NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Pro Mod and Funny Car hero Scotty Cannon, world champion crew chief Tim Richards, and former NHRA Chief Starter Rick Stewart are among the individuals to be inducted into the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing’s International Drag Racing Hall of Fame on March 10.

The Inductees are:

Scotty Cannon played a major role in the creation and subsequent popularity of the Pro Mod class with his flair for showmanship and domination of the category during the 1990s. He won 28 IHRA Pro Mod races in 45 final-round appearances and six season championships. Cannon also entertained his fans with his distinctive Mohawk haircut. In 1999, he switched to NHRA to compete with a nitro Funny Car and create a colorful rivalry with John Force and was named the NHRA Rookie of the Year. Cannon drove in Top Fuel in 2006, after which he retired because of recurring back problems following multiple back surgeries after a skiing accident at age 13. He now is retired and still follows the sport in which he competed with great passion.

Tim Richards was a highly successful crew chief with the Midas touch. Whomever he worked for, they won and won big. Richards enjoyed his greatest success with Joe Amato, with whom he worked from 1972 to 1992 and produced 31 national event victories and four NHRA national titles, in 1984, 1988, 1990, and 1991. He also wrenched for Kenny Bernstein from 2001 to 2008 and accumulated 16 victories, an NHRA national championship in 2001, and 17 wins for Bernstein’s son, Brandon. 

Rick Stewart enjoyed two distinctly different careers in drag racing as a tenacious Top Fuel driver and a longtime Chief Starter for NHRA. Stewart began attending the races at the Famoso drag strip in the early 1950s. By 1963, he had teamed with Gene Adams and John Rasmussen to campaign a Woody Gilmore car that made for a very potent driver/tuner combination. Stewart retired from driving in 1971. He became a part-time starter for NHRA in 1995 and was hand-picked by the legendary Buster Couch as his replacement when he retired in 1996. Stewart’s final race was at the 2011 Auto Club NHRA Finals. 

Jack Ewell was a hot rodder during the earliest days of the sport as he competed with a series of flathead Ford-powered roadsters in the late 1940s. In 1953, he became the first drag racer to top 140 mph in the quarter-mile. He also made annual treks to the Bonneville Salt Flats and gained admittance to the exclusive 200-mph Club and won Top Eliminator at the prestigious Bakersfield March Meet. He continued to compete until 1967, then selected Carl Olson, a longtime crewmember, as his successor. Ewell, who also was a major figure in the aftermarket industry, passed away in 1978. 

Jack Moss enjoyed a lengthy racing career that began in the formative days of hot rodding. Moss began winning racing trophies in 1948 at the Amarillo Speedway and the Bonneville Salt Flats. His first dragster smashed the old speed record of 130 mph with a time of 149.5 mph. Moss built more than 30 cars in his lifetime. His “Ramblin’’ Ram’ earned him the nickname of “Jack the Giant Killer” because it was the first single-engine dragster to outrun a twin. He received the National Hot Rod Reunion Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. Moss died in 2016 at the age of 93.

The late Stu Bradbury was a Chief Starter, builder of drag racing venues, and the founding chairman of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Bradbury made a number of significant contributions to England’s quarter-mile scene and has been recognized as one of the sport’s most influential personalities. 

Founder’s Award: Don Smith is a multi-talented individual who combined his experiences as a winning quarter-mile campaigner with his business acumen to become one of the most influential figures in the high-performance aftermarket industry. Among the many awards that Smith earned over the years were NHRA’s Outstanding Contribution to Drag Racing, SEMA Hall of Fame member, SEMA Person of the Year, SEMA Distributor of the Year, SEMA Women’s Association Athena Person of the Year, SEMA Ambassador Award, Performance Warehouse Association (PWA) Founder, PWA Director Emeritus, PWA Chairman of the Board for two terms, and National Performance Warehouse Hall of Fame.
 
Pat Garlits Memorial Award: Pat Baltes is a generous lady who has given back so much to the sport she loves. Alongside her husband, noted drag racer Jerry Baltes, they enjoyed much success at the dragstrip and became table sponsors and then trophy sponsors at Hall of Fame inductions. Pat began helping NHRA’s Eileen Daniels at NHRA Hot Rod Reunions and national event nostalgic displays. She supervised the autograph sessions and made sure that all the racers of yesteryear had what they needed to enjoy the weekend gatherings. She said that one of her biggest sources of gratification is getting to work with so many of drag racing’s most successful competitors who helped build drag racing into the great sport it is today.

The inductees will be honored at the 32nd annual International Drag Racing Hall of Fame Banquet, to be held on Thursday, March 10, at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center, 1714 SW 34th St., Gainesville, FL. The event will begin with a reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:45 p.m. and the induction ceremony at 8 p.m. Tickets ($110) and tables ($1,100) are available for purchase by calling the museum at 352.245.8661.