charity is sure to be a can’t-miss event as the scheduled participants reads like a Who’s Who of drag racing’s past. Those scheduled to roast the legendary Garlits include Art Chrisman, Sid Waterman, “TV Tommy" Ivo, Ed Pink, Don “the Snake” Prudhomme, Carl Schiefer, and Dave McClelland. The lineup of roasters is sure to bring out never-heard stories and accounts of the early days of drag racing as well as many of “Big Daddy’s” most famous exploits.

The event will be held at the Sheraton Fairplex, on the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, home to the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals, and include silent and live auctions including one-of-a-kind memorabilia items. Individual tickets for the Don Garlits 80th birthday Rat Roast are $80, with a limited number of 10-people VIP tables available for $2,500. To buy tables to the event, contact Rachelle Litwin at NHRA, rlitwin@nhra.com or 626-250-2269. For individual tickets, log on to www.NHRATix.com and click on the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals ticket page and scroll down to the Don Garlits 80th Rat Roast link.

The Quarter Mile Foundation, formed in March 2010, is recognized as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational charity organization. The foundation has captured more than 100 interviews and 120 hours of the sport's pioneers on video telling the stories of drag racing’s humble beginnings and the creation of one of the largest motorsports in the world.

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